Never The End

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) ~ 5

Never The End

Credits.

It was really the Credits.

The game was done.

The game.... was done.

I let them wash over me.

And as they rolled, Mom asked, “Are there going to be any more Zelda games?”

Ah-heh, well.... I knew just the thing to show her.

But for whatever reason I kept it inside and only probed what she knew....

“Why do you ask?” I said, letting just a little tightness into my voice, and wondering what she suspected.

“I don’t want you to commit suicide.”

Oh.

Oh Mom—

I don’t remember if—I don’t think I responded, but only.... went back into the credits.

We were looking at the pictures, and I was identifying them.... And I saw the American’s name! Wow! He was one of only two programmers for the wildlife! They did such a wonderful job. ^_^ And I was so happy for him for going so far to follow his dream....

....

Mom.

....

I guess if someone who loves you sees you wounded, and hears you name your salve, even in dark jesting.... they don’t forget it easy.

I don’t even know if the cure is real or psychosomatic.

Maybe it doesn’t matter.

These were the most relaxing credits I had ever seen in my life. At least, that I could think of just then. Slow through the serene iterations of familiar musics.

I gave a little cheer at the name of Eiji Aonuma! And did some up-and-down worshipful bowing from the couch. Mom laughed.

And I gave another at Shigeru Miyamoto!

And at.... Satoru Iwata.

I told Mom that he’d passed away.

Still glad to see his name in this beautiful game.

The Legend of Zelda ~ Breath of the Wild

Copyright 2017

Or some such words.

This last segment came to a stop and hung still in the middle of the screen.

2017.

Two years ago.

I can still remember standing in the cold outside the GameStop. I was first in line. And that employee with the glasses and the handsomely-trimmed scruff had been so friendly. Despite that he almost forgot to give me my amiibos as well.... See the preorder receipt.... ?

It’d been a long journey.

The serene credits finished into a breathless black.

And then.... the Castle....

I had never seen it so still and sunlit before.

Birds even chirped.

Zelda and I stood before the ruined gates in the sunlight. I in my blue Champion’s Tunic, she still in her beautiful White Dress.

The malice was gone.

And the Castle was in ruins.

But.... it was quiet now.

It was at peace.

We looked on it.... and then turned our backs to go.

....as high above among the spires, the spirits of the Four Champions.... and lastly of Her Father....

                                                                                    ....departed from this world.

Seeming to sense something, Zelda stopped and looked back.

So did I—

A blue breeze was blowing through the air....

The sky was full of Silent Princess petals.

But the Princess only gazed up at her once home, the sun beyond beaming it into a silhouette.... into a line.... into a memory....

The Piano that had softly accompanied us, having had no real aim for the spotlight anymore, now turned the final notes of its wanderings to the familiar ascending Theme of Legend, as the view arced up into the blue, blue sky....

The End

But it wasn’t.

We were on a hillside. Zelda and I.

Somewhere southeast of the castle, seemed like....

Zelda once again wore the blue tunic and dark trousers in which she had so often traveled in my memories. Boots and all. She held the Sheikah Slate in her hands.

“We’ll make our way to Zora’s Domain. Divine Beast Vah Ruta...looks like it stopped working. Let’s investigate the situation.”

There was something there, I thought. Something in that last sentence. A kind of spark.

The Princess was still a nerd.

And confident, and brilliant, and determined.

She was going to make it.

But her glittering eyes softened after a moment, and she looked up.

“Mipha’s father...” she murmured, “I believe he would like to hear more about her. The least we can do is visit him and offer him some closure.”

The Piano and the Pipe courted about the hillside on the simple Hero’s Theme, as the sun shone so brightly on the rolling grass.

“Although Ganon is gone for now, there is still so much more for us to do.”

Some clouds still rolled between, though.

“And so many painful memories that we must bear.”

The Princess took a few steps forward down the hill, standing confidently.

“I believe in my heart, that if all of us work together... we can restore Hyrule to its former glory. Perhaps...even beyond.” Right on that hopeful secondary dominant, Pipe, you dastardly genius.... “But it all must start with us,” Zelda finished.

The dancing pair on the grass invited the rest of the Orchestra to the theme.

“Let’s be off,” Zelda said. And started walking straightaway.

