As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 90 there... And if you guys haven't seen an update in at least a week, please let me know! I have a busy life, and I get distracted and forget things. This story (and PTaL) are supposed to be updated WEEKLY from now until they're both caught up with each other (like I was doing with FwB until this weekend).

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Chap. 66: Plain Ovli

Celessa didn't end up sharing Zelda's room at the Great Ton Pu Inn that night, though she had stopped by briefly to explain why. Something about Prima and her father needing the funds, and not being able to issue a refund. The adventurer had decided that, since it was paid for anyway, she may as well enjoy the quiet night to herself.

Zelda, arms-deep in a borrowed cauldron as he cleaned it between elixirs, hadn't bothered protesting, and went to sleep two hours later exhausted but eager to get back on the road.

It took her another hour after rousing to sponge herself off of some night sweat and then finish her preparations. Most of that had involved organizing and then packing her new potions and elixirs away in the enchanted satchel. It would keep them from breaking while inside, thanks to its magic, but Zelda also wanted them easily accessible if she just reached in for the lot, so she had tied them together with several loops of twine that she'd purchased in town the day before.

When she stepped down into the common room, dressed once more in her traveler's leathers with her cold-weather parka draped over the top of her backpack to help keep it dry if the clouds overhead broke into rain, she found Celessa one of only two patrons eating breakfast.

"Oh, you're amazing," the princess sighed as she slipped into the chair across the small table from the dark-haired warrior.

"Didn't know whaf you likef," Celessa murmured through a mouthful of eggs, swallowed, then continued, "Sorry, I didn't know what you liked, so I just ordered a bit of everything."

"I like everything," Zelda laughed, pulling a small serving dish of tomatoes and onions finely diced toward her along with the egg and potato dish that was the main course. "I'm not a glutton, but I do like food of all sorts, apparently. Well, except the mushrooms, I'll pass on those, if you don't mind. I don't mind them, but… I've had a lot. It was almost all I ate for about a week after I woke up on the Great Plateau, when meat was a lot more scarce."

"Suit yourself," Celessa shrugged, pulling the bowl with the sliced Hylian 'shrooms toward herself too. "You'll have to tell me about that sometime… must've been hard."

Zelda went quiet for a moment, then nodded, "I… No. It wasn't easy. I thought… well, I still sometimes think, that at any moment I'll be ambushed, taken to the Castle, or just.. killed. Or worse. But I feel more safe, now. I'm… I'm not alone."

"Not with me here, no," Celessa grinned. "I think between you an' me, we should do alright up that nasty mountain. Have to watch out more for the cold than the beasties."

"No, I- that's not what I meant," Zelda laughed quietly, "Though that, too. Your support and help means a lot, Celessa, but it's not just you. This is hard to put to words… When I woke up, I had myself, and this Sheikah Slate… and an old man who wouldn't tell me anything. He was kind, and wise, and generous. Enchanted this satchel, my weapon belt, and some other things. Taught me how to survive in the world, again. But then… he was gone. For a while I thought I was the only one left in Hyrule. I couldn't see any Stables, or cities, or towns… just ruins of a lost land, one that I was supposed to have been watching over, protecting."

"Oh," the warrior whispered.

"Yes… I thought I was truly alone. Then I ran into Mina and Mils, and they explained about the Stables… told me where the Dueling Peaks one was. I met Brigo, the bridge-guard, and a few others. Once I finally made it to the Stable itself, and saw some semblance of civilization I felt so much better about my chances, about our chances. Then Kakariko Village, and Hateno… two bastions of relative safety, even if both seem like they're essentially under siege from the Calamity's monsters… they're still safe. Mostly. That's why I fought so hard to… to protect Hateno. I didn't…

"I didn't want to fail. I didn't want the last vestiges of what Hyrule used to be to fall, and I didn't want to let my people down."

"You didn't," Celessa replied simply, "You didn't let anyone down. You saved the lot of 'em, and probably the rest of us, too. Alright, that makes sense. I'm not gonna pretend my own need's anywhere near as important as your own, but I have a good feeling about goin' up the mountain with you, Princess. Like… somehow, we'll be alright, an' good things will come of it. Even if it's gonna be hard."

Zelda found herself smiling in response, and smiled across the small table, "You know what, Celessa? I do, too."

Traveling alone wasn't bad, Zelda thought. Walking along a quiet path, or scouting through the wilderness, left plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful vistas of Hyrule's natural landscape, or even the remnants of its lost civilization. There were, of course, downsides to spending too much time by oneself. Being locked in your own thoughts could be maddening, if nothing else, especially with the several dark topics of thought that came up from time to time. Worries for the future… regrets from the past.

But traveling with company? Company Zelda actively enjoyed? That was great.

