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?

Errand Boy

Waking of Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Errand Boy

The unholy smoke started curling from the ground, and I began to sprint up the stairs, accidentally chasing a poor hapless fox up in front of me. There was a bed up on top of the Reservoir wall, and I really wanted to sleep in it before the Blood Moon shone—

I was five feet from it when the final crash of darkness sounded, and the Princess’ voice warned me to once again please be careful.

Oh but I was being careful, I thought as I came back to myself. I was going to have a good long sleep in this bed. You see because I wasn’t feeling very well, because a Hinox had fallen on top of me.

The rest I had until the morning was most welcome....

Earlier, I had paraglided down from Vah Ruta’s high spring and begun combing the Domain once more for those historical tablets, only becoming distracted by the other Zoras’ issues once or twice.... or thrice.... along the way.

I found a few new tablets, with some interesting and informative histories on them! But there were still a few more, somewhere waiting out there. Jiahto offered to tell me where some of them were, but I told him it was okay; I’d find them.

In fact, I was finding quite a lot in my searchings, including more luminous stones. But Ledo was still sleeping when I came back to him again.

One of Mei’s and Fronk’s children, Tumbo, was selling frogs to raise money while his mother was.... not working, so I donated some of my Hot-Footed Frogs to him. And in the square by the fountain, one Zora child named Keye, while at play, unintentionally gave me a helpful hint about the pedestal at Veiled Falls—perhaps I should try thrusting the trident into the pedestal.

Well, I tried it, with Mipha’s Lightscale Trident, which I had been loathe to actually use. But nothing happened. And now the Lightscale Trident doesn’t have its pristine luster in my inventory anymore. However, Dento assured me that I could come to him if it ever broke, and he could remake it for me. He’s handy in a workshop, that one.

But I’m still not sure if I’ve ever seen the Ceremonial Trident Trello keeps talking about; he said he dropped it somewhere under a bridge....

Guess I’ll just keep looking.

From Veiled Falls.... well, I was close enough to Ralis Pond to go try and have a go at Torfeau’s Hinox.... so I goed.

It was Torfeau who had asked me if I would try and kill it.

Of course it had been Torfeau. She’s the one always practicing with her spear, the first Zora I had seen wearing armor. Tula and Tona were only concerned with their Prince Sidon Fanclubbery.

Well, it started with the letter T anyway.

I drank a sneaky elixir and crept up to the big sleeping Hinox, my heart thumping madly, thinking maybe I could crawl on top of it to steal things off its necklace. And I did come quite close to it. Right next to it, touching it, even walking into it in fact. But I could gain no purchase to climb.

Instead, I thought Oh just blow it and began hacking at it with my Special Thirty-Eight Big Stick. It got to its feet....

Never hack the legs out from under a Hinox at close quarters.

You will regret it.

After a narrow escape and a good long rest and for my second attempt at the Hinox.... I just took David’s approach. Which, honestly, was kind of my approach too, or it would have been if I’d engaged a Hinox before now. It was a good approach—why would I think to go and start attacking one directly? In reach of its—oh Farore they’re so ugly....

Instead! I speared up through the Veiled Falls, made my way to the clifftop above Ralis Pond, and invoked the beautiful aid of Ja Baij.

Of course, the bombs were slow, and the great brute kept wandering—didn’t have a clue who was pelting it with tiny explosives. And so I switched to arrows. A bit faster, and more damaging, so that in a few moments.... I had slain my very first Hinox.

Felt good to clear up Ralis Pond of that filth.

Ralis....

There was a name I respected.

When I finally caught Ledo awake and at his work, I gave him the ten luminous stones. He made a great and humorous fuss about counting them all out—and then he rewarded me with diamonds.

Oh my, but I must look into what those could be used for, or how much they could be sold for—

I might finally claim that house in Hateno Village to be.... a home for me....

Ledo invited me to bring him any more luminous stones I might find, though he said any other sets of ten he’d only trade me one diamond for, not two.

Well that was fine with me! C8

I had eleven more on me just then, but....

Yes I should like to research this.

