Her attention was so very difficult to keep. Was that normal? Was she just a terrible friend? Did she not care enough about Zelda's well-being? But she couldn't help herself.

It was a constant back and forth of this- guilt, self-hatred, back to guilt, and then to admiration. Cycle back.

They'd abandoned the temple's rear exit to try to find a more accessible entry. With Fi's guidance, they had dipped to the side of the temple into the pure wilderness that had begun to consume it.

The pathway they'd taken to the place itself had been clean in the loosest sense of the word. There were indications of it being traveled, and Tya guessed the reason for that was by things like Gorko and Machi. An interesting thought, and while she had momentarily lingered on what use they would have to come to a structure made by human hands so long ago, she hadn't come up with anything particularly interesting before getting distracted again.

This part though… This was wilderness.

There was no path.

It was as if the cliffside had slowly made its way nearer and nearer the temple over time, the earth itself thus beginning to consume the building little by little. She wondered just how much existed beneath the land on which they walked. If they were to dig, or further traverse the interior, how much of this would they be able to explore? Had the weight of this crushed and reclaimed the stone?

It was such an incredible, fascinating thought, that so much history was right beneath her feet. That she had, in fact, just been in the presence of all of it… And while a part of her ached at the loss of finding all of those things, more of her ached at the thought that Zelda would disappear or die if she wasted as much time as she wanted to waste… If it was an accurate assumption that all the switches had a time lock, it had to be a relatively extended one given they were able to leave with no issue. But Zelda had been gone longer than they had, so what if she'd been trapped in those depths?

Why was she such a fucking horrid friend? Why couldn't she focus? How fucking selfish did she inherently need to be to worry about her own physical ineptitude and desire to sleep and overall pain and fear rather than her 'best' friend?

Was it better to dwell on all of this nearly debilitating anxiety, or was it better to forget, to disregard, and to focus elsewhere?

Link hopped up on a mossy log, brows furrowed in concentration toward his footing as he considered whether or not this was a stable place to stand. Which admittedly seemed a little counterproductive because he was currently already standing on it, but Tya wasn't a knight, what did she know.

He seemed to confirm it was safe enough because he turned his attention upward from his perch and looked around instead. Not that it was a high perch. Really, it probably made him a little above a normal adult's height. But he used it for a slightly higher vantage point regardless, taking note that they were still following the wall of the temple closely.

It was during Tya's silent wonder of what the fuck he was doing, when she drew her hands up in absence to rub her shoulders in a needless effort to friction some warmth back into them, that she took notice of the slight change in the scenery around them. She had, as stated, been going in and out of being conscious of her surroundings, but when last she looked, they were merely surrounded by a thick density of trees. Beautiful, yes, but these were woods and that was kind of commonplace in those. The colorful fungi and spottings of wildflowers had gradually lessened some time ago, back on the steep path before they'd even reached the temple to begin with. But now, there had been another shift, and whether or not that was gradual, she hadn't noticed.

It occurred to her, that this was probably what Link was doing. Using this sudden faint light to look at white-blue tainted bark and translucent leaves of what surrounded them.

"Like in the room," Link pointed upward toward a branch overhead, peering down at Tya with a hint of innocent wonder.

"Indeed," she said. "It seems more faint here though. I wonder if the roots of these trees are fed by that water."

Link looked up and around again, studying it all and, after a moment, brightened once more. "That's cool!"

With that declaration, he hopped down on the opposite side of the log, the sound of his gear really embellishing the impact. The log wasn't a massive obstacle, and yet he held his hands out toward her to aid her in getting over.

His intentions didn't register to her at first, leaving her staring dumbly at his extended hands. It was when he motioned for her to come on that it clicked, and she stopped trying to warm herself through still damp clothes and took them so she could climb up and over.

It was an unneeded gesture in her eyes, at least partly. And while she had found herself flattered by his nature and his gentlemanly intentions, Fi's statement of her ineptitude was more than happy to shut that down this time around. Instead, Tya stepped down on the other side and remained silent as the only thing she could think to do was apologize to him.

Back and forth.

The depths of the woods were darker here. Thick with patches of blue lighting the plagued trees. The luminescence was beautiful on the surface, but less so when one looked at the way the fungi crept up trunks and ate away at the still-living trees. The woods were lovely until one walked into the less inhabited parts. The deeper in, the darker it grew, the more living things seemed to be consumed. The more unnerving it became to consider how uncharted the territory in which they stood was. Exhilarating and terrifying, and heavy with the possibility that she could find a death she didn't feel she deserved. It was too historical. Too interesting. She felt like the death she deserved was rotting away in her own bed.

Boring and alone, but it at least wasn't a fate she had forced herself into.

Link shifted, his shield tensed as he glared through the darkness at another slithering vine. It hadn't struck, likely too far to do so, but it had risen some from its root to watch the pair pass. Even despite Tya's previous thoughts, she took a few quiet steps closer to Link, and in response he drew his sword and nodded for her to come nearer to his shield side.

"Probably won't both-bother us." He said softly, narrowing his eyes and then looking at the ground before them. "Probably."