Not only was Celessa pretty enough in her own right, and a woman who moved with the grace of a stalking tiger (or so Zelda imagined, never having seen such a thing), but she was surprisingly knowledgeable for a woman who had, by her own admission, grown up on a farm in a backwater village in a different country.

The reason, it turned out, was relatively simple when Zelda asked. "Well, Holodrum's not so different from Hyrule, really. The Faron Sea crosses over the equator, an' Holodrum's about as far south of the line as Hyrule is north. It's a lot more flat, but there's still plenty of mountain and forest and all that. Only makes sense we'd have a lot of the same plants and animals. Also, you know, I've been traveling here for a few months. Been… well, 'round a lot of the south- and south-east parts. Most of Faron, West and East Necluda, and even some o' the Wetlands up closer to the Zora lands."

So as they had walked, first west out of the village's main gate and then around the winding road that separated the Ginner Woods and the Midla Woods, and down the wider curve that circled the high bluffs around Camphor Pond, the observant warrior and inquisitive princess swapped stories of creatures they had seen, monsters they had fought, and the safest places to rest away from the prying eyes of monsters and predatory humans alike.

Of particular interest to Celessa, and for more than one reason, was the story of how Zelda had come by her Flameblade.

"Misko's right famous," the warrior had exclaimed with wide eyes when Zelda had told her she'd found the thing in a chest inside his hidey-hole. "People've been searchin' for his treasures for a hundred years an' more! If it's the likes of that fancy magic sword, I can see why. I always thought 'e'd just taken like, rupees an' gold an' such from the treasury. But if 'e's taken things, well… that's a might bit more valuable."

"How so? Isn't… well, aren't Rupees still the currency people use?"

Celessa nodded quickly, "Oh, yeah, an' that's good to have, for sure. But a sword'll keep you alive to spend those Rupees, yeah?

"Fair enough," Zelda chuckled.

But Celessa wasn't done talking about the legendary bandit-king just yet. "They say Misko didn't just have one little stash, but more'n a hundred, scattered all over Hyrule and even the lands beyond some. Some are small, some are big, some are tiny, just a few trinkets, and some are incredibly rare and valuable, the kind that'd put even that fire-sword to shame. Or so they say, anyway."

The topic drifted away for a while, and the women were setting up a camp just off the south-west edge of the Ginner Woods, a brace of hilltops between them and the road to help hide the light of any fire from more hostile travelers, when Zelda asked, "What made this Misko so… well, legendary? I understand there were many valuable treasures, but…"

Celessa could only shrug at that, "No one really knows, I think. They say he- or she, could've been a woman- stole everything that made them famous from the Royal Treasure of Hyrule. Spirited them away even while under the heaviest of guard, artifacts long forgotten, stuff no one, not even the Royal Family, even remembered they had… but Misko did. Got in, got out again and again, no matter how much the guard tightened. Over the space of a few years, a hundred or more treasures, vanished. Only clue anyone ever reported is the weirdest part. Notes. Notes about a band, friends, allies… but only Misko ever did the actual theft. The others were just there to help hide things away, according to the common wisdom, anyway."

"That makes sense, since I found a note wondering why Misko never showed up after the Calamity. I found a skeleton, too. That person died there in a cave-in."

"Sad," Celessa murmured as she used her cooking kit to cut up a few wild potatoes to add to their dinner stew, "That's kind of common I think. Not the dying, but Misko never showing up. I mean, I don't know what's going on with it or anything. I follow the rumors 'cause they're interesting, but I'm no great detective. Can't even find a spring people say they know where it is! But I think Misko had help on the inside. Someone had to've gotten them in and out. Someone above suspicion, who probably shouldn't'a been. How else would they get in and out all the time? More'n a hundred thefts, just a thing here or there, again and again? No, it was definitely an inside job."

Zelda frowned, "But if it was an inside job, who?"

Celessa could only shrug, "I wouldn't know. Doubt many would. There's plenty of folk who escaped Castle Town, they say. More'n a couple families in Hateno are descended from them, like the armorer fellow and his sister."

"Seldon and Sophie?"

The warrior nodded, "Yeah, them. How long's your armor going to take to repair, by the way?"

Zelda sighed, "At least a week. I didn't think it worth the weight, since carrying around all that steel would just be hard in the snow, and cold besides."

"Good point. Anyway, that's just a couple I know of. There's probably more elsewhere, the way people talk. But from the Castle itself? I doubt most anyone survived. Anyone who'd know how Misko got in and out, including Misko themselves, is probably dead. All that's left is to either find some clues that might lead to their treasures, or… well, get lucky I suppose. Still, it's a fun mystery to think about."