Like she did.

And.... I followed. That gilded sheath still bearing the Master Sword on my back.

Ah.... our horses. Grazing higher up the hill.

And hers so white—was that Memory she was riding, then?

It suited her.

....

It suited them both.

Zelda came near to them, but.... stopped before she got there.

I was once again faced, as I had been many times before, by only her unreadable, lovely blonde mane of hair....

It wasn’t long before she spoke.

“I can no longer hear the voice within the sword,” she halted again.

I knew that she had yearned for some connection, some awakening. To lose it again....

“I suppose it would make sense if my power had dwindled over the past 100 years...”

Princess Zelda turned then and looked at me, and even the Orchestra took pause.

The wells of her eyes ran for a thousand miles and looked.... tired of it.

But she allowed the sorrow only a moment’s heaviness on her gaze before softly blinking it away with a little turn.

“I’m surprised to admit it...” she started, and something else shaped her lips now. Something brighter, as she faced me directly. “But you know? I think I’m all right with that,” she said.... and smiled.

And the Deku Tree was right.

She did have a smile like the sun.

And I jogged just a few paces to come even with her, and follow her to the horses, as the camera swept back from the beautiful, sunlit hillside, up the slope to where the Silent Princess flowers grew all over, in the lofty heights overlooking the ruggedly beautiful kingdom of Hyrule.

The End

.....

There’s a star by my last save file.

....

I’ma look at it.

2 Spirit Orbs

118 Shrines

534 Koroks

2089 Rupees

In the castle.

And I have the pictograph of Ganon’s butt.

So.

Do I go seek shrines from here?

Or from a previous save?

If I wish to maintain this choice....

I cannot move.

....

Hm.

I quit for now.

.... Soon.

If I were to go back to a previous save, wherein I had not beaten the game yet....

That would do no justice to the adventure I just completed.

.... I feel as though I faced the same thing in.... Skyward Sword.... somewhere....

Yes. I quit for now.

....

I’m still short two shrines.

But.... should I say....

You know?

I think I’m all right with that.

 

 

 

The Princess and the King

Waking of Monday, April 22, 2019 ~ 3

The Princess and the King

I killed it. I killed the Flyer that had been circling the Princess’ adjoining tower. And a Turret that had targeted me from behind when I ventured out onto the bridge.

The memory was right there. I took a couple of pictographs, as I’d been doing at the site of every memory, but.... I didn’t recall it yet.

Instead I went across the way into.... Princess Zelda’s Study.

That’s what this tower was, was it?

There was a Silent Princess growing in here, springing up through the tumbled floorboards. I decided I would leave it alone.

And there was another diary—Princess Zelda’s research notes.

There were mentions of Impa, Purah, and Robbie, the discovery of the Sheikah Slate, and restoring functionality to it, and what it could do.... The Princess seemed particularly impressed that it could record images. Without the trained hand of an artist.

The research notes also mentioned the unearthing of the Guardians.... She said records indicated the Guardians were stored in five giant columns beneath the castle—[those things?]—But she said no matter how she looked, she could not locate these columns, and guessed they must have been buried deep.

Those giant columns.... I had seen a Guardian perched on top of one of them.... How were they even deployed? It must have been nightmarish.... All I could envision were Guardians spilling out the tops of those pillars like so many spiders.... and Castle Town.... wouldn’t have had a prayer.

I’d thought the mighty Pillars had aided somehow in containing Calamity Ganon, but.... maybe they were solely in Ganon’s power after all. They did glow red.... Maybe their massive presence and dark possession was the reason the Malice was so thick here to begin with....

In Zelda’s research notes again were recountings of the Champions mastering their Divine Beasts. Mipha had taken to it the fastest, heh....

And there was a passage regarding.... the Shrine of Resurrection.

I drew in a sharp breath when I read that.

She detailed its function and what it could do, but....

She hoped its power would not be needed.

....

When the time is right in the day, I will recall the memory.

But I fear this place.... It’s the wee hours now, but.... I have seen, every midnight, the air thickens....

Is every night a Blood Moon Night here?

Nice, this bridge. That Zelda should have a lovely walkway between her bedroom and her study. The views must have been glorious once. Now.... there’s just so much Malice....

