Atop the rotund, cobblestone base of the lighthouse, Link bent down to spread out the map the Company had treated as a religious text for much of their journey, still marked with notations from their two previous destinations through the Gerudo Desert and then Zorana, with only brief notes made throughout their Akkalan venture. Now, as he readied a pencil, Link's eyes cast a wide swath across the map, taking in their journey, as well as its instrumental work in helping Mipha better understand written Hylian, a task that took him back to that first night with her back at the peak of Sartori Mountain.

Daruk's lumbering steps broke him from his reverie as he approached, with Zelda accompanying him with an authoritative zeal in her voice, "Alright, I want to make sure we know exactly where we're going. We are to take no chances; if there's a path you're not sure of, we're not taking it."

"Aye, Zelda!" Daruk assured, "I can guarantee my knowledge of these mountains to an extensive degree. Now, I know some of you were assuming we'd exit Akkala the way we came, however-"

Stepping toward the map, Daruk's large, stony finger pressed into the parchment paper, "We actually don't have to spend that time rounding the whole of Death Mountain's eastern flank. Uh, that is, if we're all in agreement."

Zelda crossed her arms as she nodded, "What are you suggesting?"

"With my reputation as Most Helpful Pebble-Paddler on the line, I recommend making our brief ascent along Eldin's Flank, rather than the traditional route through its Canyon," Daruk explained, pointing along the map while Link followed with the pencil.

Circling their current location, at the northeastern tip of Akkala, Link followed Daruk's directive to the northwest while the Goron furthered his recommendation, "We can circumnavigate Tumlea Heights, just to the west of here, and cross the Akkala Wilds around Skull Lake, here. Then it's just a stone's throw across the steam farms of Gut Check Rock- we might even find my Brother, Bayge, there still! You know, there's a funny story about Bayge; he loves pumping iron so much that he-"

Link glanced up at him with a fierce stare, shaking his head once he finally caught the Goron's attention, leaving Daruk to pause, clearing his throat.

"That is to say, while Eldin's Flank isn't that easy of an ascent- it's more 'medium', I suppose, it's quick, and in addition-"

His finger slid across the page toward the northern edge of Lake Darman, "There's an entrance to one of those vents I've mentioned right here. So if we're hoping to enter into the mountain in the quickest amount of time, this might be our best bet."

Zelda's eyes followed the lines and circles Link had left scrawled there, scrutinizing the plan as best she could with Mipha at the forefront of her mind, considering all the possibilities she was capable of considering. Her foot tapped distantly at the earth beneath her, lips curling inward to demonstrate her deepening thought.

"Link?" she suddenly asked, much to the knight's surprise, "What do you think?"

Looking up toward her, Link averted his eyes, "I'm one to follow orders, not offer them."

"Then get used to offering," Zelda quickly criticized, "What do you think?"

Link's face tensed, taking in a shallow breath as he muttered, "Daruk's my Sworn Brother, so I trust him. If he believes this route is our best shot- If those tunnels are truly more hospitable, I would assume we should be aiming to get there as soon as is possible, especially given the limitations on that suit."

Zelda had nodded along slowly in understanding rather than agreement, eyes jutting up toward Daruk, "And you're sure the entrance is still there?"

"Without a doubt!" Daruk assured, "While currently in disuse, there are some Gorons who continue to maintain them simply for the properties that make them great for mining. That entrance is there as sure as I'm a man of stone!"

Lips still curled in unwavering reflection, Zelda slowly nodded, "Alright, then we'll do it. The one variable we cannot account for is time, and I've never been one prepared to let it slip by."

"Excellent!" Daruk happily charged as Link made the final adjustments to the scrawl atop the parchment paper, labeling landmarks for Mipha to later recite to herself, "Even amidst so much uncertainty, I'm excited! My Goron spirit is aflame with expectation!"

Zelda smiled weakly, "While I'm all for high spirits, let's go into this with a cautious attitude as well. We don't-"

Her attention, in time with Link and Daruk's, suddenly turned toward the doorway of the lighthouse as Robbie leapt free from its entrance, throwing his arms up in direction as he shouted, "Alriiight-! A little lower! Lower! Watch the-! Lower!"

Stepping backward with the suit in her arms, Urbosa hobbled along with gritted teeth, shouting angrily as Zelda came into view, "I'm gonna make him a little lower if he doesn't shut it!"

