((Please be sure to tell me what you guys think of it so far! Your reviews make my day. Took it down briefly to edit it, my apologies!))
It was a short time before Link felt he was able to continue on, and even then Tya made him take it slow just in case. She assumed the heat was what was bothering him so much.
The place they needed to be was inside this hollowed out piece of land– like a hill where they climbed up onto a ledge and then jumped. The descent was long, and if they didn't have sailcloths it likely would have been fatal. But they landed safely, and continued for a brief walk.
They startled another of those mole creatures while it was grumbling about the red creeps making themselves at home. He exasperatedly directed the pair up a way, saying it led up the mountain– a good thing because Tya hadn't actually thought about how they'd be getting out of this deep hole they'd come into. A brief second of panic arose but she calmed herself quick by reminding herself that was a path out. She was not stuck.
The brief talk with the creature made it clear just how disturbed by the presence of the red creeps they all were. Noticing this, Link turned to Tya and nudged her a little.
"Will you help?" Was all he asked. Whether he meant alone or with him, she didn't know...
Either way, Tya would do it. The less of those, the better, and if she had to handle it alone so be it.
Another drop separated them from a room of those red creeps. Steep but short, and as they approached Link moved to jump over it, but Tya stopped him.
"It will be better if you stay up here." She said quietly as to not alert the attention of any of the enemies. She looked around, counting how many were in the room before tugging Link back a step. "You stay at the edge, ready. I shoot, kill who I can, and whoever gets too close you can kill."
It was cooler down underground, but after the incident the mage couldn't help but treat him like he was fragile. Whether or not either of them noticed it had yet to be seen.
Link simply nodded in response to the plan though, stepping back and detaching his shield to ready it. Tya stood a step or two behind him, able to see past, but able to be protected should another foe find their way on the ledge. Close ranged was Link's job. Thinking on it, she really should have invested in a weapon during her trips back to Skyloft. Trained or not, having something to fling around would make her more likely to survive should something get too close than she would with nothing...
She shook her head, returning herself to the current situation and lighting up both hands. Split concentration caused weaker flames for both, but two balls of fire to shoot at enemies was better than one when they outnumbered her and Link by as much as they did.
A little more mental preparation, and then the fire mage started firing off into the crowd, setting those she could on fire. It was all well up until the crowd really began to thin and the sound of a horn echoed through the tunnels. Out of nowhere, it seemed, another wave of them just flooded in.
She didn't really know the limits she had on her casting, but the more she did it the more she realized she actually had one. Another wave was called in before Tya was forced to move forward and find out who it was calling them forth. The culprit wasn't difficult to place- they'd taken a prominent spot on a wooden perch, and therefore made themselves easy for Tya to kill.
Even with the area making her feel empowered, by the time the crowd was finally dead, Tya felt weak... Much more so than she had before.
All the activities on this adventure, the running, the jumping, the clinging, the hanging- it all made her body ache as she adjusted to this sudden burst of liveliness, but the way this made her feel was much much different. Sick almost. Like she was losing blood. Dizzy, lightheaded, weak, racing heart... Too much.
Her blood soaked companion soon returned to her side, and after looking her over his brow furrowed and he tilted his head.
"Are you al-alright?"
"Yes," she replied almost as if it was instinctive, but didn't let that remain as her answer. "That... Took a lot out of me, I think. I haven't ever used that much that quickly."
"I'm gonna s-see if any of these guys ha-have anything useful on them. You should s-sit." Link turned then, looking over the ledge to be sure it was clear to enter the area.
Tya disliked the idea, thinking it may have been a waste of time for her to take a break, but she realized if this situation would have been reversed, she would have insisted Link do the same. Both of their well-beings were important, even if her mind insisted otherwise…
She did as told, sinking down and leaning back against the jagged walls of the tunnel while she waited for Link to return. She took that small break as a chance to get water and a little bit to eat. He came back with a few rupees and small useless ornaments he thought were neat. They were stuffed into the pack and then started back to tell the friendly creature the threat was gone.
The brief talk with the mole was actually quite useful. Tya learned they were called Mogmas, and that they apparently honored debts. So as a reward, Link was given a pair of strange gloves that would help him dig, and they were directed to the way that would take them up. The new gloves came in handy, because dirt had blocked off a little spout of air that would help them ascend the mountain. Link unstopped it, and they were allowed o continue.
They were then faced with a part that Tya absolutely dreaded. A ton of those adorable seal-like creatures from before had dug their dens in some pillars, and thus made it incredibly difficult for them to get by without dealing with them. Link elected to once again just blow them up, and after another failed attempt to bend the fire, Tya had no choice but to go through with it.
Seeing that it bothered her let Link suggest she stay back while he handled it, but the offer was refused. She may not have liked it, but she had to get over it at some point. She was sure there were things Link didn't want to do, and yet he did them because it needed to be done. She had no right to stand back and act spoiled simply because she disagreed with something that had to be done...
They eventually managed to get to the top though, and were immediately stopped by a startled mogma that said they'd just seen another charging through, dressed in all black. They said the person managed to jump over quite a large gap like it was nothing. After further examination, Tya and Link realized that attempting to do the same would most certainly mean death for them, and so they turned around to start the search for another way across. Before they took two steps away from it though, the gap that separated them from the other side started to be covered by a bridge, and Link was addressed by what they assumed was this 'strange character in black' the mogmas kept talking about.
"You, the goddess's chosen hero... Zelda is ahead... Hurry." And just like that, they were gone.
Neither wasted any time at that point, they both hurried across.
