You can find more of this on by Subscribe/Star (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted past Ch. 110 there. You can find the same on my new (via Discord per their ToS), under /WildErotica. The DISCORD is at h-t_t-p_s-:_/-/_discord-._g-g_/-N9yDASt6Cw (taking out hyphens and underscores, 'cause FFnet). If you prefer direct links, go to my Discord and follow the 'links in general' section to find the ones you want. All of my fics are well ahead of what I post here, often 10-30 chapters ahead.
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Enjoy!
Chap. 81: Meeting, the Second
Of course it wasn't that easy. Zelda had become a fairly accomplished, or at least capable, hunter since her revival. She had personally killed, and even field dressed two dozen or more deer, including a couple of 'crowned' stags since leaving the Great Plateau.
It turned out that killing a deer was far easier than catching one.
The adventurous princess tried every trick she could think of: Blinds, sneaking up quietly through tall grass while wearing the more intact parts of her Sheikah-crafted Stealth Armor, and leaping down on them from a tree or rock. All had failed.
The last had brought her the closest, Zelda was able to actually sit on the stag's back for several seconds as it reared, pranced, and kicked, squealing in that odd, high-pitched way that panicked deer did. She even almost kept her grip as she tried desperately to sooth the animal.
Maybe she would have, if she hadn't leaned in to caress its neck at the exact wrong moment, and gotten an antler across her cheek for the trouble.
She yelped and threw herself back away from the source of the injury on instinct, and the stag had used its chance to bolt, tearing out from underneath Zelda as quickly as its scrawny-looking but still powerful legs could go.
She landed flat on her back, too, which knocked the wind out of her for several minutes. So Zelda, as she fought to breathe while staring up at the slowly-darkening clouds scudding through the sky toward the west, she formulated a new strategy. One that, she hoped, would at least give her a fair chance: bait.
The deer that roamed the Rabia Plain were, after all, there to eat the lush foliage, grasses, flowers, and wild vegetables. Perhaps she could tempt one close enough, and thereby also put it at ease?
So she put the deer in the back of her mind for a while, and turned from hunter to gatherer. Ironshrooms, Swift Carrots, wild potatoes, and even a pair of Hearty Radishes filled her pouch over the next few much less painful hours.
As the sun started to sink low, she turned her attention instead to a camping spot. The verdant highland plains were, thankfully, rich in them. She'd seen three different ponds, a couple shallow caves inhabited by nothing more dangerous than a terrified fox, and of course the woods themselves which were thankfully Octorok- and Bokoblin-free.
First, though, "A bath," she whispered, "in water that isn't ice-cold."
The largest of the ponds was also the most shallow, and after chasing off more deer (thankfully she hadn't wasted a chance at a stag, as far as she could tell) and adding a few slimy but oddly cute frogs to her collection of alchemy supplies, the princess checked once for travelers, or Bokoblins just in case, before stripping off her clothes and carrying the lot along with a bar of soap into the pond.
Scrubbing was still a bit painful more due to her injuries than anything else, but even two days after leaving Mount Lanayru behind, the stiffness the prolonged exposure to the cold temperatures had caused lingered, making everything just a little more difficult and less pleasant than it should be.
Still, even a bit chilly the rain-fed pool held soothe that same ache, and by the time the princess had switched from washing herself to washing her clothing (and thank heavens for clean hair, too!), she was feeling markedly better.
Which was when she heard a twig snap a moment before a cough of announcement.
She knew it was an announcement, because just as her head moved in that direction, her eyes wide, she saw a woman step out of the trees, with a hand over her eyes. "Sorry- I- I wasn't trying to startle you! I just came for a bath myself as I was passing through, and I didn't want to scare you. I'm harmless, I promise!"
Zelda swallowed, her eyes looking the other woman up and down. She was armed with a simple sword and a dagger, but didn't even carry a shield that the princess could see. Her clothing was not as reinforced or armored as her own would be even without the Great Fairy Cotera's enchantments, but it wasn't simple cloth, either.
Well suited for more comfort and speed than combat, then.
She nodded, "You're welcome to it, then. I'm Zina."
The other woman nodded, still about twenty feet away, as she eyed the collection of weapons Zelda had left nearby, half-way around that end of the pond, but close enough to converse easily enough with just slightly raised volume. "Erika," she answered.
Zelda tried not to watch her, but couldn't help herself as he finished her own washing and stepped out to a nearby branch she'd selected for hanging her clothing on to dry, then stepped past the tree into the last vestiges of sunlight to help that bit of warmth dry her off.
