Chapter 7-Journey to Kakariko
The clash of metal rings across the western part of Hyrule Castle.
Hiccup and Zelda sit in the gazebo in the courtyard below her room, watching the scene in front of them. Link and Astrid are facing each other, each warrior wielding a dulled Knight's Broadsword and a Knight's Shield. Suddenly Link lunges forward, swinging his sword at Astrid. She steps forward, raising her own blade and the momentum from her movement backs the strength of her sword as Link's blade slams into Astrid's sword, losing all its momentum.
Link grunts with effort as he tries to push his sword forward, but Astrid holds fast, and pushes forward, shoving the Hylian Champion back. With Link briefly off guard, Astrid goes on the attack, repeatedly swinging the flat edge of her blade at Link.
The clash of metal on metal continues as Link blocks Astrid's strikes with both his sword and his shield. However, the Hylian notices Astrid faltering slightly and decides to pull a surprise tactic.
As the blonde warrior swings her sword with slightly more force than the previous strikes, Link raises his shield. When the sword connects with Link's shield, the Hylian suddenly swings his shield outwards, parrying Astrid's strike and catching the warrior off balance. Following up his advantage, Link spins and gently, but forcefully hits Astrid in the stomach with the pommel of his sword.
Already off center, Astrid falls down after Link's follow up move, landing on the lush grass with a groan, dropping her weapons.
Hiccup's jaw drops in surprise as he sees Link effortlessly parry Astrid's attack and knock the warrior to the ground all within the space of several seconds.
Zelda pops a berry in her mouth and chuckles. "That move is a signature of Link. He's one of two people in the kingdom that can achieve such a feat." Hiccup looks at Zelda, his eyebrow rising at Zelda's statement, but sees truth in Zelda's green eyes.
He asks "Who is the other?" Zelda calmly replies. "Urbosa. The Gerudo chief and Champion. She's also probably the second best warrior in the kingdom as well, after Link, of course." Hiccup nods at the information.
Zelda pops another berry into her mouth, briefly panicking as some juice almost hits her shirt, but she catches it with her hand. Zelda is wearing her casual research outfit, but the blue shirt today is the same royal blue as her formal dress. Hiccup is wearing his casual tunic, but he swapped his brown shirt for a dark green one that Zelda gave him.
They look up as Link and Astrid approach, both warriors expecting something.
Zelda smiles and asks "You two doing a sparring match with the powerful weapons?" Both warriors nod and the two observers turn around to grab things off the table. Hiccup grabs Astrid's Sheikah tech axe while Zelda grabs the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield.
During an earlier match between Astrid and Link, they had discovered that Astrid's axe slices right through the dulled sparring broadswords and deals significant damage to the shields. To deal with this, Link decided to use the Master Sword when Astrid uses her axe since the sacred blade isn't scratched by the ancient tech blade of the axe. He also started using the Hylian Shield while sparring with axe wielding Astrid.
Zelda told her and Hiccup that the Hylian Shield is an artifact of the royal family, only allowed to be wielded by the best warriors in the kingdom. After drawing the Master Sword from its pedestal in Korok Forest, Link received the shield and used it throughout the war with Calamity Ganon. The shield is a blunted kite like shape with rounded edges, concave on the upper part and convex on the lower part. The main part of the shield is a dark navy blue with the red bird crest painted on with the Triforce above the bird and two serpent-like designs flanking the Triforce. Zelda had also said that the shield is nigh indestructible, allowing it to tank heavy blows.
Link takes the Master Sword from Zelda and draws the sword before leaning the sheath against the gazebo bench. Astrid picks up her axe from Hiccup's offered hands and closes her hand on the handle. As Link walks out into the courtyard, Astrid follows and thrusts her hand forward while pressing the button on the axe handle. As she thrusts the handle forward, the two side rods snap open and the blade materializes, as if Astrid had activated it just with the thrust. Picking up her discarded Knight's Shield, Astrid turns to face Link as both warriors drop into battle stances.
