Death mountain, for all its foreboding name, is beautiful. I press my face to the glass of the carriage window and gape in awe at the natural splendor of the volcano. It was a jagged, sharp beauty. All sharp edges and bare rock, standing in stark relief against the late afternoon blue sky.
"Mother look! I think I can see the stable!" I bounce back in my seat, cheerful words bubbling past my lips. Terrako— the sweetheart— whistles and clicks, echoing my happiness.
Mother hums, looking up from her stitching and out the window, past where Granny, Dottie, and the rest of our retinue were riding alongside us. She hummed. "What do you think, Rhoam? Should we stop and stretch our legs at the stable before heading up the mountain?"
Father frowned contemplatively as he looked out the window. "I'd need to send some guards ahead to do a security check," He thought for a second before opening the window and gesturing for Ila to ride up to our side.
Ila saddled up to the window. "Your highnesses? How can I assist?"
"Would you and a set of guards head up and clear the stable? My wife and daughter have expressed a desire to make a quick stop." Ila nodded sharply and made a few quick hand signs as he closed the window.
I grinned brightly and hugged Terrako to me in excitement, the little bot putting up with my affections amiably. In these last few days I had taken to treating them as an odd metallic pet. They were remarkably animated and expressive for a creature made entirely of metal.
Mother sent a small smile at father, and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "Thank you Rhoam, I know you worry. We can take the chance to change into some lighter clothing or drink some elixirs to prepare for the heat. Wouldn't want anyone to be less than their best because of the climate."
Father practically melted, sending an adoring look at mother. "You're right dear, what ever would I do without your wisdom?"
"Probably end up stranded in the Gerudo Desert, in the hottest part of the day, wearing a warm doublet under plate armor, and too stubborn to take it off, even as you're overheating." She teased fondly leaning in closer.
"Well I best hope that you stick around to tell me off when I'm being stupid shouldn't i?" He gave a surprisingly roguish grin from behind his beard as mother giggled and leaned in even closer to him. I coughed, muttering "whipped" under my breath, turning my eyes away from the sight of them fawning over each other.
After about ten minutes of their increasingly unsubtle flirting without any sign of stopping, I audibly broke. "Can you two wait about fifteen minutes? For when we get to the stable, and me and Terrako aren't trapped in here with you." I ask a hint of pleading in my tone as I stare stubbornly out the window at the quickly approaching stable. I mean, it's awesome that my parents love each other and have this ideal relationship, but they're my parents and I have no desire to see it.
Mother laughed and Father coughed awkwardly. "It's Terrako and I, Zelda. Not me and Terrako." He quickly covered up.
"Can you wait for Terrako and I to get out of the carriage before you start flirting." I repeated dutifully. He turned red, and Mother and I proceeded to tease him about the lingering red on his cheeks until we arrived at the stable.
The stable was warm, both metaphorically and literally. I was glad to be out of the layers of my usual garb and into a much lighter sundress. For now I was pleasantly cool, but I knew that from here on out it was only going to get hotter. I wasn't excited to be up in the blistering heat of the mountain, but for now I was enjoying the pleasant warmth of the sunny stable and a happy crowd. The stable was bustling with business, the regular merchants and tourists and our retinue alike were buzzing in with a cheerful activity. The knights and Sheikah guard had a relaxed watchfulness to them, and the other assorted handmadens, manservants and other assorted household staff hummed with excited chatter about the upcoming trip.
I had no desire to listen in or intrude on the current gossip, so I had decided to explore under the watchful but distant eyes of Dottie and the guard with Terrako faithfully following in my shadow.
So far, my exploration has been a rousing success. I had pet two dogs and three barn cats, prevented Terrako from trying to fight a goat, found a shimmering gold and auburn rock I put in my pocket, and just now I had just spotted a group of HUGE lizards.
As I squinted and snuck closer I recognized the lizard's black scales and red frills. These were fireproof lizards! I had done a little research on the animals in the area before our trip and had gotten Grinhilda to show me a dead one that she had had in her ingredient stash. Here was my chance to get a closer look at a live specimen! I was really curious how a lizard could be FIREPROOF. That had to be one of the coolest natural adaptations I'd ever heard of, the fact that there was magic involved makes me even more interested! (Heh, coolest, I'm hilarious.)
I gestured for Terrako to wait where they were, lowered myself into a crouch and tried to sneak up on the trio of large lizards. Come on, I thought, don't look in this direction, nothing interesting over here, let me just- as I shifted closer, my foot scraped across the ground scattering some gravel. The effect was instantaneous: my quarry split, all dashing in different directions, I dived at the closet lizard and missed by a mile, skidding across the gravel. I huffed getting up, brushing myself off, and ignoring Dottie's audible sigh over me getting myself dirty and Terrako's worried whistle. Ok, lesson learned. I need to be lighter on my feet. This is fine, I'll just try again. I'll get one this time!
Twenty minutes later, I was dirty, covered in scrapes. My dress was ruined, my hair was a mess and I was absolutely livid. Why couldn't I catch one of these stupid lizards!
