Friendly Neighborhood Hylian

Waking of Saturday, July 28, 2018 ~ 7

Friendly Neighborhood Hylian

I came back down just outside Gerudo Town.

They could all rest easy now that the Hero had subdued the imminent danger stomping around out in the desert.

But they still wouldn’t let a voe come into town.

....Eh. I had wondered.

I changed clothes right in front of them and jogged through the gate.

Actually all the townsfolk kept talking about how Chief Riju had been the one to put the danger down.... which.... I guess I was okay with. She had been right out there with me, surfing behind Patricia. Right under the Divine Beast’s feet. And I had been in disguise after all. Just some lowly common Hylian vai, assisting the Chief....

I had just imagined some moment when I would be recognized and accepted and able to walk around freely in this place.... No exception even for the Hero of Legend....?

Nope.

Still no boys allowed.

Ah well.

Chief Riju was waiting for me in her throne room. She gave an outpouring of gratitude at my appearance—her people were happy again, and relieved. Stress had been reduced all through the town—“Stress”. Lol, women. XD

As thanks for my help in calming Vah Naboris and saving her people, she offered me the Scimitar of the Seven, along with the Daybreaker, the sword and shield wielded by the Champion Urbosa herself. Riju could think of no more appropriate use for them than to be wielded by the Hero of Hyrule against the Calamity that had claimed their original owner.

Unfortunately there was no room for them in my inventory.

There was something else in the room, however, which rather caught my eye....

Mounted handsomely on a pedestal a little to Riju’s right was the Thunder Helm.

When I examined it, and Riju reacted, there was only one unbecomingly brazen option I was given to say: “I want the Thunder Helm.”

Both Riju and Buliara voiced a polite but firm opposition to this—well, maybe not so polite on Buliara’s account. The helm was an heirloom of the Gerudo; it belonged here.

But.... considering all that I had done for them.... and all that I had yet to do, for all of Hyrule....

Riju agreed to lend me the Thunder Helm. If.... I could continue to live up to the title of Hero, and resolve all the town’s ills. The Divine Beast was no longer a threat, but that didn’t make life automatically perfect. If I could solve the whole town’s problems, and bring the smiles back to her people.... then and only then would Chief Riju lend me the Thunder Helm.

Well....

Hero work was what I did best.

I left the palace and heard from the garrison that Barta.... was in trouble again.

But I had seen her! She had escaped from the Yiga Nest since I had last been there, and I had seen her here in the barracks! Getting raked by her superiors....

But now.... her fellow warriors told me she was in Dragon’s Exile. Home of Moldugas. Mmmm but I was more confident against Moldugas.... but.... Well I had gathered she was kind of reckless, but.... what in the world was she doing down there? Part of me could only wonder, and part of me was.... hungrily delighted at an excuse to venture down to investigate the Great Skeleton....

Wandering further around Gerudo Town I drifted into the canteen, but could still find no clues about the password, and so threw the barrel at the ladies again.

What other ills were there around town for me to solve....? I was quite out of ideas, but at length I did find one little vai to rescue: a child named Dalia.

Dalia wanted to plant an orchard in an unused, obscure corner of town. But so much litter kept flowing down the aqueducts into the water trough....

!! D8<

“CalybaaAAANN!” I huffed as I turned to crawl up the wall.

I found her, and I told her what her face-stuffing rind-waste was doing to poor little Dalia’s orchard plans—the kid had been crying....

Upon hearing of the child’s plight, Calyban agreed to quit chucking her rinds down the stream—but she wouldn’t do it for free. She wasn’t that kind of person. She enjoyed her Hydromelons for sure, but what she really wanted to taste were Wildberries. The kind that grew high up on the freezing cold steps of the Gerudo Highlands. If I could bring her some of those—like ten—then she would quit from her little rind-chucking hidey-hole.

Fortunately I just happened to have enough Wildberries in my pockets; I gave her some.

“Oh! Oh they’re so delicious!” Calyban remarked, or something like it. So juicy and flavorful, sweeter than anything she’d ever tasted.

Evidently it put her in a very good mood, for she then decided that, in addition to stopping her littering, she would even go help little Dalia clean up!

Well that was just dandy. ^_^

The screen faded out and back in, and I was alone on top of the wall.

