It was cold.
That was the thought that was on her mind, presently. That thought served as a suitable change of subject. If she could just get her argument through to him somehow, maybe they could think of another way up. There…there had to be another way…another path… Something! Anything!
For some reason, Zora's Domain had completely frozen over. There was thick ice as far as the eye could see. The entire pond that made up most of the domain and was the primary source of water for Hyrule was pure ice. Ice stalactites hanging from the ceiling, ice stalagmites sticking up form the ground; it was as though they had stepped into a winter wonderland.
The thing that grabbed both of their attention the most, however, was where the waterfall used to be. What was once presumably a giant flowing body of water that rained down from the cave above was now frozen in place; a big mess of stalactites attached to one another. Nothing more.
Both the imp girl with the strange headpiece and the majestic-looking wolf standing beside her looked intently at the frozen mess. The wall of ice did not look stable, by any standards. It seemed like a single touch would shatter the whole thing to pieces. Then they would NEVER be able to get to the top, no matter what they tried.
The girl looked at the wolf out of the corner of her eye. The wolf seemed to notice this and turned its head so it was staring right at her. She yelped slightly and flew upwards, trying to escape its gaze. She flew up and down the frozen waterfall, getting a good look at the frozen ice mass from several angles. Just as she figured there were definitely places that the wolf could jump to. But then, that would mean…
She shivered slightly, remembering that it was intensely cold. Remembering her earlier thoughts, she flew back down to the wolf and floated in front of him, smiling widely. The wolf looked up at her, a curious expression on its face when it noticed she was smiling. Had she discovered something?
"Well Link," she said pleasantly, "I've looked over this hunk of ice and I think getting up there is pretty possible." The wolf started panting quickly, letting its tongue hang out, much like a normal dog would. This showed that it was happy. All at once, the girl's smile turned from pleasant to mischievous.
"…But…" she added. The wolf stopped panting. "Are you sure that this is the way you want to go? I mean, sure, there are places for you to jump and all, but this is ICE, don't forget. I mean, the chances of you slipping and falling are pretty high, here. Are you prepared to face the consequences? Mess up, and it could really hurt!" She laughed fiendishly to emphasize her point.
There was a moment of silence as Link the wolf seemed to be considering her words carefully. The imp girl's smile grew wider. No way would he go up this way now. Her smile faded when Link snapped back to attention. He looked at her and nodded. She frowned. During her travels with Link, she was able to somehow understand his thoughts by the looks he gave her. This was especially true when he was in his wolf form. The look he had given her this time said that he was prepared for the consequences. Come what may, he would make it up this waterfall by hopping between the frozen ledges. He knew the imp girl wouldn't let him down. She smiled again, this time looking concerned.
"Oh, I guess I knew you'd say that," she said, "but are you sure you want to take this way up? There could be other, safer paths that lead up to the exact same location and you don't even know it? Y'know?"
Thinking she had a point, Link looked around the domain, trying to find any other paths leading upwards. Although he caught glimpses of other hallways, they either did not lead up, or they were blocked by the giant ice waterfall. He looked back at the girl with a look that said he couldn't find anything.
"Oh, come on," she said teasingly, "You're not trying hard enough. Even I can see that. Can't you, I dunno, use your senses or something to find a path? I know how good that nose of yours is."
Almost mindlessly, he lowered his nose to the ground and sniffed around. After a few seconds, he gave up and shook himself.
The girl's patience was slowly starting to wane, but she kept her composure, smiling brightly. "Oh what, you got a cold? You must not have been trying hard enough. Sniff around some more, hero. There's bound to be something."
This time, the wolf didn't do anything. He just continued staring at her intently.
By this point, the smile had faded from the girl's face, being replaced by a deep frown. "Listen you mutt, stop being so difficult," she said, coldly, "don't you know that little Midna is only trying to look out for your safety here?"
The wolf cocked his head to the side for a few seconds, then quickly moved in an upwards fashion, obviously indicating that he wanted to proceed up the waterfall, and that he needed her help.
The imp girl laughed loudly. "Oh, oh don't be like that…"
Another upward head motion.
"Again, ice is slippery. One tiny slip up could be enough to kill you."
Another upward head motion.
"Say what you like, how do you expect to save the world when you're a big greasy, furry puddle in a frozen wasteland?" She had asked this in a sing-song voice.
Another upward head motion.
Midna frowned again. She was definitely annoyed at this point. "Listen, the more we just stand here arguing like this, the less time we have to counter Zant's evil reign." She shivered violently. "Besides, I'm getting cold, and I could certainly use a fur coat like yours. Could we please just find another path up there before I start getting ideas on how to keep warm? Besides, you're my servant and you have to do what I say, and I say we look for another path!"
