Chapter 48

The Test of Guts

Zelda's PoV

When I wake up I feel something wet on my face and wipe it off with the back of my hand. I see a translucent strand hanging in the air and glance up to see it's a long string of drool hanging from Link's chin. I poke him in the nose.

"Hey. Hey wake up."

"Uhngh...what?" Link murmurs before opening his eyes.

"This." I say holding up my hand. He squints his eyes before blinking twice.

"What?"

"You've been drooling on me!" I exclaim and get a laugh in response.

"Oh. Sorry." He says wiping his chin before rubbing the sleep from eyes.

I almost step on Shadow as I get out the hammock first, as he's lying stretched out below us. He gets up and gives me his full attention as I stand up, bumping his huge head against my thigh.

"Good morning." I say taking his head in my hands. My eyes go wide as I notice right away that the fur of his muzzle is covered in blood. It doesn't take me long to find the source. Next to our things lies a dead mountain goat, its neck a mangled mess. The wind blows and the stench of the animal enters my nostrils and I gag.

"Look who brought us breakfast." Link jokes.

I'm quite repulsed by the surprise kill our wolf has brought to the treehouse, but I laugh as I shake my head. I get the feeling that I should probably get used to the idea of this happening. However, I seriously hope that Shadow doesn't continue to bring us his kills.

"Well...I guess we better get to cleaning and cooking it up. Though this is far too much for a meal."

"I'm not sure that's going to be a problem, Zel. It doesn't look like he's eaten any."

I follow Link over to it then see that he's right. The animal is whole and untouched except for it's bloody mess of a neck. I leave Link to the task of skinning the goat, turning away as watching that certainly does bother me. I rarely ever kill mammals myself for food just because I can't bring myself to do so.

I grab my backpack and walk down the wooden steps of the treehouse. Shadow follows me and puts himself between our horses and I when I go to walk toward them. He bumps his head against my stomach and looks up at me with his strangely beautiful, human looking eyes.

"Sheesh you're needy." I tell him, petting his head for a minute. I try to ignore the smell of dead animal above me as I check on our horses. They're both fine, grazing on the grass at their feet.

I clean myself up in the water pool below the treehouse. I sit on a stump and take my hair down, which is a mess. I've somehow gotten several twigs intertwined into it. Working through a particularly awful knot in my hair, I think about how much easier it would be to take care of it if were short. I see the handle of my knife sticking out of my backpack and pull it out. I bite my lip as I look at the silver blade in one hand and a lock of my hair in the other. Could I do it? Just cut it off? I've had long hair ever since I was a little girl. I can't even imagine what I'd look like with short hair. I test myself by moving my blade closer to my hair and my right hand shakes the closer I get to my left.

"What are you doing, Zel?" Link's voice cuts through the air and I jump out of my skin. My knife hand jerks forward and I gasp and watch in horror as several strands of my hair fall over my left hand. I stand there gaping at it with wide eyes, my jaw hanging open. I peel my eyes away and look at the knife before dropping it quickly as if it has burned me. I turn around and see Link standing there, his expression matching my own. I see genuine fear in his eyes as I let out a shriek and stomp over to him, gripping my severed hair in my hand.

"Thanks." I growl as I glare at him coldly.

"Weren't you about to cut it anyway?"

"I was thinking about it, but I had just decided not to!"

"Sorry. At least it's just a little piece. Nobody will even notice." Link says holding his hands up in front of him, defensively, as if he thinks I might strike him. He also takes a step back from me.

I huff. "Maybe not? But I will." I say, looking down at the long golden strands between my fingers. I sigh and drop them on the ground. I reach up and find the section of my hair that is now exponentially shorter than the rest. I let out a whine when I find that I managed to cut off at least twelve inches. I was definitely not even considering cutting that much off. I had been holding the knife closer to the end of my hair, but I ended up raising my arm when he startled me. I grab the little mirror I have from my backpack and hold it up to find that it's not as bad as I think. I'm missing a jagged inch across a few millimeters thick on the left, but Link is right, it's likely nobody will notice; even if it's at the front next to my bangs.

"I guess you're right..." I say, running my fingers across that part of my hair. "But you have got to stop scaring me!"

"It's not my fault you're so damn jumpy." He replies, and I give him a dirty look. We stand there for a few seconds before he brings up a good point.

"You wear your hair up ninety percent of the time anyway."

I bite my lip before a mutter "True."

