"You know what," Cana mumbled to himself, cradling his injured arm. "I think I'm starting to get this."
On the ground before him, two Bokoblin lay dead, their still-beating parts oozing out a puddle of black blood. He didn't realize how rank it was compared to the rest of the forest; dirty and stale, until he'd gotten up this close. His nose wrinkled up now, sword hanging from his back, he was now given a chance to focus in on the object of the recently-late Bokoblin's attention… a plume of grass with an interesting being beneath it.
Though the air was still, the blades of the plant wavered as he approached, shivering with the body beneath. Cana approached it slowly, not really sure what to make of it. This surface is so strange. The temple, the old lady, even the goron he could understand. But, this plant… thing was just a little too weird for him. It was obviously animal-like; the mossy brown fur hardly passed for camouflage in the lush grasses, but it just lay there like shrubbery, making a light whining noise.
"Um… excuse me?" He asked. A few seconds passed as he watched, waiting for it to respond, the chatter of birds filling the silence, but it just stayed there. Wincing as he let his recovering arm drop, Cana knelt down before it, hand moving slowly closer to the main body. When it got within an inch of the thing, however, it made a little jump into the air, accompanied by a "Kwee-koo", before turning its head to the side, revealing its mask-like face.
"Don't eat me!" Its shaky voice begged, winy and soft. "I taste terrible! Like dirt and grass! You wouldn't lik-EEE!" The rambling trailed off as it sprung up in a panic, stubby legs hurling the chubby body forward and away, grass flapping behind it under an overgrown arch, disappearing behind the rise of a slopping plane.
It all happened so quickly, all Cana had had time to do was watch, his bad arm propped up on his knee, heart juice and blood still seeping out from the wrappings. Of course, he'd silently thanked the Goddess there was heart flowers here; a gash that would have taken a week to heal would be knit up and healed in a couple of hours… but the sharp pain wasn't something you go used to. It took some mental bracing to go through it again, lifting the limb up from his knee as he stood up, his eyes locked on the obscenely steep incline. Considering he'd almost died three times today, and it wasn't even noon, it just seemed to be adding insult to injury.
Staring the thing down, dozens of thoughts flew into his mind, most of them negative. Why the hell did I sign up for this? was one of the more prominent ones, alongside How on the surface am I going to climb that thing?. His muscles tightened as he locked in place, half his efforts trying to convince himself he was wrong and the other half puzzling how to get over that thing. He scanned the clearing for anything he could use; a vine, sharp sticks, anything. However, all he could see was grass; grass, and a single heart flower: Not a lot to work with. Its impossible to do this with only one hand his thoughts told him. Even if there was something to grab, how would you reach for something else? He had to concede to the later part... but, something in his gut was telling him he could still get up this. Zelda got through it easy enough, and she's a girl. There's got to be a trick to this. With that, he could feel his body loosen again, no longer caught up in impossibility, and now the cogs in his mind turned twice as fast as he started pacing.
It took a few minutes, birds in the grasses and the slight buzz of flies starting to congregate around the corpses. First he tried gripping onto the stone faces on the sides, groping for handholds, but it simply was too smooth. Simply running up the thing didn't work either, aggravating his wound and sending him tumbling in the dirt, chest heaving for air. He reached back to grab his sword, thinking that Fi might have some thoughts… but seeing the sharp point, feeling the solid weight, tripped something in his brain. Awkwardly shifting it so the blade pointed downwards, he drove it into the face of the hill, with all the force his good arm could pull together. Sure enough, it disappeared into the soil… and he had his way up.
Digging his feet into the dirt as well, clumps falling into his boots, dry and silty on his skin, he then could pull the sword out, planting it in higher. Slowly, surely, he pulled his way up the hill, digging in and putting the sword a little higher each time, biting his teeth hard as he fought the slowly rising pain his bad arm. Its fingers where locked about the hilt, helping to keep his body up when he was digging his feet in. Each time he had to lift himself up, the agony came on, his muscles feeling like flayed rope. A light sweat was forming on his brow as he neared the top, the small, sticky kind, before he finally tumbled onto the top of the hill in victory, reaching back to twist the blade from the dirt. For a minute or so, he just lay there, letting his arm relax at his side, blade laid across his chest, smiling. Despite how good it felt, however, he made himself stand up, brush loose cloud of dust from his coat, and go forward. Slowly, surely, he could feel the effects of the juice healing up his arm, and to be honest now wouldn't be too soon for it to finish.