"That it is," Zelda agreed with a smile, adding her own contribution of sliced meats to the stew along with several herbs from her collection. So, on a different subject… how're we going to go up the mountain? I think I'd rather avoid anything like that… Lion-el, was it?"

"Lynel," Celessa corrected absently, then shuddered, "And don't just think it, know it, Princess. Take that into your soul and live with the knowledge that you do not want to face one of those things. I'd almost rather fight a Guardian.

"And, well, when I last heard about it, the Lynel that guards the road up there is definitely one we should avoid. There's a place… a Purifying Spring or something? A pond? Anyway, that's what it guards, really, I think. Or something like that, but it's also right there on the road. Supposedly those who used to take pilgrimages up to the Spring of Wisdom would take a ritual bath in the pond or something before going up the mountain. But if we skip that, we can-"

"We- we probably can't," Zelda interrupted quietly, "skip it, I mean. At least, I can't."

Celessa blinked twice, then frowned, "Why? There's no one there to do any sort of ritual, the whole place is abandoned, has been for a long time."

Zelda sighed. "Because… because my soul knows. I can't explain it better than that. I… before, when I went up before? I did the ritual then. It didn't… feel right. I can't explain it. I don't remember it, not at all. I just know that… it didn't work. Something went wrong, or… something. But I have to, now. I have to purify myself… then go up the mountain."

The warrior-woman watched Zelda quietly for several long seconds, then sighed. "Alright. Well… that changes things, for sure. We can probably get close enough. It stays away from the pool itself, I think. If we can do… whatever you need to do there quietly, we might be alright. Then go back up the ridge between the pond and where we are now- that ridge, right there, to the north- and follow along this side, we should be even outside the Lynel's eyesight. Once we get up into the snowy areas… then we might be safe. From it, at least."

Zelda frowned, but nodded too. "Alright, that sounds like a plan. But Celessa… if it's too dangerous, you don't have to accompany me. I can do… I can do this myself, if I must."

"Hells no," the woman laughed loudly, "I ain't leavin' you to do that alone, no way. You may not be my Princess, as I'm born an' raised in Holodrum, but Hyrule's th' land o' my ancestors, and I ain't leavin' it's Princess to die like that. Not if I can help it. I'll go with you, danger or no. If nothin' else, maybe I can distract the monster while you run."

"Do not do that," Zelda hissed. "Better you escape than me."

"Practically speakin', that ain't so, Princess," Celessa told her seriously. "I got a destiny. I feel it. It may not be much compared to yours, but it's somethin', and I'm gonna hold on to it. I don't think it's dyin' on this mountain. Too good a feeling about us goin' up there. But between you and me? You're the one that's gotta save Hyrule, not me. So you have to live. I don't."

"But they won't kill me," Zelda reminded her, "at least not right off. I'll have time to escape."

Celessa snorted, "Not from a Lynel, you won't. Crafty, smart, remember? They won't give you the chance, trust me."

She could only sigh in response. "Fine, I… I don't think you're right. In fact, I'm completely convinced you're wrong, at least about the practicality of it, but I see there's no convincing you. I'll drop the matter."

"Good. Now, come on, let's eat."

Before the long climb up the steep bluffs east of the Robred Dropoff, Celessa led Zelda northeast, somewhat back toward Hateno, but higher up into the foothills. She didn't truly question why, because they were still headed in the direction that the other adventurer had pointed out the night previously and what her map indicated was correct too.

Perhaps she should have, but Zelda still felt she could trust the other woman completely. Something about her was still mysterious, but her open and honest demeanor left Zelda quite off-guard. Was she a Yiga, just trying to lure the princess into a sense of false security before pouncing? Maybe, but Zelda doubted it. Not only because she'd already had ample opportunity.

But the way in which Celessa had interacted with Bubmin had been quite telling.

She fought Bokoblins regularly, unlike the people of Hateno. She knew (or at least hoped) she could handle a blue-skinned version, like he was. But Celessa also hadn't treated him with suspicion or cruelty. Zelda had seen not one single glare or look of caution. An awareness of what he was, certainly, as she stood guard over his cage… but not fear.

No, if anything, she had treated the monster with kindness. Fed him, and well, out of the very plates and stores the Village had carefully set aside for a harsh winter but splurged on a feast to celebrate. Protected him from the less-kind villagers… and set him free, rather than killing him. Yes, Celessa had put him to use in a way, but… was there harm, in that? Bubmin wanted to help, he'd told Zelda that himself. Had saved her again and again. True, the creature claimed to only want to eat and fuck… but his actions said differently. He fought desperately to protect Zelda, and in doing so, protected Hateno, too.

Their suspicions were founded, yes. They had ample reason to be cautious, not least of which the army that had just been at their doorstep.

