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Enjoy!
Chap. 79: Parting
"There," Zelda said breathlessly in the early afternoon later that day, "you can now say not only that you've prayed at the Spring of Wisdom and gotten an answer… but that you've summited Mount Lanayru."
"Hah… hah… that was… an intense… climb…" Celessa gasped, bending over much as Zelda was doing with her hands on her knees, "And you did that… at a run? Hells…"
"I didn't know I was running," Zelda replied quietly, "that whole… that whole sequence is a bit of a blur. I remember the dreams, the visions forced into my head, more clearly than the reality of it. I remember being exhausted, though, and I took a moment to drink one of my Stamina Elixirs as soon as I reached the top."
Her companion nodded, then stood up, still breathing hard and red-faced, "My lungs hurt… wow, that was a lot. What about up… up there, though? You jumped from that spire, right?"
Zelda followed her finger, then nodded, "I think so. It's the tallest one around, and I landed on that little bit of snow and rock right there. See, there's even an indent from where I landed on my back."
"I'll climb that, then," Celessa determined. "I can't keep up, can't protect you, if I can't do the same things you can do."
"I had help though," Zelda reminded her, "My climbing boots, desperation…"
"And you were doing it in a storm," the dark-haired woman countered, "with a hostile dragon trying to kill you. I can manage a climb up the ice. Maybe I'll use some pitons and my hammer, but it'll work."
The princess sighed, stopped complaining, and started working on lunch as her companion set about her task, driving not just a few, but over a dozen foot-long, steel spikes into the ice. They had, she noticed, little hooks on the end and a four-inch flat space for feet or hand holds about an inch across below the hooks. It even looked laborious, as Celessa drove in a few early on and then climbed up, adding a new piton with every single one she climbed. The whole process took about an hour and a half, but at the end, lunch was quite well cooked despite the cold air, and the warrior stood triumphant, her hands stretched to the clear azure sky as she crowed, "I'm on top of the world!"
Zelda grinned. Yes, she liked Celessa quite a lot, not least for her bravery, but also her simple enjoyment of simple things, like a truly spectacular view. She stood up there for several more minutes, drinking in everything she could see (which, Zelda knew, was quite a lot, everything from the storm-wracked clouds to the north, the ridges coming off of the Dueling Peaks several days' journey west, and the ocean and mountains east and south).
Eventually, Celessa climbed back down, but left the pitons there, "For the next idiot that makes this climb for a bit of bragging rights," and they started downward.
But they didn't take the same route. "Let's go the fast way," Zelda urged, "Sledding."
Celessa looked dubiously down the steep, rocky slope, "West? That's awfully risky… there's several cliffs."
"Yes," Zelda agreed, "but look there, a clear path. It's got a few curves, but I think we can manage. Even if we don't sled, but just slide down on or feet it should work alright. And then we'd be able to stop ourselves. And it would save a lot of time over hiking all over the mountain again."
"Maybe… Where are you headed after this?" Celessa asked, changing course to stand not on the winding, narrow path, but at the edge of the slope downward, where Zelda had been pointing.
"I think I'll head back to the Sheikah Village of Kakariko," she replied quietly, "I need to speak with the Matriarch, Elder Impa, about a few things."
"Hm. I haven't been there in a while myself," Celessa admitted, "So I guess I can go with you."
Zelda shook her head, and said quietly, "As much as I'd appreciate it, I… I actually have a task for you in Hateno. If you're willing, at least."
Celessa gave her a strange look, and replied, "I swore an Oath, Princess, before I even knew I was supposed to. I'm supposed to keep you safe, but I'm also supposed to help in every way I can. Kakariko is safe enough… and you were out in the Wilds plenty before we even met, so I think you can handle the journey there. But let's at least get off the mountain before you send me on who-knows-what errand."
