They have every control panel on Vah Rudania activated except the main control unit. It's on the outside, down her back, and they construct a kind of cage that can be lowered down with the pulley system. They've reinvented the pulley system twice, and it can now be operated by a single Goron. It's as close to the platforms that lower into the shrines as they're going to get with their current level of technology, and Zelda is pleased with their progress.
The bars are far enough apart that even Yunobo can reach through, but close enough together that Zelda won't fall out, even when Vah Rudania moves. Which she will hopefully do once they've activated her and partnered her with Yunobo.
The cage sways and shudders as Yunobo hops from foot to foot. "Oooh," he moans. "But what if it doesn't work?" He tugs the emblem at his throat back and forth, rasping his bandana against the back of his neck.
Zelda smiles up at him, and wraps an arm around his elbow. "If it doesn't work today, then we will try again tomorrow."
The rasping picks up speed. "But what if it doesn't work tomorrow?"
"Then we will try again the day after."
"But what if you get tired waiting for Rudania to like me?"
"Why on earth wouldn't she like you?"
Instead of answering, he moans again.
"Well, that's just silly," she says.
"She's lucky to have you," Link says. "I bet she knows it too."
He shoots Zelda a wink. Only someone with a total lack of control over her emotions would blush at something that makes so little sense.
The cage jerks to a halt. It does that every time. She's yet to figure out a way to prevent it. She half suspects that the Goron handling the crank is not stopping as gently as she has requested, but she can't complain as he is doing her a great service working the crank at all. Although, he's certainly not doing as much work as the previous models of the pulley system required. The current model has a twenty-to-one mechanical advantage. And she developed the breaking system, so he no longer has to brace the crank in place, preventing the cage from lowering further, or dropping a few sickening feet, or falling into the lava while they work.
The activation terminal for the main control unit is in the most awkward place possible, facing towards Vah Rudania's tail. So it is underneath the bulky control unit. To get underneath it, they lower past the unit on the right, then a loose chain is lowered down to them around the control unit on the left. Zelda uses the magnesis rune to grab it and bring it closer, so Yunobo can secure it with a locking hook onto the top of their cage. Link gives a sharp whistle, and both chains tighten until they are settled right underneath the console.
Zelda hops up on a crate put inside the cage just for her to be taller. She takes a deep breath, and looks down at Yunobo. "Are you ready?"
He tugs one last time on his bandana, then snaps his arms to his sides and straightens his back to attention so quickly that the cage sways.
She smiles down at him, and lifts the slate over her head, slipping it through the bars, and placing it against the terminal.
The terminal lights blue. Then the whole unit glows, an eerie blue washing over their faces. Strands of light arc and swirl from the unit, whispering through the air, flying towards her. They feel almost tentative when they approach, and she steels herself against them and pulls the slate to her chest. No, she thinks at them. Not me.
The strands pulse back, then twist away, circling now with another target in mind, circling now towards Yunobo. He stiffens, sucking in a breath. He twists his head to follow a strand that darts behind him, then swings back around as another approaches from the other side. The strands look intelligent, interested, but shying back.
Her grip is painfully tight on the slate, and she prays to the Goddess, prays to Yunobo, let them in. Let them in.
Yunobo swallows. He jerks a nod. En mass, the strands attack, stabbing into him from a hundred directions, then darting back to the surface to wrap every inch of his body in glowing blue light. It's like warping, but Yunobo can still move. He twists about to watch the designs tracing over his chest, lifts his arms to watch the blue scrawls erupt over his hands. He chokes on a whine, and—just like that—the light flashes and fades.
Zelda can't move. But Link shifts, and that grabs Yunobo's attention enough to look up at them.
"Did...Did it work?" Link asks.
Yunobo blinks at him, then lifts his eyes to Zelda, his lips pressed tight together as if he might cry, his eyes begging for her verdict if it worked or not.
"Close your eyes," she says. As he does so, she hops down from the crate. "Reach deep inside you and see if you can feel a part of yourself that has grown stronger."
He frowns.
He searches.
Zelda trades a look with Link. She's technically the expert, but that doesn't mean she understands all this.
"Now ask Rudania to move," she says.
"Whaa—"
"Send your thoughts to her and just ask."
In a soft voice, Link adds, "Like you're praying."
Yunobo frowns harder.
He prays very, very hard.
A hundred feet beneath their feet, Vah Rudania's tail swings.
#
Yunobo has pulled Vah Rudania out of the volcano and leveled her off. He's opened the windows on her back and side so it's no longer pitch black inside. All the strung lanterns toppled and went out the moment the Divine Beast's back straightened. The Gorons safely abandoned their camp at the lip of the volcano. With their successful mission completed, they've all headed home.