Zelda covered her face with a hand as Urbosa cleared the doorway, leaving the suit unscathed as Robbie leapt back up toward her, giving instruction, "Alright. Now, you understand how this mechanism works, right? It won't withstand heat on its own- it must have a Zora body within it to help regulate its-"

"We know, we know," Urbosa mused in frustration, "Make sure Mipha is in there before stepping into any super-hot locations. Preferably with that gekari gel on."

Robbie peered overtop the rims of his glasses, annoyed with her reductive answer, though he still gave a solemn, "More or less, that's correct, yes. The suit will enhance her natural thermo-regularity so long as you all take care."

"And return to normal temperatures within, at most, twelve hours," Zelda absently reminded.

"That too," Robbie nodded to himself, curling fingers atop his chin as he considered whatever else he may have missed.

Urbosa creaked along before bending her knees low, dropping the suit to the ground with a grunting release, huffing breath back into her lungs while she complained, "I'd hate to feel this thing before your modifications. Daruk."

Garnering the Goron's attention, Urbosa raised her arm in ardent determination, "Time for us to show these piddly beings what true strength is."

"Bwah ha!" Daruk shouted excitedly at the prospect of showing off, "You are indeed correct! It comes apart at the wait, correct?"

"Y- Yes, but-!" Robbie pleaded, "Just-!"

Daruk lumbered over while Urbosa pried apart the mechanism of a suit, "Brilliant! You carry one half, I've got the other!"

He made sure to gave Revali a teasing glance, "A little something your wings cannot do!"

The Rito scoffed, "Surely you can understand with that igneous mind of yours that you're simply bragging about your status as a porter, correct?"

"A strong porter, perhaps," Daruk grinned, leaving Revali with a disgusted rolling of the eyes, "We're not carrying mere equipment."

Urbosa nodded, "That's correct. Should we accomplish this mission-"

She turned to find Mipha stepping out from within the workshop, the Zoran woman immediately taken aback by the spotlight while Urbosa continued with a wry smirk, "-we'll have ported the first Zora, ever, into a volcano."

"As if such an event were grandiose in any sense of the word," Revali bit back with a scoff.

Urbosa shrugged, "Hey, if this all doesn't work out, we can just make our rupees off our Mipha roadshow."

"I- I beg your pardon?" Mipha stammered warily.

Still knelt down, examining the map for any sign of weakness within their plan, Link's hollow voice suddenly broke the mood, "We've forgotten something."

Sighing, Zelda spoke in reply, "Well, not truly. I've been considering it for the last few moments, but hadn't an idea."

She turned toward the Company, "What if Vah Rudania isn't there and we have to wait?"

The question posed brought a sudden halt to everybody's conversation, save for Robbie, who instantly brought up the simple point, "I do suppose, should you arrive at your destination- if the Beast does not meet you, the only option is to turn back and regroup."

Link turned toward Mipha with a stoic air, awaiting her reaction, which only came in the form of a soft smile as she spun toward Zelda, "If that's a sacrifice I must make, so be it. If the Goddess does not wish for me to venture so far, I'm not one to argue."

"Then there you have it, I suppose," Zelda shrugged while Link eyed her, "By then, Mipha will know her way."

Urbosa's voice came pining from the side, a wryness accompanying her tone, "I'm sure she could find a companion, even within Death Mountain."

Mipha's eyes went wide in embarrassment, not placing much of any importance behind Urbosa's words beyond a mere tease, though Link knew what the Gerudo was getting at. Despite his wanting, he remained calm, depriving her of the reaction she was hoping for- after all, he was supposed to be as oblivious as Mipha was. He rose to his feet, murmuring simply as he dusted his knee off.

"That has to be a decision made once we get there, correct?"

"Correct," Zelda nodded, taking up her backpack as Daruk strung up his half of Mipha's suit, "Dr. Robbie? I cannot thank you enough for all you've done for us."

The Sheikah doctor scoffed, throwing his hand through the air, "Pah! It was nothing of note! My eternal service is to Hyrule Kingdom; if this helps my dear Princess with her goals, than I would have worked in my sleep had I needed to!"

"Now that's a trick worthy of me seeing," Urbosa nodded in passing as she lugged the other suit-half toward the others.

Robbie quickly pattered up toward Daruk, "Now, look here, Goron! That piece of equipment is to-notch! Don't go tossing it around all maniacal like as if it were my poor Dolly! -er, uh, my mailbox."