I huffed, marching right past a worried and amused Dottie hovering over me, and up to a pair of the Sheikah guardsmen, who had slowly drifted away from their post to watch as the little Princess tried and utterly failed to catch a single large lizard. Even Terrako had tried (and failed) to catch one of the little monsters.
I stared up at one of the guard, a furious scowl on my face (I ignored his partner cooing at me from besides us.)
"…can I help you princess?" He asked, slowly drawing out the syllables.
"Impa told me she was getting stealth training. Do you have stealth training?" I demanded hands on my hips in a undoubtably confrontational pose.
"Yes?" He asked, leaning back slightly shooting a worried look at his fellow, who had evolved to snickering at his companions misfortune.
"Then, can you teach me how to catch one of these heaven forsaken, overgrown, children of short lizalfos, created by Gannon, stain on Hylia's good green earth, dumb lizard!" I stomped my foot, my voice rising on each syllable.
There was a moment of absolute silence before, as if all at once, everyone exploded. Terrako whistled loudly, The Sheikah in front of me gaped, dumb struck, his friend burst into laughter so loud that they fell over, several other assorted passerby stopped to stare and Dottie let out an affronted gasp.
"Zelda!" She scolded, marching over and grabbing my hand. "Young lady! We do not use that sort of language! We're cleaning you up and you're going straight down for a nap! You're clearly too tired to be polite!" She dragged me still fuming away from the gaping Sheikah and his hysterical friend.
I was not deterred.
I was going to catch a goddess damned lizard.
—
Cars are a modern marvel of engineering. Decades of refinement, carefully crafted by thousands of skilled engineers, all determined to create a fast, efficient, and comfortable mode of travel for everyone who can afford it. Cars are brilliant examples of human ingenuity.
Carriages on the other hand…
I wince as the carriage goes over a particularly egregious pot hole and internally curse the lack of comfortable suspension on this thing. It hadn't been so bad on the carefully maintained roads of Central Hyrule, but the road up to Goron City was maintained for horse and foot traffic, not so much carriage travel.
You know, I think I'm actually starting to miss being on top of a giant, potentially murderous creature that could definitely trample me to death with its hooves but choses not to.
I hate to be that kid but, "When do we get there?" I wince as we go over another bump.
"We're almost there. Another ten minutes fifteen at most, little songbird."
I hummed unhappily as we went over another small bump and the carriage rattled. "Who are we going to be meeting when we get up there?" I asked anything to distract myself from the unpleasant journey.
"We'll be greeted by the Goron chief Naglomboran, his battle brother Rurmubru, a few other minor officials and an up and coming young warrior who Naglomboran has taken as a protege." Father rattled off, not even phased by the ridiculously long complicated names.
I blinked slowly a few times. "Yeah, I'm going to need you to write down those names there for me." I stated, matter of factly.
"Well, we're not exactly in our castle darling. We don't just have a quill and paper on hand, we'd have to… never mind then." My mother's amused comment trailed off as I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my journals and a stick of charcoal. I had packed them specifically for field observation, however only one of which was actually in my pocket, No points for guessing which.
"How did you even fit that in there?" Father asked bemused.
I bit my lip to hide my cheeky grin "I dunno, it just fits." I offered the notebook and charcoal to my father, "So names please?"
He grumbled, but still obliged me, scribbling down the names. "Thanks Father!" I grinned looking at the names he even wrote how to pronounce it!
Mother smiled. "Now see if you can fit that back in your pocket, we're here."
"Yes Mother!" I stuffed my notebook back into my pocket space and smoothed out my dress and expression. Game time.
I took the footman's hand and stepped out of the carriage. I barely resisted the urge to gape unattractively. Goron City was beautifully rough, a juxtaposed mix of warm naturalistic stone work that looked like it grew naturally out of the mountain, and cool, dark sharp metal work that jutted out defiantly from the stone. Two opposing aesthetics that meshed surprisingly well together creating a beautiful hybrid style together.
"Your majesties, It's a pleasure to see you!" A large, dark Goron clad in similarly dark metal armor boomed, a wide grin spreading across his rocky face.
"Naglomboran! It's a pleasure to see you again!" My mother grinned offering up a small fist which the chief obligingly bumped with his own.
"It really has been too long, little sis! We haven't seen you since you popped that pebble of yours!" The slightly lighter Goron next to the first grinned, he wore matching armor and gave me a little nod and smile. "Speaking of which!" Naglomboran gestured to the young Goron next to him. "Let me introduce you to this Little Rock I found in the mines!"
The smaller Goron had only the beginnings of a beard, but even then his face was curiously familiar. He grinned at the chief. "If you listened to the way he talked, you'd think he didn't realize I'm a grown adult," He joked, bumping their shoulders together. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesties, my name's Daruk!"
Huh.
I guess I can add a third champion to my collection.
—
The rest of the meeting passed in a bit of a blur. I didn't really get the chance to talk much with the young Goron, but the very fact that I now knew where he was a good thing. I had the rest of the trip to network and convince him that it's a great idea to start exchanging letters. But now that our initial meeting had ended, and I was set loose to play under the watchful eyes of the Sheikah guard and Dottie I had a mission I needed to complete.