Sirens of West Necluda

Waking of Saturday, March 25, 2017 ~ 2

Sirens of West Necluda

Long ago on the Plateau, as I went to meet the Old Man for the last time, I stopped inside the lower halls of the Temple of Time to visit the statue of the Goddess once more.

I had collected four spirit orbs by that point, and in exchange for those four spirit orbs, the Goddess offered to gift me with my choice of either stronger health or greater stamina. I chose health, and received another heart container.

I have been collecting spirit orbs and praying at Goddess statues for this purpose ever since.

But all throughout Upland Zorana, and for a long time before that, I’d only had three orbs to my name.

I knew of one shrine that I had left alone for a long, long time, back in West Necluda. It lay far to the north of the road, on the other side of a tree-smattered spread of hills I had not wanted to stray into, across a little bit of river, and on an island. I’d marked it with a marker in my Slate so long ago, but I had never gone back to it.

Considering the increasing treachery of the monsters in my path, I figured it was time to pay it a visit, and thus attain a fourth spirit orb. But I was in luck: my map of the Lanayru region, home to the Zoras, showed that I could more easily approach that island from the north bank of the river. It would be just a little dash across the wetlands I had already explored, over some mostly bare land, and it should be just right there. Easy in reach.

I warped back to the shrine in which I had weathered the lightning storm. There were still lizalfos lurking about; I killed a few. There was also one of those prancing spectres with the lightning rods—I’m sorry to say I rather ran away when he shot an electric keese at me—I couldn’t ready my bow in time to take it down, and I didn’t have any wood or bone weapons....!

But after I’d given myself some distance, I ran back in again and laid that skipping D-cell to waste.

The.... well I guess you could call it a boardwalk—was completely submerged in places, but I semi-followed it to some dry hills—and my shrine locator started beeping at me.

But.... it was in a different direction....

There were more shrines, it seemed.... very nearby.... but just off my map a bit....

I found a road as well, and people walking and riding along it! People I’d never met before. One man on a horse told me I might want to get close to Hyrule Castle thinking of finding treasure there.... but that I might lose my life along the way. It was too dangerous.

This world was so big.... No but what was I doing out here? Just the shrine. Just the one shrine and then I needed to get back to the Zoras; I still had all Ledo’s rocks in my pockets.... Though it wasn’t a bad thing venturing about for shrines, expanding my map.... after all, I had to find the other races and their leaders, and I had to find my memories....

Oh who was I fooling? —

This was a Zelda game.

The Sirens were singing.

I wanted to wander....

Maybe some of the Courage of my former life was coming back to me.

Adventures in Zorana

Waking of Saturday, March 25, 2017

I.... played from the activation of Vah Ruta again today.

Because.

Adventures in Zorana

After warping over to Cotera’s Forest to have her modify my new pants, I headed back to Zora’s Domain.

I had done the favor for Laflat—and that Lynel Safari had been brutal. Some other Zora—maybe Tula or Toma—had asked if I would go slay the Hinox at Ralis Pond.

“Not now,” I’d said.

Maybe later. Truly.

Kapson had asked me to find just one more betrothed couple he could bless in his old age, and Jiahto, another elder Zora, wanted me to scout out the rest of the historical stone tablets scattered about the Domain so I could help him write his book.

And Fronk....

Fronk had seemed.... down.... whenever I talked to him. He always claimed to be just lost in thought, a few times he told me to just get out of his way, and once I heard him say something about.... something being all his fault.

At first I’d thought he was talking about Vah Ruta—what, had he triggered something? But now.... as I passed him again, he finally opened up to me.

I had heard a couple of the Zora children saying something about their mother, Mei, failing to return from somewhere—some kind of work she does, I gathered—but they were sure she was safe.

But now I found out that Fronk.... was Mei’s husband.

And he was worried sick about her.

Oh gads, perhaps he and others had been protecting the children—was the situation really much worse?

I told him I would help him find her.

I would help him find his wife.

....

If I’d been more in character, I might have rushed off to that right away. But first.... Ledo had asked me something a bit more simple than any of these things.

