The Mirror in the Music

Monday, January 7, 2019

The Mirror in the Music

I logged onto DeviantArt for the first time in a while, and found in my notifications a relatively new journal entry from the group Hyrule-Legends. It was entitled: “Sound Director Hajime Wakai on Zelda BoTW Music”. Posted Saturday, January 5.

Well that was.... just gourmet serendipity. For I was still full of the sweeping, rushing, desperate music from Vah Medoh. Those strings....

User MajorasMasks posted in the entry:

I recently read an interview about an underrated aspect of Breath of the Wild: its music and sound direction. I know some people complained about them, but I think they are top notch just like the rest of the game.

Among other things, in the interview Hajime Wakai explains why BotW doesn't have the canonical overworld music:
"When a composer makes a piece of music he has a plan and idea of how he wants to player to feel, but if this insistence is too strong it can have an effect on the actual game. We would end up forcing a feeling of intensity onto players. The music would be all stirring and dramatic, but then the player would think: ‘hold on a minute, all I did was throw away a mushroom…’"

You can find the complete interview on Nintendo Everything.  

The link led to url: https://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://nintendoeverything.com/breath-of-the-wild-composers-on-changing-up-zeldas-music-formula-and-more/

And that was the entire entry.

An underrated aspect of Breath of the Wild? The music?

I have to admit, I just wouldn’t have known. I’ve refrained from searching out what the internet has had to say about it all this time.

But now.... with four Divine Beasts finally under my belt.... I felt no dread for many spoilers. Hence my sudden interest in trolling the art site for . . . . whatever I might find.

And lo! THIS JOURNAL.

. . . . . . .

I could contain myself no longer. I commented on MajorasMasks’ Hyrule-Legends journal entry:

I saw this journal in my inbox a few days ago. But now I'm coming back to comment on it because.... Well, I played a bit of Breath of the Wild last night. It is still my first playthrough. BECAUSE OF REASONS please no spoilers.

But last night I defeated my fourth and final Divine Beast, and.... Man, MAN, there has been something incredibly special about the music I hear in those Divine Beasts. And it has grown and shaped and arced over the course of all my adventures. The music I've heard in those places has been the telling of the entire tale; it's Good versus Evil; it's triumphing over the Darkness; it's the rising of the Light, and the striving after Hope.

Am I the only one who has heard this?

What was the music like inside your first Divine Beast? Did it start open, and neutral? But turn dark and affronted and malicious when you started activating pedestals?

Was your second Divine Beast the same?

And when you came to your third, was the Darkness waiting for you this time? Was the music already poisoned when you set foot in that place? And once you started going through the pedestals, did a spear of hope pierce through the sound, to turn the chords into something better? Something brighter? Did the influence of your Hero pull the soundtrack back from the abyss and make it shine?

And when you came to your fourth, and the heated, hot, angry poison met your incursion again, and you started activating the pedestals....

Did the Song turn to the most desperate struggle of goodness and hope that you had yet encountered?

Has this been the experience of ANY one else?
I must know.

Whoever was in charge of the sound, whoever engineered the music for those critical struggles....

That man is a Poet.

And then, some time later, my second comment:

Also I just read the article and ugh.... it's like FINDING YOUR PEOPLE.

MajorasMasks and I had a good following conversation, though he did—he?—*—she, it’s a she—

WE HAD A GOOD following conversation, though she did tell me, in response to my music-mapping, “I think that depends on which order you play the Divine Beasts...”

For with my own playthrough—Elephant, Lizard, Camel, Bird—I had been utterly convinced that there was more at play in generating those Divine Beast soundtracks. The arc was just too perfect, the progression too meaningful. The music had to have been designed to play in that order, regardless of which animal you chose first and which you chose last. It was the Legend’s Echo.

But then.... as of this writing (Evening of Tuesday, January 15, 2019).... I still have not delved too deeply into the Breath of the Wild circles of the internet. Maybe the music is set in that storytelling order I heard, and people have already talked about this. Or maybe each Divine Beast does indeed have its own set soundtrack, and other players have been taken through other musical journey arcs, stemming from all the permutations of play-order for which the game can allow.

I’ll go find out some day, but....

Not today.

I think for now.... I’d just as soon leave it a mystery. And keep riding those striving, striving strings in my heart.

“Hey Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“You saw me doing the Bird?” For he’d stopped to watch a bit here and there. “Do you remember the music?”

He had also.... doubtless.... observed me fangirling all about the music myself as I paraglided around solving the puzzles.

But his eyes lit up to remember. Had he been struck himself, or had it been a contagion from my own reaction? “Yeah,” he smiled.

“What did you think of it?” I probed as excitedly as if it had been a blockbuster film.

“It sounded like....” he slowly maneuvered a hand palm-downward into the air, “kind of a flight-music kind of thing.”

Well that tickled my whimsy all right!

Heh, and was that likewise possibly influenced by the nature of the Beast?

Or was it the Pilot in him talking?

Safe Roost

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 7

Safe Roost

I’ve got to check on Teba, I thought. Had he been able to make it back to the village?

