Mistique slowly made her way towards Coro's house, but as soon as she was nearby the Faron Woods spring, a voice made her jump slightly.
"What's your sword for?"
The beautiful girl turned around and on a nearby rock, stood the wolf-beast. She suddenly felt guilty at bringing her sword even when it was only meant to practice her skills on and not attack the Beast.
"I-I wanted to get some practice done," Mistique replied a little shakily.
The Beast then jumped off the rock and walked towards Mistique. He began to circle her slowly and appeared to be sniffing her scent or the air around her. Feeling nervous, Mistique closed her eyes and felt her shoulders tense up. Fortunately, her mind was blank and all she could think about was the wolf-beast circling her. Finally the Beast stopped and sat down directly in front of the Beautiful girl.
"That sword is well crafted," the Beast said simply. "I'd like to see how you can handle that weapon."
Mistique smiled humbly, relieved that the Beast didn't misjudge her.
"Well, shall we go somewhere so I could show you?" Mistique asked him.
The wolf-beast nodded and told her he knew a place where she could practice easily. He began to lead the way and Mistique followed behind. The two were silent for a moment, till Mistique's question that kept going through her mind, broke it and the Beast answered it as they just got out of the dark cave.
"For now, I can only read your mind when we're nearby."
The grey eyed girl mentally slapped herself for literally thinking out loud.
"So how come when I'm far from you," she began. "We can't read each other's thoughts?"
The Beast stayed quiet for a moment then replied to her question. To her surprise, he sounded a little shy even if he was replying with his thoughts.
"If the connection gets at its strongest point, we will be able to read our thoughts without having to be nearby each other."
"I see," Mistique replied as she nodded her head.
The two beings continued walking, passing by a wooded area with giant trees and through the gate when they finally arrived in an area north of the Faron Woods that led to a what looked like a wooden temple though the environment looked secluded.
"It's empty," the Beast explained. "But I've always liked to train in this area, even to this day."
The wolf-beast walked away to the next part of the area when Mistique began to wonder what he meant by "always training in this area". Has he been a wolf-beast his entire life? Mistique didn't have time to dwell on her questions since the Beast had just come back and rolling with his nose, a couple of logs that were painted to represent evil monsters.
The Beast stopped a few feet away from Mistique and expertly set the logs up. Once the Beast finished, he said, "Fight these logs. I know they won't do anything, but show me your skills."
"Alright then," Mistique replied as she took her sword out.
Remembering what Russl had taught her, the beauty got in her defensive stance and targeted the logs as though they were real Bulbins and Bokoblins. She eyed the logs one last time before charging at full speed. Mistique slashed away at the logs with all her strength, yelling out every now and then as a true warrior would. Splinters flew all over and a silver streak could be made out from Mistique's blade as it swung. A few moments later, she was done and stood there in the middle of the destroyed logs, panting but pleased with herself.
The Beast then walked towards Mistique and his blue eyes met her grey eyes. Finally, he said, "I like how you fight. But may I give you some advice?"
"What would you know anything about swords fighting?" Mistique asked as she felt her words slip right out of her mouth.
Automatically, she covered her mouth in embarrassment and shame. She looked away too humiliated to even look at the Beast. She was expecting him to remark angrily and she might have to leave and never see him again, however, his answer was totally different with a tone slight of amusement and forgiveness.
"It's true," the Beast said. "What would an animal like me know anything about this, right? Well, trust me… I know a thing or two about swords fighting and it could help you out in the future one day."
Mistique let her hands fall to the sides of her body and said in a hushed voice, "I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."
The Beast shook its head as though waving off the apology and continued to give her some constructive criticism on her sword skills. Mistique was very surprised at what she had learned from just having him point out her weak spots and her strongest ones as well. After learning that focusing too much on the fallen enemy could lead to a surprise attack from behind, the Beas told her to fight the logs again. As the grey eyed beauty was about to remind him that she had just destroyed the logs, she turned to find the logs perfectly preserved as though she had never fought at all.
"How…?" she began to question.
"They're magical," the Beast said simply. "Those logs were given to me by the Skull Kid as a joke at first to frustrate me. But they've become very helpful when I train with them."
"How do you train?" Mistique asked in wonder.
"I'll show you later. For now, fight those logs again."
Mistique nodded and got in her position again. She remembered what the Beast had just recently pointed out and Mistique dashed at the logs and sliced every single one of the logs fiercely.