As long as they patrol the rim, Yunobo can manage to keep the Divine Beast level, but the moment they adjust their grade at all, the floor slants and the debris of the ruined scaffolding scattered inside the beast begins to slide. They close the windows again until they can get Vah Rudania further down the mountain and unload everything.
Link invents a terrible game using the magnesis rune to stack all the former scaffolding against one wall like a cross between a house of cards and a block tower. He then sees how loud of a noise his constructions can make when the Divine Beast inevitably lists to the side. She half expects Yunobo to be mortified. But, after a terrifying moment, he laughs, and then together Link's building things and Yunobo is knocking them over.
They like their version much more than Zelda's, where she arranges the debris in neat rows and has Yunobo walk Vah Rudania around without letting anything slip out of alignment. Or, at least righting her before the mess can slip all the way to her other side. It's a good exercise, she thinks, and perhaps she can develop some more after Yunobo masters this.
It's dangerous to be inside Vah Rudania no matter which version of the game they're playing.
After trial after trial, Link suggests they spend the night back in town. He does it with a very obvious lift of his eyebrows. Let's give Yunobo some time to figure things out on his own, those eyebrows say. Alone time without you breathing down his neck.
And...yes, of course. Vah Rudania is not hers. She has a partner. A partner who can get anxious if Zelda's watching him too closely. A partner who needs practice and maybe some chances to make mistakes while no one is watching.
It's just...walking away feels very strange.
"What do you say we take tomorrow morning off?" Link asks as he releases her waist after warping to the shrine above the city.
"What? Why?"
"Because you've been working on the Divine Beat for two straight weeks."
"No, I haven't. It's only been..." She stops walking to frown at him and calculate. Well, yes, it was a bit difficult to judge time from inside Vah Rudania, and her sleep cycle might be a bit off, and taking a potion every thirty hours is a very odd routine.
"It can't have been two weeks," she says. "We would have run out of elixir."
He stares at her. For a long time. Waiting for her to realize that he's been making it himself.
"Oh. Oh, Link, I'm sorry. I really have been single minded, haven't I? Oh no! I've fallen so far behind catching fireproof lizards! You're right, I should take tomorrow morning off and replenish our supply."
"For the love of the Goddess, don't catch any more lizards! We have so many lizards. We will never run out of lizards. We have fewer butterflies, but still way too many butterflies. That's not the issue."
"Then what is?"
"That you need a break."
"But we just got Vah Rudania functional! This is a pivotal moment!"
"A pivotal moment for Yunobo. It's a pivotal moment for you to go with me to check out that map thing."
"What map thing?" she asks.
"You know. The challenges. First we go look at the map things, then we go do some challenges, and then we get some new shrines. Probably at the end I'll fight Fireblight Ganon again and have to...That challenge."
She gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. "I'M SO SORRY! I completely forgot!"
"I know you did."
"I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I haven't had any free time either."
"But you got all the taluses, right?"
"And the Wizrobes. I did those last week."
She groans. "I'm sorry."
"You can make it up to me tomorrow."
Neither of them mention how he could very easily have done the whole challenge alone. It would have been easier than arranging to bring her along. It would make him less anxious if he didn't have to worry about keeping her safe.
As they descend to the city, they look down at a commotion. There's a whole group of Gerudo in the center of town. Now that the roads are clear, all sorts of people have been coming into town. There's an energy to the exchange that Zelda finds worrisome, and as they get closer, they see that the Gerudo are arguing with a small group of Gorons. Link's posture shifts. He doesn't reach for his sword, but his intention is clear.
"I've never been so insulted!" a Gerudo shouts. "The rest of the Gerudo will hear about this. We'll never return to this place."
"Excuse me," Zelda says, slipping her way between the shouting woman and her friends and the Gorons who shrink in on themselves the louder her voice rises. "Hello. Is there a problem here?"
Apparently the Gorons have been referring to the Gerudo as "the tall Hylians," and Zelda has to explain to the Gorons (her voice loud enough so the Gerudo can hear every word she says) that although they're the same species, Hylians and Gerudo come from different places and have distinctly different cultures. She doesn't want to get into the long history of mistrust and the power dynamics between their people, so she just explains that by calling them Hylians, the Gorons are implying that the Gerudo's beautiful homeland and their rich traditions are not as important as those of the Hylian's.
