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. 78: Wisdom
The feeling of numb comfort of darkness and lack of sensation was all Zelda knew for some time. Then, as if from a great distance of many thousands of miles, a voice entered her consciousness. It grew slowly closer, or perhaps at the speed of a charging Bokoblin, eventually resolving itself into words. Words that made little sense at first, but as the princess became more aware, became even a voice she recognized. "Princess! Princess, oh Goddess, what- what happened to you? How did you get- the last I saw you- oh, Goddess! What'm I gonna do, I- I-"
She was jostled painfully, several times, her neck and head hurt suddenly, sharply, fiercely… then nothing. Bliss, numb, dark.
After another period of nothingness, Zelda regained consciousness again. This time, there was anything but a numb sensation. Her arms, legs, hands, feet, burned and tingled violently, and she could tell she shook as if electrical current was running through her. Her head, too, ached as if she were concussed, though it was currently nestled on something soft and warm. She was cold, though. Too cold. Not numb… freezing. But there was warmth nearby. Beneath her head, on her neck and forehead, left, right, and by her feet.
She could see nothing though, only hear soft breathing, and the crackle of flame with occasional pops of moisture in wood. Then, again, nothing, as her frigid body refused to process more pain and discomfort from hypothermia in slow remission.
The third time, Zelda woke completely, very rapidly.
The eye. The fear, the despair, the eye, the eye, the Eye of Ganon!
But no.
She was not being raped repeatedly, as the visions showed her. She was not helping and complicit in the emotional and mental torture of the man she'd once loved, and could now scarcely remember. There was no great, vile, corrupted dragon of ice soaring through the air around her, afflicting her with dark visions.
What there was cold be listed on a single hand: Snow, rock, fire, wood, and Celessa. Well, and herself, of course. A cave in the snow, Zelda realized after several seconds of staring around at the dimly orange-lit, soft blue-white walls. As she looked around, Zelda realized she had a power need to relieve herself. So she rolled over, wincing and hissing at pain that lanced throughout her stiff body. Well. That explained her soft pillow, she'd been laying on Celessa's lap.
It took the princess a minute to put clothing back on, for she was nearly naked, stripped to her underclothes in an effort for the now-low fires to warm her body, but both hers and most of Celessa's clothing hung from a rope strung around the upper portions of the occasionally-dripping cave. A droplet hit her nose, but Zelda's hands could at least identify that while there were certainly wet spots, the clothing itself was mostly dry. Safe, probably, to wear for a few moments out in the cold.
She dressed as quickly as she could with trembling fingers and searched for a moment for her Fire Rod, before settling on the Flameblade instead. It rested next to Celessa against the rock, and she stirred a little as the source of heat moved, The doorway was covered by one of their blankets, but behind it another layer of snow that Zelda had to dig and melt her way out of before she could crawl into the frigid, crisp, clear air.
And it was clear.
Urine began to leak a little into her underclothes as she stared around the breathtaking view. To her left, the altar and Spring of Wisdom shimmered as if through some veil of magic. To her right, downward and out, she saw the jagged, snow-covered mountain still adorned with huge spikes and spires of pure ice, stretching down to the coast and a choppy but clear blue sea beyond that merged with the sky in a gray horizon what looked like a thousand, two thousand, miles away. South, more mountains, Madorna among them, crowed by its three peaks each with a massive, ancient pine. Hateno Village, far below and the mountaintop Research Lab beyond it, its huge telescope a faint dark smear pointing vaguely to her right. North, a huge fjord with mountains nearly as high as Lanayru's lofty peak, though not as snow-capped, for they were drenched in dark, raining clouds still, as they had been since she had woken up on the Great Plateau.
It was awe-inspiring. But after a minute's slow turn, the princess decided she couldn't just stand there and look, anymore. She had to pee, and do it soon. And more.
Some ten minutes later, shivering from the cold again, Zelda climbed once more into the cave, curled up next to Celessa, and promptly fell asleep once more.
The fourth time Zelda woke since the battle with the corrupted dragon, Celessa was not in the cave. Most of their belongings weren't, only the Flameblade, one remaining fire near her feet with the other two having burned out not been refueled, and her clothing. For a moment, Zelda felt herself panic. Had Celessa abandoned her, taken most of her belongings and fled down the mountain?
But no, she heard the woman outside, breathing rapidly, occasionally grunting. Not… no, she wasn't fighting, but the sounds reminded the princess of it. Practicing. She's practicing.