Yet another upward head motion. Midna stared at Link the wolf with daggers in her eyes. He stared intensely back at her. After about fifteen seconds of a staring contest, she blinked and looked away. It was clear Link was determined to have his way. Nothing she said was going to dissuade him. She sighed and looked back at her, grinning mischievously once more.
"My, but you certainly are stubborn today, Link," she said, "You really want to go up the waterfall, do you? Fine, then. I give up. If that's the way you want to go, then that's the way we'll go." After a short pause, she added, "You can make it up there yourself then, can't you?"
Link looked at Midna with an exasperated look on his face. Did she really think he could get up there on his own? To prove his point, he tried to jump to the first icy ledge. He succeeded in jumping from ground to icy platform, but then immediately lost his balance and tumbled down, hitting his back on the icy floor.
This cracked Midna up to no end. She floated down to the ground and started laughing uncontrollably. "Hm, I guess you can't then. Well, come on back over here, then."
At that moment, Link had incredible difficulty trying to stand back up. Standing on solid, slippery ice on two legs was bad enough; standing on solid slippery ice with four legs seemed like a lost cause. At one point he thought he almost had it, but then he slipped and fell again. This caused Midna to fall onto her back, laughing even harder. Eventually, the wolf was finally able to stand up completely. Slowly, he made his way back to where Midna was cradling back and forth, in hysterics. After a few moments, she calmed herself down.
"Ok, ok. You win. You want up the waterfall? You got it." She looked at him and chuckled once more.
Link was looking at her with a deep frown on his features. He continued to frown as she made her way up the ledge, snickering. At that moment, time seemed to stop as she thought back to where she had met him in the dungeons of Hyrule Castle. She thought back to the first time they had tried this.
"Ugh. What are you doing?!"
She remembered saying it aloud. As she sat there on his back, she could only watch as the stupid wolf tried jumping the ledge but ended up missing and landing in the pool of water. It truly was pathetic having to watch the great hero miss supposedly 'easy' jumps and flounder about in the water like a small puppy. It's almost as if he really was stupid.
Making his way back up the spiral staircase, she came up with an ultimatum.
"So, you say you're missing the easy jumps, are you? Well, I guess I knew I'd have to do EVERYTHING for you, so I've got an idea. I'll float to the ledges, you focus your senses and make the jump, and my magic will sort of ease the way for you, in case you happen to jump too far and miss. Just focus on me and you'll be fine."
That's what she said, as she made her way to the first ledge, her hand hair almost seductively enticing him to make the jump. And so he did. He would make the jumps, and she would move to the next ledge.
However, as she did this, she couldn't help but come into contact with a certain emotion. Her heart would start pounding, her eyes would go wide, and she would let out a light, inaudible gasp. It happened whenever the wolf jumped towards her. It was a short and quick emotion, but there was no denying it was there. It was an emotion that could only be summed up with one word:
Fear.
Midna kept her gaze away from the wolf as the memories left her and her mind returned to the present. There was no denying it. She was scared of Link's wolf form lunging at her. She definitely wouldn't let on to him that she was intimidated by his wolf form; had she done that, then it would be all over. But, for one reason or another, something from their first ledge-hopping session had traumatised the poor imp girl, and this was why she had tried everything she could to change the wolf's mind. To try and lead him down a safer path. It would be safer for him, and it would keep her from having a heart attack. She had done this every time they came to a bunch of ledges, and every time, they would go through the same arguments and every time, she would let him have his way, much to her chagrin.
But she would never make this fact known to him. This was her secret and she was determined to keep it that way. Revealing it would ultimately make her lose a lot of the power she had over him, and after the way she'd been treating him during the course of their adventure, that was the last thing she wanted.
Blocking all of these thoughts out of her mind, she kept her jovial expressions in check and turned back down to the wolf, still looking at her with that same frown on his face.
"Ok, oh great hero! I'm ready when you are!"
She tried to seem as calm and relaxed as possible. She could quickly feel it starting to dissipate as the wolf's expression started to change. His frown stayed, but it suddenly grew deeper, his teeth started to become visible, growling noises were heard and…what the? Was he SMILING? Midna was really worried now, almost to the point of being petrified. Then, all at once, the possibility hit her as if a bomb had just exploded in front of her. He couldn't have known her secret. Could he?
Time seemed to slow down as Link prepared to make the first jump. Midna quickly stole a glance upward. This was going to be a long and slippery climb. No doubt about that.