The door fell closed behind them, and the moment Tya looked around the room a grimace was what formed on her face. At one point, the bridge over the gap that lead to the other side would have been useful. But the fauna seemed to have different plans- two webs extended from the ceiling to the stone, and on each was another of those large (disgusting) spiders. Their webs were full and sturdy it seemed, and with no way to get up on the other side if they dropped down, it seemed like they were stuck. The armor on the front of them was too strong for Link's sword, and he risked getting too close and having one of them actually attack. They didn't know the damage they could inflict, but Tya figured they were both okay with not finding out.
Link walked the floor before them, looking for any way they could deal with this when he spotted some thick vines dangling from branches. He waved Tya over and nodded toward them.
"H-How do you think those w-would hold up with o-our weight?"
"You can't seriously be thinking about swinging from them."
"Y-you've got a better pl-plan?" A brow raised at her and he awaited a response, then smirked when she rolled her eyes. "You n-need to th-think outside the b-box. I-Improvise, Ty. Not e-everything always works l-like its supposed to. It-its not that far of a d-drop anyway." He looked to the floor, then to the vine.
He took some steps back before running and leaping over the edge. The moment he was able to, he took hold of the vine. The force of his jump swung him forward on the vine, and without hesitation he grabbed onto a second one. On that one, he had to build his momentum a bit, but managed to land safely on the other side, then looked at Tya and smiled.
"There's a sw-switch." He called over to her breathlessly, pointing to part of the wall that she couldn't see well with the trees in the way. "C-Come across, w-we will kill these g-guys and g-get it."
Tya bit the inside of her lip then, looking at the vines then at him. She had no idea if she'd be able to make it across. Her body still ached from the previous days activities, and she didn't have much strength to begin with. This wasn't a good idea.
She slid the pack off and set it aside, feeling that it would only get in her way and further restrict movement.
He should send her home for being useless.
She looked at the vines again. She knew he could see it- the uncertainty she held toward doing this.
"Hang o-on, okay?"
A simple statement that made everything inside her drop so easily. Even more when she watched him go behind the creatures on their webs and thrust his sword through the weak spots, thus opening the way for her.
She was holding him back. In the way- she never should have insisted she came along. This was his destiny, not hers, she was dead weight. A burden. Not needed.
"Y-You coming?" Link picked the pack up off the floor where she'd set it when she was preparing to jump and held it out to her. She nodded and silently took it, sliding it back on to cross now cleared bridge.
Link triggered the switch, causing more water to pour into the area like the last time. Though this time, their place on the walkway kept them from getting even more wet- something Tya was thankful for. She didn't need something to render her even more useless than she already was.
Another plaque sat next to a flight of stairs- this one read 'Gaze upon your map until your eye finds the x, for it is there that you must strike a glittering gemstone to reveal a path. You shall find a temple map in a room with two such gemstones.'
"Whoever it is leaving these hints for you, are not all that great at riddles. Not a complaint, I'm thankful they are pretty easy to read, but still. I figured they'd be a bit more difficult at least." Tya spoke quietly after reading the plaque.
In response, Link chuckled, taking a step back to start up the stairs. "Well, th-there were two switches in the l-last room. M-Maybe we missed it?"
Tya thought back, not remembering seeing anything that may contain a map. The times she'd looked around, she'd been looking for a switch, though, so she wouldn't have been surprised if her mind just slipped over it.
The stairs led up to another door, one which opened back into the main room, though this time they seemed to be up on a ledge. The ledge led to a thick tree that they stepped up on and noticed a light blue chest at the end of it. The tree was thick enough to cross safely, so there was little problem in getting to the chest. It lay unlocked, waiting for Link to open it. When he did, he found a well preserved map.
After pulling it out, he let the lid of the chest fall back so it would remain open, and he plopped down with his legs dangling over the side of the tree. He looked up at Tya, flashing a smile before motioning to the spot next to him.
She took the seat, pulling the pack off and letting it rest behind them as he unfolded the map. On it was an 'x' already marked, showing the spot they'd find the switch like the plaque said.
"I-I think th-those are doors, right? And those are sh-shaped like treasure chests." Link pointed to some thicker lines along the walls and then little blue markings that resembled the chest they'd just opened. "I-I'd say that this o-one here is where Zelda's pr-probably waiting on us." He pointed to the door symbol on the far end of the temple, then looked to Tya to see if she had anything to say.
