Thing Under The Mountain

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017 ~ 5

Thing Under The Mountain

I took my time surveying my surroundings from the top of the Akkala Tower. That first Akkalan shrine I had come to, surrounded by wolves, stood on a red plateau far to the east on the other side of a marshy wetland.

A couple of lower cliffs stood just on this side of it. One of them was strangely-shaped, looking more like a smaller, separate plateau, isolated but for a single, thin, somewhat curved ridge of red earth connecting it to the larger plateau. The other cliff was.... just a cliff. A small wood grew upon it, with a little pond at its heart.

“You didn’t go there?” David asked as we looked at my new map.

“No.”

“Look at it!”

I scoped it.

“What does it look like?”

“....DAY-VIIID!” I griped, and pretended I hadn’t seen.

You know, all in all, he’s really . . . . really fantastic about keeping me unspoiled. From what I gather, it’s been somewhat maddeningly difficult for him at times.

I’m sure I’ll understand someday.

And then I will read the aforetyped line and gawp at my own inadvertent cruelty to him, I am quite sure.

I stayed up on top of the tower as the sun sank lower, viewing my surroundings until after dark. And, as it happened, in the dimness I caught sight of another orange glow to the east:

That little wood on the cliff.

Springing up in the midst of the trees was a number of large, very tall, bright orange toadstools.

(So I could say.... I would have caught sight of it then, anyway. That could excuse and alleviate the spoilage a bit.)

I knew what those mushrooms were. There was only one other place I’d ever seen mushrooms grow like that—

The Fairy Fountain.

Now that was some good fortune. <3

The Road to Robbie was also in that general direction, so I decided to jump for it, and paraglide back east.

It was also partly at David’s insistence—he said he had paraglided to that Wolf Shrine from this Sheikah Tower. Wanted me to do it too, I guess. It was raining when I did, and the grey-green haze of it swallowed me up until I seemed simply to rush through a great dark cloud of dust and wind.

“This is exactly where I was, when you saw me in that place with a lot of wind. It was raining then, too,” said David, referencing a time I’d taken an accidental glance at his screen.

“I thought you were on solid ground then,” I said. It had looked like a desert or something. Daytime colors maybe.

My rain cleared up pretty quick, though, and I looked down in the pre-dawn pink to see the whole expansive wetland below me. And two loose Guardian Stalkers creeping about. “Whoa,” we both said.

And for some reason I didn’t pay attention to my stamina wheel until it was on its last gasping splinter of red and then . . . .

Well I fell out of the sky.

I plummeted below the red cliffs. “Okay I have a better idea,” I said, and looked at my Sheikah Slate. I mapped over to the Wolf shrine, and concluded my journey to it via the warp pad.

Hoped my momentum wouldnt carry over....

It didn’t.

Once I was clear of the wolves, I had a lovely distracting time with a couple of mounted Bokoblins—one of whom I finally got to try out my new tricked out Stasis ability on!

I stopped him in midair as his horse galloped out from between his legs!

And then I walloped him right out of the sky like a big lumpy golf ball! Man, that guy FLEW when the Stasis let go!

And then I ran after him to finish the job AND HE RAN AWAY FROM ME!

I had never seen them retreat before. O__O

I was feeling pretty awesome! >:D

I chased him up a hill to the east and was further distracted by my shrine-locator’s beeping.... Ah, what the hey! I figured. I’ll just go and grab another shrine!

But chase down the signal as I might, I couldn’t see a shrine anywhere.... It sounded so close....

It was in a strange land of deep crevasses and gushing jets of air from cracks in the earth—made for great updrafts, really. I started on top of the hill where the beeping indicated the shrine should have been, and started a spiraling trail down around its sides—perhaps there was some cave....

There was. But I had to hike and glide quite far away to see it. Because it was set into a sheer cliff face beneath the hill, shadowed by an overhang of stone, with no footpaths to reach it, flanked on all sides by the open atmosphere of an immense chasm, and blocked off at its mouth by a wall of crumbling stone. I could see the shrine’s orange glow between the cracks....

Well.

I tried dropping bombs from the hill above.

No good.

I tried Bomb-Golfing from the other side.

Came up short.

I tentatively tried a precious Bomb Arrow.

Got.... nothing? Oh dear....