I dashed onto the twining boardwalk....

And I found—

Harth! He’s all right!

He was on his feet and well again!

And he said Teba was safe at home! Oh thank goodness! ^_^ :’D

I pelted higher up the boardwalk and round the Neck.... and there was that bright white plumage—

“Tebaaaaa!” :D

He stood whole and well in his house with his wife and son. “You... I really owe you for what you did,” he said.

“Are you hurt?” I say, though he didn’t look it.

“I’m fine. Thanks to my wife, I’ve recovered to the point where I can stand.”

I guessed I was on that Beast for a good long while....

“Actually, my wife told me something about you.”

Oh?

“She says you’re a descendant of the Champion.”

My only option was, “...”

“Hahah! Go on. There’s nothing to hide!” Teba laughed. “Your bowmanship...the way you move through the air. There’s no doubt about it, you have the blood of a Champion.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“What? You look like you’ve got something else to say.”

And again, I was only give one response: “Actually...”

Teba stared at me. “Don’t tell me...” he started, “You’re the Hylian Champion?!”

I was then treated to two entire paragraphs of silence from the Rito warrior:

“...” Teba says.

“...” he says again.

And then....

“Hahaha! Good one, pal!” he burst out laughing.

Hahhhhhhh.

“Everyone knows that all of the Champions were wiped out by Calamity Ganon 100 years ago. And even if they survived that, they’d be old geezers with canes instead of swords!”

Heh.... it must have seemed pretty ridiculous after all....

“I let the elder know about what happened with Divine Beast Vah Medoh, but you should probably go talk to him,” Teba finished, and I left his house.

I regarded his family on my way out.

.

Snow-white Tulin really was his daddy’s boy.

....

Despite it all....

I love these people.

I talked with Kaneli.

“You have done it!” he hooted, “And you survived, at that! You conquered Divine Beast Vah Medoh!” His owl eyes really were huge.

“To think the beast has taken up roost at the top of the village! It looks simply...divine.”

Heh, fitting description.

“If the legends are true,” he mused, “‘the light from the Divine Beasts will ravage the Calamity.’ For now, Divine Beast Vah Medoh will become the protector of this village and live on in legend...alongside you. Hoo hoo hoo...” He gave a hearty laugh so low and rumbly for an owl! XD

And then, “...Oh, yes! Of course! I must reward you properly! Feel free to take what you find in that treasure chest. You will get more use out of it than I.”

There was a new chest in his little house. I could guess what was in there....

“Champion descendant... I have only just realized. That sword you have in your possession...”

His big, grandfatherly owl face—heh, eyebrows like Kaepora Gaebora come to think of it—and his half-closed, smiling bird eyes as he stroked his braided beard.

“Could it be the sword that seals the darkness?”

Think so, Elder Kaneli?

“The Hylian Champion who fought alongside Master Revali 100 years ago... Could...that be you?”

Divine Beast Vah Medoh – Complete

The banner flashed across my screen.

I checked the chest beside Kaneli’s chair. Inside was a Great Eagle Bow. 28x3 attack power. Nothing to sneeze at.

Its description read, “A bow without equal wielded by the Rito Champion, Revali. It’s said Revali could loose arrows with the speed of a gale, making him supreme in aerial combat.”

Cool.

....

My inventory was full.

....

Later, I guess.

Revali's Gale

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 6

Revali’s Gale

Did I get all the chests? I thought I did....

But I wasn’t entirely sure, and so rocked Vah Medoh’s wings one last time to check, running up to the higher wingtip and leaping off in a paraglide toward the head, and—whope, chest on the tip of the nose.

It held a Giant Ancient Core.

“I’ll take that!” I triumphed.

After that it was another paraglide over to the lower wingtip, and then.... back to the dorsum. And the main control unit....

I righted the Beast one last time.

Still had that Rusty Shield on my back. I’d taken it all the way through this Divine Beast. Just thought I’d use it until it gave out. Trusty old thing....

Consistently.... quietly, stillingly, delicately and in small ways.... I was still amazed by the views. I could see everything from up here. Everywhere I’d been, everything I’d done. Vah Naboris. Vah Ruta. Vah Rudania. Rito Village and Totori Lake directly below.

This was the final Divine Beast.

Now.... for the main control unit.

It was sunset.

“Well I’ll be plucked,” Revali started. “You defeated him, eh?”

He walked elegantly toward me on Vah Medoh’s mossy back, a spirit free and unfettered, and haloed in flaming teal light.

“Well don’t preen yourself just for doing your job.”

Revali’s congratulations were.... Heh, he.... He hasn’t changed, I thought, Not a bit. He is still so pompous and arrogant.

And yet still he somehow found me worthy—me, this lowly, ground-crawling Hylian—to receive the sacred technique he had dubbed Revali’s Gale.

And he wound up.... that ball of holy light.... He even deigned to speed its conjuring with a forceful, “Hahhhh—!”

And then—fwooosh!—he speared the glowing sphere toward me where it entered my chest—and I was barely phased this time.