"You know... I think you would look amazing with short hair as well."

When I look at him, Link's gives me that smile of his that turns me to mush and I can't help but smile back.

"Thank you."

Back up in the treehouse, we cook up a few large sections of the goat meat while Shadow eats his fill of the rest of the animal. I try not to watch. All I can think as I watch him eat the raw meat from the now skinless carcass is how disgusting it looks. But I assume I will have to get used to it.

xxx

Link's PoV

Since we are not far from another one of Akkala's many popular tourist attractions, I suggest to Zelda that we make a trip northwest of Skull Lake. Instead of asking what we will find up there like I expect, she simply tells me to lead the way.

We ride our horses up past where we jumped off with our paragliders yesterday. Our horses' hooves are loud on the rock road leading to our next destination, which Zelda certainly seems confused about as she looks on ahead. I can tell she wants to ask where we are going but she keeps quiet until we get to the top of the zig zag path up the hill.

The area is devoid of any green vegetation, with only dead trees sitting here and there with dried up leaves just barely hanging on from spindly branches. Tumbleweed bushes and large boulders sit alongside the maze of shallow hot springs, white steam filling the air above them. Finally, tall wind funnels reach up into the air around the pillar that makes this place what it is.

"Welcome to Gut Check Rock. Where you can rest up and relax in the hot springs or do what most people come here for specifically: the gut check challenge, one of the "hardest" rock climbing challenges there is."

"So where daredevil enthusiasts like you used to be can go for entertainment."

"Used to be? I assure you I still have the bravery and skill it takes to climb sheer cliffs, Zel. It's just been dormant for your happiness."

Zelda gives me a look and grit my teeth on my choice of words. I didn't mean to make it sound like I resent her just now.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant to say that I choose not to risk my life because I love you."

Zelda gazes at me before a smile creeps on the corners of her lips. "I thought so. I love you too. So...what does one get for making it to the top of that cliffy pillar?" She asks pointing ahead.

"Bragging rights mostly. But sometimes the Gorons who hang out and run the Gut Rock Challenge stick rupees in the cracks on the way up."

"Hmmm. Sounds like a hard way to score some extra money."

"Yeah, but I think it's worth the trouble." I answer with a smirk.

"As if you need spare change, mister thousand-air." She says referring to my golden arrow wealth.

"Could say the same for you. Unless you spent your winnings on something." Zelda never has been the type to flaunt her money. I also know she only keeps a regular amount on her person.

"Nope. I'm saving most of my GA earnings for my future. I'm not sure what I want exactly, but some ideas are painting themselves into my head lately." She says as we walk our horses through the maze of hot spring ponds.

"Like what?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"You might see someday."

I notice a blush on her cheeks as she runs her fingers through Starlett's mane. I don't push her for more information and quietly hope those things she wants include or are similar to what I hope for in my future.

We ride through the rusty red archway of an entrance made from scrap metal. The sign stating the name of the place welcomes us and the sound of the wind funnels shooting up straight up into the sky fills the air. A goron wearing a rolled up sweat cloth on his forehead calls over to us.

"Welcome my brother and sister! My name's Heehl. Here for some training?"

"Uh...not sure." Zelda says looking up at the sheer vertical slope above us.

"I am. If it's fine with her." I answer, the familiar adrenaline I get before a nice climb coursing through my veins. I look at Zelda and she looks quite unsettled by the idea.

"It doesn't look very safe."

"We have ropes and harnesses for beginner climbers." Heehl says. "It's quite the rush when you get going! How about it?"

"We only live once, Sheik." I say., remembering to call her by her alias like we've agreed around others.

"Yeah...you're right. Let's do this!" She says, her demeanor taking an one-eighty.

I give Heehl a thumbs up and tell him to set us up with some gear. Zelda wonders aloud if there is any way we could get Shadow up to the top and our new goron bud says there is a lift on the back side of Gut Check Rock.

"Can we bring him up first? I'm sure he won't like being left behind down here on the ground. Also it will give me some extra motivation seeing his furry face waiting up there at the top."

"Sure thing, Sheik. Right this way." Heehl says before leading us around to the rusty rectangle held up by four thick chains. When we step onto it the whole thing wobbles and Zelda grabs onto my arm. I wrap my arm around her waist.

"Don't worry. It'll hold ya." Heehl says before pulling a lever on the wall. "Once you're up, just ask Bayge to set you up for climbin'."

"Thanks." I call down as we start raising into the air.

