Chapter 5: Gauron… The Father I Never Had…
As of now, two years have passed since my introduction to the life of a squire under the Hylian Knight, Gauron. However, despite his knighthood, he had apparently never seen certain parts of Hyrule before, so I decided I would help remedy that. Today, he and I would ride to see Goron City, and Zora's Domain.
"So," I started, mounting my trusted mare, Epona. She had grown quite a bit in the years we spent living at Hyrule Castle. I looked upon her shining white mane and began stroking it. "Where do you want to go first?" I was anxious to go anywhere, merely to see good friends.
"I believe we should start with Goron City." Gauron stated. "I've always wanted to meet their leader, Darunia."
"Then Goron City it is!" I shouted. I started Epona into a full gallop, with Gauron catching up to me on his silvery-white colt not long after. We left the castle, and went through the front gates of the capitol, where I immediately turned left.
"Um… Link?" Gauron asked me. "Isn't that the way to Kakariko?"
"Yes," I answered. "It's also the way to Death Mountain!" I rode on, the ride taking about a minute before Epona saw the stars, pulling to a dead stop while rearing up, nearly making me fall off her back. "We'll have to go on foot from here, Epona doesn't like stairs."
We quickly dismounted, trusting that the horses wouldn't wander too far. Soon after, we started up the long stairway leading up to the Sheikah village of Kakariko, where the Sage of Shadow, Impa, lived.
Gauron looked around, apparently noting the carpenter's lack of work ethic as they pranced around like small children. The building they were working on was just barely started on, and their leader, Mutoh, stood by the tree in the middle of the village, scowling at everyone that came by. I couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" Gauron asked. "Did I do something strange?"
"No, not at all." I replied. "I just can't help but laugh at a bunch of lazy construction workers." We turned to face the open gates of the Death Mountain Trail, and started the climb.
On the trail, things weren't too difficult, seeing as the only real threat was a few measely red Tektites. Whenever Gauron saw one, he would dash forward, brandishing a very large axe from a casing on his back, and he would cleave the evil insect in two. I looked in awe at the knights ability to go from a happy-go-lucky person, to a serious fighter in such a small amount of time.
We soon made it to the top of the trail, and I pointed out the entrance to the famous Goron City, home of the finest swordsmiths, bomb makers, and, surprisingly enough, dancers, in Hyrule, the Gorons. I looked up to see Gauron's expression upon entering the large cave in which these rock-eating people made their home, and it was worth it.
"This is amazing!" Gauron exclaimed. "I thought Hyrule was magnificent before, now… I can't believe they were able to turn a volcano Death Mountain into such an amazing place!"
"Believe it, goro!" a nearby Goron stated. This particular Goron was always seen near the entrance. He seemed to like welcoming people into their wonderful city. "Is this your first time here, goro?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Gauron said. "My name is Sir Gauron, Hylian Knight. Would it be at all possible to see Darunia?"
"Of course!" the Goron replied. "He's down on the bottom level, you can't miss his room."
"Just look at the carpet." I added. "I've been here before."
"Link, goro!" the Goron shouted, finally recognizing me. "How are you, Brother?"
"Brother?" Gauron asked.
"I… sorta… cleared the Dodongo's Cavern out of the horrible creatures that were infesting it and preventing the Gorons from going in to get food. Ever since then, Darunia and I have been what he calls 'Sworn Brothers'."
"Impressive. You know, if the King knew about that, you could probably achieve knighthood pretty quickly." Gauron explained.
"Yeah, but I don't want to sound too amazing." I told the knight. "I wanna earn knighthood, that's why I haven't been accepting Zelda's offers to knight me."
"Oh really?" Gauron quiered. "Exactly how many of these so-called 'offers of knighthood' have you received from the Princess?"
I sighed. I had to answer honestly. "Two hundred forty-eight." Gauron was taken aback quite a bit. "Zelda and I have grown to be very close friends. She has offered shortcuts quite a bit, but she normally understands when I decline."
"Well, then. I suppose we should go and visit Darunia now, don't you think?" the Knight was eager to finally met the Goron leader, so I pulled out my ocarina and started to play Saria's Song, which had a very positive response from a certain Goron I know.
Darunia had heard the song and was suddenly dancing his way into the main chamber of Goron City, setting off Bomb Flowers and nearly crushing the large stone statue in the center. I looked to see how Gauron stared at the large Goron as if Darunia had some sort of mental problem.
"Is he OK?" Gauron asked. I nodded as I continued to play. Darunia danced his way towards my playing until he was directly in front of us, as I stopped playing, he stopped dancing, and looked down at me and the Hylian Knight by my side.
"LINK!" Darunia exclaimed. He proceeded to pat me on the back as hard as he could, knocking me into the ground. "How have you been, Brother?!" We continued our visit in peace, Gauron was amazed at the size of the Goron leader. He eventually became Sworn Brothers with Darunia as well.
"All right!" I shouted. "Next stop: Zora's Domain!" We had just left Kakariko Village, and Gauron had turned to mount his horse… "Nope, we're swimming!"
Gauron looked puzzled. "Swimming? Why?" He asked. "Oh, because of the Zoras being water people."
"Yeah, besides, the river on the way there is really quite amazing." I explained. "And we only have to swim a little bit." I jumped into the riverbed and swam across. It was extremely cold, and yet, refreshing. I hadn't swam in quite some time, despite my previous visits to Zora's Domain. Gauron had followed not two seconds later, shivering like the Gorons on Snowhead during Winter.
Zora's River was quite spectacular during the springtime. The water flowed effortlessly down an intricate system of creeks and small crevices. The Octorocs occasionaly came up to spit a rock, and the Magic Bean Salesman sat by the fence, munching his brains out.
"So, how do we proceed?" Gauron asked. "There's a fence in the way." I didn't respond, and instead, I grabbed a nearby cucoo and jumped across the wider part, with the cucoo's wings flapping, my descent was slowed, and I was able to make it to the other side. "I see…"
I tossed the cucoo back across the river, where it hopped up and down constantly, spreading feathers everywhere. Gauron picked it up and followed suit, jumping across the river over to the side I was on. Soon after he landed, I ran towards a patch of land further into the river, and jumped across, we ran along until I saw a familiar log, with a specific spot to stand. I stopped and pulled out my Mask Bag, which held every mask I had obtained in Termina, and pulled out a green hat called Don Gero's Mask. Upon putting it on, and standing on the log, the frogs that stared at me came out of the water and took a place on another nearby log, looking quite a bit like a chorus.
"Master Don Gero!" one of the frogs exclaimed. "You have returned! (ribbit) What shall you have us perform on this fine spring day?"
Instead of speaking, I merely took out my ocarina. Upon doing this, the frogs all croaked with excitement, anticipating the wonderful music I might play. I played a song I had learned in Termina called the New Wave Bossa Nova, and the frogs all jumped in pure ecstacy while croaking with every note I played. Each frog stood for a different note, and could change key with the notes, which was a true wonder for the world to behold. Gauron merely looked at what I was doing, seemingly amazed at what was going on. I looked in the sky, and saw the orange clouds of twilight marking the end of the day…
"We'd best get back…" Gauron stated. "It's quite close to dark, and I'd be willing to bet that our fair princess is worried about you."
I had forgotten about the time… I nodded and came back. The horses were not too hard to find. Well, at least, Gauron's wasn't. However, he didn't know that I could call Epona from anywhere. I proceeded to do so, using Epona's Song, and we rode back to Hyrule Castle, because I had a girl waiting for me…