An inordinate number of large boulders lay scattered everywhere in this strange pit-mine of a place. Some of them were magnetizable....

David told me to take care, though. He said he’d seen places where lots of boulders like this meant ammunition for nearby Flying Guardians.

I kept my eyes open....

I tried Magnesising a makeshift battering-ram.

Couldn’t reach.

I tried Stasising a regular boulder and whacking it up to send a flying bombardment....! But I hit it too hard and missed.

It would take a lot of careful effort to maneuver another boulder over here to the edge....

And then “Wait a second!” I shouted. “It was raining before! Let me try another Bomb Arrow!”

And I nocked it, and it sparked and fizzed as the other one never had! I let fly and BOOM! Hole-in-the-Rock!

After that it was a matter of gaining enough altitude to paraglide in. I ended up on the cliff face beneath anyway, but not by much. It was a slightly startling scramble to climb up to the lip however, as it started to rain again just then. But perhaps I needn’t have worried—there was still that giant stone overhang above. Maybe it kept the cliff beneath it dry.

And what happiness was this! My extra Bomb Arrow was still there! :D It must have sailed right in through the cracks between the rocks! Lucky! 8D

The shrine contained another Modest Test of Strength, and I conquered it.

I tend to go through a lot of specialty arrows in those kind. “You don’t mess around!” David said as I pummeled the resident Guardian with most of the rest of my Bomb Arrows....

Chills

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017 ~ 4

Chills

“What’s that screaming?” I asked.

“It’s a Bokoblin,” said David, “Being scared by a Flying Guardian. Repeatedly.”

Oh. .__.

It was.... a long time before I was ready to make that dash. David meanwhile kept assuring me that that was the way he went, and he made it just fine.

And I made it up all right, too. But dealing with the Bokoblins was a little more troublesome—didn’t want to be seen by the Guardians while I beat around on the staircase with the lower lifeforms. But I eventually got them out of my hair, undetected.

Seemed the Guardians didn’t patrol this section of the spiraling stone stairway.

They did the others, though, and so it was to be another scramble up the red, red rock to get past them.

The only trouble was that it started to rain, which gave my nerves plenty of time to boil over at the thought of what ungodly horrors I might find waiting for me over the last high ledge....

At length the rain went away, and I started climbing again. I had a few close calls with my stamina, but I did make it to the top—just on the other side of a low wall from a rusted Guardian.

“Oh for Satan, that thing is alive—!”

I could tell it was alive for my Champion’s Tunic.

“Oh that guy?” David shrugged. “I never dealt with him.”

Oh gads.... it was RIGHT THERE....

I believe this was when my condition began to deteriorate.

I backed away from it, trying to stay in the sight-shadow of a tall stone pillar.

Dark embers rose from the ground—

Oh no—it wasn’t a—?

But I looked at my clock. It couldn’t be a Blood Moon. It was far from midnight.

And then I heard the sound. A constant kind of gurgling like a guttering drain.

Malice pools. And they were close.

I peered round the edge of another wall and saw the great, gelatinous mass of it—dark, glistening, evil. Glowing and hungry to burn.

The huge, bulbous pool seemed to surround the entire ruin about the base of the tower, and I could see only one way for me to go: to the right, in front of the rusted Guardian. D8

There was a metal box there.... maybe I could hold it up so the Guardian wouldn’t see me as I moved—

“No, don’t go that way!” said David, “Go the other way.”

“What?” I was already shivering. The other way?

I looked.

Leftward around the edge of the summit was a clear lot of dirt to be sure, but—

Those propellers.

A Guardian Flyer patrolled just off the edge over that way.

My breath came in quivering gasps.

David laughed and asked if I were okay.

“Oh yeah—yeah I’m good.” Whispers punctuated by juddering lungs.

I squatted down and crept.

What in the world were herons doing here? How could birds even live here?

The sound of those propellers as I traipsed along so close to the edge....

And then a path inward, away from the edge, presented itself—an old.... red.... carpet?

What kind of place had this been?

Somewhere nice I imagine.

But it was the opposite of nice now....

“Oh gads, oh gads....” I kept breathing as I moved slowly forward up some stone steps—I did not want to be higher.

“Maybe this isn’t the game for you!” David laughed.

Don’t think I haven’t thought that before, David.