I wait for the day to turn. I like to be in.... similar conditions. To the pictographs.

I climb the spire above her study—find a Korok!

Had to get on the far side so a Guardian wouldn’t see me from below. A decayed one, down on the circuiting road.

Oh the day is all dusk all day in this Malicious bluster....

The time is right. The ten o’clock hour in the morning and the shadows line up. I go back down onto the bridge.

Memory....

Zelda and I walked on the battlement in the sunlight, I in my same Blue Tunic and she in that beautiful long dress—wait no was it even the same one? But she was beautiful anyway, and—a Guardian! crawled on the grass down below, surrounded by attendant Sheikah tribesmen, seemingly leading it along.

Zelda leaned over the battlements and looked down on it.... fondly. And.... ughuh, it sent a squirm through my gut.

She was pleased that we’d come to a point where we could actually control them. But....

“What are you doing out here, Zelda?”

The voice was a man’s I hadn’t heard before. Deep, and gruff.

We turned.

The clothes were rich and exquisite. Guards flanked the doorway behind him.

It was....

King Rhoam.

I sank to one knee and bowed my head and did not move again.

But Zelda could only face him.

He.... tore into her.

He had told her to forget bothering with these ancient machines while she had an as yet unfulfilled duty to her kingdom!

She knew that—she knew—

She brought up that she and I had only just been to the Spring of Courage, where she had poured out every ounce of her prayers to the Goddess—

“And yet you are back here, wasting your time!” the King held it in her face.

Zelda pressed that she was doing everything she could—there was nothing else she could do!

But the King was a hard man and he wouldn’t have it. “You must be single-minded in your training...” he went on again.

I did not move.

“Do you know what the rumormongers are calling you? They are saying that you are heir to a throne of nothing. Nothing but failure.” Some—such—words—

The sting!

I.... could only draw my breath.

So harsh.

But could I blame him?

And could I blame her?

“But it is woven into your destiny to prove them wrong,” the King continued, and I sighed in gratitude at his grace.

But the King was still a hard man.

“As King, I forbid you to have anything more to do with these ancient machines. Do you understand?”

I had no power here.

And neither did the Princess, in the face of her father the King.

She was trapped.

“Yes,” she could only answer, while the Guradian only swiveled between its handlers down on the lawn....

The sound coming out of the memory was different this time.

I have all the memories now.

I have to go back to Impa.

....

And I need more arrows.

The Princess is a Nerd

Waking of Monday, March 18, 2019

The Princess is a Nerd

Looking for Shrines.

Bottom of Lake Totori. Nope. Just a lot of swimming and Stamina games. And dripping through the air shafts.

The Devil’s Own Highway, via Moza’s.... enchanting abode. Nope. Just some Koroks and coyotes.

Purifier Lake. Killed the Hinox and the Lynel. Rusty Shield finally gave out in a blaze of glory.

Nope.

The eastern skirts of the volcano. Found some ruins, the Shadow Hamlet Ruins.... But nope.

The northeastern shore of the mainland. Nope.

There was....

....

I needed a Korok Leaf....

Warped to the forest and picked one off the ground. Finally spoke to one Kula the Korok, who wanted to see an Ice Rod. Heh, another Nebb....

I was busy.

Boating around Lomei Labyrinth Island. Nope.

Almost drowned when the wind blew away my boat after I swam to the border. But there was ground to stand on at the island.

No shrines.... where are there more shrines....

Tried a bit around the northeastern Central Plains. Nope.

The northern skirts of the Gerudo Highlands, as far west as I could go. Nope.

The eastern edge of that bowl of jungle-forest on the way to the Spring of Courage. Nope.

Hateno.

....Cooked more meals. That Lynel was brutal.

Bed.

Sleep.

Good night.

Just kidding.

Came back late when everyone else had gone toward bed. To bed.

Checked out Strock Lake. Very strange winds. Lots of treasure, a few Koroks, butt-tons of Lizalfos and a heckton of trouble. But no shrines. Nope.

Checked out the western edges of the Central Plains. Nope.

Hem and haw. Shilly Shally.

....

I shall.

I warped to the shrine near Serenne. And.... I moved toward the memory.

Uh.