But its power manifested, and it caught me a bit off guard, as I was lifted off my feet! And that without the overpowering effect of the first time a Champion did this to me.... And the gale hurled me into the air, thrusting me into a backflip! But I came swiftly back down, released from Revali’s charm and left to the mercies of gravity, and landed firmly on two feet and one palm, and I looked up—

And LINK’S EYES.

The look on his face was just....

Revali enjoyed that, didn’t he? Tossing me up into the air like a sack of flour for a lark, just to see if I could land on my feet like a cat.

He was.... prideful to the last, as my form started to twinkle and sparkle away.... and as I could see it starting to happen....

I didn’t remember his words, just condescending words of encouragement, of direction. Of what I had to do. I had to defeat Calamity Ganon. I had to save Zelda.

And his last words.... “The Princess has been waiting an awfully long time.”

And I was gone.

And then that BOSS MUSIC—uh, music that is boss, not music for a boss.

That rugged, churning music started which heralded when a Divine Beast was on the move.... And Vah Medoh arced gracefully through the air and swooped down toward Rito Village. Its claws extended massively, and it clamped onto the jutting beak of the central rock spire, as if it had been a gigantic perch. Dust and rubble exploded from beneath the ponderous, clenching digits, but the Beak of the Crane held firm.

At rest from the air at last, Vah Medoh stood erect, its wings spread in enormous splendour, its head pointed toward the castle, and from the tip of its beak—the laser!

It blasted toward the castle with a fury that convincingly belied its intangibility.

All the same.... dreadful things waited on the other side of that beam....

Revali’s spirit stood high up on Vah Medoh’s form.

And here, only now, when he was alone, did Revali admit to himself that Link did get to the Divine Beast without his help. And he defeated Ganon’s demonic apparition. Link did do something he couldn’t.

And he brought himself to finally admit that.... “I was wrong about...”

—I just.... waited to hear this—

“... how lucky you would be.”

No credit!

Still he gives me no credit!

And.... a part of me laughed inside, in resignation.

That was all right.

He addressed Vah Medoh.

“This will be the perfect vantage point from which to deliver your final strike against Calamity Ganon.”

The laser’s gleam melted into the brilliant sunset sky.

“We have been artfully patient for the past 100 years,” he went on. And his voice simpered just the tiniest bit as he added, “You won’t suffer a feather to wait just a few more moments.”

I came back down on Revali’s Landing.

It was still sunset.

A muffled something sounded in my ears....

And then....

“Link... Link.”

I could hear it clearly. It was the Princess’ voice.

“Thanks to you, all of the Divine Beasts have returned to us and the spirits of the four Champions have been set free. We will all be awaiting your clash with Ganon at Hyrule Castle.”

So that was it, then. It was done.

“Free the Divine Beasts,” Impa had said so long ago....

It was done.

....

I took a pictograph.

Owa Daim Elusive

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 5

Owa Daim Elusive

The main control unit of Divine Beast Vah Medoh was situated up on the broad, mossy back of the bird, right in the center of the torso. These topmost bulkheads, open to the sky, were generally flat and level but for a step or two up or down between the different body segments. And there were fans set into the floor—huge, grated fans that generated terrific updrafts.

I had explored up here during my searching for the terminals, but there hadn’t been much more to find except a bit more Malice and a few more chests. No, this was to be the arena.

All along the mossy top of the entire wingspan was a weathered old parade of crumbling stone columns, cubicle, seamed, and cracked. Their broad, patchy arrangement seemed to indicate there may have been more of them at some point, but.... open to the elements, I could see how some of them could have been lost over time. They couldn’t be Stasised and they weren’t Magnesable, but they looked like they could provide good, albeit rapidly expendable cover....

There didn’t seem to be anything especially damaging to bump into out here....

I had just imagined so many times: if I were to design a boss-fight based on the Stasising ability of Monk Owa Daim, I would have made it a mad game of toro, playing chicken with the devil, Stasising him right before he collided, and then quickly dropping out of the way, leaving him to plow into whatever damaging hazard you were previously blocking.

But the environment seemed benign here....

But then, so had been the environments in other Divine Beasts; maybe the blighting Calamity would provide the hazard....

But I did not think overly much of this as I made my way up to the main control unit. The music was strung so tightly now, pulling through my core like an aching sinew.

I placed the Slate against the control unit, heard the clack of contact, and—there was not much hesitance this time before RHOOOSH! Up swirled the monster....

I watched this one’s proportions carefully as it coalesced into its hideous, dripping-magenta self.... Its arms were definitely larger....

Larger like Rito wings....

“Be careful, Link!” Revali’s voice sounded, “That monstrosity is one of Ganon’s own. Don’t let it defeat you! It defeated me 100 years ago, but only because I was winging it.”

For the first time, the rapier seemed to waver, its sheen revealing a desperate dinge as I heard the regret in his voice.

“Its aim is dead-on. Watch yourself!”

But Windblight Ganon, I found.... did not lead his target.

What lessons the humble Octorok could teach.

I only ran to avoid the monster’s projectiles, and cast Bomb Arrows back where I could. And whenever I did down him for a moment, it was difficult to get close enough to have it out with my blade. The length, the space.... it was all so much bigger and stretched out, when the enemy was specifically a flyer.