Hiccup and Zelda look at the opponents facing off. Link looks every bit the Champion he is while wielding the Master Sword and Hylian Shield while Astrid looks just as ferocious, wielding her new battleaxe and Knight's Shield.
Zelda notices some of the guards around the courtyard watching the warriors with excitement. Over the past week, Astrid had become a popular figure amongst the castle's staff due to her combat prowess, along with the fact that Link is the only person in Hyrule to have bested her and Astrid didn't go down easily.
A chirp alerts Hiccup to the presence of Stormfly and Toothless, sitting next to the gazebo and watching the sparring match.
Link moves first, charging with his shield up and sword trailing behind him. Astrid is surprised at Link's sudden advance and raises her shield to block an overhand strike while lifting her axe for a counterstrike. As Link approaches Astrid, he swings the Master Sword in an underhand slice, the tip of the blade sneaking under Astrid's shield. Link follows up immediately by lifting his sword diagonally upwards, shoving aside Astrid's shield. He quickly rotates the blade and swings the flat edge at Astrid's open chest only for Astrid to swing her axe up, completely destroying Link's momentum as the Master Sword slams into the axe handle.
Astrid deftly brings her knee up and hits Link in the stomach, causing the Champion to stumble back. She swings her axe away from her chest, hoping to hit Link with the rods that generate the blades. In the blink of an eye, Link jumps into a backflip, sailing right over the blade and lands on his feet with his sword raised behind him.
With a yell, Link swings the Master Sword forward and breaks into a spin attack. Astrid blocks the first pass of the sword with her shield but loses some balance due to the force behind the blow. Milliseconds later, the blade comes around again, connecting with Astrid's shield but due to being off balance, the blow causes her to drop the shield. Knowing the blade will come around again, Astrid drops to the ground and rolls away from Link as the Champion finishes the attack.
Getting to her feet, Astrid twirls her axe and charges Link, swinging her axe overhand at the warrior. Link takes the first hit on the Hylian Shield, but Astrid's follow up horizontal slice breaks Link's guard, causing him to drop his shield.
Now evenly matched, Link and Astrid back off slightly and resume circling.
After a moment they both charge and swing their weapons at each other. The Master Sword and Astrid's axe ring as they connect, but neither weapon damages the other one. After a moment of close combat, Link and Astrid both back up slightly, raising their weapons to rest on their left shoulders. Both warriors spin and shove the pommel of their weapon at the other and somehow, both attacks connect. Link and Astrid both grunt as they stumble backwards and fall down on their backs, their weapons clattering to the grass between them.
Zelda and Hiccup both jump to their feet and walk over to the warriors.
Link rolls over and gets to his knees, coughing from the impact of the axe pommel.
Astrid pulls herself up into a seated position and grabs her axe, collapsing the blades before putting the axe back on the ground.
Hiccup looks at the recovering warriors and asks "Was that double pommel strike a planned move?" Astrid and Link both blush slightly and shake their heads.
They turn their attention to Zelda, walking over with two cups filled with water, offering them to Link and Astrid. They both nod their heads in gratitude before drinking the fresh water.
After a minute, Link and Astrid get to their feet, collect their weapons, and walk towards the gazebo.
Link straps the Master Sword's scabbard to his back and sheathes the sword while Astrid returns her axe to her back. They then help themselves to the berries that Hiccup and Zelda were eating, while having more water.
The princess and young chief return to the gazebo as well and sit in the unoccupied chairs around the table.
As Link and Astrid finish their snack, Zelda clears her throat and they turn to look at her. Zelda makes sure Hiccup is listening before speaking. "I've thought of a way we might be able to get information on how to return Hiccup and Astrid to Berk." The vikings immediately sit up straighter, interest captured as Zelda continues. "I was thinking that we could visit the Spring of Wisdom to ask the goddess for advice."