I’d seen him hammering away at the pillars and fixtures all about the Domain, and he said he had a lot of work to do yet. He asked me if I had any luminous stone.

As it turned out I did; I’d run into a sizeable quarry of them back near Hateno, when I went chopping—er, exploding wood.

But Ledo needed ten of them for his repairs, and I only had six. However, he did say they were plentiful to be found all over Upland Zorana.

I’d seen that region on my map. A slightly lower area of hills a bit west of Ploymus Mountain.

Vah Ruta had been won, the rain had stopped, the day was saved.... It was time for some friendly neighborhood hero work and a good romping explore.

Besides, now I had the Lightscale Trident, and the Veiled Falls were on the way to Upland Zorana!

But when I got there, there wasn’t really anything to be done. The falls didn’t split open as I waved Mipha’s weapon. All I saw of note was a great orange dais beneath the water. The kind those big heavy Sheikah orbs can be fitted into. Hmmm.... Maybe I’d have to speak to Trello—he said something else about a trident he dropped.... or perhaps Dento, the arms repairman. Maybe one of them could give me some clues....

Or perhaps that little Zora girl who sings the song....

Well, the Falls weren’t going anywhere, and so I speared up through them and onto the higher hills.

It rained for much of the time. Which was only a little wearisome—hadn’t the Prince and I had just gone through so much trouble to get it to stop raining?

But perhaps it was fortuitous—it did give me a little bit of cover and din to hide behind, for there were lizalfos up here. And moblins.

I spent a lot of time casting bombs down from hilltops. One lizalfos at a time I can handle, but.... when there are a few of them all in the same area.... And I still don’t feel comfortable fighting moblins.... That hammer incident seemed so distant and lucky now....

I just need to work on my timing. Maybe I can practice a bit back on the Plateau.

The luminous stones were tricky to find through the rainy haze—it was much easier at night, when they glowed bright blue. But I did find enough to bring me up to ten, and then some—for their description said something about.... they can be used in some kind of weaponry....

So I’d keep a few extras handy if ever I figured that out.

I jumped off a huge jutting rock to get back to Zora’s Domain all quick-like, and proceeded to ask everybody I met where Ledo had got to, but when I finally found him.... he was asleep.

The Zora sleeping quarters.... they’re these deep pools back beneath the throne room.

Ledo was zonked and there was no waking him.

Well.... guess I haven’t really been the model of circadian responsibility myself. You know, I think Link can run around for days on end without sleeping because.... well he’s been asleep for a hundred years!

Oh well, there was nothing I could do.

Jiahto stood nearby, studying one of the tablets. Thinking again about what I’d seen written on them.... I knew there was some treasure up there.... somewhere on the mountains....

I read the tablet near Jiahto’s spot again. This one was a replica of the one about the ancient Hero defeating the Lynel. He’d been given a helm in reward. And that helm rested.... ugh, but this tablet was still degraded! I couldn’t tell where the helm rested! It was near a lake with a four-letter name. Which sounds awful but, just—Well I’d kept thinking Lulu Lake, but—

AND THEN IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF POUNDS.

In my wanderings around Zorana, I’d come to a Toto Lake.... and there were sunken ruins in it jutting from the water!

“I didn’t try Magnesis!” I shouted, and David perked up from his phone and watched me at whiles as I made the long, long climb back up Veiled Falls, back round through the twisting hills, back eastward toward the mysterious Toto Lake.

This seemed to be the very border of the Zoras’ Kingdom.... and I’d seen things from these hilltops.... and some of them looked spectacularly welcome.... and some of them made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out again.

There was another Sheikah Tower very near here.

But it seemed to be guarded by .... something I have no name for. Something that patrolled in a hover, and searched the ground with a beam of red light. It looked.... like a machine.

Agh, and there were shrines so close.... but....

These Zoras first.

I found the lake again, crawled out to a high jutting point of the sunken ruins and waved my Slate around....

There! There beneath the water was a chest! I pulled it out onto an exposed part of the ruin and opened it.... and it had a Zora Helm inside of it!