I’d thought.... for sure.... Stasis. But....

His projectiles were moving too fast. Difficult to lock onto. And even if I could.... what would I be able to do with them?

And as for him....

I did manage to lock him in the air once—but the charm never holds very long for creatures so powerful.... And I didn’t want to face him too long, lest I got shot.

I wanted to keep moving.

I wanted to be evasive.

So did Owa Daim, apparently.

What was I supposed to do?

Owa Daim....?

I just ran to avoid his projectiles.... and when he took especially great affront at my retaliations and gained a second wind, I just ran to avoid the new, strange flying drones he conjured—these ones came at you four or five at a time!

I just ran.

Maybe if I’d stopped to think.... But I didn’t.

I only noted that Windblight Ganon continued to take damage from my Bomb Arrows.

And so.... I just stuck with what worked.

And I fought.

Maybe there was a more elegant solution, but....

I never found it.

I just pelted him with Bomb Arrows.

I didn’t even remember to use one of my many Lynel Bows. Just the Royal Bow that was already in my hands.

And I killed him.

I defeated Windblight Ganon, and it suffered an inglorious demise against a boy with a paraglider and a common bow. And a Rusty Shield.

Even so, I felt I should have been cleverer than this....

What was I supposed to have done, Owa Daim?

Divine Beast Vah Medoh

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 4

Divine Beast Vah Medoh

“Well now,” said a well-polished voice as I stood on the Divine Beast, “I think I’ve seen that face before.”

Revali!

“I had a feeling you would show up eventually. But making me wait a hundred years is a bit...indulgent.” The rapier glimmered in deigning to even prick me.

“You’re here to wrest control of Medoh away from Ganon, correct?”

I was.

Revali pointed me toward the interface and Sheikah Stone from which I could distill the local map, asking at the last if I thought I could make my way there.

Huh, didn’t sound like he thought any more of me, after all these years.

I made it to the map terminal just fine; it was in the bird’s head, seemed like. Two large, circular windows—Vah Medoh’s eyes—were set into the walls on either side of the chamber, which was surprisingly smaller than I’d have thought.... this being a Divine Beast.... I feel.... like I’ve written this before....

Once I’d distilled the map into my Slate, Revali ran down the control terminals, stating that I would need to activate them all. And then, again, “Think you’re up to it?”

Even now, his voice bore a tinge of.... snideness.

Well.... Better start makin’ my way around, I thought.

I checked out the Divine Beast’s controls. Tilt? It looked like I could rock the wings....

And I regarded the inside of the torso. I’d seen it getting to the head, but now studied it more closely in light of how the Divine Beast might move.

A number of large blocks were suspended in the central space, far removed from both floor and ceiling, but all on the same horizontal plane parallel to the ground. The two metal blocks were attached to two rails that spanned the space from fore to aft. The three stone blocks ran on rails crossing between starboard and port.

I could see—the metal blocks I could move with Magnesis, but the stone blocks would slide according to the tilt of the Beast.

OH this could really screw things up. I hated disrupting their discovered orientation, and knew I probably wouldn’t be able to restore it, but I wouldn’t let that stop me now! Besides, it looked like different orientations would give access to different areas. So I started moving, Vah Medoh cried out at my commands, and I made my way into the port wing.

With the bending of the world inside the Beast, I found that the tilt of the inner decks was at a steeper grade even than my paragliding angle. This meant I could fly farther and longer, but it was dizzying—never paraglided up to something before....

Inside the port wing—MALICE MOUTHS?

OH GOSH WHAT—THIS WAS UNHOLY!

I KILLED IT.

Ugh. ._.

Also, the music sounded.... poisoned.

This place did NOT want me here.

I came to the first terminal and activated it.

“There are four terminals remaining,” came Revali’s voice, “Still a ways to go.”

And that was when it all.... turned.

Oh my gosh, this music was so freaking.... the strings....

THE STRINGS. I CAN’T.

THE DESPERATION.

THE HOPE.

As the music of the early Beasts had been open, and neutral.... and then turned dark and insidious once it caught on to me activating the terminals....

And as the music of the following Vah Naboris had started out in seething anger at my presence.... only to give way to a brighter, stronger sound as I claimed more territory, returned hope to the ancient contraptions....

Now the music of this final Beast—what the harmonic minor....—at first poisoned in the wretched wrath and fury of a cornered, dying thing.... at my DARING to move forward for the kill and the entire reclamation, was now running, now flying, now clinging and willing and praying in the desperate heat of a final bid for freedom from the darkness. Undauntable not by choice but by necessity. Surely this music had to be the culmination.

There is hope for the world, I thought.

There is hope for this world.

I found the second terminal behind a gusty, howling puzzle involving a very large, round porthole in the wall that I’d had to open.... and activated it.

“There are three terminals remaining!” Revali’s voice echoed, “Keep going.”

And Hey! I could see Shatterback Point out the window! And Death Mountain! As we wheeled through the sky....

I can’t take this music, it’s.... it’s too amazing.

