Privy Thoughts Again

Evening of Wednesday, June 19, 2019 (comprised of many raw note editings from May 1 through May 10, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long)

Privy Thoughts Again

I had asked the interwebs the previous day. Or the day before. For help. Help on the last two shrines. There was no answer for a long time.

But there was an answer today.

But I didn’t look at it. Because David.... encouraged me not to. He told me I was like the church member who finally just said That’s it I’m gonna try a beer, and then ALL my friends who drink would be like NONONONONO DON’T DO THAT??

Keepin’ me on the straight and narrow.

So I left the thread alone.

And I never went back.

That teaser for a Breath of the Wild sequel came out the other day.... I saw Link and Zelda traveling underground..... leading some large, horned pack-beast.... and Zelda had cut her hair!

And I just thought Underground.... underground....

If I play that game.... and I don’t meet up again with Master Kohga....

If Master Kohga doesn’t appear again with his antics

and all his silly dialogue....

If I don’t get to kick that guy’s butt again

until he becomes a good guy,

becomes a part of my nakama,

becomes my Friend....

Well that would just be the saddest panda.

~

Is nakama even the right word?

I can’t remember my Japanese art history class....

~

I had only one hundred and eighteen shrines.

....

I must....

I must look forward.

I cannot see another way....

Do I dawdle?

Do I try?

Where do I go?

....

My shoulder was too girly and roundy; no way the Little Link was gonna stay put there. I reclined him comfortably on the couch beside me instead.

....

I saved.

I went.

And I was in the Library. In a little concealed hidey-hole that had somehow always escaped my notice until now, hidden behind another Magnesable bookshelf at the head of the room.

The King’s Study.

Saved here, and....

There was a chest, with a gold rupee inside it, and....

There was a book.

Sitting open on a stately desk.

King Rhoam’s Journal.

The Writings of

Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule

Today, as the sun rose and a new day

was born, my daughter, too, joined this

sweet world.

Oh.... such a span of years in this journal!

In keeping with the traditions of

the royal family, I have decided

to name her...Zelda.

I am not a man accustomed to frivolous

musings, but now seems as good a time

as any to begin my royal memorandum.

Next.

Reports keep arriving regarding the

excavation of relics. The fortune teller’s

predictions seem to be coming true.

That Fortune-Teller again....

Calamity Ganon was not a figure of fable,

or even of legend. He actually existed in

our great land of Hyrule.

What was that even like? To not know, to have him be so distant.... So distant it feels like just a legend. A story....

We must investigate all the relics, learn

as much as we can. But understanding

the Divine Beasts alone will take time...

Zelda’s eyes lit up like a wildfire when

I told her about the relics... I must admit,

she has a knack for research.

The King admits it.... But.... He still must have felt the sway of the mighty responsibilities on their shoulders....

Next.

My Queen has left this world. [Oh....] Her death

was so sudden and unexpected, I awaken

most nights unsure if she is really gone.

Zelda never cried, never faltered. [No?] Not

even during the royal funeral or later

when she and I were alone with our grief.

I must assume her strength is a result of

us repeatedly informing her of her duty

to be a valiant and steady princess.

I wonder.... That woman from her dream....

For a child of merely six [Six??] years of age,

her conduct was truly that of a born

leader. Her strength gives me hope.

From now on, I must raise her all alone...

Now, only I remain to prepare her for her

difficult future as princess of Hyrule.

I wonder.... if there have ever been Hyrulean Princesses who were not named Zelda....

Next.

Zelda finally reported back after her visit

to the fountain. [Oh not this day already, surely....] It seems her sacred

sealing power has still yet to awaken.

It has been a year and three months

since her mother passed. [Oh, no, she was younger then.... a different fountain maybe....] Perhaps she is

held back by heartache too deep to heal.

If the Ganon prophecy wasn’t looming

over our heads, I would tell her to take

her time... To wait until she is ready.

They—or he—did feel the pressure, then.

But our situation is dire and leaves no

room for weakness—even on behalf of

my beloved daughter.

It.... must have been hard. For him.

My heart breaks for Zelda, but I must act

as a king, not a father. I must order her

to train relentlessly at the fountain.

Next.

I was told Zelda went off to research

ancient technology, so I had no

choice but to confront her about it.

That day.

She claims she was simply using her day

off from training to indulge in a bit of

research, but still I scolded her.

She won’t get it through her head...

Forcing me to tell her the same thing

I have been repeating ad nauseam.

No but she must have known.... But felt so helpless....

The reason her sacred powers still won’t

awaken is because she’s spending all her

efforts playing at being a scholar!

Huhhhh.

Next.

In truth, I understand Zelda’s feelings.

Painfully so. She lost her mother, her

teacher, before she could learn from her.

Ten pointless years of self-training,

without so much as a book or note

to help her find her way...

It sounds.... hard.

Those in the castle talk behind her back.

And I, her only family, scold her for

her shortcomings.

Hhhhh.

No wonder she wishes to hide away in

her beloved relic research. I’d love

nothing more than to console her...

These two poor hard lost souls.

But I must stay strong. She MUST

fulfill her duty, just as we all must.

Even if she comes to despise me.

I cannot fault him. He is being a father. He is being a man.

Next.

I have been told my Zelda went to the

Spring of Wisdom...

Not this day.

This will likely be her last chance. [....Does he.... sense something, somehow?]

If she is unable to awaken her power

at Lanayru, all hope is truly lost.