After confirming their next steps were just out of reach enough that they wouldn't get them mauled, a practice which they probably should have been adopting throughout more of this trek than they had, Link continued forward. Their caution was fortunate given the fact that those carnivorous plants had threaded themselves into the thick woodland floor in more places than just that. As they ventured further, looking for signs of a second entry way, Tya caught glimpses of curious eyes in the darkness of the woods. Shadows among the trees, warmth imprinted against the vines and the branches.

Both terrifying and interesting to know they were far from alone in this endeavor. It was honestly a surprise that they hadn't been given any trouble in traversing the dense wood, allowing them to reach the spot where it looked a touch more traveled than the rest.

The pathway was still overgrown, ridden with plants and roots as the rest, but their attention had been drawn to the fact that this area had been touched.

Even that, though, was second to the warm light that spilled from the engraved surface of this golden door.

The trees were beautifully bathed in golden light, their canopy gaping open to allow waning rays of sun through. While there was a hint of fear toward them losing time; toward them being left here on the surface through the night, the appearance of this door and its golden goddess image kept her mouth shut. Zelda was so, so close. She knew it. And for all of her self-criticism and anxiety, that was worth everything.

"Master," Fi appeared from the sword once more, her blank eyes facing the door, filled with the reflection of warm gold. "I can confirm that this is the pathway Zelda used to enter the temple. However, it remains sealed. Further examination of the magic here has allowed me to give a more accurate percentage of success; There is a 23% chance we will be able to open it with our current state."

Link tilted his head, the curiosity of his expression asking a clear question that Fi did not proceed to answer. Tya, though interested in what she meant by their current level, didn't get the chance to do so either before Fi took their silence as the end of the conversation and retreated again.

"Should we…?" Link motioned to the door, and Tya pursed her lips.

"If we cannot, there is also the chance of waiting here to see if she comes out."

"But we don't- we don't know if or wh-when she will," Link said with a frown, and as it was practically the ending of her own sentiment, she nodded in agreement.

Link once more pulled the goddess sword from its sheath, idly looking it over before he breached the edge of the wood that led onto the clearing in which the door stood. He raised it, the tip to the sky, allowing the sunlight to glint off its polished steel and once more devour the blade. Yet even as it heated, sparkled with the Goddess' power, Link didn't cast it out. He held it, eyes closed, taking in a deep breath in anticipation as he let the magic overflow from the metal. In one swift movement, he cast it outward, the sliver cutting through the air only to melt into the holy light emitted by the door itself. It dissipated with nothing more than a soft flare of the magic that illuminated the entrance.

The pair was left in silence, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, Link looked back toward her and then raised his sword once more. Tya didn't stop him. They'd been warned they had a low chance of success in this endeavor, and it came as little surprise that this didn't work. Nor did the next attempt. Nor did the one after that. It was only after a brief examination of the door that probably burned out Link's retinas did he finally admit defeat and again turn to look back at Tya.

She would have been lying had she said there wasn't a little bit of hope pointing in both directions. She was so incredibly desperate to see Zel and know she was alright, but, with a selfishness she dreaded yet couldn't shake, she wanted to venture deeper into the temple beneath their feet. No matter her exhaustion and fear, she just couldn't fight back the overwhelming and distracting wonder that kept making her feel like an awful, awful friend.

Tya found herself inwardly apologizing into the void of her anxious thoughts. To both Zelda and to Link, and honestly, she wasn't even sure why anymore. She had frayed her thoughts and overwhelmed herself to the point that going to bed seemed like the best course of action just so she may be able to think when she woke up. And once again she found herself fervently hating herself over the fact that her priority was herself and not the wellbeing of her fallen friend.

"I suppose that means we find another way," Tya said, voice absent as she tried in vain to pry herself from her thoughts. With another glance up toward the darkening sky, she again felt the urge to suggest they return tomorrow but kept her mouth shut. Last night, her thought had been the same, that Zelda was so close it felt stupid to leave her. And now, for whatever reason, it felt like she was even closer. The more Tya thought about it, the more she realized that this entire Trek was absolutely useless, and an utter waste of precious time they could have been using to catch up to their friend. But she still felt like going back would separate them further, and honestly, relaxing wouldn't have been an option even if she tried. It seldom was, and it seemed her anxious tendencies were only worsening and worsening with the second.

Link had nodded his head in agreement toward Tya's statement, though it was a response she admittedly missed. It was him setting his hand on her shoulder that grounded her enough to have a foot back in reality, and somehow, glancing up at him helped her feel more at ease as he offered her a smile.

He spun to her side, once more putting her to that of his shield, and with a small nudge of said item, started them both forward to follow the temple's crumbling exterior back the way they'd come.

They were given no trouble though she was growing ever more worried about the fact that soon they'd be out of daylight. While she could technically guide the way for them, it was still something that sickened her to consider. But what was more pressing on this particular trip, was a feeling that had so significantly worsened.

On the way over, she had noted that there were creatures in the woodland curious of them. She had felt watched and it was uncomfortable but she supposed it was kind of a given. This time though, she felt like she was being followed. And that was terrifying.