There was a memory near there, just to the south and east a bit. A memory by a tree on a grassy hill, with the back side of the Castle in the distance. I’d seen it before. Even stood in it. Why did I never mention it before? How disgusted I am with myself as a journaler....

Maybe it was when I was looking for Mei. That run all the way across the Elma Knolls....

I did not rely too heavily on my map, but decided to go by sight in the midst of the thunderstorm. Stalgoons came out to waylay me, but I am a quick-change artist.

The first batch I left behind.

The second batch popped out right before I could get to the tree. Ugh. I did not want to wear down my weapons dealing with them, but I didn’t want to view the memory with them hanging around either. They all three told me their life stories for like three or four hours....

“Dawn take you all and be stone to you,” I urged them under my breath.

And at five in the morning.... they did.

The Memory....

Zelda and I sat near the tree on a beautiful sunny day, Zelda taking pictographs of all the flowers she could find. We were just sitting. The flowers were so lovely....

“The flowers of Hyrule aren’t just beautiful,” she says, “But they are also incredibly useful.” She expounded on their various properties and their uses as herbs and ingredients.

And then.... she stopped, seeming to slow down and breathe as her eyes softened.

“This one here...”

And then I saw it.

“This one is called the silent princess. It’s a rare, endangered species. Despite all our efforts, we’re not yet able to grow them domestically.”

She stroked it so lovingly. I felt suddenly guilty for picking every single one I could get my mitts on....

“The princess thrives out here, in the wild.”

Her eyes still looked at it.... though they looked at a thousand things more that I couldn’t see.

Does she now.

“The best we can hope is that it continues to grow strongly out here in the wild.”

I looked over her shoulder at the flower.... before with an excited little yelp the princess lunged forward on her hands and knees like a child.

“Oh I can’t believe I’ve caught one! Look at this!” She turned back to me with her hands cupped in front of her. “Ta-da!” She opened them.

A green frog chirruped and puffed and wriggled in her palms.

“They say that ingesting this specimen can actually enhance certain attributes!” Her eyes became more focused than I’d ever seen them before; he speech quickened; it all seemed to come flooding out of her.

Oh . . . I breathed out a single, hard little sigh in the shape of a smile.

I could see now.

There you are, I thought.

The princess.... was a nerd.

“And we wouldn’t be in a controlled environment out here, but with your excellent physical condition,” she kept coming closer, “you would make the perfect candidate to test this theory!”

And closer!

“Go on!” she urged excitedly, thrusting the frog into my face as it hopped up from her palms!

“Taste it!”

I backed up.... gasping in.... hesitation for I dare not say disgust here why oh gosh she’s the princess....

Oh my gosh.... the princess.... is a NERD. X-)

After coming back to myself I took a portrait. Several portraits. Then culled. Narrowed. Until I was satisfied.

In flicking through my albums, I saw that the pictograph of Windblight Ganon.... it had four.... protrutions out the back, like Revali’s four braids.... and I felt.... sick....

Enough.

HATENO.

HOUSE.

BED.

It was 11:something in the morning. Slept ‘til noon.

The Blade Of Evil's Bane

Afternoon of Saturday, February 24, 2018 ~ 2

The Blade Of Evil’s Bane

[[In which Contraltissimo cheats by reviewing game footage one more time instead of relying solely upon memory and notes, since it has been so, so dread long]]

I walked across the stones, and.... there was the Sword. It demanded my attention through a brief cinematic.

The Master Sword.

It stood in a triangular pedestal, and Silent Princess flowers grew all around it....

I.... took a pictograph, for the Compendium, before coming closer.

The Master Sword!

I reached forward and touched it to draw it out.

Flash!

Images—Zelda’s voice—Ganon—the rain—I was hurt—

And I was backing away, reeling.... dazed....

“Well, well,” the giant tree in the middle of the woods spoke, “It’s . . . you.”

Or some . . . what . . . I . . .

I mean I knew I’d been getting closer to the middle of the forest and I knew there was that giant tree there and I’d seen its branches from far away and I always thought it kinda looked like a cherry tree in bloom but everything had seemed so dead but—

My gosh, I had not been expecting this giant tree to .... talk to me.

“I was beginning to lose hope that you’d ever show up. Even my patience has limits, you know.” Or some . . . such . . . words?