“No no, I’m good—” I breathed in another trembling whisper....

One Malicious Eyeball, a bit of precarious Magnesis, a few stray Bokoblins and a Blood Moon later....

“Okay that’s a bad place, don’t wanna go there, oh my gosh, don’t touch that thing, that is a bad thing, okay careful careful, hhhhh, now now now come to me my love I want to shoot you, don’t fight with me, OH GEEZ, okay okay okay over we go careful now oh gads—”

My rantings were not improving.

“Oh my gosh, Andrea, you sound like a wreck!” David kept saying.

“No no no I’m great,” I insisted in a half-mad rasp.

“I didn’t even think this tower was that bad!” he said.

It was a tight snail’s shell maze with many rooms, and the floor was lava. Or close enough.

Maybe it would’ve been better if it was lava; a couple of the Bokoblins I disarmed and knocked into it stayed alive.... just moving around in the stuff....

Ughuhuh....

When I finally made it to the top of the tower, I was heart-stoppingly confronted by another rusted Guardian.

Much like the skull-rock at the Military Training Camp, it must have been carried up by the tower’s bursting from the ground.

However, this one was quite dead.

Just serendipitous I happened to come up the tower-chute directly facing it. .__.

Gads.

I downloaded the map.

This was Akkala.

I studied the finer details.... that dark spot up north.... there at the end of that road....

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you think it is,” said David.

FEVER

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017 ~ 3

FEVER

There is a really joyous kind of abandon to this game that.... really doesn’t give a fig whether you’re hungry, or low on sleep, or even trying to keep a careful log.

There are colors in the distance, and creatures to behold.

There are hills with other sides to be got to....

Sometimes I forget why I’m writing this.

Sometimes I wonder what I’m even doing.

Part of it is for me. I’m a journaler, I’m a logger, I crave the art of crystalizing experiences within combinations of words—and this is one exciting adventure to take down!

But part of it is still a love letter too. Still one great big reaction comment composed with love to the game’s developers.

Hhhh, I just keep falling into this cycle lately. It goes like this:

1. Plunge into the game for several hours without coming up for air.

2. Jot down a skeleton of notes and then crash.

3. Guardians in all my nightmares.

4. Flesh notes out into proper log entries.

5. Get super caught up in finessing the writing until I think I’ll never catch up to my last save point.

6. Procrastination Oreos.

7. Half-watch David play when it’s not too spoilerish, and if he starts laughing at how few shrines I have compared to him, remind him that I’m still way richer than he is. And I have Zora pants.

8. Ache to play the game again myself.

9. Remember that I’m not writing a friggin’ novel; zoom out, pull back, and gloss over with quicker, easier log entries until I write up to where I am in the game.

10. Repeat.

It drives me.... only a little bit batty.

HuHHH I didn’t want to keep falling into that one; it’s just that I love the game so much. I love to play it. I love running around the world and seeing where the trails lead and rooting out the secrets.

I’d thought to just take smaller bites of the gameplay, to make the logging easier, but....

Oh man....

KNOWING the heaps of self-inflicted homework it would lay on me, and yet.... feeling so full of a glorious lack of concern, and ultimately deciding that.... I didn’t care! —

~

It was with the freest, sunniest abandon that I forgot the Hateno House, warped to Zora’s Domain, climbed up into Upland Zorana, and paraglided into the warm, autumnal glow of the north countries. The sweet lush valleys I had so scarcely laid eyes on.

(Which was the same route David used to get into Zora’s Domain, by the by: he Cryonised his way up one of the waterfalls near Toto Lake.

He said he’d tell me some day and now he’s told me and now I’ve recorded it.)

I sailed down into lush grass beneath ruddy trees with golden leaves, where red rocks broke through the surface of the earth in lumps and piles and wild cascades just begging to be jumped and hiked and climbed upon!

Scattered a pack of wolves just to enter that first nearby shrine!

Crossed over beautifully shaded bridges beside towering, romantic waterfalls beneath the cliffs of Zorana!

Trekked westward past the Akkala Parade Ground Ruins!

There were parades here once? :D

Contracted a tiny case of the willies as I looked over the big open square—decided to stay on the road!

All the while the terrible Sheikah Tower patrolled by Guardian Flyers loomed tall and mighty above me to the north....

