Questline: The Power of One
Chapter 11.
An Unusual friendship
A few hours later, we found our out to Malon's ranch. We were all packed and ready to head off when suddenly Kasa says, "Aleks, can I talk to you for just a minute in private?"
I sat my stuff along the fence and walked with her a few feet away and asked, "Hey Kasa. What's up? Is everything alright?"
She smiled and reassured me everything was good and proceeded to say, "I thought it would be best if I stayed back with Malon and helped her around the castle to see if we can find anything on this dark armored guy you guys encountered and to see if we have anything on how he may be raising the dead."
"Are you really sure you want to stay behind?" I asked her.
"Yes, I'm sure. I'd honestly hate to leave Malon all by herself." She said.
"I'm not sure when or even if we will be able to come back here Kasa. What if I'm unable to come back? I can't just leave you behind. I need you Kasa!" I tell her.
She wraps her arms around me and buries her head into me and says, "You may need me and I may need you, but this world needs you more and there may be more worlds out there that need you as well. If this happens to be the last time I ever see you, then I just want you to know that despite the short time we got to spend together, I do love you Aleks. There's an old saying that goes, If you love someone then you need to set them free. Aleks, I'm setting you free from me." I could hear her stutters and the sniffles in her voice even though she tried to cover them up. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her on the forehead as a sign of goodbye.
Just as my lips leave her head, she grabs me and pulls my face to hers as she presses her lips to mine and we spend a few minutes holding each other knowing this may be the last time we see each other.
I walk up to Malon and ask her which horse I will be riding. She walks me over to this black horse and says, "Aleks, meet Shade. She's the second fastest horse we have next to Epona. She's two years younger than Epona though so she may still be a little fiesty. I'm sure you two will become good friends though."
I walk up to Shade and start to pet her. she backs up a little as if unsure so I freeze in place to show her I mean no harm. She stands there staring at me as if to see what I'm going to do. Malon walks up and hand me a carrot and says, "Like I said, She's a little fiesty. Once she warms up to you, you might have a hard time keeping her away though. She is one of those few horses that takes a lot of patience and time to gain the trust of but once you do then, your stuck with them. Epona over there was the same way with Link only I may have given Link a handicap with her. There's no handicap with Shade though, so you'll just have to earn her trust the old fashion way."
I hold out the carrot as I slowly walk up to her again. She seems hesitant but remains in place. Once I reach her, I slowly place my hand on her face and start to pet her. As I continue to pet her, I bring the carrot to her mouth and feed her the carrot. She seems more relaxed now.
She lets me get up on her which, according to Malon was a great sign concidering it was mine and Shades first interaction ever. Malon walked up and said, "This is honestly the first time I have ever see her be so calm about being riden. I thought she might have put up more of..." Suddenly Shade sprinted off with me still on her.
Malon stands there watching us and says, "Yep, that's probably what I should have expected from a not yet tamed horse. Still, it's a wonder that she even let him get on to begin with."
Shade ran and jumped the fence and sprinted out of the ranch. We were running through Hyrule fields and I struggled at staying on as she tried to shake and buck me off every now and then. Shade tried to throw me off by coming to an immediate stop. It kind of worked but I wrapped my arms around her neck and held on by the mane. While I was holding onto her, she immediatly started sprinting again. As I tried to hold onto her, I reached over and grabbed the reins of the saddle that were dangling on her side. I swung my right foot over to her right foot holster, but missed a few times before I finally got it. Once in, I readied myself to hold onto the reins and swing myself back up onto the saddle.
I pulled the reins to the right to get her to turn a little and once she made the right turn I sung with all my might and landed back onto the saddle. She went back to her shaking and bucking, but it didn't last long and she started sprinting away when suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by a pack of Moblin.
They gave chase to try and catch us and as shade tried to sprint away, I saw an arrow fly just past my face. They road the biggest boars I have ever seen before in my life. those things were huge.