Ah! My ensemble was complete! How DANDY I looked! ^_^

Ah, very regal, sleek and blue and silver and scaled, with that slick protruding helmet bit at the front.... very menacing.... Ah, yes. Ah, and the asymmetricality of it! For on the left temporal fin there were what looked like little ornamental earrings or something, just two of them, small silver hoops, very subtle; but the right fin was bare.

Very nice, I liked this get-up.... and I could swim faster in it too!

And with that it was time to pay Cotera another visit!

She really is a nice Great Fairy. :3

Lord of the Zoras

Waking of Saturday, March 18, 2017

Lord of the Zoras

Well, it was time to follow Sidon, and go and speak with the Zora King.

I found him in the high throne room.

He was massive. Royal blue body and back, pale moon-white front and face, and a bulging lobe like a beluga’s with a lighter-colored slash across the front—the mark of his battle with the Guardian. Jeweled silver armor and regalia spilled over his great, pleated barrel chest, and his trailing head-fin—longer than many trees I had ever seen—had been pushed to hang down his left side. Towering, towering above me, he sat proud and tall between his son Prince Sidon on his left, and a bent old green-skinned, ray-headed Zora on his right.

He recognized me too. And he said so.

But Prince Sidon had not. “That Link?” he said, “THE Link?” He had thought my name sounded familiar, I remembered he had said before.

That the Hylian Prince Sidon had found to aid them would turn out to be no less than the Champion Link.... King Dorephan concluded that our meeting, then, must have been nothing short of destiny.

But I told him that I had lost my memory. He seemed aghast that I could not even remember his daughter, Lady Mipha. Shocked.... but not unsteadied.

All the Zora elders seemed to hate me because I had taken away their Lady Mipha—and here was Lady Mipha’s father. Perhaps the one with the most reason of all to despise me. And yet he showed no trace, gave no sign.... I had.... a great admiration for the civilized tone he still used with me.

He seemed a goodly king; had his head on straight—he was trying to think of all the people of Hyrule. Vah Ruta had the ability to create an endless supply of water, and if it wasn’t stopped soon, not only would the resulting floods wreak havoc among the Zoran kingdom, water-breathers though they were, but it would also affect countless Hylian lives in the lands downstream. Already the effects were showing—I had even seen Ledo, and an apprentice of his named Fronk, trying to work repairs on a number of support pillars that had become damaged in the downpour.

Vah Ruta needed to be dealt with, very soon, and the truth, King Dorephan conceded, doing me the courtesy of being bluntly honest, was that the Zoras could not handle the Divine Beast alone.

The four orbs upon its back, which controlled the waterflow, were offline and out of control, and they needed an electrical current running through them to stem the flow of water.

This was what I was here for.

Because my body was more insulated against the Shock Arrows they would need to stabilize the orbs.

They asked for my aid.

Well, I had good news for them: Princess Zelda had tasked me with nearly the same goal.

King Dorephan—the unbelievable bulk of him—shot forward in his throne. “Princess Zelda is alive?” he asked.

“Yes, in Hyrule Castle,” I said.

He concluded once more that our meeting must have been fated. If there was a chance to retake Vah Ruta, there was also a chance to seal away Calamity Ganon for good....

He would give me all the help I needed—and he gifted me a set of beautiful Zora Armor, which has been crafted by Zoran Princesses for generations.

At this point the ray-headed Zora, Muzu, had had enough. Hylians, he argued, were the reason the world was in the state it was in in the first place, ever since they had sought out and abused the ancient technology of the Sheikah one hundred years ago.

To give one of them a Zoran Princess’ armor—armor that was traditionally supposed to be crafted for the one the Zora Princess would marry....

And Lady Mipha had crafted that armor herself! How could King Dorephan just hand it over to the very one who led Lady Mipha to her death?

Prince Sidon rebuked him, telling him to watch the way he spoke to the King and his guest, and reminding him that working together with the Hylians was their best chance of stopping Vah Ruta.

But Muzu wouldn’t have it, and he left the throne room.

Prince Sidon followed him.