“Pocahontas . . . that tree is talking to me,” I said.... or thought.... I think....

The voice was slow, deep, airy.... and decidedly affected.

Well, they were big lips to match.

Koroks gamboled about the woods.

This was the Deku Tree, a being who had watched over Hyrule since time immemorial.

He knew who I was, but I had no memory of him.

But he told me about the sword—the sword with the power to seal away the darkness. He told me it was I who had wielded the Master Sword one hundred years ago against Calamity Ganon. And that it could only be wielded by the knight—the Hero—worthy to defeat such an evil.

I had been that Knight.

But the Deku Tree warned me even so: the Master Sword was not to be taken lightly. It still exacted a test of and a placed burden upon any who would dare to possess it.

It felt as if.... it had a fierce will all of its own....

If I tried to take it in any kind of weakened state, I would lose my life where I stood.

I might have reached into my pockets for an apple or something at this point. Just to get up to full hearts. I had a good number of them....

Well.... If I had wielded it once before....

I set my hands around the hilt . . . . and pulled.

Dyoop . . . Dyoop . . . Dyoop . . .

My hearts began to drain out. Fast.

....

Alarmingly fast.

Dyoop . . Dyoop . .

And faster still....

THE SWORD BUDGED.

Dyoop. Dyoop. Dyoop. Faster and faster—

The sword budged bit by bit—

And as my hearts neared their lower limit—

I pulled it out.

And I raised it up.

And that fanfare—that iconically Zelda fanfare played in so grandiose and great and terrible a crashing as I never had heard it before—

The screen went white.

“Your master will come for you,” said Zelda’s voice.

The Master Sword lay on the triangular pedestal.

It was....

It was a wreck. Battered and stained and with deep gouges and notches and cuts into its blade.

And Princess Zelda....

She looked no better off.

She wore the same white dress she had worn as she prayed in the Spring of Power, but now it was all muddied and dirty. She was filthy; there were smudges on her arms, her shoulders, her face, dirt and grime browning her hair.... She looked a mess—What had happened to her?

The Princess had brought the sword here for safekeeping, until I could come to claim it again—she was so certain that I would come to claim it again, though the Sleep of Restoration would drain me of my memories.... so certain....

They exchanged some words, the Princess and the Tree. There was something else yet that she had to do, but she asked the Deku Tree if he could deliver a message to me for her. “Tell him I—” she started. But—

“Now then,” the Deku Tree’s voice interrupted, resonating deeply and warmly, “Don’t you think it would sound better in your own voice?”

The Princess smiled. “Yes,” she said.

The Master Sword still lay battered on the ground. When Zelda finally did bend down, it was with the utmost tenderness and a Grecian grace that she laid her hands on the hilt.... raised it high, the tip pointing downward.... her eyes closed in penetrating meditation for a moment.... and then lowered it slowly into the pedestal—sealing it in place with a last downward thrust.

Holy light seemed to shine up from the earth in a tiny shaft about the blade where the sword stood alone, in the grove of the Deku Tree....

I lowered the sword and moved through a few vigorous practice-swings before sheathing it—in that blue sheath with the golden trim—

The Deku Tree seemed to know that I had just relived one of my memories. He told me that when I had become separated from the Sword, the Princess had thought to bring it here, where she knew it would be safe under the his watch.

But as for herself.... she was still fighting, trapped within the confines of the castle, waiting for the time when I would be able to free her again.

“She has a smile like the sun,” the Deku Tree said, and for just a moment, the affectation melted away, and I could have sworn the great trunk of him bowed back in a wistful skyward glance, “I would do much to feel its warmth upon me again.”

A smile like the sun.

That was beautiful . . . .

But the lovely spell was shortly broken and gave way to a giddiness I didn’t quite expect, when that four-note theme, indicating a new acquisition, played in a somewhat slower, hammier style than I think I’d heard it before. “Yooou geeet theee thiiiing!” I was always wont to sing along with it....

Oh my gosh....

I HAVE THE MASTER SWORD.

I HAVE THE MASTER SWORD.

The Deku Tree told me not to rely too much on its power, and to avoid overusing it when I didn’t need to, or I would have to wait for its power to recover.... but....

I HAVE THE MASTER SWORD.