But Celessa had shown trust and kindness, and like with Zelda, it had been rewarded.

Were…

Were other monsters, other servants of the Calamity, able to be influenced like that?

Was Bubmin a true outlier, one of a kind, among all Bokoblins?

Surely not. Perhaps some, at least, could be… turned. Turned against the Calamity. Civilized, in some way? Zelda had to hope.

But first, a more immediate problem reared itself. "We've got a choice," Celessa said quietly as she gestured for Zelda to crouch down, as she had done, behind a low cluster of boulders. "We can go the long way 'round to the west… take an extra half-day."

"Or…?" Zelda prompted.

"East, there's one of those stone giants. It's sleeping, sleeps most of the time, like they do. But they're territorial, and if you get close… pow. We, you and I, might be able to bring one down together."

"R- Really? But they're so strong!"

Celessa grinned, "Yea, they are. No doubt about that. But someone recently discovered where the Great Fairy of Kakariko Village has been hiding. And someone else has some, uh, recently 'upgraded' armor. It's not steel, mind, but this stuff I'm wearing is a lot better than the simple leather it used to be. Yours is the same, right?"

Zelda blushed at the pointed insinuation, but nodded.

"See, the way I figure, with the extra protection and our skill, one of us can keep it distracted while the other strikes a few blows at its weak spot, and we can-"

"They have a weak spot? But- but they're rock," Zelda gasped.

Celessa shrugged, "Sure, and that's hard to hurt. But the veins of ore? They're like Chus, I think. They have this core of elemental energy, I guess? That's just regular ore. Explosives, a pick, a big hammer… any of that, or any weapon really if you don't mind breaking it, should do plenty of damage if you can hit it there. Mind, they still hit back plenty hard, too, and none of them go down easy. But I've seen groups of soldiers take them out before."

"R- Really?"

The raven-haired woman nodded, "Sure enough. It's dangerous, to be sure. Plenty get really hurt or die. Couple of brave me climb up the things, wail on it with picks or hammers or heavier weapons, while the rest run around and try not to get squished, but keep its attention on them. I figure, since we're a cut above a few soldiers between us, we should be able to do the same. But like I said, it's risky."

"Let's… lets' not do that, then," Zelda replied quietly.

"Probably smart. The last option's down."

"Down."

"Yep. Down into the quarry, and up the other side. It's… faster. A lot faster, actually, than going around, but it's got risks too. Nothing like the stone giant… well, a lot like the stone giant, but smaller."

Zelda blinked.

No doubt sensing her confusion, Celessa explained, "See, they… spawn. Somehow. I don't know how, 'cause they really are rocks. But big ones often have… little ones, nearby, sort of like a nest. Rarely just one, usually two or three or even five or seven. Basically knee-high versions of the same thing."

"Knee-high."

"Yep."

"And… they're a threat?"

Celessa snorted, "Not to you or me, probably, no. I mean, they can hit you, and it hurts. Break a knee, an ankle… but they don't move real fast. A canny person'd just hit them with something heavy. A well-placed blue bomb like you've got in that fancy Slate will just smash 'em to bits, I expect. Or again, a mining hammer… or do what I do. Pick 'em up, flip 'em over or just toss 'em. If they don't land on their feet, they have a really hard time getting up, and then… pop."

Zelda could only blink again, then mutter, more confused than ever, "Pop?"

"Pop," Celessa agreed, smiling widely, "I don't know why, but they really don't like being upside-down. It's kind of funny watching 'em do it- little feet and arms squirmin' and swayin', trying to get it upright… and eventually they go still and just die. Honestly, it's not a bad way to make a bit of Rupees, since they often have little chunks of ore in their cores. The giants have a lot, which is why people hunt them sometimes."

"Sounds stupid to me," Zelda shrugged, "Not worth the risk. But those little ones… they really are that easy to defeat?"

"Yep. I mean, you'd need the strength to pick up a stone...oh, about as big as your torso. Little smaller than mine. But if you can do that, and are quick, then it's that easy. Or your bombs."

"Those aren't unlimited, but… it might be worth it for the speed and an even cut of the ore?"

"Sure," Celessa agreed, "Shared combat should result in shared pay. You'll probably end up taking out more this time, since they like to cluster at the bottom of the old quarry, but I'll handle any stragglers this time, show you how it's done."

"Sounds like a plan," Zelda grinned. "Shall we move in?"

"Absolutely… this should be a blast."

The princess could only groan at the pun… but Celessa was right. Smashing more than a dozen of the miniature elementals, each smaller than a weak Chu if quite a lot more massive, was… the opposite of a challenge, and quite rewarding. Her Slate had even recharged the power used for the Bombs by the end of the day, where she and Celessa together counted out the several pieces and shards of ore to split between them.