I couldn’t find the lower terminal in the port wing indicated by my map, so I went to the starboard side and locked down the third terminal there. Paragliding upward to find treasure chests was so strange....

“There are two terminals remaining. You’re almost there.”

He sounded.... surprised.

I looked out another porthole I’d opened, and I could see Mount Nero! And the Tabantha Tower! Clear as day.... Right there.... As if I were only paragliding very, very high.... All the world stretching out before me.... So many familiar landmarks.... all close enough to fly down and touch....

The music was not changing anymore with the different terminals.

It was still just that strong, determined, indeterrable, indomitably swelling string section.

There is still hope for this world.

My Compendium already had pictographs of Cursed Bokoblins and Cursed Moblins.... Now in the lower part of the torso, down on the floor, I finally got a pictograph of a Cursed Lizalfos.

Gross.

There was a Malice Mouth down there, and it would occasionally spit these undead floating skulls out into the room.... It was.... really alarming, when the Cursed Lizalfos saw me and just.... rushed me in this distorted flying lurch—

I prefer the live ones.

After I’d gotten the pictograph and killed the skull, I found and accessed an outer deck via a large open hatch on the starboard side. This deck wrapped around to the fore in a broad and happily uniform kind of walkway. The arc of it passed beneath Vah Medoh’s neck and continued round to the port side, where a similar hatch led back into the central chamber.

That was where the eyeball was. The eyeball to that mouth what’d been spittin’ out gross things.

I shot it.

That cleared up the central chamber all right, or it cleared it up enough—there were always little rogue Malice Pools you couldn’t get rid of, and which you just had to watch your footing around.

But after that I went back outside, for I had seen something else along the outer walkway....

There were launch points out here. Like grandiose diving platforms, complete with ornate little railings leading up the steps to nowhere. I could imagine the ancient Rito who must have manned this thing diving off them into the sky....

And beyond the port side launching platform, I could see, there, in the belly of the port side wing.... there was the next terminal. Standing in an open belly hatch near the wingtip.

I would have to fly to get there.

Oh my gosh.

So—I tilted the bird—rocked the port wing down into a dip—the Rito Rock was RIGHT THERE below—I had stood on that rock—the angle aligned and the port wing was down—and—

I flew.

Oh my gosh this music COULD NOT be more.... appropriate.

I did not want to let go of my paraglider until I was WELL inside the little hollow of the belly hatch. I landed on the pedestal itself, in a deep recess far away from the door, and ACTIVATED.

“Just one terminal remaining!”

And he laughed a little huff.

“What do you know?”

Still sounded surprised.

I rocked Medoh’s wings the other way and paraglided back to the main deck. Now I’m dropping the Vah....

Starboard side? The last terminal was in that wing, but.... I hadn’t been able to reach it via the inner decks....

I jogged through the Beast and out onto the other external walkway.

There. It must have been in the same, opposite belly hatch.

And that was guarded by a Malice eyeball.

The last terminal must be in there....

It took a few arrows, but at the proper tilt, I was able to shoot the eyeball at long range. And once its attendant cluster of Malice had evaporated, I scoped in and could see....

There was a gondola!

The track ran above, attached to the underside of the starboard wing!

I tilted the Beast, brought it to me.... and rode it.

I stepped inside, rocked the wings back the other way and it started moving my gosh I was.... I was in the air with so little to hold me.

“Don’t fail me, Gondola....” I murmured.

The apparatus seemed so spindly. Somehow I didn’t trust it as much as I did my paraglider....

But it held firm, and took me well into the starboard belly hatch. At the far end was an upward ramp leading back to the inner deck. The last terminal was up there....

I’m here, Revali.

I activated it.

“That was the last terminal! Now you just need to start the main control unit!” Revali’s voice echoed in what sounded like impressment. But he quickly brought the rapier under a fine-tuned control again, “I want you to take a good look at your map. There should be a new glowing point on there. Well?”

Still condescending a bit.

But I don’t mind.

“Flap to it!”

And the aforelocked door between this last terminal’s antechamber and the rest of the starboard side wing-deck opened. I was free to move back into the interior of the Beast, bypassing the gondola.

The music has changed.

This is desperation. This is some kind of wire.

Have I gotten all the chests? I think I have....

I feel like I need to hurry.... This music....

This is it.

WHERE THE MEN ARE FINE ARCHERS

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 3

WHERE THE MEN ARE FINE ARCHERS

It was snowing when I woke up. I’d been hoping for clearer weather, but.... oh well.

From the lodge, I skirted the jagged foothills southward, past the inexorable wolves, until I came the short distance to the great break in the wall of dark stone to my right: Dronoc’s Pass.

The pass opened onto a roughly round kind of dell, with a path leading round the edge, counter-clockwise back toward the north. The path so lay due to that the middle of the dell seemed to be a bottomless, gusty pit, full of dark, reaching spires like teeth.

I could see a round structure higher up at the north end; it looked Rito, and was about the size of one of their dwellings.... And there were big painted target-boards attached here and there to the treacherous rocks.

This seemed to be the Flight Range all right.

