Knight Life in Castletown
With Veran dead, it's time to go back to town and tell people who killed the Calamity. First, they may want a torch. It's a bit dark without moonlight.
There were still a few problems after they had finished off the final boss. For starters, the injuries. There were myriad lacerations from claws, bruises from bashing, scrapes from the ground, and burns from malice or fire. Aryll and Strich were picked to take the Slate back to Castletown since they had not used the transport rune twice in the past 24 hours and had worse injuries than Groose.
Aryll said she wanted to check on her grandmother. She and Strich left after Aryll gave directions on where to go. Everyone wanted to check the Gossip network and, morbidly, see who had or had not died. Groose wanted nothing more than to flop down on a bed and sleep after checking about Tarrey. He wouldn't be surprised if everyone else wanted to do that as well. There was a more pressing concern on his mind.
"Hey, Ana, you okay there? Hazel? Ravio?"
"I'm okay," Ana said as Ravio settled on a rock that looked unscorched. Hazel was grimacing when she should have been smiling. Ravio winced when he looked at the rectangular red mark on her face.
"Doubt I'm ever going to sleep without a light again after having Veran in my head," Hazel said. Groose shuddered in sympathy.
"Yeah, I don't want to think about that. That was the worst."
"Wait, she got in your head too?" Groose shuddered and nodded. Hazel decided they should change the subject. It was going to be a long walk even without that kind of thought at the forefront of her mind. "It seems the Divine Beasts were able to do a number on that thing at least. We are going to have to thank everyone. They saved us!"
"I think I'm going back home and sleeping for a week," Ravio said. He looked at the Castle in the distance and mentally judged the walk distance. It was going to be too long for his liking even if Yiga didn't attack again. A heavy sigh was heaved.
"Can't do that. You'll miss the party." Groose said. "We stopped the Blood Moon! No Calamity is gonna destroy Tarrey!" Ravio would rather not be in front of the inevitable crowds.
"We can tell people you killed it. Hey, maybe you can take the sword again? That was awesome!"
Shad and Medilia were caught out on the road when the Blood Moon rose. They had been riding from the Woodland area to Castletown when Skulltulas began their campaign to ruin everyone's night. Medilia was going to Castletown with the hope she could get some answers about the lost woods and make certain the charges against her were removed by any means necessary. Shad was there to report back to the university. When spiderpocalypse reared its head, Shad had his crossbow and he did what he could to shoot from horseback. Medilia used her spear to fend off any attackers that got close. Most of the stuff they tried to ride around or past. It took a few detours to get around the spiders and Medilia refused to die when her daughter was still missing as far as she knew. Shad ran out of bolts before the moon had stopped being tinted a doom-laden crimson.
She was glad Shad came along but still wasn't sure about his theory regarding Ravio. Anyone related to Veran would not be trustworthy until proven otherwise and she was not happy about Aryll's reputation being sullied. That man had only moved from 'Definite Threat to Aryll' to 'Probably a Threat to Aryll' status. The letter was too good of a coincidence and he might not have been the one to write it. Medilia's handwriting was pretty close to her daughter's handwriting so it might have been a relative of his or something. If he had indeed defected from the clan, she'd consider 'Might Not Hurt Aryll' status. They approached Castletown wearily and Shad hailed a man with a broken spear.
"Good evening! Are you all right?" It was actually morning but since dawn had not cracked yet, no one cared.
"I'm fine. Spiders got my leg but they disappeared when the Blood Moon stopped. Guess they killed Ganon!" The man said. He assumed it was Calamity Ganon that died. He was halfway correct in that assumption at least.
"Thank the Goddesses for that. I'm looking for my daughter. Have you seen a girl named Aryll, sometimes calls herself Linkle?" Medilia asked. The man shook his head. "Well, thanks anyway. Hey, want a ride?" Medilia and Shad put the wounded man on Shad's horse and finished their way into Castletown.
Shad broke off to look for his friends with a mutual promise between the two of them to keep an eye out for friends/family. The lack of light in the streets was annoying for facial recognition. The moon setting caused a lesser problem than the red glow; The streets were freaking dark. Medilia's lantern got smashed on a Skulltula's eyes about thirty minutes ago which left her relying on night vision. The voice of Castletown was loud with the mixed cheering, sobbing, yelling, and what have you. She was hardly the only one searching for a loved one. She decided to start with her mother-in-law's place. Seeing her safe was important and Aryll would worry about her Grandma. All thought of weariness dropped from Medilia's mind and no crowd, collapsed wall, or stubbed toe could stop her. She made a beeline for the barracks like she should have done the moment she set foot in Castletown just as dawn was getting ready to break.
The mother-in-law was a very popular old cook employed by the knights. Soldiers listed her soup as the second-best accommodation in the Castletown barracks next to the grandmother. Medilia made offers for the woman to come live with them at the canyon, but she had some friends in Castletown and wanted to take care of 'lads and lasses who work so hard.' Everyone called her Grandma and rumor had it no one remembered her real name at this point. (That was untrue, only a majority of people forgot her real name.) Grandma was probably in the second most defended location in the town due to her job cooking for the knights. Medilia tripped over a guy by the doorway to the barracks. The dark-haired tripping hazard apologized to her while scrambling upright. "Sorry! I'll move ma'am. You can go first." He held open the door as some other people were coming to the barracks entry.