Shade seemed less interested in fighting me riding her and more interested in escaping the pack of Moblin on those boars. Shade was faster but she was getting tired from fighting me earlier and she began slowing down which allowed the Moblin to start catching up. One of the moblin reached us and tried to swing at me and managed to hit me hard. It tried to hit me again but this time I stuck one arm out and and let it hit me. When it hit me, I brought my arm back down grabbing onto the club and letting go of the reins with the other hand, I punched it and then grabbed it and threw it off the boar while holding onto it's club. It held on as well and so I kicked it in the face causing it to let go and fall.
I bent down to shades ear and knowing full well I was just talking to a horse, I said, "I need you to trust me. I'm going to turn you around and whatever happens, just keep sprinting and get to safety." I didn't honestly think I needed to tell a horse to run but atleast I felt like it would do just what I asked out of pure instict.
I pulled the reins and she turned and began sprinting in the direction of the pack of Moblin. Upon reaching the Moblin, I jumped off of Shade and landed on a Moblin that was riding a boar and smacked it off with the club I had knocking it out cold.
There were three Moblin on boars left. I kicked The boar I was on and it began charging the others and they scattered in different directions and began circling me. They began shooting arrows at me and a few zoomed right by me as I kicked the boar again to get it to move and get me the hell out of there.
After getting some distance, I turn around and charge back at them and when I get close enough, I jump off the boar and land on another Moblin and bash him in the head as hard as I could. It fell off and that only left two Moblin to go. One tried to charge me and I quickly jumped off the boar as it got rammed and I kicked the Moblin In the face while in mid air as hard as I could which snapped its neck.
The last moblin was still on its huge boar and I was exposed while on the ground and in great danger.
Suddenly I heard galloping coming from behind me and when I turn around I saw Shade sprinting towards me. She ran by me just slowly enough for me to grab the saddle and hop on. Once I was on, She started to pick up speed. I then said, " We got one one more we need to take care of and then we can head back Shade. If we don't, It's just going to follow us."
I pulled the reins to turn her and as she sprinted towards the last Moblin, I brought my feet up to the saddle while trying not to loose balance. I crouched on Shade and when we got close enough, I spearheaded the moblin to the grounds and bashed it in the head with the club, killing it.
As I get up slowly, Shade comes trotting up to me. I attempt to walk up to her slowly and in some pretty good pain.
She backed up a few steps and I stopped at looked at her saying, "Really? Your going to play this game after what we just went through?" She just stood there looking at me.
I finished walking up to her and stroke her mane a few times saying, "Okay, lets just get back to Malons ranch."
Later we arrive back at Malon's ranch. Shade was suprisingly very calm the whole way back.
Malon's jaw dropped when she saw me riding Shade in through the gates and came running up and asked, "How in the world did you get her to trust you in only an hour?"
After I slowly got off Shade, they all noticed I was pretty beat up and my clothes were torn in some spots. Malon then asked, "Are you okay Aleks? What In the world happened to you two?"
Shade came walking up to me and stood by me.
Malon looked at Shade and then back to me. It was at that moment Kasa came running up wanting to know what happen to me as well.
I looked to malon and laughed as I said, " Shade was trying to throw me off for a good while until we got ambushed by a pack of Moblin on these really huge boars who were shooting arrows at us. It's quite the story that I'll be more than happy to never have to think of again."
"Long story short. We worked out our little disagreement after barely managing to take care of those moblin." I told malon.
"Well some kind of bonding moment happened between you two. Honestly, I'm just glad your both okay." Malon said.
Kasa hugs me and then I get up and walk back to Shade. Before I get up on her, she turns and nudges me with her nose. I pet her on the face and Malon hands me another carrot to which I feed to Shade.
"It seems Shade likes you enough to cut deals with you Aleks. A carrot per ride." Link says.
"Nah, I'd like to think it's more of a respect for one another." I reply back.
I look back to Shade and she turns her side to me. I get up onto her and Link turns to me ans asks, "Are we all ready?"
Cabba says, "Caulifla and I have never riden creatures like these."
And Caulifla add to that by saying, " Why not let me and Cabba ride with you two."