Yes, that sounded right. Shadow-sparring against unseen opponents, perhaps. Flashes came with the realization, momentary motions of a lithe, toned body she so adored and worshiped, which held a legendary blade that moved swiftly, precisely through the air to slay one imaginary opponent after another quickly, efficiently, cleanly.
Outside some few minutes later, Celessa's motions, Zelda could tell, were not quite so smooth, but she was not without skill. Not that the adventurous princess hadn't already known that; Celessa had been well trained by a number of teachers over her journey. She lacked polish, perhaps, but her arm was strong, her movements swift and sure. "Good morning," she announced, giving Celessa a wave as her gloved hands turned to covering the snow-cave once more. Just in case they needed it later.
"Morning," Celessa huffed, "I'm glad you're up and about. How're you feeling?"
Finished with her task, Zelda stood and rolled her shoulders, then swung her arms out a bit, "Stiff, but I'll live, I suppose. What… what happened? I saw you fighting for a bit…"
"A bit," the dark-haired woman snorted, then finished her form with a flourish before sheathing her knew knight's weapon, which Zelda had seen was now flecked with dried or frozen blood despite some effort having been made to clean it. "Nearly an hour. I… your satchel's pretty amazing. I added a lot to it. Something like fifteen Bokoblin bits including some of those disgusting innards, some Moblin horns and fangs, and a few of their weapons. Nothing really great weapons-wise, so I mostly just used those for firewood. What about you? I… I saw you jump off the mountain, but that was the last look I could take."
Zelda relayed her experience as fully as she could, glossing over the visions she'd been shown without detail, though Celessa clearly knew something had happened with them Zelda was not saying based on her skeptical looks. She finished with, "-then I loosed the last arrow, knew it would hit… everything flashed white, and then I was unconscious, I think. I heard a voice, yours… I woke up briefly last night, I think, with my head on your lap. Then early this morning, pissed, and curled up next to you."
Celessa blushed a bit, but nodded, "I saw you'd moved, and dressed. Sorry I had to take most of it off. You were so cold, I thought the clothes might be hampering the fire keeping you warm."
Zelda shook her head, waving off her worry, "No, no, I think that was smart. It was a good call. Uh…"
"Walk with me," Celessa said as she trailed off, then walked over to where their two packs leaned against each other next to the huge stone she'd used as a wall for the snow cave. Once it was on her back, Zelda's soon after, she started to climb up and around that very stone. Some fifteen feet higher, Celessa pointed down the mountain to the south face, high above the path they had used, but much lower than the peak. "You… you landed down there, and rolled a bit further. Caught on a tree, or you'd probably have gone down the whole mountain. I'm… I'm still not sure how you survived, it was… it was a long way, and you were so cold. I couldn't do more than put your Fire Rod gem in your pockets, and strap the Flameblade to you and haul you up. It took a few hours, and… by the time I got the cave dug and fires started, I was wiped out. I think I slept over a day myself."
"I'm not either," Zelda confessed, gaping, "That… I was high, up above the peak… but when I shot out the last eye, I was on the west side of the mountain, high above that forest and snowfield. How did I land there…?"
"I don't know," Celessa told her, "I couldn't see you through the snow except right at the end."
It was a mystery they puzzled over for several minutes, tossing ideas back and forth, but neither of them had any real clues. As they climbed back down, Zelda tried to spot where Celessa had been fighting. It wasn't hard, really, but only by the half-buried terrain. Any trace of blood, injury, or remaining weapons was deeply buried in at least a foot of new snow, and even their deeper tracks were invisible.
But as Zelda turned toward the altar, she froze.
It hadn't been there before.
It couldn't have been.
Even when desperate to relieve herself, Zelda would have seen it.
Awake, in full view of Celessa sparring, she would definitely have noticed.
The dragon was back.
A crown of ice, blue and shimmering, wreathed the back and sides of her long head like a mane of spikes. She was definitely the same creature, the same pain-filled eyes gazed at her mournfully. Wounds, some ancient, some new, scored a few of the scales, though none seemed to have done much damage.
A voice, powerful, ancient, deep, flooded her mind. Not that of the Goddess, or herself, but akin to it. Wise, strong, and concerned, caring. Zelda Amaryll Hyrule… Princess of Hyrule… I am sorry for the pain I caused you. I was unable to resist the enchantments of the Calamity. I have caused you pain. I am sorry.