"It's not an errand, precisely," Zelda laughed, "but it is a task I think is worth doing. See, there's a girl there, a young woman, really, named-"
"Oh! My heart!" Celessa cried, throwing a hand over her chest, "I've been replaced already!"
"Stop it," Zelda laughed, blushing as she slapped her guard's shoulder, "it's not like that! Or… Well, it kind of is, but only kind of. Koyin's the girl's name. She's the daughter of the Hateno Ranch's owner. She… was my guard during the battle."
"Oh, I know her," Celessa replied, "Remember, she came on the rescue mission, too. Good kid. Common sense, good eyes. Brave."
"Yes. What she doesn't have is any sort of real training."
"Ah," was the quick answer, understanding lighting the dark-haired woman's face, "You want me to teach her? I'm not great with a pole or spear, and I know she preferred those…"
Zelda shook her head, "Just do what you can. She's actually pretty athletic, quick too. But she could use a warrior's exercise regimen to start, I think, and then practice with tactics, strategy. Timing. Experience, if nothing else, training to fight. Maybe, if you can find him, you can bribe Bubmin to help her train against Bokoblins? He'd be a good training partner for Reds, since he's so much stronger and faster, and a fair match for a blue."
"Maybe," Celessa agreed. "You sent him down to keep an eye on the beach, right? Down near Hateno Bay?"
"Yes. Hopefully he'll still be there… I don't know how loyal he truly is, but I've also got faith that you, or at least the two of you, can handle him if he gets… rebellious."
Celessa shook her head, "Strangest thing I've ever seen, really… I think he is truly loyal to you. I mean, I've fought plenty of Bokos. Even heard a few talk. Never seen one talk about another human with admiration before, but he does admire you. I actually do think he's loyal to you over all else. Maybe even at the cost of his own survival."
"That… well… that's a bit much," Zelda whispered.
"Blood Moon," Celessa reminded her. "He doesn't have to fear dying, unlike us. Anyway, if we're going to go, let's go. Looking down the slope is starting to give me the willies."
"Alright, alright," Zelda laughed, "I'll lead. If you see me go off a cliff, steer elsewhere or stop, I'll be fine with the Paraglider."
"Right… still think that's cheating," Celessa muttered. "But alright. I guess it is actually safer for you. Go on, then. I'll be right behind you."
It was, as Zelda had hoped, exhilarating. Thrilling, almost entirely too much fun, with just enough risk of serious injury to keep her adrenaline pumping as Zelda slipped down onto the ice and went into a crouch. She soon found the best way was with one leg bent almost fully beneath her to act as a stabilizer and support, and the other extended with the toes angled up a bit ahead of her, which became her steering. Occasionally, her hands, stretched wide to the sides, would dip into the snow or briefly slide across a rock to assist in turning, but it was a great deal of fun.
If anything, the ride was too short.
After skidding to a halt on a flat spot, she stood and looked up and back to see Celessa still eighty or a hundred feet above her, some three hundred feet back or more, whooping herself as she arced left, then right, nearly slaloming across the tracks Zelda had made on her way down. Higher up, the summit of the grand mountain was nearly a mile off, and at least half that above them.
As Celessa came to a halt a dozen feet away, gloved hands coming up as Zelda's had done to wipe the blown frost from her face, laughing, she called, "I do think this way's faster, for sure!"
"That took about five minutes," Zelda laughed too, "and we've gone at least a mile from the Spring, near a mile from the peak. We're a third of the way down the mountain!"
"That is fast, then," Celessa grinned, still red-faced from the biting wind of their passage. "Why'd we stop here? Just a flat spot?"
"No," Zelda shook her head, "I spotted something. Look at that ice spire, the shorter one."
"What… what is that?" Celessa whispered a minute or so later, squinting into the block of frozen water.
"A Korok. I almost missed it," Zelda said quietly, "just caught a bit of the sun reflecting off the ice just so, or I'd have missed it."
"Huh. I… how're you gonna get to it?"