Erika was cute, if not gorgeous, she decided, more friendly-looking than beautiful, but still nice enough. Slender, a bit on the petite side (smaller in fact than Zelda, by a few inches and at least fifteen pounds, she estimated), though she was quite well toned and muscled in places that seemed more similar to Celessa than, for example, Sagessa. Her hair was blonde, but Zelda thought it might have been dyed that way as the roots were much darker, with large, dark brown eyes.
So she can actually fight, or at least has kept in shape with a fighter's exercises, then?
The woman did her business quickly and efficiently, only occasionally glancing at Zelda herself as she let the air and sun dry her, then dressed in her Hylian traveler's leathers, pulling out her long, half-dried hair to hang down her back before she re-armed herself. "You said you were passing through," Zelda asked as the other woman, who'd mostly kept her profile facing the princess so she knew she was on the small side in the chest as well, started rubbing herself dry with a piece of cloth as she stepped out of the pond herself, "Where are you headed, if you don't mind me asking?"
Erika sighed, then cast her eyes east, "Used to have family that lived down the valley there, between the Zora's Domain and Hateno, on the south banks of the Rutela River. At least, that's why my folks said, way back when. Grandma was one of them Sheikah, and she had a Zora friend she told me about… She died a few years back, and I've taken it upon myself to, well, check if something she said was true, that's all."
"Oh? I'm headed west myself," Zelda replied, "Making a stop in Kakariko Village, though I'm not staying. I can tell you it's a relatively safe passage for now. I didn't go all the way down to the banks, but half-way down the slopes at a place called Trotter's Downfall, there was a blue Hinox. It's dead, now. So at least that won't bother you, unless a Blood Moon crops up tonight or tomorrow."
"A- A blue. Hinox. One-eyed giant. You- you killed one of those?"
Zelda nodded, "I… had a plan, and executed it well. But yes. A friend and I were ambushed by a red one a week or so before that, so I'd had some experience fighting them."
"Oh, I- I'm sorry about your friend," Erika said quietly as she pulled her tunic over her head and tied the top closed around her neck.
"Huh? Oh, no, she's still alive," Zelda laughed, "Probably healthier than I am, in fact. Certainly came through that battle better than I did. We just had, uh, different errands, so we split up for now. She headed for Hateno Village."
"Oh," Erika gasped, blushing slightly as she hefted her own rather smaller pack onto one shoulder, "I… Well, I'm sure you can see why someone would assume… Anyway, I'm settling down for the night. Care to share a fire?"
Zelda grinned, "Of course. Don't take offense if I don't share food, though. I've… had a bad experience with a traveler drugging me. I don't want to repeat that experience."
The woman scowled, "Fair enough. I wouldn't… a despicable tactic. But I understand. I won't offer, then, and you can skip the same. I… I have, actually, done that before… but I can see now why it might be dangerous for a woman out on her own."
"Exactly," Zelda replied, "Yiga are not to be trusted."
The woman flinched. "Y- Yiga? I've not heard of them."
Zelda frowned as she started walking, her steps guiding her toward the shallow cave she'd already scared the fox out of once. Clouds were gathering, and she didn't fancy being under just the trees if it rained during the night. "They are a Sheikah offshoot clan, I think. They serve… the Calamity. Foul, assassins and thieves, the lot of them."
The woman's steps were slow and careful as she fell into step a couple arms-lengths away from the princess and a little further back, but still in her field of vision. "I… that sounds horrible. Like they aren't nice people at all."
"I wouldn't think they are," Zelda muttered, "At least, I've never met one I could stand to be around. I've had one rape me- that was the one that drugged me- and another just try to kill me. I hope I don't meet a third."
She didn't catch the woman's next flinch, "I- Yeah. They sound pretty scary."
"I don't know about scary," Zelda growled, "but dangerous, maybe. Not the kind of person most would want to tangle with."
Another hour passed in more casual conversation as the two women ate their respective meals and laid out bedrolls on opposite sides of the fire, which was starting to run low, and already banked for the night when Zelda had allowed herself to lay down. "At least this area's pretty safe, so close to Kakariko," she murmured. "Haven't seen any Bokoblins in a couple of days, and nothing actually dangerous except the Hinox."
"Y- Yeah. I've… killed a red Bokoblin before," Erika whispered quietly from her own bedroll, "scariest thing I've ever had to fight. I usually just run. I can't believe you can kill a Hinox."