Hiccup and Astrid share a look before Hiccup says "Zelda, where is the Spring of Wisdom?" Zelda looks at him as she replies. "The spring is located on Mount Lanayru, which is a decently long journey from the castle. I'd forgotten about it since I haven't needed to visit the springs since awakening my powers and I never got to visit the Spring of Wisdom."
Hiccup ponders for a moment before asking. "Could we fly there?" Zelda shakes her head while speaking. "Unfortunately, we can't. If we hope to get the advice we seek, we need to follow tradition which involves climbing the mountain on foot to reach the spring. Plus, I'd love to show you more of Hyrule, so I was thinking we could ride to Kakariko Village, stay the night there, then ascend Mount Lanayru the following day."
Hiccup nods and smiles as he replies. "I'm game. When do we start?"
They set out the next morning.
King Rhoam gave them his blessing to go to the Spring of Wisdom and arranged for them to stay with Impa in Kakariko Village.
Link and Zelda ride their horses while Hiccup and Astrid ride their dragons, who walk alongside the horses. Zelda's horse is a beautiful white stallion with a pale blonde mane. The bridle and saddle are made of purple fabric with gold trim and buckles.
Link, on the other hand, rides a dark brown mare with a black mane and white fur around the hooves. His saddle and bridle are much simpler, just being plain leather, though he has a bedroll behind the seat. On the left side of the saddle, the Hylian Shield hangs from a strap alongside a bow, while on the right side, a quiver of arrows hangs.
Hiccup and Astrid are wearing their normal Berk attire, freshly washed the night before.
Zelda is wearing her casual research outfit, this time with her Champion blue shirt. The Sheikah Slate hangs from her hip, while Terrako sits behind her on the saddle.
Link is wearing his Champions Tunic with the Master Sword on his right shoulder, however he is wearing some new armor pieces. Link has a leather bracer on his left forearm, different in design to his right arm bracer. A leather pad wraps around the left part of his chest and his upper back, held in place by a leather belt that runs under the belt holding the Master Sword on his back. Additionally, Link now has a shoulder pad on his left shoulder, adorned with the Hylian crest and attached to his chest guard along with a strap around his bicep.
As they ride across Hyrule, they get some strange looks from other travelers, clearly startled at the sight of the Crown Princess and Hylian Champion casually riding alongside a pair of unfamiliar people riding unfamiliar creatures.
The group rounds a hill shortly after crossing the Hylia River and Hiccup gasps at the sprawling shallow lake a quarter mile in front of them. As they ride closer, more of the shallow lake becomes visible, the area nearest to them dotted with aspen trees.
Hiccup looks at Zelda and speaks. "Hey Zelda, is that shallow lake some sort of mini ocean?"
Zelda turns to look at him, the short dark gray cape she donned earlier blowing in the wind, as she speaks. "That's the Lanayru Wetlands, but it's all freshwater. The two rivers that feed the wetlands originate around Zora's Domain, home of the Zora Champion, Mipha and Divine Beast Vah Ruta."
Understanding dawns in Hiccup's eyes after hearing Zelda's statement before he replies. "Thanks for clarifying. The largest body of water that I've seen that isn't open ocean are the hot springs in the Bewilderbeast's glacial sanctuary and I don't even know if they are freshwater."
Suddenly, Hiccup feels a drop of rain on his hand and looks up. Dark clouds are rolling in above the high stone hills around Kakariko Village, while some lower clouds obscure the tops of the hills.
Zelda raises the hood of her short cape, somehow getting her long hair contained under the hooded cape. Link grabs his own black hooded cape from his saddle and dons it. Hiccup reaches into Toothless's saddle bag and grabs the brown hooded cape that Zelda gave him. As he puts it on, he sees Astrid donning the tan hood that Zelda gave her. The group increases their pace as the rain starts coming down, causing the horses and dragons to grumble.
Shortly after the rain starts, the group comes to a fork in the road.
Zelda takes the road heading southeast and upwards while the other road continues south. The others follow the princess as they begin to climb.
