Chapter 6: Goron City
Ralph trekked up the ever steepening grey trail until he reached a fork in the path. Just ahead of him was a cave, and to his right was a winding slope. He walked over to a light brown boulder that was lying near the sloped trail, it was only thing of visible color on the dimly lit path. Ralph went to sit on the boulder to catch his breath and take a sip of water. He was able to rest for a few minutes until suddenly, the boulder began vibrating. Ralph looked down at where he was sitting and before he could even begin to contemplate why the rock was shaking, he felt himself forcefully ejected into the air. Ralph was so high up that he could see the entire trail he had climbed, his whole existence flashed in front of him as he was sure he was going to die.
He felt the wind tunnel that surrounded his freefalling body to what he thought was his doom. Just before he slammed into the solid grey surface below him, a large hand caught him by the torso. Ralph looked up at the creature who now had him in its clutches, his body coursed with fear. "Hello tiny human." The creature spoke. Ralph felt his heart skip a beat. "Y- You can talk?" Ralph stuttered. "Yes, I can." The thing replied. It stood about seven feet tall with leathery, sand brown skin on its front, and stone like scales on its back. "You look scared human. Do you fear me?" asked the creature. Ralph didn't answer, he was terrified but he didn't want his alleged captor to know that. The creature put Ralph back on his own two feet. His legs felt like jelly, his knees were shaking and he could hardly stand on his own. "Allow me to introduce myself." The monster said " I am Go'Aruchi of the Goron people." Ralph gathered his wits and calmed down slightly. "So you are one of the Gorons?" He finally asked. "Yes. What else do I look like?" Ralph's smart-aleck personality caught back up with him. "Well you look like a rock for one thing, except where I'm from, rocks don't launch people into the air." Go'Aruchi looked at him as if he were simply an angered child. "What brought you up here tiny human? Are you lost? Where are your parents?" Ralph was glad his smart-ass comment hadn't bothered the Goron. "I came alone. I wish to speak to your leaders about important matters involving both the Goron, and the Hylian peoples." Go'Aruchi was shocked. "How did you survive? And why would the Hylians send a child to do their diplomatic work?" Go'Aruchi thought before speaking again. "You understand that if you aren't actually a Hylian official, then you just broke a hundred years treaty?" Ralph gulped. "If you can just take me to your leaders, I'll explain everything." Go'Aruchi agreed, and they started up the winding trail. "Here tiny human." The Goron said as he grabbed Ralph by the torso and placed him atop his shoulders. "We have a short walk ahead of us but you should rest." The sun was almost rising above the mountain, Ralph had been awake and hiking for an entire day. He felt uncomfortable sitting on the Goron's rock like shoulders, but he decide to rest his eyes for a short while. Ralph slowly dozed off, Go'Aruchi continued his walk to Goron City allowing the tall blonde child to fall asleep on his shoulders.
Ralph awoke to the taste of stale air and the loud echoes of drums. All around were houses embedded into the giant cave walls surrounding them at all sides, below them was the center of Goron city. The architecture wasn't the most ornament of design plans, but the way the Goron people made their very own city from the natural shape of the cave they were given was something to admire. At first glance it would seem primitive, but Goron City was the most industrialized part of Hyrule that Ralph had seen so far. "The Goron people have a truly beautiful home." He thought to himself. Go'Aruchi grabbed Ralph from off of his shoulders and set him on his feet. Ralph didn't feel like walking right after his nap, but then again he couldn't do much about it. He stretched his arms and gave a yawn, inhaling the warm cave air as him and his escort made their way to the center of the city. Other Gorons looked in amazement as Ralph walked passed them, most of them had only heard about humans from stories, but never actually seen one. "They sure do know how to stare, don't they." Ralph asked Go'Aruchi. "This is the first time many of my people have ever seen a human. The treaty was created 100 years ago and the last time a Hylian official came to visit us was 30 years prior to that." They reached the center of the city during their talk, all the surrounding Goron starred at them curiously. "The chief's living quarters are at the very back of the city, I'll take you there after breakfast." Ralph was hungry, so he agreed to have something to eat before meeting the chief of the Gorons.