"I couldn't either, at first," Zelda replied softly, "But as you've seen, I have some pretty decent weaponry and had some training when- when I was younger."
"Yeah. Uh… Anyway, I'm getting sleepy, and I need to get up by dawn to get back on the road. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Zina."
"Right. Good night, Erika."
"'night…"
"So," Zelda replied nine or so hours later, after both she and the late-sleeping Erika had had their respective breakfast meals, "I'm not in any hurry to get to Kakariko, really… and I kind of want to do something while I'm here. I could use another set of hands, if you're interested. I could show you something amazing if you can help."
Erika looked up from her boot-laces. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well… you know those weird ancient Shrines that have popped up all over in the last century or so?"
Erika's eyes widened, "Y- Yeah? They say they're Ancient Sheikah buildings. No one's ever been able to get them open, though."
Zelda grinned, "I can. And I know where one is, but I need help getting it out of the ground. Don't worry, it's not digging. I- I need help catching a stag."
"You… what?"
Zelda explained, as the other traveler's eyes grew more and more wide, her expression more amazed.
Thankfully, with Erika flushing a pair of stags toward the princess an hour later, it was much easier for Zelda herself to snag one around the neck, using its own momentum against it to throw herself onto its back. From there, she clung on tightly this time, crouched low below the antlers, as she spoke in a soothing voice as much as she could between its bucking.
Eventually, the deer started to calm, and she reached into her pack for a pair of carrots, which she fed to the beast slowly. It was hesitant to eat from her hand for most of the first, but by the end of the second, even the wild animal seemed mostly used to her presence on its back.
Using simple tugs on the antlers then, and nudges with her knees, she carefully guided the animal toward where she'd instructed Erika to wait after flushing the beasts… and found Kass still there, his accordion playing.
The Rito bard's eyes widened almost comically as Zelda proudly rode her 'prancing king' up the hill toward its Sheikah-made throne. "Ssh," she called, catching sight of Erika hiding behind a bush some ways from the Rito, who would have towered over her short body even more than he did Zelda's. On the deer, he was still taller than she was, though her eye level was about at the top of his parrot-like beak.
The stag seemed nervous as they approached the musician, who stopped playing quickly as he stared. She coaxed it on with another carrot, and guided it carefully up onto the pedestal.
There was a chime of some sort of bell, and the monster started…
But it didn't run, not even as the orange light in the circle below her shifted to brilliant blue.
It did buck, and try to run as Zelda felt the ground rumble beneath their feet. This time, she let it go, jumping up and back with her legs spread wide. It bolted, tearing off despite its exhaustion from earlier, fleeing into the woods to find its herd as quickly as it could. Before it had vanished from sight, half of a huge, dark stone shrine began to tear itself from the ground further up the hill, toward the great tree she'd already found a Korok hiding atop the day before.
"Kass, good morning. Erika, come say hello! This is my new friend, met her last night. Met Kass earlier yesterday."
Introductions were brief, which Zelda was glad for on Erika's behalf. She seemed terrified of the huge Rito despite his gentle nature, and wouldn't even approach to shake his wing. But Kass himself was more concerned with the Shrine that had appeared in front of their eyes, "I had no idea my master would have known a song about one of the Shrines! It's amazing… and now I've got an idea for the notes to finish his song! Thank you, Princess!"
Zelda nodded, grinning, "Don't mention it. Thank you for the clue! I'd never have figured it out without your song to begin with. At any rate, I'm going inside… do you two want to join me? It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
She was not shocked when neither refused. So with Kass on her right and Erika on her left, Zelda led the way up the hill confidently, explaining a slightly shorter version of what she'd explained to Celessa before about the possible dangers, and them mostly needing to just stay back and let her deal with them.
It turned out the warnings were unnecessary.
Both the Rito and the Hylian were suitably impressed by the entrance, and more-so by the actual interior of the Mezza Lo Shrine, though they had to pack in quite tightly to get all three of them in the lift; something that amused Zelda and seemed to terrify Erika even more as they were literally huddled together beneath Kass' wings.
The twin gasps as they stepped out into the Shrine itself were worth it, though. "Ah… okay, not just a reward, then," Zelda murmured, then explained, "Most Shrines that are harder to enter are a simple reward. This one seems to take a puzzle of some sort, like I mentioned… just stay here. I'll tell you if it's safe to move on in a minute."