Threw a bokoblin off a woman named Chabi, who gave me in return.... what some kind of Monster Essence? 8O

Said she got it off a guy named Kilton, who runs some kind of establishment called Fang and Bone, and that it’s only open at night, and it deals in.... all things monster??

She said that essence would go great in any dishes I cooked, but.... I had reservations.

Continued west as the path gained in altitude, and came upon—a diverging of the ways! The bridge north to the tower? Or a paraglider float west to a very near stable?

Briefly felt like Robert Frost! D:

HNNNGGG Decided to lock down the stable first and SO....

Continued west again!

Rescued a couple of sisters from some more bokoblins! How dandy it was to be able to read my enemies’ health-meters!

“I got the Champion’s Tunic!” I had joyed to David.

“Oh!” he gave me a polite smile, “where’d you get it?”

“Impa gave it to me!”

—And his furrowing brow made his eyes narrow at me and he looked confused....

Well where’d he get his Champion’s Tunic?

Continued along the yellowy path!

Found the Foothill Stable and beat the resident shrine!

Cliiiiimmmbed the long road back to the bridge toward the north!

SPORTED WITH SOME BAD GUYS AND FOUND SOME LOVELY WEAPONS!

CROSSED THE BRIDGE TOWARD THE NORTH.... CLOSER TO THE AWFUL TOWER....

Found.... another Stable first! :D The South Akkala Stable!

This was Akkala! I knew it!

Robbie was somewhere close!

And that tower, high up on the red crag, had to have the Akkala map!

Started climbing the red, red rock!

Encountered—

Oh....

Right....

GUARDIAN FLYERS. .__.

Taking Care of Business

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017 ~ 2

Taking Care of Business

I marked that shrine with a beacon, and found it to lie just north of the Honeydell, in the middle of a queer lot of huge circles in the topography that I had wondered about.... I warped to the Wetland Stable and went up the road to see—saving Leekah on the way again.

It was the giant tree stumps. And I discovered what they portended: Wizzrobes.

But they were easy enough to avoid, and the shrine was easy enough to find with a little dedication.

It was a Modest Test of Strength.

I’d seen David best a Major Test of Strength....

I decided to give this one a try.... and I conquered it!

My first Modest Combat win. ^_^

I’d had a lot of adventures all over the map. But I decided it really was time to go see Impa again after having regained a few of my memories.

I warped first to the Dueling Peaks Stable and chased down a few Koroks. After that I warped straight to Kakariko and—having about six thousand rupees to my name at this point—decided to look at the clothing shop.

That Sneaky Suit was 1800 all told.... Mmmm but I’d still have plenty left over if I wanted to go buy that house in Hateno as well....

But I passed on the heavy shopping for the time being.

TIME TO SEE IMPA.

There weren’t any deep cinematics this time aside from our conversation. But she acknowledged that I had regained a few of my memories—and she gave me something that she had been keeping safe for me....

The Champion’s Tunic.

Ah! So that was where David had gotten it! I thought.

Ah! I was finally garbed in the iconic blue tunic.... oh how smashing I looked....

I took it to Cotera straight away, and she took a few Lizalfos horns from my monster-bits collection and upped its defense from 5 to 8.

Awesome.

After that, it was off to Hateno Village! I had some business to take care of.... the first item of which was to find that kid, Nebb, for whom I’d been carting around that blasted worthless Traveler’s Sword!

I ran him down and showed it to him. And.... he gave me twenty rupees!

Well that was a nice surprise.

Next he said he wanted to see a Flame Rod. Man, if you give a mouse a cookie....

I happened to have one on me, and I showed that to him too.

And he gave me twenty more rupees!

Well!

Next he asked for a Moblin Club, and I didn’t have one of those, but hm.... Perhaps this Nebb merits some keeping up with, no?

My next stop was the Ancient Tech lab on the hill. I’d collected loads of ancient parts—I could upgrade my other runes: Bombs and Stasis.

So I did. And.... I was in a fine mood, so.... I gave Purah a couple of hearty “Snap!”s along the way.

Once my Stasis and Bombs were upgraded I ran outside to play with both. I glanced around to see if I could find any baddies to test the Stasis on. Accidentally discovered a hidden chest in a pool of water that way.... but no baddies. I probably would have had to leave town for that. As for my Bombs, they didn’t look any different, but I guess they packed a bigger punch now. And the reload time was definitely faster.