Glumly so, Daruk frowned down toward the man, simply wishing for his tumultuous opinion to leave him, and deciding to simply oblige him with a dark, "Yes. Yes, I understand."

"Good!" Robbie pierced in high spirits, "Now you all take care! I don't doubt you have the bodies, but the minds- That'll be what is tested!"

Link dropped his head, "Oh, goddess; we might be doomed…"

A chuckle escaped Urbosa before Revali threw his shoulders up, his plumage falling aflutter, "Ah, this is another birdbrain reference. I assure you all that my mind is sharp as a tack! The veritable pinnacle with which has raised the remainder of my personage to such tremendous heights!"

"I, for one, agree!" Zelda declared as the troupe started off to the north-west, "Revali breathlessly personifies the proper mindset for such a venture!"

Urbosa mused with confusion, "Utter stubbornness?"

At that, Revali's lips grew into a proud smirk, "You'd do well to follow my example, Gerudo. or have you not also been recognized for such traits by even an earthen Princess?"

"Actually, if you must know, I have," Urbosa boasted with a grin aimed toward Zelda, who returned to her with confused slant.

"Do what now?!"

A hearty laugh from Urbosa left the Company with a heartfelt note, save for Revali and Zelda, the last of which remained wholly lost by her surrogate mother's words.

Urbosa smirked, "If I must remind you, perhaps it's best that I not tell you."

"Oh, come on," Zelda sighed, her shoulders drooping, "You can't just-"

"She's called me stubborn, too," Link muttered, gradually raising a hand.

"Okay, that was totally diff-"

"She hit me and told me to die, too," Link recalled simply.

Zelda frowned, his words biting against her guilty memories, "Out of context, that sounds a lot worse than it truly was."

"I don't know; in context, it was rather painful," Link smugly surmised.

Her thoughts grinding to a halt, Zelda huffed a quaking breath, "Alright, okay- I'm the bad guy here- I get it."

"Pah!" Revali chided in an instant, "Do not deprive me of your menial validation! You may just be the best among us to understand my talents when these other pest refuse to."

Trapped within a vortex of a conundrum, Zelda simply decided to make a forward pass of conversation, rather blindly, shouting, "Alright then! Daruk! We're visiting your home; regale us with some tales of the mountain! Perhaps a folk song or two!"

Revali violently shivered, "By the good graces of Witwa, no!"

Even Link turned away as Daruk gave a rousing introduction, "Well now that you mention it, I was always quite the rubble-rouser as well! A- Ahem. Allow me to- You know what?"

He spun around to glance at Mipha, "Uh, dear Mipha. Would you mind gliding your claws along your scales? I will require some accompaniment to make sure my voice is in-tune."

"O- Okay…" Mipha shivered at the thought, wondering exactly how she was to accomplish what Daruk requested, eying her claws with confusion all while Daruk ran through some vocal exercises.

"Waaa wa wa waaAAA WAAAAaaa! Lee lee lilo laaAAAAaaa!"

Urbosa muttered, "Goddess…"

In similar complaint, Revali scolded, "Well, we now know those men of rock can experience inebriation if only to withstand such torments…"

"Certainly being drunk would h- Hey!" Urbosa scrambled upon noticing Link leaning sidelong away from the Company, subtly reaching his lips down toward a canteen of his.

Link glared at her, "Hey, I cooked last night."

"So? My brain's gonna be cooked now!" Urbosa pleaded as Daruk began with a rumbling voice that shook the very ground beneath them.

"Ho! WHOA! HWHOOOOA! to the SIRLOIN STONES I GOOoooOOO!"

Mipha felt her scales dither in time with Daruk's booming verse, leaving her unable to play much of anything atop her skin, even if the mood were to strike her more fierce than her current mood of awkwardity mashed up with an intense desire to rush off in the opposite direction.

"-and that, my friends, is the tale of the stoic stone who refused to budge in the face of lava flow," Daruk proudly finished in a rousing voice, "It's the sort of tale we tell to our young ones to teach them the dangers of going anticline."

Urbosa slid a hand across her face, "As much as I'd like to say I understand…"

"I do!" Zelda piped up, reciting easily, "Anticline. The characteristic of a rock folding upward in the middle."

Daruk nodded, "Well, insofar as the Goron body goes, yes! In nature, it's those bulges of strata. You see, we Gorons, we have a-"

"Daruk!" Link charged suddenly, yanking him from his explanation, "Perhaps another story! Please!"