The rain continues as they crest the steep part of the slope and come to the gentler plains at the foot of the steep stone mountains. The only visible path is a narrow canyon with a pair of tall wooden posts set up on either side, a string connecting the posts.
After a quick break for the horses, Zelda sets out again, heading for the canyon with the others in tow. After several minutes in the canyon, the canyon veers north and Hiccup sees a wooden arch built across the canyon. Several yards beyond the first arch, another one is built over the canyon road.
Zelda checks her horse to a slow trot and turns to look at Hiccup and Astrid while grimacing, before speaking. "Can you two please dismount your dragons and walk beside them once we enter the village. I'm asking as a friend. Impa knows that the dragons won't harm anyone who's nice to them, but the villagers don't know that." Hiccup considers the logic before nodding. "I'm okay with that. I could use some movement to warm up as well."
He smiles, the look slightly undercut by his wet clothes, wet hood, and damp hair. Astrid nods as well, looking rather grumpy in her wet hood and clothes. The Berkians slide off their dragons and stretch.
Surprisingly, Zelda dismounts as well, along with Link. They also stretch before grabbing the reins of their horses and continuing to the village. The road curves sharply before the tight canyon walls veer away, opening into a decently sized sloped valley. Hiccup is surprised to see that the houses in Kakariko Village share a decent resemblance to the houses on Berk. Numerous trees grow in the village along with a stream flowing through feeding a pond around the village's goddess statue.
Zelda heads towards one of the houses with a sign depicting a crescent moon. Looking over her shoulder she says "This is the inn. We aren't staying here, but they have a small stable for horses."
Several minutes later, the group head towards the biggest house in the village, accompanied by Toothless and Stormfly. Zelda and Link's horses are at the inn stable, having been tended to by their riders.
The pair of Sheikah guards at the base of the stairs leading to the elder's house straighten to attention as Zelda walks up. They nod to her and she nods in return as she heads up the stairs, followed by Link, Hiccup, and Astrid. Stormfly flaps up to the roof of the house and perches on the beam while Toothless sits on the walkway running around the house.
Zelda opens the twin doors of the house and walks in, followed by the others.
As Hiccup closes the door, they all lower their hoods, eager to let their hair dry. Terrako simply spins his main body around rapidly, flinging water in every direction.
Astrid takes off her hood and drapes it over a chair before looking around. They are in a medium sized room with wooden floors. At the back of the room, several pillows sit on a slightly raised platform. Behind the pillows, an ornate tapestry hangs on the wall. Flanking the raised platform are a pair of little wooden altars, flanked in turn by a pair of stairs that lead to the upper level. Outside of the drying travelers, the room is empty.
Hiccup notices that tapestry at the back of the room and walks over to investigate it.
He takes a small gasp upon seeing many stylized Guardians depicted in the tapestry, surrounding the scene in the center of the tapestry. In the middle, a stylized dragon-like figure is depicted. To the right of the dragon creature, a figure in green with red hair is raising his sword against the dragon. On the creature's left, a figure in a white dress with golden hair is emitting power from her hand at the dragon creature. In each corner of the tapestry a large creature is depicted. The upper right has a stylized lizard, lower right has a strange creature with a tail-like structure on its face, the lower left has a creature resembling a horse with a long neck and two bumps on its back, while finally the top left has a stylized bird. After noticing a humanoid figure standing on each stylized animal, Hiccup realizes that they are the Divine Beasts and the Champions. Flanking each Divine Beast are several masked figures holding orbs. Above and below the battle against the dragon-like creature, some smaller scenes are depicted including people creating stuff, Hyrule Castle, the Sheikah Towers, and people running away from soldiers.
Zelda turns to Hiccup and says "Ah, I see you've noticed that tapestry. It depicts the battle against Calamity Ganon from 10,000 years ago." Hiccup nods and opens his mouth to reply but footsteps on the stairs distract the group.