For a moment I thought. Outside the game.

I had just played a neat little chunk. If I stopped right here, that would make for easier logging, smaller bites, less stress. And moderation in all things was a good rule anyway.

I really should have just wrapped up the game.

I looked again at the house I could buy. It did have a lot of good points—a lit wok, an apple tree, a little pond, a place for my horses.... It opened right onto the hills, and it was very pretty.

I took a self portrait in front of it.

It was 4:15 in the morning, game-time. I sat by the wok’s fire until morning. By the time I stood up again forty-five minutes later, Karson, Bolson and Hudson had joined me and were sitting along with me.

You know Bolson really rocks the pink headband I must say. And the matching pink pants. Ah dear me. XD

Okay, that was a good little chunk to log about. It was always difficult to log when I took bigger bites than that....

Yes. I needed to stop.

Didn’t want to give myself too much post-game logging to do.

Yeah.

I rode out on the autosave, exited the game, shut down the console, and set the WiiU controller back in its cradle.

Yep. That was a good little chunk of game to play for now until I could log about it.

Time to leave the game alone now.

Yep.

....

I don’t think I lasted five hours.

Beyond Whistling Hill

Waking of Saturday, May 27, 2017

Beyond Whistling Hill

From the Riverside Stable I wandered into the dangerous central plains just to scope out a place called Whistling Hill. That was a cool name, I thought.

It was only a short distance away, but, ever wary, I crouched almost the entire way up there. But there were just a few birds and a copse of trees.

A wicked-looking spot to the north caught my eye; seemed to be a nest of baddies. As long as I was out here, thought I’d scope it out too.... until I saw the Guardian creeping around the top of that hill.

I reversed course immediately, crouching slowly back through the tall grass....

But what made me keep going?

Why did I decide to crouch further into the field?

Maybe I just wanted to see how far I could get.

I crouched through the entire field, marking the places where Guardians lurked on my map, and skirting wide around them.

I made it all the way to a place called the Sacred Ground Ruins.

David was right—there was a memory here!

I’ve been wont to take self-portraits at these places.... though there wasn’t a lot of time to finesse my composition this time. I don’t suppose I mind the targeting laser on my arm in this one....

The sun shone in my memory.

Princess Zelda, in a beautiful blue dress with golden trim—reminiscent of my sword sheath, really—stood and prayed with her right hand outstretched, palm toward me as I knelt in the center of the ornately carved stonework, in the middle of the Sacred Ground.

The Champions stood nearby.

Zelda’s words seemed almost recited. Link, Hero of Hyrule, you have proven yourself worthy of the Master Sword.... whether skyward bound, adrift in time or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight, the sword with the power to banish evil is bound to the spirit of the Hero.... May you both grow stronger together.... Some such words.

“Well this is uplifting,” the Goron rumbled. That must have been Daruk. “She’s making it sound like we already lost!”

“You’re the one who suggested we appoint the chosen knight in this ceremony with all this pomp!” or some such words from the bird-man, the Rito. He had a voice like a well-polished rapier, and his blue-grey plumage lay brushed back from his face in three elegant crests. “I think I’m on the same page as the princess regarding.... this boy.”

“Give it a rest,” said the Gerudo. Her eyes were strikingly green. And she looked so strong for a woman.... “That boy is a living reminder of her own failures.”

Mipha was there, too. But she didn’t say anything.

“At least, that’s how she sees him,” the Gerudo finished.

Princess Zelda’s failures?

Me?

What did it mean?

I re-entered the present, and ducked beneath the stonework just in time. Peering up over the edge, I could still see the Guardian glowing an angry red and pacing back and forth beyond the trees to the north.

“Oh geez that thing’s agitated....” I muttered.

After it calmed down, I just crept closer to the castle, chucking bombs at another Guardian over the old city wall, and chewing on my thoughts....

What did it mean?

And that other shrine glimmered in the distance.... far to the east....

What did it mean?

Riding the Dragon

Waking of Thursday, May 25, 2017

Riding the Dragon

Hm, maybe I’m getting too in-depth with these entries. I feel like they might be stressing me out. Maybe I’ll try and sparse ‘em up like they were at the beginning....

