And the Women Better Singers

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 8

And the Women Better Singers

I went talkin’ around, talkin’ around, and found the Rito Villagers to be happy again. :)

But it was most adorable when I caught one Rito woman, Bedoli, in mid-song. She was so happy that Vah Medoh had finally been appeased, she said, that she hadn’t even realized she’d been singing that old song....

It was an ancient Rito song.

“Teach it to me!” I said. :D

“Oh, well that’s embarrassing,” she answered, but she cleared her throat and sang:

The pride of the Rito, pillar in the sky,

its heart lights up when the sun is high.

And then, “...Uhhh. There’s more to the song, but I forget the rest of the words.”

XD I know that feeling, Bedoli.

She directed me, if I wanted to learn the rest of the song, to speak to her sister Laissa. And a Shrine Quest banner flashed across my screen: “The Ancient Rito Song”.

Well! :D

I ran back to the boardwalk, searching for this Laissa, and I found her in a house just lower down. She had the same plum-colored plumage as her sister....

Laissa said she would sing me the second half of the song, but only if I could recite the first half from memory.

And what followed was one of the most adorable tiny little dialogue guessing games I had ever played. X-)

I was given four response options, one of which was “The pride of the Rito”, and the rest of which were very similar. And in four consecutive parts of four choices each, I was made to reconstruct the verse that Bedoli had sung for me. And the rhyme fragments the localizers had invented were so lovely and clever! XD THIS. WAS ADORABLE.

Once I’d gotten the multiple-choice lyrics quiz right, Laissa sang me the second half of the ancient Rito song:

The heart shines upon a path not whole,

but a warming flame can stir its soul.

Hmmm.... but I thought I might know what that meant.... The “pillar” was surely the Neck of the Crane.... And I had seen a few pedestals around the edge of Lake Totori in the many times I’d taken in the view.... shadow games, perhaps?

This was further along that SHRINE QUEST anyway....

But.... first....

Kheel’s mom was looking for her.

In further meandering about the village, I had come across a light-green Rito lady named Amali. She was looking and calling for her daughter Kheel, but couldn’t find her. Did she go to the Warbler’s Nest? Amali wondered....

We were standing on the landing beside the shrine, and Amali pointed out the Warbler’s Nest to me—it was just across the lake, over on the shore: a group of tall, oddly-shaped stones encompassing a pedestal.

So that was the Warbler’s Nest. I’d seen it through my scope a few times.

Well, I’d be happy to go and take a look! I thought, :D and jumped off.

I paraglided over, and found the little Rito child straight away.

“Kheel what are you doing?” I said, “It’s late and your Mom is worried.”

“My sisters are big dumb dummies!” Kheel started. She lamented that they were all supposed to rehearse at the Warbler’s Nest, but nobody showed up. They were supposed to sing their song for the Elder here.

Then she looked at me more closely and said that I looked like somebody.... she could use....? What did she say? XD

“Thaaaaat is to say you look like a guy who likes to help people in need.”

That little snot! XD

Though now that I think about it, she did kinda have me there....

She told me to go get her sisters.

“They won’t listen to me, but they might listen to a scary-looking Hylian like you.”

Oh thanks, Kheel! XD

Heh, scary, huh? I guess it made sense.... What are Hylians to these bird-people? Weird little naked gremlin-things with squashed faces and stunted fingers? Our toes all facing in the same direction.... creepy!

And a new Shrine Quest was underway: Recital at Warbler’s Nest.

So many musical Shrine Quests! :D

Excellent! X-)

I let Amali know where Kheel had gone, but it was trickier than I thought chasing down all these little Rito sisters EVERYWHERE around the village, reminding them all of their promises to rehearse with Kheel. One was in the shop looking at ingredients, because another one, Genli (the youngest I assumed), was in the kitchen and wouldn’t rehearse until she’d had some Hearty Salmon Meuniére.... One was out actually catching the salmon from a pond on one of the rockspires leading out of the village how.... did a breed of salmon get up there?

And of course I was completely roped into helping make this dish—fortunately they provided the ingredients for me; all I had to do was cook it....

And the last sister.... was practicing on her own up on an obscure crag of the Neck. And she had the last ingredient, so I had to find her first before I could cook for Genli....

My goodness.