No.

Please, do not tell me the King died thinking ruin and calamity had come upon him because of his daughter....

If she comes back without success,

then I shall speak kindly with her.

Scolding is pointless now.

Lost.... lost....

Lost chances.

I forced 10 years of training on her...

and after all that, it seems her power

will stubbornly awaken some other way.

Perhaps I should encourage her to keep

researching her beloved relics. They may

just lead her to answers I can’t provide.

For now, I sit anxiously, more a father

than a king in this moment. I sit and

await my daughter’s return.

....

That.... is the end.

This study.

....

I wonder how it ended for him.

....

I have to go.

I will try to make my way to the top.

After I save again....

~

 

The Devil Sympathetic

Waking of Wednesday, June 20, 2018 ~ 3

The Devil Sympathetic

It was the other side. I had come out on the other side. The Death Hole Arena.

And a round-bellied Yiga appeared.

I gasped.

“YOU!” I said. It had to be him.

David was confused, and asked if I’d seen this person before.

No I hadn’t but it had to be him. That traveler, the one I crossed on my way to the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab for the first time, north of Chariots of Fire Beach. She had talked about him. Fawned over him. Gushed about his belly-dancing skills....

I hadn’t bothered to remember the name—Lord Somebody or something—but this had to be the guy.

“What are you doing in my napping spot?” the round-bellied man asked.

I blinked. Well at least he was up for talking....

“Oh! That thing on your hip, could it be...? A Sheikah Slate?”

Yeah.

“Then YOU MUST BE.... that Link guy I’ve been searching for! Oh this is wonderful! My scouts are out everywhere looking for you, and here you come waltzing right into my lair!”

Or some such words. And then he blustered something like, “Oh but I’m getting ahead of myself—I haven’t even introduced myself.” He drew himself up.... “The mighty, the powerful....” and up— “the ONE, the ONLY....”

So many grandiose gesticulations.... and camera angles to match.

“Master Kohga!” he finally finished.

Ah.... I remembered.... That had been the name....

Unfortunately, even after all the niceties, he still wanted to beat me up, and he told me so in as many or more words.

He had a cordiality about him that I rather liked.... A kind of honest openness. I like it when they talk; to me it always seems to signify a measure of refinement, regardless of the tone of the message. Indeed, couldn’t we all try a little civil discourse before resorting to fisticuffs?

Not that there was much discourse I guess. I am a mute.

....

Link is the best Hero.

David suggested I take a pictograph, and I did, phewf. It was distorted as the Yiga Lord had cast a very blue protective shield in front of himself just at that moment, but it was enough for my Compendium to go on.

There were three phases to this battle, and it, like Master Kohga’s banter, was refreshingly light.

In the first phase, Master Kohga conjured above his head a large, round stone with wicked markings on it. These he hurled at me one at a time, and they were blessedly easy to dodge. But I soon found the window wherein he briefly dropped his magical guard, and used it to shove an arrow down his throat. The rock fell and landed on his head, and down he went and in I ran and gave him a hefty what-for.

In the second phase he leapt into the air and HOVERED OVER THE DEATH HOLE. Oh my.... He then readied two rocks, and these he set into an orbit around his person, on a plane that faced me like a clock. At first I just went back to taking potshots at him, whereupon he would lose the spell and the rocks would drop.... But then David pressed the idea into me that maybe if I just waited a little longer....

I did, and didn’t loose an arrow until one of the rocks was directly over his head.... and then fired.

That did a little more damage. ^_^

Between the phases of the battle he just got hoppin’ mad....

In the third phase he forgot the rocks and conjured a giant metal ball with spikes on it.

Metal, huh?

It was a little tricky to catch, but I was able to stop the ball with Magnesis, and then thrust it back in his face!

Down he went again, onto the edge-ground before the Death Hole.

“Ugh, I can’t go out like this... what to do, what to do...”

I almost felt pity. “What do you want to.... get me for so bad, Master Kohga?”

And then brilliance seemed to strike him. “I know!” he said, “I’ll prepare my most powerful attack, the secret technique taught by my father’s mother’s father!”

Not quite against my will, I felt a rush of fondness for the man—well done knowing your heritage!—and thought of my own father’s mother’s father, Silas. I think he was the only one among his siblings to be born in town. The older ones had all been born out on their homestead near Decker Wash. But the Indian attacks were just getting to be too much....

I was pulled back into the game when Master Kohga employed this “technique”, and summoned an ENORMOUS spiked ball of metal, which sank down through the air until it settled ponderously onto the ground in between us, so that we lost sight of each other completely.

Wut.... Is it heavy? I wondered.

Master Kohga went on about his mighty technique, and how it was definitely going to destroy me.... I think. I’m afraid I can’t remember exactly, because it was just so.... ridiculous.... Because as he was talking, the ball very slowly began to roll toward him....

I guess the ground was tilted....

And in a shock he tried to leap out of the way, but there was nowhere left to retreat except backward—into the pit.

“I’ll be remembered!” he shouted as he fell with a howl, giving me Batman Beyond flashbacks.

“The Yiga Clan will track you to the ends of Hyruuuuule!”

Thud.

Distant and muffled.

....

And I wondered.... I truly wondered.... whether I would ever meet Master Kohga again.

A treasure chest poofed into being above the edge of the pit, in that orange glow and cloud of fluttering paper signs the Yiga are so fond of.

It was the Thunder Helm.

Yes.