I made my way toward the circular building, and could see—Teba?

Someone was on the high platform. He looked like.... a snow white Rito.

I climbed a ladder to access the structure, went inside—there was a lit wok in the middle, but nobody around. Then I turned to the left and could see, on a kind of runway heading out over the dell, someone was hunkered there in the cold, working on something.

He just looked over his shoulder with a gruff, “Yeah?”

It had been voiced with its own cinematic.

This was Teba.

....

He just peered at me with his sharp, slit-pupiled bird’s eye for a moment before turning back to whatever he was doing with that bow, adjusting it, testing its spring.... “I don’t know you. And I’m actually pretty busy here. You should probably go.” His voice was so gruff and harsh....

But I approached him again, and told him that I could help him with Vah Medoh.

“Let me get this straight,” he said in bigger-than-normal font. ._. “Some random Hylian wants to help me bring down Divine Beast Vah Medoh? I’m not buying it. Let me guess, the elder sent you here to talk some sense into me.”

“That’s right,” I said.

And under his breath he murmured, “Just like the elder to trust any old fool who wanders into town.”

We introduced ourselves, and at normal volume he asserted he wasn’t going anywhere until he brought down Vah Medoh—until Vah Medoh fell from the sky. “If I have to kill Medoh... so be it.”

“Then let’s get started,” I say. Lol fresh little punk.

“You’re serious?” said Teba, “HA! Well, far be it from me to talk you off the ledge.”

Oh Dang! XD

I wasn’t sure whether I should like this guy or not....

“But it’s as the elder said: the only way to stop Divine Beast Vah Medoh is to get inside it.” But there was no way we could set foot in Medoh, he added....

“Actually...” I started, like I do, and contradicted.

“Not only are you wingless, you’re brainless too,” Teba retorted, “The only ones able to set foot inside a Divine Beast were the five champions of old, and unfortunately for us and for the rest of Hyrule, they all died 100 years ago.”

But Teba shook this off and came back to the present. “Never mind... Let’s focus on bringing down Medoh...one step at a time.”

He accepted my help and I was on board, but before we did anything, Teba wanted to test me here in this aerial archery training zone, the Flight Range.

He set me to destroy five of the painted targets within three minutes. If I could do that.... we could work together.

I DID IT WAY FASTER. Sailing over the dellpit, riding the gusts, now rising, now letting myself drop, I plugged target after target after target with my bow. And all the while Teba’s voice grunted begrudging encouragements in the background.... Engrossed in the task at hand, I only caught the last two: “One more...” and “Perfect!”

He had a bark of gravel and iron—His voice was so.... low and cool! XD

I pelted my five targets in something like thirty seconds—definitely less than forty—and Teba called me back in.

“Hmm... Not bad at all...for a Hylian.”

Why thank you.

“I’ve got to tell you, Link... When you first showed up, I thought someone was pulling a prank on me. But after seeing you handle that bow, I can tell you’re the real deal. You must have seen a battle or two.”

My choices were “Hundreds of them.” or “I’ve seen a few.”

I wouldn’t boast. “I’ve seen a few,” I said.

He grunted a syllable of laughter in a Hm. “Don’t be modest. I can tell just looking at you. Link... I feel I’ve heard the name somewhere before...”

Hhhh, they said that sometimes....

“Well, if you really want to help me bring down Medoh, it’s now or never. I’ll get you into position so you can give its cannons all you’ve got. Inside that treasure chest is a bow I’ve modified. Take it, and let me know when you’re ready.”

I went to check it out.... Ooh, a Falcon Bow.

It looked cool.

Teba told me normal arrows wouldn’t put a dent in Vah Medoh’s cannons. I’d need Bomb Arrows. “These are a precious commodity, so don’t expect me to do this again, but... take these Bomb Arrows.”

He gave me twenty. Don’t worry, Teba, I won’t waste them.

“Also, it’ll be cold up there. You’ll want to prepare a warm meal or bring some warm clothes.”

Well it was a good thing I was packing my W I N G A L I N G   H A T !

The plan was that he would draw Medoh’s fire, and I would destroy the four cannons.

Ohhhhhdfhdsjkalghjklgjfkl....

“I’m ready,” I say.

“All right. But let me ask you just one question,” Teba said, “Why are you doing this? Why risk your life to bring down Medoh?”

He sure dropped the Vah a lot....

Oh gosh my CHOICES.

“To rescue Zelda.”, “To save Rito Village.”, “I can’t just watch...”, or “Just because.”

Hm. I thought about this.... I was gonna be honest and say.... “To rescue Zelda.”

“Zelda? But that’s the name of the princess Revali served 100 years ago at Hyrule Castle. I don’t know what she has to do with Divine Beast Vah Medoh, but whatever. As long as you’re helping me bring down Medoh, your motivation is fine by me.”

....

“...Right. Get on.”

Oh my gosh!

He was a large Rito, not as large as Prince Sidon, but his wings seemed powerful and I didn’t suppose it was unbelievable that he could carry me!

We fly out! I’m on his back!