I was going to catch a fireproof lizard.
I had the supplies and it was time to implement my plan.
I sidled up to the Sheikah guard I had accosted earlier today, and started to wring my dress and bit my lip as if I was anxious. "Mr. Sheikah guard sir? May I have a moment of your time?"
The guard, who had a weary but amused look on his face, nodded as his companion fixed his attention on us. An amused anticipation fixed her gaze, as if she expected me to start cursing out her companion.
"I wanted to apologize for my actions earlier today, I let myself become overly frustrated by my failures in my chosen task and took out my frustrations upon you which was entirely undeserved. And for that, I am truly sorry. I hope you accept this token of my regret." I pulled out a handful of honey candies from my bag and offered them up to the surprised guard, their companion slumping imperceptibly in disappointment at the lack of enraged curses.
The guard blinked a few times before offering me a soft smile. "Thank you princess, I accept your apologies, no need to give me your candy."
I shook the bag."I insist! I have more, please take a few!"
He huffed a sigh and smiled, taking a few and stuffing them in his pocket.
"Might I ask you a query?" I twiddled my fingers, starting to get genuinely nervous.
"Of course princess. What can I help you with?"
"Can you still teach me how to sneak up on a lizard!" I blurted out and the female guard let out a startled laugh.
After a surprised huff the guard let out a little chuckle and responded. "Yes princess I can teach you how to catch a lizard."
It took us twenty minutes, but I stood sweaty, but triumphant. Clutched, squirming between two hands, lifted triumphantly over my head was a large fireproof lizard.
"Look! I finally caught one!" I cried jubilantly, flashing a toothy smile to my audience of three who called out their own congratulations.
I grinned basking in my well earned praise before stuffing the poor lizard in my pocket and turning to find my next target.
"Zelda no! Don't put that in your pocket!"
"How the?!- There is no way that thing fits in her pocket."
"That doesn't- Where did it go!"
I grinned.
Today was a good day.
—
Hey guys! I can't believe we're at chapter twenty already! I would have never gotten this far without you.
Ok now for some house keeping! I've decided over December to go back over my story rewrite and combine some of my earlier chapters. I wanted to do it as a sort of pre new years, New Year's resolution. over the time that I've worked on this my writing has grown and I want all of my story to reflect that not just the latest chapters. All of this story is just a first draft so it is subject to changes as I write the story and it evolves. I'll try and write an update too but I don't know if that will happen. There will be a November update I've already started on chapter 21.
Now on to reviews!
ThatBlueStrawberry- theres no guarantee that she's in the good time line now, the thing about age of calamity is that botw needs to exist first for it to exist right, if Zelda dosn't activate her powers then Terrico dosn't wake up and travel in time. And age of calamity is cannon in the botw universe, like Tericco DID travel in time and split the time line. So basically right now its fifty fifty she could get lucky end up in the aoc timeline but that dosnt erase the fact that there is a version of her in the botw time line same thing other way around too! Or she could just butterfly both out of existence with her future knowledge. Tldr time travel is weird I've thoughten WAY to much about this and nobody is safe
SpicyArbiter- thanks! I hope my work continues to bring you joy!
Floating Ash- i try and reply to every comment i get because i appreciate each and every one! if i dont then something went wrong or i made a mistake. So any thoughts feel free to shoot them out! I havent bought it either becuase im a broke collage student but i have watched the hour long cutscene movie at least twice. Buckle in if your waiting for the end because ive get like two more chapters before we get to the end of THIS arc and it isnt even the meat and potatoes of this book, and i have two and a half more planned on top of it. (im esatic about all of it) But dont worry the avertable inevitability will not end on a cliff hanger! Imgoing to do my best to give it a satisfying ending!
EphemeralAva- me too! And zelda exists in such a constant state of exststentual stress and dread that she loops right back around to chill about it. I sure hope nothing comes along to push her right back into stress and dread! I hope this chapter also filled your quota for cuteness with her parents! It certainly got my beta changlingmyth!
KuramaKitsune- thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
Ragonmaster150- time travel gives me so many headaches man. Plotting out this timeline is a mess. I have confirmed that it IS parallel universes so there is that.
Im glad you like her friends too! I wasnt sure if you guys would take to them but im glad you did! I have a LOT of feelings about king rhome and that whole sitiuationship, which you will be seeing me put into this story so i hope you arnt tired of daddy issues because they only get worse from here! (and yes her name is zelda all the princesses in this matrilinial line are named zelda ahe is zelda the 71 and our girl is the 72) and sealing magic is most definitely an deus ex machina but i love it that way! The way im writing it it comes from being descendants of hylia (making the royal line literal demigods) and is refreshed each time hylia incarnates in the royal line again (see each and every game zelda.) im definitely going to have to check out those time theories!
Thank you i try my best! The queen was most definitely a WILD child in her youth a bit more of a pink sugar plum princess that will plow you over if you get in her way but she definitely had her moments, theres a reason her and urbosa are besties. Also the whole two zelda things sounds like a barrel of laughs, i might just end up writing a outtake with that.