A few pillars of sunlight illuminated the path up ahead, massive mushrooms dotting the place. It was just another interesting wonder of the surface world… and something semi-normal enough that he didn't worry too much about it, other than beeing his nose at the wet and rotting smell the fungus brought to the place. However, what caught his attention was the strange creature, its grasses gone and seemingly replaced with a large mossy bulb, attempted to scitter its way up a bumpy cliff wall. It was actually funny enough to solicit a chuckle, its tiny limbs rolling over the surface. Taking a jump from the low rise, Cana started approaching it, making slow, flowing motions, treating it (I'll have to learn what it's called, he thought) as a wild animal. He kept his eyes locked on it, trying to make sure it didn't notice him…
When he felt a heavy blow from the side, sending him down onto the path.
A long strand of spittle plopped onto him as he looked up, the toothy, malicious grin of a Deku Baba swaying before him, needled teeth sharp and hungry. His throat tightened, swallowing reflexively as he crawled away on his back, far enough that, even stretched to the breaking point, the Baba's spiny stem couldn't reach him. Of course, that didn't stop the creature's eyeless watch, animalistic hunger apparent as it waited for him. His immediate panic dying, Cana reached for the Goddess sword, holding it defensively between his body and the plant. He shifted the blade, lining it up with the beast's mouth, before making a slash. Unfortunately, he realized too late that his grip was too unsteady, and the steel bounced uselessly off the rubbery covering, merely stunning the plant. He tried to line up another shot, only to swing in the wrong arc, missing the bulb completely and nearly losing his balance. Luckily, however, he found the stem, leaving the flower to cry a small cry before spinning to the ground, lifeless.
It was only then that he turned his attention back to the creature, only to see it wasn't working at the cliff face anymore. Instead, it was looking at the dead Baba, little tan eyes squinted in confusion.
"You kill Baba's?" It seemed to ask itself, approaching Cana timidly. "Those red things don't kill Baba's… "It seemed to be coming to a slow realization, Cana sheathing the blade so as to appear less of a threat. "You don't want to eat me?" The thing was close enough to him that it hardly stood higher than his waste, hands up in an almost inviting manner.
"Hardly," Cana smiled simply, squatting down a bit so he could look at the thing eye to eye. " I don't usually eat things I don't know about… and to be honest, I don't know about much here."
The thing seemed to relax, stopping its slight shaking. "Well Kee-paleep!" It welcomed. "I'm Machi, of the Kikwi. Sorry for running away earlier. It's just," Machi started shaking a little again as it pulled up the memory. "You just looked really scary. I mean, I've only seen something that looks like you once before, and she didn't have a sword."
"Wait," Cana stopped him there, holding up his hand. "You've seen a girl run through here?"
"Well, yes." Machi responded. "She looked really rushed, blond hair, white dress… chased by two of those red things."
"Can you tell me where she went?"
Machi shook his head. "Well, no. I was a bit busy getting into hiding… as I said, those things are scary! The only Kikwi who wouldn't be hiding would be the elder." His eyes turned back to the cliff he'd been trying to climb. "I can get him down here, if you want."
Cana gave a nod, and Machi seemed to straighten himself up, taking on a stronger stance. Then, the sharpest whine he'd ever heard pierced through the forest, Cana's hands flying up reflexively to cover his ears and eyes closing. When it was done, another sound responded… this one more of a deep bellow, but still a definite kee. It was followed by series of loud footfalls, very loud foot falls, as something massive rose above them. It stopped for a moment, only for the thing to fall, shaking the ground so hard Cana could feel it shake the loose muscle in his leg.
"Kee-paleep Machi," the creature looked down on them. He had to be fifteen feet tall, thick like a stump, with a droopy mustache at least half a time over as tall as Cana was. "What did you call me for? Don't you know its time for my mid-day nap?"
Machi bowed… as much as he could with his shape, in a sort of reverence. "I'm sorry Elder. This creature wanted to speak with you… he wants to know about the blonde animal that came through today."
The Elder's hands stroked his side fur, almost like he wanted to reach his mustache., looking down on Cana with his droopy eyes. "Ah yes… what excitement," He seemed to perk up noticeably. " She was with us earlier, I had to rescue her from the red things plaguing us. What of her?"