We both stand completely still and Zelda holds onto Shadow's collar. Seconds later when we make it to the top, she releases him and our wolf makes a leap for solid ground. Zelda carefully makes her way off the lift, shaking as the metal platform wobbles beneath her feet. She lets out an audible sigh once she's on solid ground and I'm standing next to her. We're greeted by a larger goron who shrieks a very unmanly sound upon seeing Shadow and curls up into a ball of living rock. Zelda laughs as we walk over to him.

"Hello. I'm Sheik and this is Link. This here is Shadow. He's friendly and won't bother you. I promise." She tells him, her voice full of amusement.

Said goron slowly uncurls himself from his defensive position and eyes our wolf for a long moment. He eventually relaxes as he sees Shadow sitting obedient as ever next to Zelda.

"Sorry. Wolves are scary, ya know? Welcome! I'm Bayge. How can I help you?"

"It's okay."

"We're hoping he can chill up here while we take the challenge. We'll be needing the safety equipment, please." I tell him.

"Sure thing. I'll get you guys set up."

After switching on a Sheikah radio and turning it up, Bayge throws ropes chained to steel climbing anchors over the south side of the cliff and gives us each a body harness not unlike our paraglider ones to put on. He explains to hook ourselves up at the bottom and to give the safety line a tug and it'll tighten the tension to catch us in case we slip and take a plummet to the ground. Zelda tells Shadow we'll be back up shortly and he barks in response. We decide to paraglide to the ground below once we're ready, neither of us up for taking the rickety deathtrap lift down.

We do as Bayge told us to down on the ground. Once we're connected we give the reinforced lines a tighten up and they give us a slight pull upward. There are a few platforms up the rock pillar for rests if we need, but I vow to make it to the top without using them. After all, I have climbed steeper things than this with just my hands and feet. It's been over two months since I've last done so, but I know deep down I will still make it. Before we start climbing I ask Heehl if he'll time my ascent to the top and he says "Heck yeah! Feel the burn, blood bro!" with a giant grin. I let Zelda know that I'll come back and climb next to her once I get up there and she gives me a grim thumbs up, her lips a tight line.

Heehl gives us a countdown from five and then pounds the ground with his fists as he shouts "CLIMB!" I give a Zelda reassuring grin before I start. My muscles burn slightly at first but half way up the adrenaline I feel gives me endurance and speed to make it up. I spot a few green prize rupees as I go but of course leave them. I hear Zelda cheering me on below and let out a whoop as I near the top. Shadow sits in view above, his huge head visible as he looks down at us over the edge. I heave myself up once I reach my goal, roll over, and stand up. Below I hear Heehl shout "Time! One minute, twenty-nine seconds!" and Bayge comes over after letting out a loud whoop before telling me I beat the safety line speed record.

I call down to Zelda and she cheers and shouts "Congratulations!" As Shadow circles me jumping around, clearly feeling the excitement as well.

Bayge says he has a prize for me so I look down again and tell Zelda I'll be a minute and she says "No worries, I'm getting there!" as she makes it to about the half way point. I follow said goron and he grabs a wrapped package from a metal crate by the shrine up here. I open up the leather bag he hands me to find two things: A large red ruby amulet encased in carved stone that's engraved "fastest safety climber at Gut Check Rock" held by a thick leather lanyard and a silver rupee.

"Not much, I know but it's more about pride and the burn, am I right man?!"

"It's great! And hell yeah. Thanks."

"Ready to take the challenge like the real blood bro I know you to be, Link? Non-safety style?"

"Honestly I'd like to, but Sheik would probably throw me off this rock if I did."

"I hear ya. You do what makes your woman happy!"

"Absolutely." I say raising my fist and Bayge meets it with his.

I make my way back over to the edge to see that Zelda is almost up here, just over three quarters of the way to the top. I climb back down even with her and she gawks at the giant piece of jewelry around my neck that takes up half my chest. The thing is pretty heavy so I won't be wearing it around to flaunt it, but it's definitely one of the coolest unexpected prizes I've received to date.

"That...is quite something. "

"Right? A good addition to my collection at the least."

"A ruby no less."

"A pretty hefty one at that. Goron sized."

"I love it."

Up above we hear Shadow howl and Zelda howls back before she laughs. A few seconds later we reach the top and I climb up first before giving her a hand.

"Phew. That took a lot out of me but I have to admit it was fun. Maybe we can go again after a break? I'm hungry."