He told me if I wanted to retreat to just hover in the updraft for a moment and he would come get me—Vah Medoh was surrounded by a tempestuous updraft.... Good thing for me.

When we drew close, the Divine Beast threw up a blazing red force field that seemed to sizzle—it encapsulated the Beast entirely except for four protruding points.... THE CANNONS.

I jumped off Teba’s back and he peeled off and flew around and I could see the first cannon’s targeting laser chasing after him as he rocketed in great wheeling arcs through the air! But I had to focus on the cannon—as it was distracted I drew my bow mid-air and shot a Bomb Arrow at it—came up short—and so I hovered closer riiisiiing, DROPPING, riiisiiing, DROPPING and I shot it again at much closer range and got it this time and its life only went down halfway so I shot it again and BOOM it was down!

I circled counter-clockwise round the Beast to the next cannon and then—“Watch out!” came Teba’s voice—the next cannon was targeting ME!

“Teba I thought you said you would draw its fire!” D8

Cannons 2 – 4 put me in their sights, but the lasers had a devil of a time finding me as I paraglided up and then fell, up and down, up and down through the endless updraft. Teba flying around, wheeling, circling, calling out every once in a while in his gravel-iron bark things like “It’s targeting us!” And I going round so slowly it felt—the Beast was huge—until I finally blew up the last cannon!

“That’s done it!” said Teba, or something like it. “Well done, Link!” or some such words....

And he soared around....

And I thought “Now come get me, Teba!”  .____.

But I paraglided on down toward the Divine Beast.

And Teba watched.... and then grunted with a grimace.

Oh! D8

His left thigh.... was scorched right through. Ugh...

“Bad news, Link,” he said, his voice becoming more ragged. But I could tell he was trying his utmost to tough it out. “Looks like I got hit pretty good back there.”

He was hurting.

He said he was afraid he would have to get back to the Flight Range.

“If I can make it there,” he added.

BUCK UP, Teba, of COURSE you can make it back! 8C

“It’s all you,” he said, and gave a thumbs-up with his left outstretched wing-hand.... and then peeled away like a jet.

And I floated down onto the stern of the Divine Beast.

The top.... was mossy.

Felt....

....like some kind of Ghibli movie....

[[Now that I had a clear picture of Teba in my head—tall, white, stark, and gruff; pointed crest feathers springing back from his crown in an aerodynamic rush, sharp beak glinting, sharper eyes glaring—artworks began to dance in my mind of painful, post-assault shelterings in the Eye of the Neck, the freshly injured Harth wincing back against the stone, Teba casting a protective wing over him as he glares hungrily back up into the dark and flashing sky. There is rain....

Perhaps it miffed Harth even more that he was the one who’d been hit, even though the bright white Teba really should have presented a clearer target. But he would not stomach holding that thought for long....]]

Brazen Peacock

Waking of Saturday, January 5, 2019 ~ 5

Brazen Peacock

How fitting. He would take the top of the five-hundredth page.

The Divine Beast hovered massively up in the sky. I could see it from where I stood on the Painted Landing. Alone.

But a RUSH over the railing, a howling whirlwind straight up into the sky, and Revali came up from below, stalling out at the top with a careless flourish before dropping perfectly onto the rail, gripping it surley beneath his avian toes.

“Impressive, I know,” he crooned. That rapier voice.

He spoke smoothly of how few could achieve a mastery of the sky. But with his artful technique he was able to create a powerful updraft that allowed him to soar up into the heavens—“A superior and masterful skill, even among the Rito.” Or some such words. He lovingly admired his handsome, blue-grey wings.

“Now then,” he said, hopping lightly down onto the landing, “pardon me for being so blunt, but let’s not forget the fact that I am the most skilled archer of all the Rito.”

He was almost.... circling me.

“And yet, I have only been tapped to merely assist you, just because of that darkness-sealing sword on your back.” The rapier twisted a bit. “It’s just... asinine.”

I drew my head back where I sat on the couch.

Whoa.

With his skill, he said, he didn’t see why we couldn’t easily dispense with Ganon.

“Of course we could just settle this one-on-one,” he leaned in close to say. “But where? Hmm...” He cast about in grand mockery. “Oh, I know, how about up there!” And he threw one wing toward the Divine Beast as sunlight glinted off its bronzebeigy form in the brilliant day.

“Oh, but you must pardon me!” The rapier glinted in razored jolity.... before plunging once more into my forehead. “I forgot you have no way of reaching that Divine Beast on your own.”

And with a spread of his wings, he thrust up into the sky, that updraft of his.... And as he powered away so hard and fast—“Good luck sealing the darkness!” he called back.

And he was gone.

Man....

“CHAMPION DESCENDANT!” Saki yelled again, and I snapped to. “Are you all right?”

I was.

He seemed.... a little full of himself.

Mipha loved me.

Daruk was friendly with me.

Urbosa respected me.

But Revali?

....

I didn’t know what to make of Revali.

He’s neither crazy nor blind, I finally thought in Mr. Harris’ voice.

He’s just vain.

Poor, vain fool....

Harth opened up to me a little more then, too. He told me about Teba, and said that yes, he could be hot-headed, and a little rude. But he and Harth, they looked out for each other.