Once I seemed to have wrapped up all of their problems, I paraglided over to meet them at the Warbler’s Nest—I’m moving, I’m hustling, I get over there, I think I’ve got them ALL squared away, but—HOLD THAT THOUGHT—

The shadow of the Neck was about to pass over the other pedestal. That shadow-heart thing.... Gotta go do that....

I left the little sisters standing there and paraglided off the Warbler’s Nest ledge and down to the path that led around the lake, running as fast as I could to overtake the shadow....!

When I got to the pedestal, I hurriedly dumped flint and faggot onto its surface and lit it up with a strike of my metal sword—and it was burning. And the shadow was coming. It would cross the pedestal in just a few seconds.

And—wouldn’t you know it.... The shaft of sunlight spearing through the Hiker’s Hollow up in the Neck.... really did light up the ground in the shape of a heart! ^_^ How Friendly. ♡

When the Neck’s shadow completely encompassed the pedestal like the eye of a needle, the pedestal lit up blue beneath the little fire I’d made, and....

The Bareeda Naag Shrine rumbled up out of the earth just a half a stone’s cast inland!

Excellent! ^_^

Cannon was the name of the challenge inside. Just Cannon. Much fun with projectiles and a LOT of lucky shots.... Got through it in a breeze.

All the better. Once I was out, OKAY, I thought, now RUN BACK TO THE GIRLS! I even used Revali’s Gale to go faster and to get up onto the Warbler’s Nest ledge again. Handy! Thank you, Revali. ^_^

The five Rito girls were there. Kheel was so grateful for all my help getting her sisters to rehearsal that she gave me a Korok Leaf. I didn’t have room for it, but I just picked something to drop in the meanwhile so I could at least hold it. For Kheel said that if I were to use it to blow wind at the stones.... the stones would sing.

The girls meanwhile practiced their own song. They stood in a neat little line, but not in age-order—or at least, not in the order I’d seen them in when I’d passed their house at night and saw them in their little hammocks, which I assumed was age-order....

No, they stood in rainbow-order, making a lovely gradient between them all. ^_^

I spoke to Kheel again as they practiced, and she said that she didn’t understand all the words, but that there was one line that always caught her ear: “When the wind convinces the stones to sing, open the monk’s door will swing” or something like that.

Ah, I have to listen to them.

Out of their standing order in line, which seemed to be based on pitch, each one sang a single note in turn: 4____ 5____ 3____ 1____ 2____.

But.... the intervals were so constricted....

They repeated the pattern.

4—5—3—1—2....?

No, that last one wasn’t two, it was the tonic! It wasn’t 4—5—3—1—2.... It was 3—4—2—7—1!

Mi____ Fa____ Re____ Ti____ Do____.

Small steps. It was a cute little tune.

I stood on the pedestal between the stones. Each stone had a hole in the middle—reminiscent of those howling stones from Twilight Princess—as well as an identifying number of knobs on top. Useful....

Wielding the Korok Leaf, I swung it to send powerful air-thrusts at each of the stones in turn. Four knobs.... It resonated the first girl’s note an octave or two lower in an airy, bass-flute kind of tone. Quite a pleasant sound actually.

Five knobs.... Three.... One....

Two!

And on the final resonation is that even a word? No it’s not—And on the final resonance.... what should come up from a nearby spot of ground further inland but another shrine!

The girls all turned around at the commotion and reacted—“Whoa! Was that weird house always there?” “No!” “Who knew Warbler’s Nest was hiding such a secret?” And other such words.

They were adorable. ^_^ Not many people ever got to see me scare up hidden shrines. Much less children at that.

They all decided to fly back home to tell their mom all about it—“Last one back is an unhatched egg!” and such. XD And with a running start back toward the lake, they all fluttered into the sky, bright little rainbow in the sun....

Ah, those girls were sweet. ^_^

But I turned toward my LONG-CHASED PRIZE.

IT HAD BEEN SUCH A BIG DAY.

AND FOR SOME REASON I WAS STILL MOVING.

I AM GOING INTO THE SHRINE NOW.

THANK YOU GIRLS, BE GOOD, AND GOOD NIGHT.

I entered the shrine as the evening was turning the world to gold—the Voo Lota Shrine. The trial within was called The Winding Route.

I was just confronted with a ladder leading upwards out of a tight space.

Hm.

I followed it; the shaft was also very constricted, with no other opening but at the distant, distant top. And once I reached that.... there was only a narrow hallway going forward to a switch....