Celessa hissed, "P- Princess…? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Zelda nodded, then turned to face her friend. "Stay here."
Celessa nodded, "R- Right… Here. Here's good."
Zelda took two more steps toward the dragon, and said aloud, "There is nothing to forgive. I… I hope I helped."
You have done more than you know, the dragon said, and its almost canine mouth curled up into an unmistakable smile. You have not only freed me from torment, but perhaps saved the people of Hateno. Daily, my power was spent to create greater and greater storms. Soon, I fear all of Necluda may have been engulfed in frost and ice, its people destroyed. They are safe now, because I can guard them once more.
"Good," Zelda whispered, "I… I have come to seek the Spring of Wisdom."
It lies before you, Naydra intoned in her mind, and she was distantly aware of Celessa jumping behind her.
"It- it talks! Princess, it talked in my head!"
"It does that. She does that," Zelda giggled, somehow amused despite the gravity of the situation.
This time, she heard Naydra even though the dragon was clearly speaking to Celessa, Come forward, child of Hateno, child of Hyrule. Sworn knight of Hyrule, guardian if its Heir.
She heard Celessa swallow in the quiet morning, but the dark-haired woman stepped up, boots crunching loudly in the snow, to stand next to her. Zelda took her hand, and together, they walked down into the small valley that held the pool.
You have both undergone the Ritual of Purity, and the Ritual of Service. Knight of Hyrule, you have undergone the Ritual of Sacrifice. Heir of the Goddess Hylia, you have undergone the Ritual of Divine Protection. One final task remains to you, Princess, before you may partake of the Ritual of Wisdom.
"Wh- What must I do?" Zelda asked quietly. It didn't escape her attention that no such onus was placed on Celessa. She assumed, however, that Celessa would not be doing any such ritual.
The Altar of Hylia you see before you is dedicated to another, as well: Lanayru, Goddess of Wisdom. It is her that this form once served as a high priestess. It is to her Spring that I have dedicated untold aeons for its protection, and to guide those supplicants to can reach it. To guide you, and your Knight, and all others who succeed in the Ritual Trials that come seeking Wisdom. But it has been dormant for a long, long time. Seek ye a scale from my form. Break or knock it loose, and place it in the pool before the altar. My sacred power, the Power of Wisdom, is but a fraction of the Goddess Lanayru, but it will be sufficient to power the altar once more."
"B- But wouldn't that, um, hurt?" Celessa asked, sending a worried glance at Zelda.
Not me, child, though I thank you for your concern. I am beyond physical pain as mortals understand it. Should even my entire form be annihilated, it, and I, would be rebuilt in time, none the worse for wear. Proceed, Princess. While the time is not yet dire, there is no reason to delay. Take a scale from me, and pray at the Altar of Hylia an Lanayru. Seek ye Wisdom, which was denied to thee in times past.
Zelda nodded. "I… I will. Thank you, Naydra. M- May I call you that?"
We have been, and are, and will remain, friends, Princess of Hyrule, Heir of the Goddess. You may call me as you wish, and I will consider it an honor.
Zelda blushed as Celessa gasped, "It- it's true, then…"
"It has been," Zelda whispered, and stepped forward once more.
It was intimidating, frightening even, to be so close to a creature that, what felt like moments ago, had been trying very hard to kill her. Especially one so vast, so mighty. But Naydra made no threatening movements, only watched intently with strangely kind, knowing eyes as she walked beneath and past the head, stepped into the water itself, and waded through… it wasn't cold! The air was still near-freezing or below, but the water itself was quite pleasantly warm!
She was still surprised when she sent a final look up and behind her shoulder to find Naydra's snout mere inches from her back, the eyes, as long as she was tall or larger, nearly crossed to look and watch as she gently reached up and took hold of a shield-sized scale.
She gave it a tug, and Zelda nearly fell back into the water: it came free nearly effortlessly!
You did not expect to have to fight me for it, did you? The dragon's mental voice was filled with humor, I have said you may take it, Heir of the Goddess. Place it now before the altar, and let my divine power work.
Zelda swallowed as the head reared smoothly back, and the voice echoed to them once more, I depart, for now. Once the Altar has been awakened, you will know what to do.
Her walk back through the pool around the statue and marble altar paused as, much like before, the serpentine form shook and trembled, sending the mountain itself into small convulsions, then began to rise into the air sinuously.