I.... probably needed to go to bed.

I did. At the Swallow’s Roost. A lady Rito named Cecili checked me in.

“Only stalkoblins are up at this hour, traveler,” she said.

Don’t you know it.

I took the Rito Down Bed for the higher price of 80 rupees. Didn’t often get the softer beds. This one had sound in the blackout. Soft fluffing and even breathing sounds. Ahhhhh.

I woke up with full hearts plus three extra, and an extra stamina wheel.

Naaaaaice.

GOOD NIGHT.

Wise Old Owl

Waking of Saturday, January 5, 2019 ~ 4

Wise Old Owl

There was only one more Rito house before the spiral of boardwalk finally came to an end. And in this house, resting in what might have been a wooden rocker—I wasn’t entirely sure; there were a lot of feathers in the way—was the largest Rito I had ever seen.

He was aged, with a gentle demeanor, honeynut plumage, and great, cream-colored brow-feathers you could clean a pipe with.

Just as Kass was more parrot-like than most of his kin, this elder Rito seemed more like a great horned owl, with luminous eyes and a fine, pointed beak. Beneath his creamy brows and covering most of his face and neck was an equally creamy beard, brushed grandly out to either side, and braided thickly downward for a foot and a half before it ended in a gigantic bob. Was it feathers or was it hair? He stroked it as he greeted me.

“Ah, a visitor. Welcome to...” But he trailed off before—“Oh. OH! That object on your hip. Could it be...?” But he caught himself. “Forgive me. Where are my manners? I am Kaneli, Elder of Rito Village.”

He asked about the Sheikah Slate, and when I confirmed that that was indeed what it was, he leaned forward in excitement, and his already large eyes widened to an alarming size! Owl indeed!

“Then it is true!” he exclaimed, “You must be a Champion like Master Revali! One of the few people able to board Divine Beast Vah Medoh!”

But here he paused and murmured beneath his breath that the Champions had all been dead for a hundred years.... and shortly concluded that I must be a “mere descendent”. An inheritor of the Sheikah Slate.

He begged my pardon once more before asking if I would listen to the request of this old man.

Here we go, I thought....

And he told me straight up that he would like me to deal with the Divine Beast Vah Medoh.

“Only Champions were able to control the Divine Beasts,” he stressed again. And he told me how he had tried to impress this upon some of the more headstrong Rito Warriors of his tribe, but they didn’t heed his warnings.... He could not stop Teba and Harth from launching an assault against the Beast. And.... it hadn’t gone well.

Harth was badly injured.

And the other....?

“Teba escaped unscathed,” said the Elder, and I was relieved— “but I fear he now plans to face Medoh alone.”

—and just a little bit disappointed at the same time.... No derring-do, dashing rescues of the desperately wounded here. That was okay.

“As a descendant of Champions, you might have a chance,” the Elder went on, “Please, find Teba. If you work together, you may be able to stop Divine Beast Vah Medoh.”

And that seemed to settle it.

Hahh.

I thought about the other places I’d been. The grandness of King Dorephan, Lord of the Zoras, the seclusion of the protected Gerudo Chief.... But this old owl, he seemed more.... grandfatherly than anything else, here in this rustic place of small wooden lodgings.

It just seemed so.... humble.

I kind of liked it. c:

I spoke with the Elder for a little bit longer to get more details. I learned a little about Vah Medoh, not much I didn’t already know, and some about the old Champion Revali. He had been a skilled warrior, wielding a bow twice his own size with ease. Kaneli wondered what could have happened inside the Divine Beast a hundred years ago to defeat such a celebrated warrior....

I also learned that, evidently, attacking Vah Medoh had been Teba’s idea to begin with. Oh gads, that made it even worse that Harth was the one who was injured. Shot down, the Elder said.

Elder Kaneli suspected that this failure may have only strengthened Teba’s resolve to make another run at Medoh, and that he was likely preparing for the assault. Ah, so he had gone missing of his own accord, it seemed....

The Elder directed me to speak to Teba’s wife Saki—oh, that pretty one just next door—Saki, he said, might be able to offer me clues regarding Teba’s whereabouts.

So, I went back to the boardwalk, walked a ninepace downspiral and turned back into Saki’s house. Teba’s house, I guessed.

But Saki had already overheard me talking with the elder. Their dwellings were so close, and these homes.... they were so open.

Saki opened up to me then. She told me she thought her husband was somewhere in the Flight Range, a place where the Rito would go to practice aerial combat. (She gestured over the lake and toward the icy Hebra Mountains.) At least, that was where Tulin, their son, had said his Dad had gone.

She said, assuming I had a means of air-travel, if I took off from Revali’s Landing it would be a straight shot to this Flight Range, and I would easily be able to find Teba.

I looked where she pointed this time.

Revali’s Landing was only a little way down the Neck, and it was one of the larger landings off the spiraling boardwalk. So large it had little landings of its own, stepping off into the sky. The dark planks of its broad platform were painted with a stylized, flying kind of design in white....

I had been here before.

Memory took me....