"Hello there, Little Princess!"

Zelda gawked up at the towering Goron, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Revali smirked. "You're earlier than we were expecting, Daruk!"

Daruk folded his arms, turning to look with an amused expression at Revali. "Well, it wouldn't do for a Hyrule Champion to be tardy! Besides, once I heard you were making your way here, I knew I wanted to catch up before we had to get to work."

"I do not believe that a lack of down time will be a pressing concern," Revali said, his eye twinkling. "Indeed, I happen to believe that merriment will be essential to our progress."

Daruk chuckled as he sighed. "You never change." He turned back to Zelda. "So Little Princess, I don't think we've ever had the pleasure of meeting each other." He extended his arm, beaming, and said, "I am Daruk, the Goron Champion."

Zelda shook his hand. "It is an hon―ah!"

His grip was vice-like, surprising her.

Maintaining her composure, she finished her greeting. "―honor to meet you, Champion Daruk."

Daruk retracted his hand as Zelda tended to her hand. "You look perplexed, Little Princess."

"Zelda is just fine. And, uh..." Zelda peered around the courtyard. "I heard a cannon go off before you arrived? I am confused as to what took place…?"

Daruk's grin lessened as he awkwardly reached behind his back. "Ah. Well, uh," he began pointing at the wall. "So… You know how there's a large river that runs to and from the castle?"

"It serves as a natural defense against invaders. I am aware of it," Zelda said, her tone turning deadpan.

Daruk began to grin sheepishly. "Yes! Well. It is possible that, as my escorts and myself were approaching the castle, we noticed that, due to the river, even though we were within only a dozen kilometers of the castle, it would take much of the rest of the day to travel around it to the nearest bridge. And it is further possible that I, the cunning and self-reliant Daruk, whose grand duty before being named Champion of the Goron people, was to attain mastery over the use of our cannons, one of which we had brought along to aid in the research."

Zelda's eyes widened. "Um."

Daruk pounded his chest. "And I, Daruk, am the master of a powerful barrier magic, one which has enabled me to place myself within our specially made Cannons, and launch myself at no risk to my own well-being!"

Revali began stifling a laugh.

Slowly, as Zelda understood what Daruk had done, a terrifying thought crossed her.

Daruk and Purah can never be allowed to meet.

Zelda sighed. "Well, as long as you clean up your divot, I guess it is not a problem. I am glad you were able to expedite your journey here."

"Divot?"

Zelda pointed at the rather plus-sized crater of upturned dirt in a clear area of the courtyard.

Daruk looked flabbergasted at the crater. "Where did that come from?!"

Daruk and Purah can never be allowed to meet. "You obviously upturned a lot of dirt when you landed."

Daruk continued to look confused. "What is wrong with the dirt in your land that it yields so effortlessly?"

Dear Hylia please never let Daruk and Purah meet. "You know the Eldin region is mostly rock, right? Rock has a tendency to yield less than dirt. You're probably just used to testing your… Cannon launches at home."

Daruk finally seemed to understand. "That… Makes sense."

Zelda turned to Revali, who had turned away from both of them and was barely keeping his laughter in check.

"What?" Zelda asked, her tone more exasperated than she intended.

Revali coughed, then abruptly stood at attention with a poker face. "I didn't say anything, your highness."

Zelda turned back to Daruk, who had begun making his way towards the crater. "What are you doing?"

He turned around. "Ah, well, you said I should replace my divot..."

"I… That was a figure of…" Zelda pointed at the palace. "We have servants we pay to take care of stuff like this."

"I don't want to burden them."

Zelda glanced sideways. "Well, they have not even started landscaping for the season yet. Upturning the dirt might actually be to their benefit." She folded her arms. "Maybe it would be appropriate to have you assist them if your normal duties wane." She cleared her throat.

Revali raised an eyebrow at Daruk. "So how's the state of Vah Rudania?"