"Melt the ice, of course," Zelda grinned, and reached into her satchel, "I've several bundles of wood left… a ring of fire around the thing should work nicely."
It took almost as long to prepare what amounted to six fire-pit's worth of wood to surround the block of ice with as it did for that roaring inferno to make quick work of the ice. The heat even had some effect on the perpetually-frozen spikes that Zelda suspected Naydra herself had made over time as it burned.
Shortly after the fires started to die down, Zelda heard a high-pitched squeal, "Ah! Hot! Hot!"
She'd been ready with a shield-full of snow, a makeshift shovel that she pelted both the nearest fire and the Korok with, dousing both. A moment later, a second shield, Celessa's, put out another fire. "Sorry about that," Zelda giggled, "I couldn't think of another way to free you from the ice."
"Ah… ah… it's fine," the Korok panted, patting at some of the singed spots on its brown, bark-like body. "I'm just glad to be outta there! When the dragon went crazy, I… wait. You can see me? Hah! That means you're pure of heart! You've talked to Hestu, right? Take this to him, and tell him I said sorry!"
Then the Korok vanished in a flutter of luminescent butterflies and sparkles, as a lump of golden poop landed in the melting snow where he'd been.
Zelda rolled her eyes, picked up the seed for her satchel, and turned to Celessa. "Well, that's done. We should… Uh… Celessa? Celessa, are you- are you okay?"
Slowly, brown eyes turned to meet hers, as her companion's expression shifted from wry amusement as they'd set up the fires to true incredulity. "I… I saw… it. I saw it, Princess. The- the Korok."
She smiled, "Then you must be pure of heart now, too. Congratulations, I suppose. Come on, we should get going."
So they did, sliding down even more of the snow-capped mountain. Behind her, Celessa continued to follow dutifully, but it was clear to the princess that she was increasingly distracted as the day wore on.
Eventually, they reached the end of the snow north of the Naydra Snowfield, and started walking on their own too feet again near sundown. They gave the valley that covered the distance between the Snowfield and Lanayru Promenade a considerable berth, wary of the Lynel that had already got scent of them once.
The women camped once more, taking shelter from the heavy night rain beneath a large overhang, high on the plateau known as Trotter's Downfall, near its east end. The next day, during a too-brief break in the constant storms to the north, Zelda and Celessa were treated to a brief glimpse of an ornate dam of blue stones that stretched for several thousand feet, at least, in the mountains to the north. "Zora's Domain," Celessa told her quietly, "Think that's the Ruto Dam? Ruta? Rutelo? Something like that. It's pretty famous, Grandma said she saw it a few times when she was young."
Neither Zelda nor Celessa had any idea who "Trotter" was, but they knew why he had taken a 'downfall' an hour and a half after spotting the dam.
There was an ancient-looking, white-bearded Hinox laying amid a pile of its own filth right in the middle of the widest part of the plateau. Only, this was not a mere red-skinned one, the kind that had almost killed the two women a few days earlier. This one's skin was cerulean blue, a shade or two lighter than blue Bokoblins. And it was massive, at least four feet taller than the red monster they'd fought previously.
"It's still sleeping," Celessa told the princess quietly as she ducked back down below the ridge they had hidden behind after spotting the cyclopean giant. "We can sneak by. Keep our distance in the rain, it'll help muffle the sound."
Zelda nodded, wide-eyed, terrified.
Then shook her head, "We can't. Look- it's got crates, barrels. New ones. It's raiding, stealing from people. We have to stop it."
Celessa whined, "Princess… it'll just come back at the next Blood Moon!"
"It doesn't matter," she hissed, sending her guardian a sharp look, "Any relief is better than none. We have to do what we can."
'But that's a blue Hinox. A red one almost killed us! These are four times stronger! Even companies of soldiers struggle to fight them, and Hyrule doesn't even have a company of soldiers anymore!"