Time to check up on Dalia!

I followed the course of the aqueduct back the way I had come—there were so many paths.... But I found the one path I was looking for, and dropped down into Dalia’s little shaded corner.

I have to admit, it looked much nicer than when I had left it!

And Dalia was smiling again—she was so happy that her ground was now properly prepared. And she was delighted to relate to me that a vai she’d never met had come and helped her clean it up! And given her some Wilberries to boot!

For my help, Dalia gave me a Hydromelon she had gotten from the other vai as well. Aww.... ^_^

And then.... she said I could come get Wildberries from her little orchard whenever I wanted! 8D

And I did, later, when her bushes were planted and growing—three bushes of two berries each. I plucked the bush on the right clean, but.... I left the rest for Dalia.

It was her orchard, after all.

Family Ties

Waking of Tuesday, May 23, 2017 ~ 2

Family Ties

I gaped, aghast. “Why would you cook a fairy? What did it—?”

“Dubious Food,” said David. “I just wanted to see!” he grinned with a shrug. And then, “One time I cooked a Diamond.”

My face bugged, if possible, even harder. Five hundr— “Why would cook a DIAMOND?”

“It was also Dubious Food,” David recounted with a somber little nod.

I’m so glad my brother is here to test out the combinations I consider too taboo to attempt in cooking.

But tonight.... it was Mom and me that happened to be together. <3

I love my Mother dearly; I think it’s safe to say she is my best friend.

But oh, what adorableness was this . . . .

After I had upped my stamina by the Goddess statue—So that was what Stamina Vessels looked like . . . very beautiful—I decided that, as long as I was in Zora’s Domain, I may as well just ask Jiahto where the rest of those historical tablets were, and go find them for him.

This involved a great deal of climbing and paragliding.

And every time I ran up to a precipice to have a look at my surroundings—

“Oh be careful—” “Slow down—” “Watch out—!”

X-)

Oh Mom, you’re so sweet to think of my safety, even on a TV screen.

She became quite alarmed when a Blood Moon rose (I stopped to watch it on a little hillock with no baddies nearby) and just plain creeped out when the sky began to bluster with thick red clouds. “Oh, they’re ugly,” she said of the reincarnating monsters in the cutscene.

And after the Blood Moon, a shooting star fell not too far away! I ran for it, and Mom still started at almost every bold leap I took onto the air with my paraglider. X-)

Well, I wanted to hurry!

The last giant hill in my way had part of the mountain road winding around it, just before the last bridges into the Domain proper. I was moving northeast.

I could see the fallen star’s light round the left side of the hill, but.... the pathway that wound all the way around the right side guaranteed a sufficiently high altitude to paraglide from to reach the star!

I booked it and took the path on the right. It was a close thing, but I floated down over the star just as the sky was beginning to lighten, just as the star fell from where it had impacted in a cliff-face onto a path below.

A Star Fragment.

Never seen wunna those before....

Cool!

But.... the evening wasn’t all starts and scares—Mom and I were actually quite amused by the one tablet we found detailing the toils and labors and future glory of the, heh, humble stonemason who made all these tablets. That made us laugh.

Other tablet stories were sadder, like the one about the King regretting letting his daughter Mipha pilot Vah Ruta (that was the last one I found—rather tricky!); or touching, like the one about the origin of the tradition of female Zora making armor for their men.

Personally I was most fascinated by the tablet regarding the ancient Ruto, who became a Sage and repelled an invading evil long before the Divine Beasts were constructed. It was Ruto for whom Vah Ruta was named. How interesting....

I can only imagine what explosions the internet must have sustained after that tablet came to light.

Uhm..

As I paraglided back into the Domain proper to report back to Jiahto one time, I was coming in over the last long bridge, relishing my increased stamina.... when my altitude decreased such that I thought for sure one of the bridge’s archways would just stop me cold and force me to float straight down.

One of them did stop me cold; but I didn’t sink down. Instead I just stuck onto the broad face of the arch and clung there like Spiderman. Hit it in just the right spot I guess! XD That made us laugh again.

I wriggled around on the surface of the arch for the two more breaths of stamina I had, and then fell down to puff out my exhaustion; Mom was charmed by the cute animations. <3

And after I visited all the tablets, in exchange for the information I was able to deliver about them, Jiahto gave me a Diamond.