Not wanting to wear down my weapons any more than absolutely necessary, I simply laid a Bomb, backed up, and flicked my own switch, thank you, Ja Baij....

And right where I had laid the Bomb, right where anyone would have been standing who decided to strike the shrine switch more directly.... a trap door opened up.

Oh my.

I stepped forward and looked down.

Oh.

Ugh.

Freakin’ lava pit. @_@

It was a dicey but fairly maneuverable paraglide between the sparse structures, mostly by power of fan-drafts. But I got the Spirit Orb all right.

Okay, I really needed to get to bed.

Ran back to Rito Village. ‘Cause I liked it here.

I had 27 Spirit Orbs to my name.

I thought of all the places I had been. Kakariko. Hateno. Zora’s Domain. Goron City. Gerudo Town. Lurelin Village. Rito Village.

Mmm Kakariko Village was nice.

But this place was just calming to my heart.

I would pray to the Goddess Statue here.

The one with a crown of flowers.

But....

If I had just one more Spirit Orb....

That would put me at seven sets....

Seven.... That’s a good number....

Hmmm....

Another day.

Good.

Night.

All.

I’m sleepin’ in a Rito Down Bed from noon-fifty until tomorrow morning.

Good night.

<3

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....]]

Basecamp

Waking of Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ 2

Basecamp

It was so much easier to get to Kaysa now that I could warp directly to the Tabantha Tower. With the Red Lizalfos tails I had collected, I had her do up my Snowquill Ensemble to its highest level! And then.... I think I am set....???? I thought wildly.

Back to Rito Village. I could only explore for so much longer. At length.... I came back to the Painted Landing—now Revali’s Landing—and aligned myself to the snowy clifftops Saki had indicated before. The Flight Range was somewhere over there. The distance looked manageable....

I was ready.

I leapt off the landing and began my paraglide over the lake. But what was my surprise before I even reached the other clifftop shore.... to see Kilton’s Balloon parked down there behind a rock near the edge.

I went to visit with him, taking my time perusing his wares, but he had nothing new.

FORWARD.

The cold pressed in at once, here near the icy coasts of Hebra once more. There was even snow on the ground. But my newly enhanced gear was awesome.

I did have to switch over to my Snow Boots after just a moment, though. If I wanted to move fast. And I did, because DANG I ran into a lot of trouble with mounted Bokoblins, an extraneous Yiga man who really should’ve been at home before his fire, and a number of Stalmoblins. And wolves.

Always the wolves, man....

But thanks to Kaysa, my Snowquill Ensemble was strong as well as warm. I cut and fought and bowled my way across the snow until I made it through to the Sha Warvo Shrine.

Path of Hidden Winds was the trial inside. Tricky!

Onward....

On into Dronoc’s Pass.

The Flight Range would be near here.... I could see the way I needed to go. But.... there was a dwelling over there, just to the north, nestled against the foothills of the mighty Hebra Peaks.

I just went to check it out....

The Hebra Trailhead Lodge this was called. Seemed to be some kind of basecamp.

No one was home, though.

Well, almost no one—there was a book. “Selmie’s Notes”. Selmie had been here?

Oh, she left survival notes, and mentioned that she’d left supplies at the bases of the flagpoles along the trail. That was nice of her. :)

Somebody else added....

“Selmie! Baby! I think I’m a better shield surfer! If I prove it, can we get married?”

And below that, an up arrow, and: “This total loser will never win!”

And then: “I didn’t know what love was until I saw Selmie sliding down the slopes... I can’t believe you retired... Where did you go?”

“Selmie, thank you for leaving the food! I’ll make good use of it here in the hut!”

“I saw some kid north of Coldsnap Hollow! He looked like he was pretty great at shield surfing!”

These must have been notes from other travelers. ^_^

“Selmie, thanks for the food that was left here. It seriously saved my life. I’ll be sure to leave some for the next person.”

“To whoever is reading this, please take as much of the food as you need.”

That was the end.

And well.... given express permission.... I helped myself, too. <3

When I came back outside, there was a dude by a fire.

I could be in the mood.... I approached him.

It was a Traveler all right.

I killed him.

Okay, to the Flight Range....

But....

No, it was late. I’d spent all day combing around this frosty little valley, and the icy night was fast approaching.

I decided instead to sleep in the lodge until morning.