"Great job," the wolf-beast said once she was done. "Now…"
He walked towards the now repaired logs and looked back at Mistique and said, "You wanted me to show you what I can do, right? Here I go then."
The Beast lowered himself into a defensive position and began to snarl at the logs. As Mistique moved in closer, she almost jumped back when the Beast began to launch at the logs. She watched in fascination as the Beast savagely broke the logs in more than two pieces and a little fear was added since he kept growling and barking. After a moment, the Beast had terminated all the logs and turned to look at Mistique whose eyes were wide with awe.
"That was…" she said breathlessly. "Incredible! Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"I had an excellent master once," the Beast replied with a wolfish grin.
She walked towards the Beast and gave him her biggest grin ever as she thanked him for his word of advice on the swords.
"I'm here anytime you'd like advice," he replied still with a grin on his face.
The two stayed there for awhile still grinning at each other when the Beas asked if she was hungry. Mistique said that she was starting to hear her stomach growling, so the wolf and the warrior headed back to the Faron Woods to get a lunchbreak. Instead of there being silence like this morning, the two began to chat about swords fighting, fighting strategies, Hyrule, and (Mistique's greatest surprise), adventure.
"I'd like to go on an adventure," Msitique sighed.
"I'd like to go back to mine," the Beast replied. "I don't want to stay in that little cave thing anymore. But I'm having a good time with you so far."
"What kind of adventure are you on?" Mistique asked curiously.
The Beast stayed quiet for a moment. Mistique couldn't hear any of his thoughts; he just stared at the motionless ground as they sat down at the rock that the Beast was on this morning.
"I traveled Hyrule," he finally said. "I'll tell you more about it…If the connection does get stronger."
Mistique continued to wonder what he meant by a strong connection, but her thoughts were driven away as hunger took place. She unpacked some of the food she brought with her this morning and shared it with her newfound wolf-beast friend. She secretly smiled at the thought when the Beast suddenly apologized.
"I'm sorry," he said, chewing the meat. As Mistique was about to ask why, he added, "Last night, I was the one who took your food, blanket and accidentally threw your pictures. Coro didn't have any other blanket and I was so hungry because he cooks horribly. Your house was the closest and I had to take the chance…"
"It's okay," Mistique replied smiling and patting his head. "But how did you know it was my house?"
"I have your scent now," he explained. "Now that I recall, your house has that same scent as you do. And, again, I'm sorry for breaking in… But to make it up to you, how about I ask the Hero to take you with him on his adventure?"
Mistique laughed at the ludicrous idea. However, she told the Beast that she'd be grateful if she ever got the chance to leave her simple life and accompany the Hero on his journey throughout Hyrule.
"I'll have a word with him then," the Beast joked as Mistique giggled.
The two newfound friends continued eating their food, when Mistique noticed a special plant growing out of the ground. She got up, walked over to it and asked the Beast, "Can you do this?"
Mistique picked out a plant, and played on the little horseshoe-shaped reed a pretty, little melody. After Mistique finished the song, she happily saw her golden horse, Helio running towards her from the path leading to Faron Woods.
"That's your horse?" the Beast asked in fascination.
"Yep! His name is Helio," Mistique replied, stroking his mane.
"He's a strong horse," the Beast added, noticing that Helio did not run away from him and actually seemed to trust him. The Beast then walked over to the special shaped grass, sat on his hind legs, took a deep breath, and began to howl the melody Mistique just played.
His human friend's jaw dropped in amazement. Once he was finished howling, Mistique was going to go up to him and congratulate him when a brown horse with beautiful white hair came running from the path leading to Coro's house and Hyrule field.
"Who is this?" Mistique asked him walking over to the horse and stroking her back gently.
"She's a friend of mine," the Beast replied as he joined the group. "Her name is Epona. She and I have been close friends for a long time."
"It must be nice to have some…animal companionship," Mistique replied looking at the Beast and smiling gently.
"It is," the Beast answered. "I'm happy that she could understand me even when…"
The Beast stopped speaking and Mistique looked at him curiously. She could've sworn that her friend's eyes had widened slightly after he spoke. There was silence between the two for a moment till Mistique asked if he was alright.
"Yes, I'm okay," the Beast replied. "I'm just happy that Epona has been by my side all this time."