I warped to the Dueling Peaks Tower, paraglided through the rain over to Giro’s Woods, and made my way back to Deya Village Ruins. It didn’t take too long to recolate the Two Statues memory. Luckily the sun had come out by then, and I was able to get a few decent pictographs.

A wonderfully scudded sky blew indecisive sun and shadow over the hill as I remembered....

But in my memory.... it was raining after all.

Zelda sat beneath the tree, beside the statues. “This won’t let up any time soon,” she said.

I was standing. Moving. Honing my skill. My sword was in my hands, and I cut and sliced through various stances, ending on a deep exhale as I brought the blade in before me.

“Do you ever wonder if you’ll wake up one day and realize you’re not a fighter?”

I didn’t.... quite understand.

I think I still don’t understand. What she was talking about.

Of all the memories I had revisited, I recall this one the least vividly. Perhaps because there was one thing she said that seemed to blot out all others—so strong, I don’t even remember the way she worded it. Just the raw concept rings in my mind:

She said I take after my father.

I have a father.

I was born into a house of the Royal Guard. It had been expected all my life that I would become a Knight.

Then why was Princess Zelda saying these things....?

I took after my father, I had great skill, prowess....

“It’s no wonder that you would be the chosen one,” she said.

Chosen one?

It was always expected that I would become a Knight.

That was how I was raised.

“But if you had been told that your entire life....” she said.

Why did she look so.... sad?

“Do you think you would have chosen a different path?”

Why did she look so sad?

I came back to myself in the half-sun, took a few more pictographs, forgot to scare up the Korok that would have photobombed them, and moved on.

Now that I was so close to it again, I really was curious about that huge, dark-stoned bridge. I climbed the tree over the Two Statues, and leapt from its branches to paraglide across the river toward it....

I bypassed the bokoblin’s treehouse and went for the bridge’s north end. The Bridge of Hylia it was called. An impressive structure.

But the whole time as I crossed it, I kept looking over the edge, and straining my ears for that beautiful erhu.... Where was Farosh? Wouldn’t he rise? He did for David....

I had a brief party with three Lizalfos in the middle of the bridge, and a troublesome scuffle with their stal-counterparts at the south end, and some stalbokoblins. Nearly knocked me off into the lake! That annoying one with the swinging spear....

But I put them all down, and considered the nearby Sheikah Tower....

Nnnnnghyeahhh I would do the tower north of Upland Zorana first. I was pretty sure that would show me Akkala.

But while I was on the bridge I decided to climb up on top of the south bridge-tower just because of.... curiosity.

“That’s a good reason,” David affirmed.

As I climbed onto the last parapet—“Hey there’s an updraft!” I said. It had blown up out of nowhere.

“That’s because—!” David started, but he didn’t need to continue.

As I got on top, Farosh was right there, twining before my eyes!

“Isn’t that a sight!” I beamed.

I remembered—how David had said he’d encountered a simliar updraft when Farosh flew by, and followed it out of curiosity. How he’d said he’d gotten too close to Farosh, and been zapped by one of his little lightning balls.

Well, the next time Farosh came around, erhu in tow, I decided that.... I wanted to see where that updraft would take me too!

I leapt after Farosh and it was a turbulent affair! Getting close! LIGHTNING BALLS! Dodging, dodging—and how he twined all about! And I was too low and he was above me! And there were so many lightning balls! Beeeennnding to the right to follow his course—and I zipped around one lightning ball so close I thought for sure I’d had it—

And then Farosh dipped lower—I was weaving, darting, dodging and—wonder of wonders—I got above his back.

Maybe it was just the lightning balls that were dangerous. Maybe he’d acknowledge me somehow if I actually made contact....

Now or never—I let go of my paraglider.

SIZZLE.

I bounced off his back with a painful choking sound.

But his back was still beneath me.

SIZZLE. “Hlck!”

I bounced again as he continued in his perfect, sinuous course.

SIZZLE. “Agck!”

Bounce.

SIZZLE. “Gmff!”

Bounce.

SIZZLE. “Hrack!”

Bounce.

“Oh my gosh, Farosh! Let me OFF!” If I could just tip down over his flank—

“It doesn’t keep hurting you!” David pointed out. And I looked at my hearts. I was down one from those stal-fiends on the bridge, but I wasn’t going down any further.