Both jumped still as the ancient Sage's words echoed out into the space, but Zelda paid it only little mind, being much more used to it. A glowing Switch Crystal was up a slope to the right, a metal block beyond that, while a central pillar stood alone, between four different pedestals or sections elevated off the floor. The nearby ramp was the only way 'up' she could see.
A bit more investigation, however, had Zelda grinning. It was easy. Stupidly easy, in fact, if you had the abilities of the Sheikah Slate. "Okay, come up here," she called to both, and explained the plan simply enough. "That beam there will cut you in two: don't let it touch you. But that emitter shouldn't move. As long as it doesn't touch flesh, it doesn't do much at all, it only burns flesh. It does that very well, though. You don't want to lose fingers just to test it, trust me. So that block there, the metal one, is keeping the switch from being triggered by the beam. I'll use that later for two purposes."
Turning around, she gestured to their left, which had been ahead of where they had come from the lift, instead of to the right where they stood now. "That chest I can pick up at a distance, using the same ability I'll move the metal block with. I just have to get close enough and still see it. And that trigger, over there on the opposite side, needs to be pressed to open the grate there, see? That allows us to get to the end. I could simply have one of you step on it… but then you wouldn't be able to get out. Easier to use the chest itself, since I can move it and they're quite heavy. That will hold the plate down, and then we just ride this platform here until it moves around to the exit, see?"
"I'm afraid not," Kass muttered, "I think I understand most, but it might be easier to see it in practice."
"Alright. Well, that's no problem," Zelda grinned, "go stand- Actually, stand right here, on the lip on either side. I'll need to shoot between you, so give me some space, but I won't hit you, I promise. You'll want to cover your ears for a bit, though, too. Twice. If I cover mine, that's your signal to do so."
The two newcomers to being inside Shrines seemed confused, and shared a worried look, but Zelda's confidence must have shown on her face, because both the huge Rito and petite human did as she instructed them. Zelda's setup was simple: A bomb on either side of the switch to trigger it three times total using the beam as well, and the block itself to (eventually) close the rest of the gap they would need to get onto the Sage's pedestal.
At least, to her it seemed easy. Then again, people did seem to have regarded her as something of a scholar. Maybe she truly was just more intelligent than most?
She put that bit of arrogance from her mind, as she set to work. Both of the visitors seemed in awe as she conjured and carefully placed her two bombs, then used Magnesis to lift the block. At once, the pillar she knew would move started circling the larger one in a clockwise direction. "Don't jump on yet, I'll tell you when," Zelda called, "and maybe duck while I carry this past… there you go. Don't worry, it won't fall as long as I stay concentrating and aiming the Rune…"
Zelda had Erika and Kass crowd onto the platform together as she moved them to the side with the chest, then repeated the process for herself, switching the moving platform on and off by simply causing the metal block to hover back and forth in front of the beam a few times. Constant exposure, it seemed, did not trigger the Crystal Switch- only a new instance of 'damage', though the beam did not so much as scorch the crystal itself.
Soon enough, though, she'd passed off her more-used soldier's broadsword to Erika, a significant upgrade that the woman seemed shocked to be given, and taken up another actually magical weapon: A second Thunderblade.
Finally, the two were also left in awe by the Spirit Orb being transferred from the mummified Sage and into Zelda's chest, and then the healing she received from it… and that they, apparently, did too.
"I haven't felt this healthy and awake in days, actually," Erika murmured quietly, "Look, a scratch I got a few days ago is gone!"
Zelda could only grin, "I've seen them heal broken bones, all sorts of damage. It only works once, though. The Sages seem to do it when their bodies evaporate into dust. Once they're gone… At any rate," she replied as she stepped out into the still mid-morning light, "I should be getting to Kakariko. It's been a pleasure to finally meet you, Kass, and I'm glad we were able to help each other out with our respective quests. Erika, I'm glad we met, too. I hope you find whatever you're looking for at your family's old home."
"Thank you," the petite blonde murmured again, still seeming distracted by her new health.
A short while later, the two had disappeared from the Princess' view. Kass, winging off to the north-west, intent on home for now.
Erika, to the east.
At least, until Zelda was out of sight, heading for Kakariko.
Because Erika was not a simple traveler.
She'd had her suspicions based off Zelda's appearance alone. Her skill had been more. The silly Rito had even called her that title.
But it had been entering the Shrine, solving it with Runes they had not been able to use in millennia, and then what came after that clinched it.
Yes, Erika had a very great deal to report to her masters. The entire Clan would likely be updated about what, exactly, their enemy could do with that Slate she carried. For Master Kohga!