"But they don't have us," she replied. "If you truly think we can't handle it, then we'll sneak by as you said. But the last Hinox ambushed us, caught us by surprise, in terrain that favored it. Out in the open, I think we have a better chance. We're more maneuverable than it's bound to be. Faster on our feet. And it's asleep. If we can bleed it enough early on, it might even die of blood loss before it puts up much of a fight."
"Okay… then what's your plan?"
Zelda considered for a moment, then pointed at the Flameblade Celessa still carried, "Keep that, but don't use it in this fight. Take it with you to Hateno, use it to keep the town safe in dire need. But use your knight's sword. Go in from the left- see, it's got armor of some sort on the right foot. You could hit the toes, but smaller target. I want you to kneecap it, or hamstring it on that leg. I'll go in on the other side… if the rain holds while we get in position, then I'll use a Shock Arrow to stun it, so keep your distance at first. If the rain goes by, then I'll use a Fire Arrow on the armor, see if I can get it to light up. If it's metallic, since I can't quite tell, then Shock again. I'll try and keep its attention on me with a bow, from a distance, while you hack away. In and out, harass it. If it comes for you for real, turn and run. Get some distance, I'll shoot faster and hopefully draw attention back. If it gets after me and too close, I'll run again, but I'll keep going for the eye."
Celessa considered for several seconds, then nodded. "That… actually sounds pretty good. Only let me open up the fight. Up-close, with it sleeping, I can get a fair few swings in with my chopper while it wakes up, they're pretty slow to get on their feet."
"Alright. Sounds good, just get distance after that if it's raining. Ready?"
For once, somehow, things worked exactly at planned. Celessa's heavy arm slammed the knight's broadsword into the unprotected, flabby flesh of the massive blue Hinox a half-dozen times before it even finished roaring in rage. Another seven blows before it lurched to its feet.
Celessa ducked under the first swipe as it rolled to a knee, and attacked again. Zelda called out, "Now, get back!" and fired.
While the rain had already started to peter off as evening set in, the ground was still soaking wet, as was the Hinox itself. The electrical energy coursed through it violently, burning the creature in several places as its muscles spasmed and convulsed uncontrollably. During that time, Celessa ran around the creature to its other side, and took another several swings, this time directly into the massive tendon at the back of its foot. "Nicely done!"
The next moment, Celessa was slapped with the back of the Hinox's wart-covered hand, and sent sprawling into the muck, but she was up and on her feet, "Hah! Barely even felt that one," a moment later.
Before the Hinox could strike again, Zelda sent a pair of arrows into its massive eye, bringing up memories of the last Hinox they'd fought, but also of fighting against the corrupted Naydra. It screamed in pain, recoiled as both huge hands, each finger as large as Zelda and twice as thick, slapped itself in the face. In roared again, the impact drove both arrows deeper, and it fell onto its rump. Both legs kicked out uselessly as it seemed to throw a child-like temper tantrum, "Grabboc eat you, fleshling!"
"You're welcome to try," Zelda shouted, and loosed an arrow from her soldier's bow again, this time into the fat rolls over its belly. Two shots there, then another into the thing's open mouth as it cried out in pain, "You'll never catch me, though!"
"Grabboc catch fleshling, eat fleshling!"
She sneered, though a flutter of fear washed through her as the Hinox lurched forward, rolling over its stubby legs to throw both arms outward, reaching for her.
It fell a dozen feet short, and she returned the favor with another arrow to the top of its head. It bounced off the horn there, but as she still had the blue giant's attention, Celessa scored another half-dozen strikes on the bloody mess that was its left leg. It slapped back toward her, bleeding, yelling, as the princess loosed one more arrow at its now-unprotected eye from near point-blank range. It sank deep, vanishing in a spray of red.
Zelda slung the bow over her neck, and reached to pull the heavy, blade-tipped knight's claymore from her side. "Let's see if you could have stood up to a pair of Hyrule's knights," she growled, and swing for the pig-like snout.