Higher and higher, circling just twice in a corkscrew pattern around the peak, and then high, twisting like a dangling ribbon in reverse, far, far, above the peak itself. The air, the very sky and heavens above the peak warped, tearing open a hole in the universe, through which, head, forearms, mid-arms, and eventually tail all vanished, before it closed again as if it had never been.
"That… that's not something a body sees every day," Celessa whispered several seconds after Naydra had vanished.
"No, no it's not," Zelda murmured. Then, she sent an accusing glance toward Celessa, "You can see a dragon, but you can't see a Korok? I've always thought only the pure-hearted could see both."
Celessa could only shrug, "I don't know, Princess, I'm not a scholar of such things."
After all that, placing the shimmering, icy scale in the pool was almost anticlimactic. There was a bit of a light-show, as golden energy spread outward from the scale the moment it touched the water. Then it sank down, far deeper than the pool itself, as deep as Zelda's waist, should allow until it had vanished into abyssal depths. Then the light returned, swelling and spreading eventually into the altar, and the statue, both of which began to slowly pulsate with a rhythmic light.
"I… I think that's our sign that it's working," Zelda whispered.
Just as she finished speaking, there was another rumble, and the cliff face behind the Spring of Wisdom began to tear itself open. Within moments, as stone fell to create a hundred ripples in the once-smooth pool, an archway was revealed, carved with ancient Sheikah glyphs. Behind it, the orange glow of an unfinished Shrine.
"Th- This one seems all you," Celessa murmured. "I think… it's meant for you alone, Princess. I'll… I'll stay here, keep you safe. And, uh, pray."
Zelda nodded, turning back to look at her companion, "I think you're right. I'll see you soon, I hope."
The Sage Jitan Sa'mi did not seem to feel that further testing or trial was necessary. Just like the last Shrine on Mount Lanayru, this one offered a simple, pleasantly cool (it felt delightfully warm) chamber with bathing or meditation pools, a reward, and the Sage herself (undeniably female, if still wasted, Zelda noted).
Inside the raised chest, however, was an item that Zelda would not have expected, and yet desired greatly. Somehow, resting vertically inside a chest only just waist-high, was a spear longer than her body was tall. The haft seemed simple, carved of pine sanded smooth, treated with some kind of varnish, and wrapped in cloth with a metal-capped end and ties to carry it easily just below the head. But it was the head itself that was interesting. Tripartite, but completely unlike a pitchfork, it most looked like half of a six-sided snowflake, with the two side points each bearing a razor-sharp leaf, and the central, larger point a bigger one. The head was perhaps an entire foot and four inches long, and the span of it between the two smaller tips a foot across. It was made of metal, she thought, but glowed a brilliant blue-white and was carved with Sheikah runes in a manner very similar to the Flameblade Celessa carried once more.
She gasped and pulled it out, then rested the haft along the chest to take a picture of it for her Compendium.
Jitan Sa'mi's words were familiar, and the Spirit Orb something Zelda accepted gratefully, though having three of them burning inside her chest caused a too-familiar aching throb between her legs. The warrior-princess was still exceptionally grateful for the energy, and more importantly the treatment of her exhausted, worn body's aches and pains, as she stepped once more into the bright sunlight and arctic air.
Celessa was still praying as Zelda rounded the altar, and she moved smoothly to kneel next to her.
Time passed.
She heard no voice of the Goddess. She heard nothing at all for some time.
But there was peace, and tranquility, such as she hadn't felt since that first prayer that felt like a mother's embrace in the ruined Cathedral of Time.
Eventually, though, all things must end. Zelda moved as she felt Celessa stir. She found her friend with tears streaming down her face, crystallizing as they went to fall like snow. But the fighter was smiling. Smiling happily, cheerfully, and she even laughed, threw her arms around the princess. "I know. I know, I know! Princess… I know!"
"Know what?" Zelda laughed, hugging back awkwardly, as their knees rested on cold stone at the heart of the pool, still high on the mountain.
"My purpose," Celessa said seriously, still smiling as she pulled back to rest her arms around Zelda's shoulders. "Why I always… felt a pull. To this place, to Hateno, to- to you. I've already found it. I'm your knight. A knight of Hyrule. I'm meant… to protect Hyrule. To protect you. To guide and t- teach. To share my- my Wisdom, with another generation. To…"
Celessa swallowed, and blushed, "To… share myself… with you. If… if you want me."
"Always," Zelda smiled, and pulled her friend back into another hug, this one longer still.