Cana felt his blood flow into his face as he took an unwilling step back. The size of the elder, combined with his obvious strength, was rather frightening. He could kill people just by laying down for a nap. "Well Elder sir," he tried to formulate something proper, trying to hide the shakiness to his voice. "I really need to make sure she's ok. I'm kind of… responsible for her." Of course, the back of his mind prodded him, saying that wasn't true, but he was a little too afraid for it show.
The Elder leaned in a tad closer, looking him over as if apprising something, body heat sloughing off of him and the thick scent of fresh grass in his fur. His nose twitched as if smelling him. All of Cana's efforts where focused on keeping loose, hand slowly moving towards his sword, sweat welling up again, half from the heat and half from fear. "He's certainly stronger than the girl, and he's got a sword. But does he know how to use it?" The tone of his rumbling voice sounded accusing, but it seemed to be like that no matter what he said.
"Oh yes," Machi piped up, raising his hand into the air. "He took out two of those red guys at one time, without getting hit once! He even killed a Baba in the stem!" In a way, it almost sounded like praise… but still tinged with fear. The knowledge that he was at least a little threatening calmed him down somewhat…. But not enough to speak.
"Well, that is good!" The Elder pulled back, now only his shadow looming over them. " I think we can both benefit from this… if you're willing to help." The Elder continued to stroke, expectantly.
Suddenly, Cana felt his tongue untie, words rolling into his mouth. "I think I can help." He pulled out the sword, giving it a good practice swing. "I've beaten them five on one… a few more shouldn't be a problem." It felt really good to say that… that was something a Knight would say, every time he was asked to take out the sky beasts.
"Well, we'll see," The Elder reached to scratch at his back… struggling, eventually giving up and rubbing it into the cliff face. "Well, after I rescued the girl… Zelda, I believe her name was, I brought her here with me, tried to get some understanding of what she was. All she wanted to do, though, was get to the Skyview Temple. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have had a problem with that, except for that's where those red monsters that we've been stuck with base themselves there." His eyes turned North, supposedly towards this temple. "I told her how dangerous it was… but that girl just wouldn't listen, jumped off my belly and ran right into the belly of the beast. None of my people dared to follow her." He turned back. "But you, if you're as good as you say you are, I'm sure you can find her. Just head north… it's the only building in the inner forest, can't miss it. I'd let you across…" the sentence with stifled by a yawn, bulk shifting as he took a deep breath. "But I really need my nap. There are some vines you can use, but you'll need this. Consider it your reward for clearing out the forest."
Suddenly, The Elder appeared to lose his balance, body swaying forward. Cana quickly leaped to the side, just in time for the Elder to flop down onto the ground, breaking his balance once again. Having to deal with this on a regular basis, it was no surprise the Kikwi where stout…. At least, he assumed from what he'd seen. The bud on the Elder was no smaller than Machi's, though on his massive body it looked tiny, and it popped open with a motion so quick, Cana couldn't even make it out. Inside was grass, but also something else. Something… red?
Cana pulled himself up onto the Elder… his fur downy and the layer underneath giving, almost as if he was a fuzzy pillow. The grass was actually a little sharp, the blades making small red cuts in his hand, though not painful ones, as he grabbed onto his treasure.
"A… slingshot?" Cana tilted his head at the object as he pulled it out. It was good quality… hard but bending wood, with a light leather pouch. He'd had one of these as a child… almost everybody in Skyloft had, running around pelting friends with pumpkin seeds, knocking Stamina fruit from high trees, or seeing who could shot farthest into the clouds. But it was a children's toy none the less; hardly a lethal weapon. "But, how am I supposed to kill Bokoblin with this?"
"Is that what you call them?" The Elder pushed himself back up, almost miraculous considering his girth. "This isn't for killing. Kikwi are a peaceful people… we don't go around killing things. Slingshots are used for other things… for instance." He pointed above them, to a curled up vine in the branches above. "Take that vine there. Let's say one of my people wants to climb the tree by that vine. Well, he can use the slingshot to knock it down so he can grab onto it. Not every tool needs to be for killing." The Elder's mustache flew up at the ends… almost in a sort of smile. "Anyways, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Just don't stress that arm too much." With that, the Elder flopped down again, falling into a sleep.
Cana took a few steps away, in the direction of the temple, before turning back. "Thank you," he spoke hesitantly, waiting for a response, but received only snoring in return. Instead, he went on, sheathing the Goddess Sword. "Well," he spoke, half to himself and half to Fi, after a few more steps. "Good Luck."