SIZZLE. “GYAAAH!”

That was so comforting.

Farosh’s long, long body and tail finally passed out from under me and I fell through the cool, soothing air, and parachuted toward a little dock on the central southern shore. “I RODE THE DRAGON!” I cheered. 8D

“I wouldn’t exactly call that riding,” said David.

I warped to the Bosh Kala Shrine—the shrine by Proxim Bridge—and had a nice visit with Brigo. He wasn’t so skittish this time, but dutifully patrolled the bridge, as it constituted part of an important route.

After that I decided to chase down a beacon I had left in my scope—I had placed it on a shrine just a little north of Proxim Bridge, between Proxim Bridge and the Floret Sandbar.

And heading north from Proxim Bridge, sporting with a few octoroks and a rich little camp of bokoblins, I came upon the Riverside Stable.

So this was the Riverside Stable that bored kid at the Wetland Stable had mentioned!

A couple of people spoke to me, such that I gained a couple of new sidequests:

Gotter, a food connoisseur who was strangely obsessed with beauty and whose grandfather’s grandfather had been the Royal Family’s chef, asked whether, if I ever got inside Hyrule Castle, would I please keep my eyes out for a cookbook?

“Gotter.... you nuts,” I said, and fled inside the stable, where I met Parcy.

She told me she used to sneak inside the castle all the time for all the cool treasure there.

ò__O ????

But no longer, ever since it had become so dangerous.

But she asked me, if I ever went inside the castle—what was wrong with these people?—would I keep my eyes out for the Royal Guards’ gear?

Hey, I was a Royal Guard—you filchin’ my stuff, Parcy?

I spoke to the innkeep, thinking maybe I’d just take a little nap. His name was Ember.

Huh, Embry had been the name of the one at the Outskirt Stable.... I hadn’t been keeping track otherwise. Were all their names somewhat similar?

It was in the nine o’clock hour. I slept until noon.

It was overcast when I woke up.

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?”

All Heroes

Waking of Thursday, May 11, 2017 ~ 6

All Heroes

One thing left to do.

I warped back to Zora’s Domain.

I found Mei hiding in Kapson’s pool away behind the stairs. She told me her husband had given her a stern scolding. Well, good on Fronk. What had she been thinking?

I found her children in the square; Tumbo only ran in his hyper little circle as children do, carefree as anything, and Keye was still playing with Laruta beside Lady Mipha’s statue—imaginary spear practice.

They both seemed untroubled.

But where was Fronk?

As always it was a trek around the entire Domain before I found him, hard at work on one of the many pillars along the stairways and ramps.

“Oh Link... LINK... LINK!!” he shouted when he saw me, and promptly began almost to melt at my feet, words spilling, tumbling, cascading out of his mouth—

I honestly don’t remember the specifics of any of the things he said to me, though I know there were many Thank yous.

But—I remember his gratitude. His sincere, unadorned.... unfathomable relief and gratitude to have his family back together again.

And that was all.

And.... it was enough.

Maybe I had been a fool.

I knew setting out to find Fronk’s wife wouldn’t necessarily bring me any closer to resolving the ills of the world.

But I did it anyway.

And I knew Robbie was waiting. And Purah. And Impa. But....

I kept searching anyway.

I put the whole world on hold.

Why?

....

Well to find one slippery fish woman, that’s why.

I did it because I wanted to.

I did it because.... families should be together.

I did it because—

That’s what Heroes do.

They help people.

Even when it’s foolish.

Even when they’re laughed at.

Even when the thanks are small.

Even when it’s terrifying or painful....

They do it because it’s what’s right.

Maybe I’ll try on the flight gloves next time. Seems like Dad’s old occupation may just sum up my whole job as the Hero of Hyrule, my whole experience just playing this game:

I Search, and I Rescue.

Maybe I hadn’t been a fool, whatever all Heroes may be called.

I don’t regret anything.

Waking of Tuesday, May 23, 2017

After all the places I’d been, all the towers I’d climbed, all the memories I’d found, all the shrines I’d combed, and all the friends I’d made, at the end of my Fool’s Errand, I prayed once again before the Goddess Hylia, and received a Hero’s Reward, manifold greater than any yet that I had gained.

Because I am a Hero.