"It's okay, I should be more careful next time..." Wait. The outline of the face was difficult to make out but now he was slightly more illuminated by the torchlight. "YOU!" Tripping Hazard suddenly found himself on the ground with a foot on his chest and a speartip positioned right beneath his chin before he realized it.
"Where is my daughter?! Spawn of Veran, if anything happened to her because of you I will paint these stones with your blood before you even blink! WHERE IS ARYLL!?" Someone behind her was yelling for her to stop but it didn't register. A brighter gleam than firelight illuminated the startled boy's face.
"Ma-Ma'am! It's not-I'm not-I didn't-"
"Lady, he's not working for Veran, he just killed her. Step away from my friend here." Groose asked. "Please?" Hazelda had her hand up and glowing, ready to help Ravio if necessary. Aryll ran out the door.
"Mom! Hey! Leave Ravio alone, I'm fine!" Medilia did a complete 180 turn to hug her daughter and sob. Groose, Ana, and Hazel silently decided to let Aryll handle it. Ravio still had the foot on his chest. "Mooooooom you're embarrassing me! I left a note..." Strich poked his head out the window then went back in to tell Grandma her daughter-in-law was outside and maybe she should check it out.
"You could have died!"
"Um..." Ravio didn't want to interrupt the reunion but felt the cobbles were not ideal for back strain. Also having the scabbard pressing into his back was unhelpful. "...Would you..."
"Aryll you are so grounded!"
"I just helped save Hyrule! I think I should get a pass!"
"...sorry but this is profoundly uncomfortable could you move-"
"No." Medilia snarled.
"Mom, don't kill him. I'll explain."
"Okay." Medilia snarled. She unhappily removed her boot from Ravio's chainmail but did not take her eyes off him for one second. "Do you know who this is Aryll? I mean really know."
"He ran away from his mother and the rest of the Yiga clan when he was ten. The Great Deku Tree adopted him!" Aryll explained.
"I, uh, kind of ran into Miss Aryll in Tarrey and she needed a guide for the Lost Woods you see." Ravio timidly said while trying to sidle away from the sharp-looking spear. Some knights were watching out of their barrack windows now as were a couple of citizens. This had been an exciting night and there was more entertainment.
"What was your father's name voe?" Medilia asked. She was beginning to suspect something which Ravio then confirmed.
"I don't actually know...Veran didn't tell me that and I don't remember him at all." Medilia was uncertain if she would believe this kid without more interrogation. Glowing sword aside, she had suspicions. The door had a tiny old lady silhouette appear in it quietly before Medilia formulated her next sentence. The Grandma enthusiastically hugged Aryll.
"My little hero! Oh, you're safe! My precious little hero, I was so worried. Medilia you must come in and rest, you survived oh thank Din..." Ravio relaxed as the Grandma did some hugging and fussed over the two Gerudo. People still kept watching from windows. A Sheikah had positioned himself on a nearby roof to watch the show now too. Groose tried to glare at a couple of people but it did not deter onlookers.
The Grandma then peered at Ravio with large eyes. He'd been stabbed at, gaped at, whispered at, shot at, arrested, challenged, shunned, and accosted by all manner of people in the past few days. He knew something was going to happen with the way this lady was staring at him.
"Arn?... No..." Ravio was shocked when the old lady embraced him with a smile and a sob. The Sheikah gasped and leaned forward as did a couple of kids sitting on a balcony.
"Huh?" He uncertainly returned the gesture and was baffled by this new development.
"You're home. You're back. My little grandson, you're alive!"
Notes: Okay, Grandma was supposed to be a postmortem presence but you know what? No. I'm running out of puns but luckily I've only got like an ending chapter, an epilogue, and maybe a bonus chapter planned. More reviews are great, you guys rock. Being sat on by a Goron is definitely worse than being hugged. I imagine it is more humiliating. A lot of things that happen are things that probably should happen given the circumstances. Frankly if a parent of mine had that going on, I would ask if it was hereditary too. The naming pattern for the blights seemed to write that boss title. Also GOSH DARN IT I knew I missed some egregious things but flipping East and Weast is pretty big. (This might be why I lack followers. That or the lack of Dark Link.)
With the sword my logic is that he could probably draw it but like the Trial of the Sword, he'd have to unlock a lot of the power of the sword. Ravio earned the Triforce and the Master Sword when he was willing to sacrifice his life and fight against his worst fear (Veran) to help people. The letter came about because of a belated realization that the Deku Tree would probably encourage Ravio to share inside information. It's a pity he didn't really know how to draw that well and the Yiga clan keeps such a short leash on children. Can you imagine kids living underground for the first ten years of their lives?
The Sheikah dialogue is the result of Google Translate, not language lessons. Rupoors don't actively hunt you down? Actually where do Rupoors come from anyway, Minish economists preventing hyperinflation? Minor edit 9/6