The King asked me to follow as well, to try and talk to him.... because Muzu was the resident expert on just where and how Shock Arrows could be found.

Unsaved

Waking of Monday, March 13, 2017

Unsaved

I only walked about. I was weary from my long hike up the river.

I talked with some of the other Zora I saw moving about—and saw a few familiar faces! Ledo and Torfeau.... I found out Tona actually worked in a shop up here, but I didn’t actually see her until I bumped into a group of Zora girls downstairs on the other side of the . . . . do I call it a square? It seems to want a more elegant word than that, so high pillared above the beautiful waterfalls.

The group of Zora girls, it seemed.... were members of a Prince Sidon Fan Club.

Seemed the prince was quite popular with the ladies around here! Somehow I didn’t find it surprising. The man bled charisma.

Tula was the name of their club president. Laflat was the name of the secretary I had met before. Dunma was the name of Rivan’s.... daughter, it turned out. Not a son.... I had met so many Zora.... and a Goron.... There were a lot of people up here.

I suppose it was comforting to find so many goodly folk all together, and safe, in one place, but.... maybe just a little bit overwhelming for a small-town guy like me.

A small-town guy?

Maybe I only thought that because small towns were the only places I’ve been—or the only places I remember being.

I’m not a small-town guy. What am I?

A Resurrection Chamber guy?

I hope I can find my memories soon.

Not the least reason for which is because every aged Zora I spoke to in Zora’s Domain was unhappily disgusted to see my face.

What had they thought I’d done to their beloved Mipha?

....

What had I done to their beloved Mipha?

I couldn’t vouch for myself—I had no memory.

What had I done?

I went to see the king, and quit without saving.

Zoras, Zoras Everywhere

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 3

Zoras, Zoras Everywhere

As I crossed the bridge, a female voice called out.

I looked around.

Another Zora, deep red as a plum, poked her head out of the water to my left! She seemed astounded to lay eyes on me. A real Hylian!

Her name was Tona and she said the same thing Ledo had said—Prince Sidon was away at the bridge up the river, and would I please go and help him.

Well, that’s where I was headed. So off I went.

The tower was heavily guarded. I managed to evade most of the resident monsters, but there was one moblin that gave me a bit of trouble as I climbed—he sent me rolling dangerously near a cliff’s edge before I was able to take him down. And the rain certainly didn’t make things easy; all the rocks were too slick to hold on to.

I climbed a tall ladder to a look-out platform and paraglided over a Lizalfos I could see lying in wait, camouflaged to look like the stone. Chameleons....

And the tower was open, and free, and I scaled its sides and rested on its platforms until I finally came out onto the uppermost floor!

Someone shouted in surprise at my appearance.

I looked around.

There was another Zora up here.

“What are you doing up here?” he asked me.

“I could ask you the same!” I said.

His name was Gruve, and he, like his fellows, had been sent out by Prince Sidon to locate a strong Hylian. But, along the way, he had fallen asleep.... only to be woken by a tremendous lot of rumbling and movement, and.... here he was.

Oh no, I realized, he must have been sleeping right on the spot where the tower was buried before it burst out of the ground.

Since then Gruve had been trying to call down to the prince on the bridge far below—for he was too frightened of climbing down or taking an ultra high dive directly into the river—but it seemed Prince Sidon was unable to hear him or help him from his predicament.

“I FOUND A HYLIAN!” Gruve still tried valiantly, which I’m sorry to say made me have to suppress a little grin. Poor guy.

Well, no worries, I was that close it seemed. After uploading the local map (and noting that Lulu and Mikau Lakes were next to each other <3) I HALO-jumped to a very near shrine down off the hill and across the water—where there was another Zora waiting! Her skin was deepest crystal-blue and her voice very even and mature. Torfeau was her name.

I noticed that this one was wearing a bit of armor.

I was getting close it seemed.

Go to the bridge and meet with the Prince, she said, yes, yes, like everyone else, I knew. I looked through my scope toward the bridge and could see, up on one of the spires, yet another Zora waiting, bloodruddy in color, with a thick, muscly build and a many-crested head. He was also wearing a little bit of armor, more intricate and intimidating than Torfeau’s, and was keeping a thorough eye on his surroundings. Maybe a guard there to protect Prince Sidon as he waited for his Strong Hylian.