I look to them and say, "Cabba, your with me. Caulifla, your with Link."
I then pet Shade on the neck and Cabba flies climbs up on shade. We hear a Holo's voice saying, "Did you guys honestly just forget about me? I've never road a horse before."
I look over to Holo and wave her over to me and I get off Shade. I help her up onto the horse and I grab the reins and begin pulling Shade to follow me. I wave over to Tabatha and Link gets off Epona. Tabatha walks with Cecilia over to Epona and they both get on while tabatha holds onto Cecilia.
Before we take off Malon says, "Are you sure you won't need one more horse?
"It's not necessary for us to take more of your horses Malon. You have a ranch to run and without them your out of business." I tell her.
She brings one more horse over and says, "Well if this world dies, then I'm out of business anyways. So I insist. Let Tabatha and Holo ride this one. Malon demands.
After Tabatha, Cecilia, and Holo get on the horse and Link and I get on Shade and Epona, we take off on our journey.
Malon and Kasa wave bye to us as we take off. Link and I are leaving the ones we care about behind. It's hard not to wonder if I'll ever see her again but we have a responsability to protect this world.
As our journey continues, I suddenly hear Alexis's voice speaking to me, "Aleks, I found another exit in this corridor. I thought that maybe when your not busy, you might want to check this world out. I found someone you know very well there. But thats all the hints you get from me until you visit me again." She says as she giggles.
"Thank you Alexis. When we get to Kardia and I find some time to kill, I'll get in touch with you and you can take me to this world you found." I told her.
As the day progresses, nightfall begins to decend and we find ourselves in some woods where decide to set up camp. I light a camp fire while Link and Cabba set up tents. After we eat, I head to my tent but decide to sit outside of it for a while.
While I sit there staring and the stars and moon, Holo comes up to me and sits down next to me. She then tries to start a conversation by saying, "I'm sorry Kasa called it quits on you."
"She didn't really call it quits on me Holo. She just set me free, and like most people, I'm sure she hopes that I'll find my way back to her. But thanks." I tell her.
"You know Holo, your still my true companion on this journey." I told her.
She looks at me and smiles as she asks, "Well can we please atleast just go back to the way things use to be between us?"
"What do you mean? I thought we did?" I asked.
"Nope, we didn't. You don't let me sleep next to you anymore. How am I suppose to watch your back at all times if there are times when we aren't together?" She asked.
"I'm probably going to regret this but okay Holo. You win this time." I tell her.
"Wait, you really mean it? You won't just push me away again?" She excitedly asks.
"I really mean it Holo. Let's just go back to the old ways." I said as I smiled back at her.
With that, I look back at the moon and continue to gaze.
"You know Aleks. There's something about me I haven't ever told you." Holo says.
"You told me that your a deity. What more is there to tell than that?" I asked her.
"I have another form thats different from the one your seeing right now?" She said.
"But the last time I had shown someone that I liked that form, they feared it." She added.
"Well what kind of form is it, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked.
"I am a wolf. Not just any wolf though. I'm the biggest wolf you will ever see. I can be what you see right now, or I can be the size of a really large building." She smirked as she said.
"So, are you scared to see that side of me?" She asked.
"Not really, to be honest Holo. I trust you no matter what form your in. Honestly, I trust your judgement despite your rash nature." I tell her.
"Holo. There's something I need to tell you." I say.
"What Is it Aleks?" She asks.
"When we get to Kardia. I'm going to leave for just a little bit." I tell her.
"Well atleast your giving me fair warning this time. Where is it that you plan on going? She asks.
"A place I need to go to alone. Not to fight or battle though. It's not a revenge mission. Alexis said that she found another exit to a world in that corridor and that there's someone I know really well there." I tell her.
"I need to see who she is talking about. It might be someone I met in that tournament all those years ago." I added.
"Aleks, I have learned by now that I need to just trust you. So if you say that this is something you need to do, then you have my full support." Holo said.
"Thank you Holo. I promise I will come back." I tell her as I smile while continuing to gaze at the moon.