The Company had rounded the northernmost region of Akkala, passing through the Wilds and now ascending the layers of rock that spouted up high atop Skull Lake, leaving them with the sun high in its noontime presence. While begrudging, Daruk's odd tales had left the Company rather buoyant on their moods, if only due to insipid curiosity when Daruk began explaining things far too odd for their understanding. Perhaps, given the utter lack of life atop these peaks, the Gorons had merely constructed oddities from whole cloth where the other people of Hyrule had based so much of their own legends upon oddities, sure, but rather naturalistic ones. The Gorons seemed far more concerned with boulders coming to life to reveal treasure, or lava flows traveling uphill to punish a ne'er-do-well within a fable.

While out of this world, certainly, Daruk's boisterous attitude allowed a particular air of entertainment, even if most of the troupe went on feigning indifference, simply to keep from Daruk being proven correct in his boast that his people's stories were the best- they certainly weren't close to being the worst.

"Hmm, well- What kind of story?" Daruk wondered aloud, "Perhaps a vigorous tale of Goron love? a dramatic tragedy? Oh! Perhaps a scary story to shiver your ryholites?"

Urbosa perked up, "Yeah, that last one. I've come to learn that scary stories often say the most about a culture. Triumphant tales- they're always embellished to a fault. Scary stories, now- Those so often describe the most telling qualities of a people. Like the Rito- I know of that story where the child roams too far and begins shedding its feathers, never for them to return."

"A learning fable, to be sure," Revali shrugged, "Meant to relay to eaglets the importance of remaining amongst the group which most assuredly keeps watch over them. It does not hurt that the message threatens that which is most humiliating to us Rito- the loss of one's feathers. From procreation to recreation, our mantles are what best exemplifies that which makes us Rito, after all."

Shrugging, he explained further, "Even our youngest, who do not understand social norms, know of the importance of feathers. Even after we hatch, our mothers' coverts continue to be a major source of comfort and nurturing."

Revali visibly shook with distaste, "Such a ghastly fate to live without plumage."

"I'm rather taken with it," Zelda happily replied, poking at her arm, "I can't imagine how much time it takes to preen and keep them all clean and- I mean, honestly, when I was a child, my mother took me out to the courtyard and I started digging for fossils; my skin was a wreck from all the dust."

The Rito allowed his brow to raise with languid revulsion, "Scary indeed…"

Having been listening along, Daruk's thoughts had wrangled with their conversation as his fingers rolled through his beard, "I don't know if any of that is true of our skin. Steam baths are wonderful! though I doubt they offer any benefits toward our wellbeing. I know magma work gets done on some older Gorons as sediment builds up, but even that is painful, I hear."

"Magma baths?!" Zelda spoke up in shock.

Chuckling, Daruk assured, "They're not baths; more like, uh-"

His eyes wavered toward Link, signaling his need for an analogy, which Link offered simply, "They're like a spa treatment. Like an applied ointment."

"Yes!" Daruk clamored happily, "They take some magma and allow it to cool for a moment before pouring it across their rocky skin. It'll melt the auxiliary sediment, but as I said, it's quite painful. Many Gorons prefer to simply accept their anticline. You should see Bludo! His craggy mantle is a testament to a life heartily lived!"

Nodding with interest, Zelda furthered, "I was confused, since I always figured one of Hyrule's bitter ironies was that Gorons, even with their mastery of the mountainous heat, also find their most bitter of locales when it comes to lava."

"Bitter indeed," Urbosa frowned, "Even the Gerudo seem well-placed in our desert, given our tanned hides and long legs."

Daruk smiled, "We believe it is merely a testament to the power of nature! If it were not us Gorons, it would be another, perhaps less able, people having to coexist with this mountain- we see this as a tremendous responsibility for us to undertake. Similar, I suppose, to the Zora's handling of their reservoir."

"Except that reservoir provides life," Urbosa smirked with wry irony.

Gradually, a smirk arose upon Daruk's face, "Who is to say that the magma pools of Death Mountain do not also provide life?"

Mipha's brow slowly raised in interest as Daruk chuckled, "I suppose you originally wanted a scary story! One of our oldest tales is that of the Lanmola."

"Lanmola?" Revali pithily jarred with a soft tone laced with pathetic intonation, "I do believe you've conjured that up from some noisome dish you had planted before you on a saucer."