I was very close now; I would get there soon enough.

But I wanted to take care of this shrine, first....

Grumblers

Waking of Saturday, March 11, 2017 ~ 2

Grumblers

Ledo had been most patient with me, but now it was time for me to move on. Sure I’d head up the river. But not before I stopped at that tower! It was very close and looked most accessible. Crawling and surrounded with enemies no doubt, but it was just at the top of a big hill! I could get there....

I ran back to the shallows and continued my way through the wetlands. It really started to pour along the way and, as I neared an island, I heard it—a muffled kind of moaning. Like a wheezing elephant.

I’d heard it once before on the Sahasra Slope. Actually it had reminded me of the deep, distorted thrumming of the Great Fairy before her power was restored. But.... it had felt different. I hadn’t sought it out then.

But now I could see what I believed to be the source of it, right in front of me on one of the bigger islets.

There amid a stand of trees was something huge and red, with white highlights, squatted on the grassy ground.

Another fairy-cocoon?

I watched it closely through the rainy haze, trying to make sense of its shape, until it scratched its nose.

Definitely not a fairy-cocoon.

It seemed to be lying on its back, sleeping I think.

Its skin was the same color as bokoblin- and moblin-skin.

Oh my gash. What—

I got out my pictograph box and took a long-distance shot, not daring to get closer.

A Hinox, my Sheikah Slate identified it as. The largest monster to call Hyrule home, it said.

Oh my.

....

Well, that was one sleeping dog I decided to let lie. Happy the rain was making such a din, I nonetheless crept quietly along the outskirts of the little islet until I came to another bridge that led away toward the hill with the tower.

Ledo

Waking of Friday, March 10, 2017 ~ 5

Ledo

There were two more warpables relatively nearby. One was another Shrine, the other a Sheikah Tower.

The Shrine seemed to be just a ways across the flat wetlands—I would go for that first.

There were a few ruins in the way—and some prancing, skipping spectre that made me start something awful. My bow-work was.... insufficient against it, but when I went up to chat with it personally.... it was weaker than I need have feared it for. It went down and I took its weapon—a Lighting Rod. How interesting....

There were more bokoblins in the way as well; I didn’t bother tussling with them just then.

The last sprint brought me past some.... very large oxen or yaks or some breed of longhorn buffalo grazing in the shallow riverbed.

They were all facing me.

I gave them a wide berth.

After that I veered over to solid ground—the water looked deeper ahead, but it would only be a short swim to the Shrine—

And a voice called, “Hoy, you there!”

I looked around.

Centaurs?

“Over here!” said the voice.

I looked in the river.

It was a Zora.

He was long, and limber, with a sleekly pointed nose like a shark’s, deep turquoise skin and a pale front and face, and golden eyes with slit pupils. And sharp teeth.

He introduced himself as Ledo, and he said it was fortunate he had found me, because his master, Prince Sidon of the Zora, was in need of a good, strong Hylian.

Prince Sidon, eh? Named for the mighty river, perhaps? How appropriate.

Either that or because it sounded like Poseidon. Maybe when he’s a daddy people can call him Pa Sidon.

I am so not sorry for that.

He said it would be good for me to meet with this Prince Sidon, who was away upstream beyond the Sheikah Tower, near a bridge—because, as he was royalty, he would be able to reward me handsomely for any service I could render him. Ledo and his prince would get the help they needed, I would get a reward.... win-win, right?

“But.... Mister Zora....” I explained that I really wanted to reach that Shrine first. It was right there. And it was surrounded with briars.

There was a tower to paraglide from nearby, but it couldn’t get me over the thatch.

Ledo was a patient fellow waiting there for me, but he didn’t offer any hints about the Shrine.

He was very polite, an elegant fellow. I did want to help him. Impa had said to meet with the leaders of the four races, after all. But....

That Shrine was right there.... How was I supposed to get in?