When I had come through quite every cinematic, I moved slowly forward. The woods, Korok Woods, sprawled temptingly in every direction, several Koroks standing here and there and everywhere whom I knew would not disappear at my approach. Some of them were tailed by little exclamation marks, indicating quests or tasks they might ask of me. They perched among the giant tangles of the Deku Tree’s roots, or stood by the heads of trails that led off to who knew where, into this forest that seemed so enormously youthful as it burst with life and water and color, flowers and mushrooms and strange luminescent pods growing in the jovial celebration just short of a tendrily riot—

But....

Not yet....

I stepped forward, regarding the chirruping creatures kindly but not pausing to speak with any of them. My shrine-locator was still brreeping, and it wasn’t until I had locked down the Keo Ruug Shrine that I allowed myself to relax at all.

And relax I wanted to.

Though I’m just a little sorry to say that one of the first things I did was muster the gall to go climbing up the Deku Tree—all up the side of his face now, really—until I had reached the top.

There was a Korok up there.

The color of his face and the fine shape of his hinted moustache made me nickname him Colonel Mustard, right there.

But when I spoke to him, he asked me if I were ready to take on some kind of super-challenge.

What? No! I backed out. What did he want of me?

But Colonel Mustard only laughed at my poor timid hesitance—a wicked little cackle that made David laugh, too—“I’ve never heard him do that before!” he said.

Enough.

I paraglided back down to the ground, and climbed a gently sloping root until I came to a kind of large knothole in the Deku Tree’s front. It seemed to be some kind of hub....

The Deku Tree’s Navel? That was the name of this place? Um. ._.

There was a hollow space inside, the ceiling a bit low, but not oppressive; it was rather cozy—and there was a lit wok in the center.... and a small Goddess Statue to one side.... and two alcoves manned by two Koroks selling homely forest goods—and somehow Shock Arrows—I bought those right up.... and one alcove more....

“This is my favorite character in the game,” said David.

“Really?”

He had been hinting that his favorite was around here somewhere....

This alcove contained what was unmistakably a bed, formed from perfectly twisted, shapely segments of natural wood, blanketed with broad, soft-looking leaves, and nestled among great fungusy shelves growing from the barked walls like bedside tables while one of the luminescent pods kept vigil.

I spoke to the attendant Korok, Pepp, who.... well now I think about it had kind of an ironic name for how sleepy he was. XD

Pepp had been waiting for me ever since I had gone, keeping this bed ready for whenever I should return. And it was with the tiniest, most helpful, eager, sweetloving vocalizations that he expressed his dear little hopes to me that I, the Hero, would lie down in the bed that he had been making and keeping and freshening just for me for a hundred years. How hopeful he sounded that I would like the thing that he made. <3

It was these noises that had struck David so, and given him such a liking for the little guy.

And hearing him for myself.... kinda gave me a liking for him too. :3 My gosh he was so cute.... X3

And so, as it was late, I fulfilled little Pepp’s dearest wish, and lay down in his leafy bed, asking him to wake me in the morning.... before drifting off to sleep.

The Silent Treatment

Waking of Friday, April 14, 2017

The Silent Treatment

It was time for a new plan.

I had seen Sheikah Towers in close range of two of the places I could comfortably haunt. One was up on a hill behind the Woodland Stable, above the river that bent toward the castle. The other was northward beyond the hills of Upland Zorana, in what had to be Akkala.

I would first climb and activate the tower behind the stable, and thereby attain a map of the area. And if, from whatever the map could tell me, the river steered clear enough away from the castle, then I would follow it, for Mei. But it if ran too close to Calamity Ganon, then I would head to Akkala, and Mei would have to wait.

Because I wouldn’t be able to help anybody if I got myself killed along the way.

I needed this Robbie, I needed more shrines....

I needed to get stronger.

Why was I so set on finding the missing Mei?

Maybe it was just that a missing person seemed so much more desperate than getting rid of a Hinox, or harvesting luminous stones.... Maybe it was just poor Fronk. And poor Fronk’s children, Tumbo and Keye.

Where was their wife and mother?

I had to make one last effort for now, but first I would take a couple of pit stops along the way to the Woodland Stable....

Was I visiting with the Prince again when I left? Whom did I give a heart attack to when I teleported away from Zora’s Domain....?