The front most Goron nods slowly. Even if he doesn't quite know how to fix it, at least he knows he did something wrong. He uncurls from his position practically hiding behind Zelda, and presses a fist into his palm, bowing to the leader of the Gerudo. "We meant no disrespect to you or your men. Our apologies, brother."
Every Gerudo grabs for a weapon.
Zelda throws up her hands. "Wait! Wait. Wait." She explains to the Gerudo this time that the Gorons have no concept of gender, which is beyond baffling to the Gerudo. It's also baffling to the Gorons, who say, "We don't have what now?" The Gerudo aren't quite sure they like that they're in a city with no women. They decide amongst themselves that it's really more like the Gorons are genderless and just using male-centric language for some unfathomable reason. It is therefore the Gerudo's duty to teach them female-centric language and correct their misguided ways.
The leader of the Gerudo spreads her arms and addresses the Gorons, "Sav'saaba, sisters! Thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful city! We look forward to learning everything about your wonderful people!"
The Gorons are still lost, but glad the Gerudo want to trade with them again and that they've stopped shouting.
Zelda rubs the bridge of her nose.
#
With the huge influx of visitors, the inn has hung up hammocks to provide extra beds. The hammocks are made of a coarse orange fabrics, each with a different triangular pattern around the edges. They all have clunky metal hooks to connect them to the walls.
Even with the additional bed space, there's only one hammock left.
"I guess we'll have go back to Vah Rudania after all," Zelda says. "I'm sure Yunobo would understand."
"We'll take it," Link tells the inn keeper.
"What? No. We can...camp in the shrine above town."
Link walks further into the inn, unstrapping his equipment to tuck it under their designated hammock. She does not follow him.
"They're made to hold Gorons," Link says over his shoulder. "One will definitely fit the both of us."
The inn keeper nods enthusiastically.
Link removes his boots and clambers into the hammock. For a second, she's convinced that it's going to spit him out onto the floor, but he manages to get settled. He's beaming like this is the best thing that's ever happened to him, and Zelda swears if he tries to get one for their house, he's sleeping in it alone and she's claiming his bed as her own.
He stretches out the sides, to open it up and hold it steady, and then gestures to the spot beside him with a jerk of his head. Around them, a dozen other visitors are getting ready for bed. Brushing out their hair. Climbing into their own hammocks. Murmuring quietly among themselves. None of them are giving her or her situation a second thought. She huffs and takes off her boots.
She manages to climb in, but the hammock—predictably—rolls them towards each other. She scoots down so her face is pressed to the soft part of his shoulder. One of her legs ends up between his. Link's body temperature is cooler than the air around them, so it would almost be comfortable if not for the fact that she likes this far too much and is therefore holding her body as tense as possible. When he lets go of the hammock sides and wraps his arms around her, the sides close in around them, giving the illusion of privacy.
He grins down at her from two inches away, like he's made some kind of point about being cozy.
She really wishes he wouldn't, because her mind is already spinning with terrible visions. His open joy just seems unfair.
"I bet I can...Watch this!" He shifts his weight, rocking his hips and twisting his shoulders and flexing his abdomen until their whole hammock is swinging back and forth, a couple feet to either side, far higher than is probably safe. She grabs at both the hammock and his shirt. He looks as if he's never had more fun.
"Stop that!"
"Why?" he asks. But he does stop. Their swinging slows without his enthusiasm pushing it on.
"This inn is full. People will think—" She cuts herself off.
He blinks at her. Suddenly, there's a glint in his eye. Suddenly, there's a smirk peeking around the corners of his lips. "Think what?" he says innocently.
She gives him a glare. If he thinks that will get her all flustered...well, he's correct, but he doesn't need to know that. She answers bluntly, "They will think we're having sex in here."
"No, they won't."
"Yes, they will. How could they possibly not?"
"Because they can all hear you talking about how we're not having sex."
She glares at him. He tries so hard not to laugh that he has to bite his lip. Zelda purposefully doesn't look at it. Holding in the laugh has his chest and abs contracting against her. She pretends she can't feel it. "Go to sleep, Link," she says, pointedly closing her eyes and pressing her face to his shirt so he can't look at her.
Their hammock comes to a rest. Link settles around her. Zelda releases a long, shaky breath.
"Hey, Zelda?"
"What?"
"Do you want to have sex with me in a cramped, makeshift hammock while eight Gerudo ladies listen in?"
At least three Gerudo ladies answer, "Yes!"
Zelda says, "I'm leaving," but he tugs her closer before she can topple out of the hammock, and presses a smile to the crown of her hair. His whole body shakes with silent laughter.
He dozes off soon after.
Zelda wakes in the morning after the longest sleep she's had since she left the castle.