"So the chained up door is where we will need to go. Figures. It looks as if we need a key." From up there, the entire room was visible to them, including that particular door. So as she spoke, that's where her attention turned.
"The m-map says there's another s-spot in that first r-room we went in, and a chest. If we h-haven't found it in a-all th-the other spots, it's probably in there."
"...You said Zelda's waiting on you. Do you really think she knows you are here?" Her eyes went to the map again where they'd decided Zelda was, and she sighed quietly. Looking at the rest of it all, at the places they'd not been yet... It was becoming more and more obvious to her that she was not supposed to be here. Not cut out for doing this, no matter how much she felt she owed it to Zelda to help her.
"I said us." Link corrected. Again, something so simple yet it helped... "I d-don't know. I-I feel like she probably d-does. I can't be th-the only o-one that got that wh-whole 'this is m-my d-destiny' lecture. Besides, sh-she's no idiot, she can't th-think no one would come aft-after her. G-Groose wanted to apparently. I-I was kinda afraid he'd t-try to follow me when I l-left again." He turned to fold the dungeon map and slip it into an outside pocket on the pack. It was then she noticed he was kind of shivering, not that she was surprised. He was wet.
"Would you have come after her if Fi hadn't come to you?" She watched him shake for a moment longer before looking at herself. Her pants were almost dry then- warm too. It hadn't been too long, but her body was naturally much warmer than a normal person's. The heat helped her dry quicker. She opened her hands flat and summoned the fire. It flickered a bit before taking a full form in her hands, and then she looked at Link.
"I d-don't know. I would have g-gone to l-look, yeah, but I th-think I would have f-figured she was d-dead if I found out sh-she fell through the clouds." An understandable response. Tya likely would have done the same if she'd not followed to the goddess statue that night. "How c-come you were so s-set on coming after her?" He held his hands out near Tya's, warming them against the heat of her fire.
"Because I feel as if she deserves it. She's... helped me a lot in ways that other people probably wouldn't. I felt it just went without saying that she deserves the same in return." She twisted a bit, the hand in which the fire sat moving closer to him. It was obvious she was manipulating it when he failed to draw his hands back quick enough. It had parted so his hands wouldn't be burned.
"She helped?" His eyes remained locked on the fire as if he was wary of it- afraid she'd burn him. A proper response, she'd thought. He didn't know it, but she wouldn't let him be hurt, at least not by anything under her control.
"Yes, on quite a few occasions." Finally she rested her hand with the back of it against his knee, and he relaxed a bit to just let the warmth soak in.
"With what?"
"I..." She paused then, biting the inside of her lip. It wasn't something she liked to talk about, and honestly, to her, Link seemed like the kind of person that would brush it off with cliché answers that didn't help. He may have genuinely meant them, but that didn't mean they actually meant anything to her. But those thoughts had long since faded away, such idle responses weren't needed anymore. "I was... Not alright." She replied at first, catching the confused look he gave her out of the corner of her eye. "I locked myself away and it hurt, but when she found out she pulled me out and made me do things that made me feel worth it again."
"Worth it?"
"Worth a life."
"You didn't th-think you were?"
"No, I told myself things that hurt. Not on purpose, the thoughts were just there and I couldn't stop them, so I believed them." It was difficult to explain. She hid things away, hid herself away. She made herself lonely because she told herself she deserved it. There were many things that factored in and beat her down, and when they did, she did nothing to stop it. She took it all and kept quiet.
When Zelda came in, she forced Tya to talk- something that didn't help at first. In fact it aggravated Tya. Made her hate Zelda and wish she'd leave her alone, but her persistence finally worked. Talk and she'll go away. Zelda had a tendency to think her way was always the right way, and so she'd make others do what she wanted. It didn't always work, and some times it went very bad, but with Tya it seemed she succeeded.
She forced Tya to talk, kept her from being lonely, but when she needed it still let her be alone. She always chose the right words, even if they didn't seem right at the time. Talked her away from the bad thoughts and helped her motivate herself enough to live. Zelda didn't just settle with the phrase 'oh, it'll get better', no. She led Tya in the direction she thought would show her that it would get better. It wasn't something that would have worked for a lot of people, but luckily it was just what Tya needed.
"I think we've had a long enough break, we should go again." Tya closed her hand, allowing the fire to extinguish as she retracted. When the warmth went out, a little quiet whine left Link, but he didn't complain further, just pulled himself to his feet and picked up the pack. When Tya stood, he handed it out to her, and they started back in the direction they'd come.