It dug deep, a line of red flesh separated, stinking but almost like beef as the porcine cyclops howled in pain again. On its belly, she thought it might have been quicker onto its feet, but it reached for her again with the other hand, and Zelda's lunge backward kept her just of its grasp. Behind the bulk of the beast, she heard Celessa cry out, "Take that, and that!"
She grinned, told the creature, "Got you," and as it reached back for another grab, too late, she lunged again. This time, forward, the heavy blade held in both hands as she thrust the sharp, wide edge directly into the slitted pupil, and pushed. The whole weight of her body, and the Goddess-enhanced strength drove it in, up to the hilt as the skull behind the eye gave way.
The Hinox Grabboc shuddered, jerked as its brain was pierced, and went still. When Zelda pulled the blade free with a mighty heave, it gave one final spasm, then vanished into black smoke.
All that was left behind was a collection of teeth, a yellow, pulsating stomach as large as Celessa's torso, and a pair of thick, gray toenails… and weapons.
Another knight's bow, which Zelda took with a grin to replace her worn Bokoblin's bone-reinforced bow, two more knight's broadswords, each engraved with a name that meant nothing to her if they ever had, and a knight's halberd. The spear-like polearm, and one of the broadswords, were given to Celessa, who took them happily, "Use these to help train Koyin. Give her the spear maybe, as a reward once she 'passes' your training," Zelda encouraged, "and maybe give the other blade to… I don't know, the best among Hateno's guards. Use it to bribe them to help you train the others, perhaps."
"Ooh, that's a good idea," Celessa grinned too, "It'd help keep me busy, too. I… Hm. I can't join Hateno's militia, though. But I might be there for a long time. Think Prima could arrange a long-term room at the inn…?"
"No, take my house," Zelda told her as they stood up from divvying the loot they'd obtained and resuming their journey, "It should be finished within a few days, or at least livable, from what Bolson said. Tell him I said you could stay there as long as you need. Just keep it tidy for me, and you won't even have to worry about rent. Fair enough?"
"That sounds awesome," Celessa replied, "Train Koyin and some of Hateno's soldiers, and get a place to stay while I do it? More than fair. And now that my quest is done, I've nothing else pressing except a need to write home and hope the courier makes it."
"Good. I'm glad to know Hateno will be in good hands until I return," Zelda told the woman, then pulled her into a hug. Once she let go, she sighed wistfully, "Path splits here. You'll… be heading across the Promenade, then down the Robred Dropoff, right?"
Celessa frowned as Zelda pulled up her map on the Sheikah Slate, looking at it carefully as she traced a finger over the brown lines. "I… I think so, yes. I might try and sneak by the upper end of the Promenade… but going around it, or down into the gorge and back up the other side would take far too long. It's cutting a bit close to the Lynel for my comfort, but I'll stay well clear, and if it gets close, I'll run."
"Alright. Well… be safe, Celessa. And thank you for coming. I couldn't have done it without you."
"I couldn't have, either," the warrior admitted, looking back up the mountain it had taken the most of two days to descend from, and nearly twice to that to climb with a few detours. "I'd never have even known the dragon was up there until it was too late. And fighting that thing… I'd be a frozen corpse for sure."
"And I couldn't have done that without you watching my back. So thank you."
Celessa kissed the princess back tenderly, but as she pulled away, wiping a tear, she smiled. "Hey, it's my duty, right? I swore an oath. Kind of hate leaving you now, to be honest, but we do need to split up. You're right about that."
"I'll be careful," Zelda promised her, "and straight to Kakariko."
"I'll be careful too, then. Good luck, Princess. Hylia watch over you."
"And you as well. Goodbye, for now."
Celessa nodded, then started to walk, hiking up, southwest, while Zelda's path too her almost on an even course straight west, up and down rolling hills for a few more miles before she made camp as the moon started to rise high in the sky.