The two walked into a Goron diner embedded into a cave wall in the west side of the city. The looks of shock on the faces of every Goron in the restaurant gave Ralph an uncomfortable feeling. " ? Maybe I should wait outside, I'm not sure I'm welcomed here." Before Go'Aruchi could answer, a deep bass-like voice echoed behind them. "As long as you've got money to spend, you're welcomed here. What can I get you?" Go'Aruchi recognized the elderly Goron as the owner of the restaurant and the two helped themselves to a table. It was much too high for Ralph at his current stature, he had to sit on his knees to make himself a little taller. "What is it you like again Aruchi?" The owner asked the duo. "I'll have one dodongo steak, and a platter ok tektite legs." The elderly Goron repeated the order aloud a few times before storing it permanently in his memory. "And for you human?" Ralph had to think, he had no idea what kind of foods there were, but steak sounded nice. "I'll have the… Uh- Steak. Yeah, steak." Go'Aruchi covered the food with one red and one blue rupee. About 12 minutes passed before the food got to their table. Ralph was shocked by the so-called breakfast that was placed in front of him. "Is this… A rock?" he asked confusedly. "It certainly looks like a rock, and feels like one too." He continued. Go'Aruchi had already eaten half of his steak. "It's dodongo. You won't know if you like it until you try it." He lectured. " , Humans aren't capable of biting through something like this." To test his theory, he grabbed one of the large stone cutting tools lying next him on the table, and jabbed it as hard as he could into the steak. "Look at that, it hardly went through. I'm sorry but human teeth just aren't that strong." By this time Go'Aruchi had finished his steak. "Okay, you can eat these tektite legs, I'll take your steak." Ralph looked at the plate and almost threw up. "Tektite legs? The giant spider thing that attacked me on my way here had legs like these. , I hate to be rude, but how the hell do you people eat this stuff?" Go'Aruchi grabbed one of the long spire like legs off the plate and peeled away the exoskeleton, revealing the soft meat inside. "These spines are too sharp for Hylian hands, I'll break them for you, you just worry about eating, I'm sure you're exhausted." The Goron said in a friendly tone while handing Ralph a long cord of tektite flesh. Ralph's face contorted as he was expecting the worst taste he had ever experienced in his life. After a couple of chews he unscrunched his face and took another bite. It tasted like celery, but it had the consistency of cold butter. He laughed to himself. "I could get used to this place." Memories of home started to flow back to him and he was soon lost in a daydream while unconsciously stuffing his face.
Go'Aruchi left the Goron restaurant with Ralph on his shoulders. The central part of Goron City was crowded, and he didn't want Ralph to get trampled by some careless Goron family. They walked for about an hour before Go'Aruchi grabbed Ralph off of his shoulders and put him on the hard cave floor. Ralph looked up as a seemingly aging Goron approached them. He was very muscular, (Even for a Goron) and had grey hair that extended from behind his head in five crooked spikes. His eyes were more squinted then most the Gorons Ralph had seen, and his short scruffy beard gave him a look of authority. "Chief Darunia, last night I found this Hylian child on the Death Mountain trail. He says he has some urgent news that must be relayed to you." Go'Aruchi didn't sound as confident as he normally did, Ralph could tell that this chief meant business. Ralph bowed to show his respects. "Chief Darunia, I am not a Hylian official as you may have guessed. I…" Ralph was cut off by an ear shattering grunt. "If you are not a Hylian official, then you have just broken a sacred treaty among our peoples!" Darunia shouted. "Please hear me out Chief." Ralph asked humbly. "Why should I listen to child, let alone a silly Hylian child." Darunia asked demandingly. "Silly? Look old man, the silliest thing here is probably your haircut, now you can listen, or be stubborn, but keep in mind that the safety of the Goron people could be at risk here. Darunia was furious. "You disrespectful little runt! Okay, fine! I'll listen to what you have to say if you csn earn my respect. Let us see how a puny Hylian child does against a young Goron of his same age." Ralph realized what he got himself into, he had heard that the Goron people took great pride in physical challenges, especially fighting. He had unknowingly entered an exhibition with a beast of a person, and he wasn't feeling too confident about it.