An annoyed female voice accompanies the steps. "You had to bring the teapot, didn't you?" Hiccup and Zelda turn towards the voice while Astrid's hand strays near her axe handle.
On the stairs stands a young woman around seven years older than Zelda and Hiccup. The woman has white hair, with some pulled up in a bun and the rest hanging down to her hips before being tied up in a short ponytail. She wears a dark blue undershirt and leggings, a long sleeved tan vest and tan short shorts. Metal guards adorned with the Sheikah eye crest protect her shins while a dagger is visible on her right hip.
Terrako immediately starts beeping and chirping as the little Guardian runs up to the woman while pointing at her with a claw. Hiccup and Astrid laugh at the sight. Zelda looks at them, a smile on her face while saying, "I forgot to mention that these two have a running beef with each other and constantly squabble."
Zelda turns back to Terrako and sternly speaks. "Hey! Terrako, knock it off. You and Impa can squabble after we've visited the Spring of Wisdom." The Guardian lets out a disappointed chirp and walks back over to Zelda's side.
Zelda turns to Hiccup and Astrid and gestures to the woman. "Hiccup, Astrid, meet Impa, sister of Purah and head of Kakariko Village," before turning to the woman and continuing. "Impa, please meet Hiccup Haddock, chief of Berk, and Astrid Hofferson, the best warrior of Berk."
Impa approaches Hiccup while extending her hand. Hiccup grasps it and they shake. Impa speaks. "Welcome to Kakariko Village, Chief Hiccup and Lady Astrid. I was informed that you, the princess, and Link are going to the Spring of Wisdom to seek a way to return you to your time. I will happily let your group stay in my house. Princess, you and Astrid can sleep upstairs since I think you would like some privacy, while Hiccup, you and Link can sleep down here. I'll stay at the inn." Hiccup and Zelda both nod in agreement to the offer and Zelda speaks, "Thank you, Impa."
Astrid walks over to the door and pokes her head out, seeing the sun breaking through the fading clouds. "Hey Hiccup," she says while turning to look at him. "The rains passed. Want to let Stormfly and Toothless stretch their wings?"
Hiccup nods before turning to Zelda as he speaks. "Me and Astrid are taking the dragons for a flight, so we'll see you in a little bit." Zelda smiles as she replies. "Sure Hiccup, we'll see you at dinner. Just stay away from Mount Lanayru." Astrid then leaves the room and Hiccup follows her, both whistling to their dragons.
Hiccup laughs as Toothless leaps skyward, with Stormfly pulling alongside him. Hiccup turns to Astrid and says "Want to fly around these giant stone pillars?" She smiles and replies. "Last one around all the pillars has to eat the least appetizing meal. By the way Hiccup, you look good with that Hylian Hood down and blowing in the wind." Hiccup blushes as he replies "Well, guess that gives me an advantage."
Before Astrid can reply, Hiccup shifts his prosthetic, adjusting Toothless's tail fin as the duo shoots away. Astrid yells in frustration before urging Stormfly after the boys. Despite only having had his Sheikah tech prosthetic for a few days, Hiccup is already using the thing as well as his normal prosthetic.
The blue and black blurs weave around the stone pillars above and around Kakariko Village. Toothless generally maintains the lead, but several times, Stormfly pulls ahead, sharing the fierce competitive nature of her rider.
Zelda watches them flying through the scope on the Sheikah Slate, smiling at the beautiful acrobatics of the dragons and the playful competition between the pairs. Activating the camera rune, she snaps several pictures of the dragons before continuing to watch them gracefully fly.
Hiccup's stomach rumbles as Zelda places a tray laden with rice balls on the table.
The group are sitting at a table on the village patio next to the general store and near Impa's house. Toothless and Stormfly sit near the table, munching on a pile of fish with Stormfly occasionally preening the scuff marks on her scales. After the earlier flight, Stormfly had seen the village Cuccos as chicken to eat. Unfortunately for the Nadder, she discovered that Cuccos don't tolerate crap from anything and had accidentally gotten a Cucco attack squad attacking her. Stormfly's thick scales protected her from most of the force of the feathered assault, but suffered slight scuffing. She gave the Cuccos a wide berth after that.