“That’s the second Zora to give me diamonds in gratitude!” I said, “I should do favors for Zoras more often!”

We laughed.

After all the fun we could stand in Zora’s Domain, I just asked Mom, “Would you like to see Princess Zelda?”

“Do you know where she is in this game?”

“Well, I know where I can find some memories of her....” And I’d meant to visit those now anyway, now that Mei was taken care of.

I warped all the way back to the Outskirt Stable.

I had marked the Eldin Canyon memory on my map, but not the Sanadin Park memory. I ran up to the park just to drop a little stamp on my map for it. Like Eldin Canyon, Sanadin Park was still off my recorded map and out in the empty blue on my Sheikah Slate’s display.

That aspen wood, however.... I could see that one now. Even on my map.

I debated for a moment between Oman Au and Kaam Ya’Tak.... and then warped to the shrine of Kaam Ya’Tak. The hill above the Kaam Ya’Tak Shrine is what I have learned to be called Mount Daphnes, and it was from its crest that I had originally seen the aspen wood beside the water.

However, Mount Daphnes was still very close to that loose Guardian Stalker by the scary tower, so I decided to follow the river away from it a bit before I crossed into the more dangerous territory.

I went all the way to Aquame Bridge and the Coliseum and said hi to Dai before I paraglided over the water. I changed clothes in midair just to make Mom laugh again—I’d been wearing full Zora Armor, but switched to my Hylian gear and Bandana—and touched down on the other side just as it began to rain.

This did not help the visibility, but I tried to go by my map. A few ruins loomed through the haze.... and a commotion....

“Let’s go, you filth!” I heard. I moved closer....

It was Mils and Mina! Having it out with a couple of bokoblins!

Of course they were.

I ran in and put the monsters down, and Mina gifted me with a Sneaky Meat Pie, which name for a dish just made us smile. X-)

After we all calmed down, Mils told me, “just to be clear” that any treasure in this region belonged to them, and so not to go poking around! But he also mumbled some expression of doubt, perhaps due to the dangers of the area.... and something about his sister....

At which Mina flared up and snapped something impelling at him. That treasure was theirs.

“Family,” Mils murmured.

Huh, so they were siblings! I thought. But Mina had looked so like a Sheikah. I looked at her face again....

Maybe they’re both half-bloods, and she just got the white hair.

The rain soon dissipated, and a short jog through the grass and a small herd of horses later, I had arrived at the aspen wood. A few deer darted off at my approach.

I could make out the exact spot easily, the little jut of land beside the shore.

I stepped up into the light, and let Mom push the button.

She loved the cutscene....

Princess Zelda and I walked along a gentle, gravelly trail by the little lake. I was about five paces behind her, and stayed there as she spoke.

Her eyes were intent upon the Sheikah Slate in her hands as she moved, as if reviewing information. Just talk about learning and progress and getting a Divine Beast to work. Figuring out how to make it move, I think. And she mentioned one Daruk, its pilot.

Was Daruk a Goron? What had Impa said in her tale....?

But then she stopped.

I stopped too.

We stood on the path in the sunlight.

She didn’t turn. But she wasn’t looking at the Sheikah Slate anymore.

“Link, I have to ask you.... How proficient are you with that sword on your back?”

[Oh my gosh it was the Master Sword]

I felt a tiny fleeting jolt of defensiveness, of vigor.

My sword.... it was grand and beautiful on my bandolier. It had a blue sheath, embellished with intricate gold designs.... and those three little Triangles....

“They say a voice sleeps within that sword,” said Zelda.

She looked at me.

“Can you hear it, yet... Link?”

The sunlight swallowed us....

A Voice?

I thought of an old friend I’d known in another life....

Mom just thought the whole exchange was just sweet. <3

And well.... so did I.

So that was my sword.

It really was delightful, having Mom there as I played.

But it was getting late.

I took a few pictographs of the spot, dropped another stamp on my map for it, headed back to the Outskirt Stable.... and slept until the morning.

Whereupon I went to bed.... so I could sleep until the morning.

David had recently come out of hiding.

“Uh!” he exclaimed in dismay, “But who am I gonna watch play Zelda?”