My first stop was Cotera’s Forest, above Kakariko Village. There were living Silent Princess flowers in there, and perhaps Tye and Sorelia—that was her name—would react better to a pictograph of one of them.

I found the flower, snapped its image, and was on my way.

The fairies had still not returned to those woods.

Did I destroy their population when I caught so many there before....?

I wonder....

My next stop was the shrine near where I first met Ledo, in the river by the wetlands. I could reach Tye and Sorelia’s camp easily enough from there.

I had it out with some stray lizalfos, swam to the shore, killed a mounted bokoblin, briefly mounted his black appaloosa—but, not wanting to get attached to it, I got off again pretty quick—and jogged to Tye and Sorelia’s camp.

Those two, I swear, I can’t leave them alone for one minute.

Tye was trading sword strokes with one black—er, blue.... blue bokoblin, while the other blue bokoblin was chasing Sorelia around the field. Blasted base animals....

I gave the Hylians a hand in finishing off the monsters, and then the three of us reconvened at their little shelter.

This was it, surely. I would show them the pictograph of the flower, and then they would want to know where it was, and I would tell them somehow, so they could go make their vows.... but not before I took a pictograph of them to take back to Kapson in Zora’s Domain, and he could marry them!

But I could not show them my pictograph.

There was no option. I couldn’t tell them about it.

I tried tuning my Sheikah Slate’s sensor to detect Silent Princess flowers. Maybe they would hear and remark on the beeping....

They didn’t.

What did I need to do to draw their attention to it?

I tried again dropping an actual specimen of Silent Princess at their feet, on the ground before their eyes, but they said nothing.

WHAT MORE DID THEY WANT?

It was a chore picking that thing back up, let me tell you, trying to maneuver to a place where the A button would let me collect an item rather than speak to a person.

Tye.... you’re killin’ me, man, you gotta work with me here, come on....

I snapped their pictograph where they sat anyway. For Kapson. I don’t know why.

It was a good pictograph.

The Fool Remiss

Waking of Saturday, March 25, 2017 ~ 3

The Fool Remiss

Just after the wetlands, I wandered into a dry flat stretch, and the sun was going down. A little pillar of smoke rose on the far side of a prominent hill before me.

Friend?

Or foe?

....I went to investigate.

And who should I see on the other side, but two struggling travelers having it out with a couple of black bokoblins. Huh. Well.

The man stood near the fire—well, footed it back and forth, really, as he bandied blades with his opponents. He looked quite dashing actually, landing a blow with his sword here and there and sending his assailants flying.

The woman meanwhile had fled a short distance toward where I was coming from and was now looking on helplessly.

I approached and studied her as she shrieked in terror, in desperation—she had large, quiet eyes and a wide, roundish nose on her face.

“She looks like one of ‘em,” David said.

I inwardly concurred. Just look at her stupid pouty lips....

The man was holding his own fairly well for a while—I was impressed. But eventually the bokoblins bested him. He went down and they walloped away on his prone form while the stars circled his head.

I supposed this was as good a time as any for me to step in.

I honestly can’t remember how I dispatched the bokoblins. Did I draw them away and beat them up? Or just snipe them both in the face? Maybe both—arrows are pretty good attention-getters....

Once the bokoblins were dead, the man came round to his senses and the woman came back to his side, and they both drew in close to their fire, near which a little half-tent had been erected, and an unlit wok sat waiting. Huh....

Still I said nothing, but only watched them. And as the woman came and collapsed beneath the shelter, looked to the man and said “Oh my sweet Tye!”—

I was the world’s most amazing idiot.

The man had a name. The woman had a name.

They were not Yiga Clansmen.

Some Hero.

I spoke with this Tye. What were the two of them doing, roaming around in the wilds all alone?

He said something about looking for a living Silent Princess—a specimen of flower. I’d seen them before. I even had some on me (but they wouldn’t regard my samples).

And something else about the two of them being betrothed to be married.

!

Oh. I knew of someone they just had to meet.

???

But oh dear.... How in the world could I get them all the way to Zora’s Domain along such a dangerous road?

Huh.

Well time enough to burn that bridge when we come to it after I sort out their flower business.

But first....

I really just wanted to get to that Shrine....