Again, with misplaced brotherly zeal, Daruk laughed, "Lanmola is not a food! Some of our oldest tales involve the Lanmola, sort of a species of creepy crawlies that live within the mountain. It is said that ancient heroes felled these creatures whenever they emerged, leaving the Lanmola without a home that would accept them. The only place that could have offered them solitude, of course, was within the very mountain that proves treacherous for so many."

He grinned, "It's mostly a tale to frighten our own young ones, but instead of keeping them nearby, it's to advise against exploring too far into the mountain. We Gorons began our existence within the mountain ourselves; it seems disrespectful to waste the gift of living atop the earth by reverting to our present state."

"I see," Zelda nodded, pouring over his words, "What was the Lanmola like?"

"Well, uh-" Daruk wondered to himself, "They're supposed to be like worms, or centipedes I suppose, but with iron hides, able to withstand the very magma that could fell any number of us. with segmented bodies, at that! so that if you only chopped off one portion, it would scurry away, only to regenerate itself!"

Revali's shoulders scrunched inward toward his neck as his tongue poured out in disgust, "Gah! Such a wretched-! You've made your point, Goron, now hush up about it!"

"BWAH HA!" Daruk chuckled as heartily as ever, as though having accomplish a plan as he swatted the air before him, "I suppose that's why it works for our young ones!"

A dangerous stare came from over Revali's shoulder, "What are you insinuating, Goron?"

"Hopefully nothing," Link muttered plainly, "Not while this lumbering ball of igneous rock remains afraid of dogs."

"Dogs?!" Urbosa excitedly exclaimed with a ever-present smirk, "Really?!"

Daruk managed something of a blush as he covered his mouth, "That-! That is to say-!"

"Terrified of them," Link continued in teasing breath, "That roll-up thing he did back in the desert? How do you think he got so good at that?"

"PFFT!" Urbosa barely withheld a massive laugh behind bitten lip, eyes watering at her resistance.

Mipha offered easily, "But they're so friendly."

"Friendly?!" Daruk wondered aloud in terror, "Those barred fangs! how doggedly swift they approach anyone and everyone?!"

"Again, just saying 'hello'," Link shrugged.

Daruk caught Zelda's giggling to herself, a hand concealing her mouth, but unable to hide her gleeful face, leaving Daruk to pitiably plead, "I-! I can assure you, Zelda, such a defect wouldn't ever deter me from continuing my outstanding protection of you or anyone of this Company!"

"Unless-!" Urbosa spat through her tense expression her entire body tensing to withhold utter laughter, "Unless we-! encounter-! a massive dog monster!"

Like a dam collapsing, a torrential outpouring of laugh burst from Urbosa as she bent forward, forcing her to reorient the half of Robbie's suit at her back simply to keep it upon her, the contagious bout of humor making its round along the group like a plague with which only Revali and Daruk had a cure. Link only smirked as he turned away to hide his minute chuckles, though Mipha had to clutch her chest to better orient herself as her laughs escaped in short, resonant bouts.

"Alright, alright; so you all know, now," Daruk worriedly mumbled, stroking his beard.

Revali clicked his teeth displeasingly, "I see no humor in this. Such disagreeable beings dogs are. Blech."

Throwing an open hand toward Revali, Daruk pleaded, "See?!"

None of this stopped the plateaued laughter amongst the group, even as Revali continued, "Those matted beasts, shoving their claws into the soil and finding rest among the dirt. Did you know they chew on bones found in the dirt with whatever disgusting vermin might be found upon them?!"

Wholly embarrassed, Daruk buried his head into his chest, his flattened hand rising to his brow to cover his face as the Company slowly managed closer toward Eldin's Flank, the interruption of laughter having slowed them somewhat for some paces now. His head only emerged from its cocoon of rock when a hand came to his back, patting him gently to gain his attention, forcing his eyes upon Link's grinning face.

"Don't worry about it, Brother," he assured with a nod, battling back further chuckling as he spoke up shakily, "Even if you were merely stone, I don't think the dogs could do much to you."

As Link spun away to hide his reserved laughter, Daruk was nonetheless lightened by his Brother's sentiment, however humored Link might have found it. Unleashing a deep breath, Daruk simply reminded himself of his duty toward offering the same distraction from this journey's more dreary moments, his own embarrassment a minor tribute when compared to the amusement, and happiness, of the others.

Despite his strength, he knew it to be a trait well prized by the others, even if Revali would have refused to admit such a thing.