Astrid reaches for one of the meaty rice balls and takes a bite. She is greeted with delicious sweet and spicy meat cushioned by rice that has absorbed the flavor of the meat seasoning. Hiccup looks at her and asks "Good?" Astrid nods and takes another bite.
Hiccup reaches for one of the meaty rice balls while Link grabs two veggie rice balls. Hiccup and Astrid's eyebrows shoot up as the Hylian Champion stuffs both food items in his mouth, and after a moment, swallows. He then sees Hiccup and Astrid staring at him and blushes in embarrassment. Zelda elbows him as she takes a bite of her veggie rice ball, causing Link's red cheeks to redden more. Astrid looks Zelda dead in the eye and raises an eyebrow causing the princess to blush as well.
Hiccup looks between Astrid, Zelda, and Link, slightly confused at what is going on, but guessing that it has something to do with Zelda and Link. He tastes his own meal and is impressed by the tastiness of the simple meal.
A little while later, the group lean back in their chairs, bellies full, and sipping cups of milk. Toothless and Stormfly are back on the roof and balcony of Impa's house, sleeping with full bellies.
Zelda places her cup on the table and addresses her friends. "Alright, I'd like to quickly run over the plan for tomorrow." Link and Astrid both sit up and also place their cups on the table while Hiccup stays leaning back, but actively listening. Having their attention, Zelda continues. "I'd like to leave here an hour before dawn. We can ride to the west gate of the Lanayru Promenade, leave Toothless, Stormfly, and the horses in a safe place, then ascend to the spring on foot. Once we reach the spring, I'll go in and try to get the wisdom we seek. You three can stand guard and help me if I need it. Once we get what we seek, we'll return here, debrief, spend the night, then return to Hyrule Castle in the morning."
Hiccup, Astrid, and Link nod as they get up and return to Impa's house.
Astrid yawns as she takes off her kransen and lays down on the bed Impa gave her.
Zelda looks over at Astrid as she undoes her braid and chuckles. "Tired?"
Astrid nods, pulling herself under the covers as she falls asleep, though Zelda notices that Astrid's daggers are very close to her hands. The princess decides that startling Astrid awake will probably end with at least a cut and possibly worse.
Pulling off her tunic and trousers, and swapping them for a white night shirt and dull blue gray shorts, Zelda gets into her own bed and looks at the ceiling.
"I hope we get the wisdom we seek tomorrow Astrid," Zelda says quietly. "If we can't and you're trapped in Hyrule forever, I know you and Hiccup will be tremendously sad, and as my friends, that would make me really sad as well. I'm still tremendously sorry that I'm the reason you ended up here and because of that, if you can't return home, I'll never forgive myself."
Zelda sighs as she holds back tears, and rolls over, falling asleep.
Couple notes about the chapter.
Hiccup is still wearing his casual/chief tunic from httyd 3. During the spar between Link and Astrid, he has merely swapped the brown undershirt for a dark green one. Once they set out for Kakariko, he is wearing the brown shirt again.
The hoods with short capes are Hylian Hoods. Zelda is wearing the one she wears in Tears of the Kingdom, Link is wearing the standard one, Hiccup is wearing one dyed brown, and Astrid is wearing one dyed light yellow/tan.
They cross the Hylia River at Rebonae Bridge and pass the location where Wetland Stable is in Breath of the Wild.
Regarding the dinner scene, I had the meal be the Veggie and Meaty Rice Balls since their descriptions in Breath of the Wild state that they are a Kakariko Village specialty.
At the end, Zelda is the one unbraiding her hair, while Astrid's stays braided
I do plan to have Link have a spar with Hiccup, but that will be in a few chapters.