"Sounds good. They have a cooking pot up here and Bayge usually keeps some steaks for frying up."

"You know these two gorons personally?"

"Yeah. I've been up here a few times."

"Is there anywhere in Hyrule that you haven't been?"

"Tons of places." I answer as we walk over to the cooking pot.

xxx

As we eat, giving Shadow a whole four inch thick, foot long steak to himself, we chat with Bayge and Heehl for a while. They catch me up on what's been going on up in Goron City and answer all of Zelda's curious questions. She makes the gorons laugh with her enthusiasm and jokes and they give her a prize for completing the gut check challenge for her first time: a small, hylian sized rock bracelet with a tiny opal embedded in the center. The words "Blood Sister" are engraved into the band. Zelda thanks them generously for the beautiful gift, her eyes glossed over as she admires it on her wrist. They both tell her she's very welcome. When she asks who made it Heehl explains they do trading with Gerudo Town; rare ores for jewelry for Hyrule's non-goron population. Usually they sell the handcrafted items to tourists in trade for usable materials and other rare valuables, but here at Gut Check Rock they give them out as consolation prizes.

We take the Gut Check Challenge again and this time Zelda asks Heehl to time her. We agree that she'll race to the top and I will search and pick up rupees so after another enthusiastic countdown, we are off climbing again. I circle the tower, using the platforms to boost my swing around it on my safety cable. At least I do until Zelda shouts for me to be careful and that she doesn't trust them that much to support us. I find quite a few rupees in my search and when Zelda makes it to the top in three minutes and seventeen seconds - over two minutes faster than her first attempt - she calls me up and hugs me tightly, planting a long kiss on my lips. The gorons congratulate her for cutting her time down and we count the extra prize I've collected. Turns out I managed to get: one purple, two red, four blue and seven green for a total of sixty-seven. A pretty good score considering how well and spread out the gorons hide them.

We watch the sun go down from the rock, Shadow laying beside Zelda as she pets his back slowly. I've only watched one sunset from here in my total three previous trips. The first two were with my family and the last for the fun of coming here. But I must admit that this visit was my favorite to date. As corny as it is, having Zelda around really does makes everything better. She leans against me as the sun hits the horizon and starts its final descent for the night and the moon begins to fully take its place.

"Thank you for bringing me here. This was a lot of fun."

"No problem. Anytime I have something fun for us to enjoy, it's a pleasure."

"I really am rubbing off on you. Intelligence is contagious it appears." She says looking at me with a smirk.

"I only take half insults from you, sweetheart." I say and she cracks up laughing.

"What?"

"Nothing." Zelda says with a loving smile then after several seconds she adds on. "Darling."

We both stare into each other's eyes before we burst out laughing together. Before now, we've never used the mushy nicknames that most couples use, but I certainly will continue to do so just to see this specific brand of smile on her face.

When we are ready to leave for the night, I offer to bring Shadow down the dangerous lift. Zelda thanks me sweetly before she opens her paraglider and says "See you down there" before running and jumping off fearlessly. She appears to take her time floating down on the wind, since her feet are just touching the ground as Shadow and I come around the rock. The lanterns and hot springs are lit up now, making the entire area glow from where we stand clear out to the road leading up here.

"Ooh! I must get a photo of this with the slate!" She says taking it from its holder on her hip. "Hmm...but from up there for sure." She says nodding to herself in her undoubtedly adorable, only Zelda way. Reattaching it to her hip, she walks over and rides the nearest wind funnel up to the top and I see her standing while holding up the slate and snapping several photos. Even from the distance all the way down here I can make out her smile. I join her up there when she doesn't come back down for a few minutes.

"This is simply incredible. I'm glad I now have it captured forever. I have to write Rob and tell him thank you again for lending this Sheikah slate to us. Wanna see?" I nod and she holds up the screen between us.

"Not bad. You can see a lot more details than I thought it would pick up in the dark."

"Right?"

We glide back down to the ground just as Shadow takes off across the lit up plots of land between the hot springs. Neither of us know what he chased off until he comes back, the scaly body of a fireproof lizard held delicately in his maw. I say that as the creature appears uninjured when he drops it. I think it might actually be dead for a moment before it suddenly springs to life scurries off out of sight. Shadow starts after it, but even he loses its trail.

xxx

Zelda's PoV

We mount our horses and slowly circle around the back side of Gut Check Rock. Up ahead I notice something huge and round on the opposite side of the river we're riding beside. I lead the way across the bridge to find it's not a giant rock like I think, but rather the skull of some humungous ancient creature.