Mistique smiled at the Beast. She turned back to look at the horses when she noticed that the two started walking closer to the spring and began to drink water together.
"I think my horse and your friend took a liking to each other," Mistique said, still looking at the horses.
"It seems so," the Beast replied.
Epona and Helio continued to drink water together, and every now and then they would look up at each other into their eyes. It was as if the two horses were secretly sharing a conversation that only they understood with hidden smiles. Mistique gazed at the two horses, envying that they found love at first sight and began to wonder about the adventure and the loved she dreamed to find one day.
"Are you finished eating, Mistique?" the Beast asked.
That was the first time he had ever used her name.
"Y-Yes," she replied, a little shyly. "Why do you ask?"
"Let's go back training, if you want. I'd like to try one last thing."
Mistique nodded in agreement. The wolf-beast and the beautiful maiden left the spring, leaving their two horses to resume their time together, and went back to the north of the woods. After about ten minutes, they arrived back at their training area and the Beast walked in front of Mistique and faced her. His blue eyes gazed into her grey eyes, almost hypnotizing her, till he spoke words that surprised Mistique a lot.
"I'd like it if you would fight me."
"W-What?" Mistique asked in utter disbelief. "Fight you? Why?"
"Now that I've taught you some things," he explained. "I'd like to see how you put them to use on a real enemy."
"B-But you're my friend, Beast! Not my enemy!"
"I know. But in the real world, not all creatures are your friend. I may be your friend, but what about those Bulbins? I doubt they're your friends, so for now pretend I'm not your my friend, but a fierce enemy who wants to attack you," the Beast explained.
"…Okay then," Mistique agreed, still slightly hesitantly.
The beautiful girl took out her sword and stood in her defense stance as the wolf-beast calmly prepared himself to battle Mistique. The surrounding area had suddenly turned so quiet a pin could be heard falling. Grey eyes met blue eyes once again as their expressions showed determination, fierceness and power.
The last thing that happened, a blur of black and white fur charged at Mistique, and blur of shiny black hair flew at the Beast, attacking with all the power each wielded in them. The silver blade slashed at the Beast, and the Beast's sharp fangs and ferocious snarls snapped and growled at the maiden before him. Each defended powerfully, and fought bravely but there could only be one winner. To both of their surprises, Mistique continued slashing her sword till she cornered the Beast little by little. It was finally up to the point where the Beast had nowhere to run, and Mistique had him by the neck with her sword pointing at his neck.
Both the Beast and Mistique were panting heavily for a moment before Mistique spoke at last.
"It looks like I won."
The Beast gave her his wolfish grin and replied, "It seems so. You did amazing Mistique."
"Thank you Beast," she said, beaming at her friend.
Mistique put her sword away and suggested they go back to the Faron Woods. As they walked, they continued with a lot more conversation than they had a couple of hours ago. The conversation carried on for the longest time and Mistique thought to herself, no longer self-conscious about hiding her thoughts from him any longer, To think, yesterday he almost killed me, and today we're great friends!
"I can't believe it either," the Beast replied, looking up at the beautiful girl.
The two friends continued with a lot more conversation for quite awhile till sunset began. Mistique looked sadly at the sky and turned back to look at the Beast with an apologetic look.
"I think I've got to go now," she said. "I've been gone all day, even if it was my day off. And everybody's probably wondering where I am.
"…I see…" the Beast replied looking at the spring. "You work?"
Mistique nodded slowly and explained her work schedule. How she worked all day at the ranch and when her days off would be. She couldn't help but notice that the Beast looked a little disappointed but he was able to ask her, "Will you come visit me again though?
Mistique nodded eagerly. "Yes I will! Once I'm done with work, I'll come here even if I'm so tired that I can't even walk anymore… I promise, Beast."
The Beast looked happier as she promised him this. Mistique then got up and went up to Helio who was still with Epona.
"I hate to pull you away from Epona," Mistique said. "But we got to go home now."
Helio neighed sadly, but followed his master's orders. She looked down at the Beast and smiling at him.
"Goodbye Mistique," the Beast said. "See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow… Beast," Mistique replied.
Helio neighed one last time before riding back to Ordon with Mistique. As they left, Mistique smiled to herself; yesterday, the Beast's blue eyes were serious and lonely, but after today, she noticed his dark blue eyes shone with happiness. As she arrived home, Mistique prayed that there could be more days where his gorgeous eyes continued to shine like they did today.