"Oh, she's a beauty," Daruk replied, grinning again. "Have you spent any time inside of Vah Medoh?"

Revali shrugged. "I spent a fair amount of time surveying the beast to observe what state it is in. I haven't the faintest clue how to operate it as of yet."

Daruk opened his mouth and wordlessly moved it for a few seconds. "Yeah… That's…"

There was a moment of awkward silence as both of the men looked at Zelda.

She frowned. "Don't look at me, I know less than you two do about how to operate the Divine Beasts."

Revali shrugged. "It would appear we have quite the work set out for us, then."

Daruk pounded his fist. "Oh! We did discover one function. Rudania has a gyroscopic chamber isolated from the body of the beast. And using the manual controls, we found that the chamber rotates freely from the rest of the body. So when you're riding her, you don't need to worry about getting turned upside down."

Revali shrugged. "That's valuable information."

"Hello!"

Zelda could hear the faint voice of Mipha calling out from the distance. She, Daruk, and Revali all turned towards the ramparts, where they could see her waving down at them.

Daruk grinned again. "Hello, uh… M… Martha?"

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Mipha. And she can't hear you from here."

Daruk took a deep breath and bellowed, "HELLO MIPHA!"

Zelda winced at the sheer volume of Daruk's voice.

Mipha raised up her hand. "Hello! Uh, one second!" She began to frantically look around.

Daruk scratched his head. "What is she doing?"

Mipha glanced at the fountain in the courtyard. It was dirty from having been left uncleaned over the last season, but Mipha suddenly leapt onto the edge of the Rampart nonetheless.

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Is she going to…?"

Mipha held up her arms and dove downwards into the fountain, splattering mucky water around the courtyard.

Zelda blinked. "I guess we can add that to the list of chores the servants will be tasked with this season..."

Mipha emerged from the fountain, her whole body covered in sludge, and she began to cheerfully trot towards the other three. When she reached them, she stopped abruptly, causing Zelda to fidget as a clump of mud landed near her feet. "Hello!"

Daruk extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mary!"

"Mipha," Zelda corrected.

"Mipha!"

Mipha gripped his hand and shook vigorously. "It's wonderful to meet you as well, Daruk." She turned to Revali. "I suppose you must be Revali, it's great to meet you too!" she said, extending her arm again.

Revali, for a brief moment, looked mortified, but he nonetheless shook Mipha's hand. "Same to you, princess." When she let go of his hand, he gingerly tried to wipe the mud off his hand.

Mipha turned back to Daruk, a small amount of mud getting flung off of her fin. "So you just got here then? Who are we missing then?"

"Whomever Urbossa appoints to join us," Zelda said, wary that, even though they had already met, Mipha might find an excuse to try to shake Zelda's hand. "Which will happen after we help them uncover their Divine Beast."

"Oh, right!" She turned to Revali. "Did Zelda tell you what I suggested, that I accompany her to assist the Gerudo people?"

Revali shrugged. "I'm afraid I'm not sure why you're addressing me, since that decision mainly falls on Zelda's shoulders."

Zelda winced.

"Well, I just didn't want to intertrude on you, if you were planning to go."

Intrude.

"I have no love of vast deserts. I am happy to yield to you. Daruk?"

Daruk shrugged.

Zelda prodded him, "you know, I do not believe the Gerudo often get to see a real live goron."

"Ehh..." Daruk shook his head. "I'd rather not be a sideshow spectacle. If you want to go, Misha, then I won't stand in your way."

Mipha nodded happily.

"Mipha."

She turned to Zelda. "What?"

Zelda blinked. "Oh, no, I was just correcting his pronunciation.

"Oh, what did he say?"

"Misha."

"Oh. Well, I guess my name kind of does sound like that!"

Daruk raised his arm. "Hey, I got a question."

Zelda turned to him. "What?"

"When do we get to eat?"

This Chapter uploaded late due to technical issues with Fanfiction's website.