As I stare at it, I dismount and walk up the mouth of the skull. Inside I find a lot more than I'm expecting. Right in the middle of the floor sits a small, almost perfectly round hot spring pond. The moonlight shines down through the eye holes of the skull shaped hut, adding to the beauty of somebody's genius masterpiece. Around the perimeter of the spring is a flat, smooth and polished circle of rubies, sapphires and opals. Everything including the water sparkles and shimmers. I peel my eyes away from it to see the rest of the skull has also been decorated. Next to the left wall there are two wooden bunks with thick straw mattresses. The right wall has a cooking pot with a chair and a bench placed next to it. A few paintings hang crookedly on the walls due to there being no straight or flat surface behind them. Lastly, a luminous stone chandelier hangs from the center of the ceiling, its greenish blue glow tinting the white walls with faint color.

I could imagine living a simple life in here. I turn around to see Link looking around at everything and ask him if he knows if anyone does.

"Nope. This awesome skull hut was decorated for travelers. Anyone is welcome to stay here. I have myself a few times."

"Sweet!" I reply grinning. We relieve our horses of our saddlebags and deposit them next to the bunks, which are twice as wide and roomier than I thought they were. A large goron could comfortably fit in one, likely with room to spare. I don't doubt that Heehl and Bayge have spent plenty of nights here themselves.

Link and I agree that a soak in the beautiful private spring is a good idea once we have our belongings situated. Shoes kicked off, I sink into the steaming water with a happy sigh. Today's rock climbing took a lot out of me and my sore muscles feel so much better after just a few minutes. Link sits across from me, his shirt off and his arms spread out of the colorful edging of the spring. I gaze at him as he tells me about his previous trips up this way, solo adventures as well as family trips.

"I'm glad you left the details out as we rode up here. This was such a fabulous surprise to find."

"I can't ruin the best stuff for you can I?'

"You could."

Link shakes his head before answering. "That would take the fun out of it. Watching your reactions to new places is fun, anyway."

"I take that to mean I'm like a little kid who someone has surprised with a bunch of candy?"

"Sometimes."

"I don't think that's a bad thing. It's good to be happy and excited over dull and bored."

"Agreed."

I scoot around the bench inside the amazing spring so I'm sitting next to him and lean my head back against his arm. Link wraps it around my shoulders instead and pulls me closer to him and I kiss him.

"My life was so much duller before we met." I tell him wrapping my arm around his waist and resting my head on his shoulder.

"Same here. I definitely needed a change. Good thing I didn't cucco out asking you to leave Hateno with me."

"Were you nervous or something?"

"How could I not be? We hardly knew each other."

I wait a second thinking about that before I answer. "True. But I felt relaxed by your side almost immediately. Somehow I just knew everything would work out once I thought it through. You've got some sort of special thing about you." I say sitting up a little before tracing his jaw with my finger.

"So do you. I don't know how you do it, but I'm wrapped around your finger. This one." He says, looking at my hand before taking it in his. I laugh, his over the top dorky sappyness getting me once again.

"I don't know either." I respond, gazing into his sky blue eyes and Link gives me his special smile, the dashing one that first caught me that first day and threw my world into a whirlwind I couldn't comprehend. I still can't sometimes, but I certainly don't mind living with that mystery. I feel the same way I did the first time he flashed it my way, heart fluttery and warm and mushy inside. "Mr. Dashing Smile" as I remember thinking of him as back then, still turns my insides to mush and I'm caught smiling back at him like a lovesick fool. I feel my cheeks burning as I continue to recall those first few days and Link asks me what I'm thinking about.

"You." I say quietly.

"Me?"

"Mhm." My cheeks feel warmer and I look away.

"What about me?" Link presses.

"Everything."

"So I just make you blush like crazy?"

"That's right." I say taking a slow breath in through my nose and exhaling slowly. Ugh. Come on me! Cut it out! I snap at myself in my thoughts. I haven't blushed like this in his view in quite some time and it's not like I have anything to be embarrassed about...

I try control my expression as I look back at him and fail. Link is looking at me with a smirk on his lips, his eyes still doing that thing they do.

"I'm glad to have this effect on you again."

Again? When did that ever stop, I wonder?

"Oh shush." I say, rolling my eyes before kissing him.