So I don't forget again

Entry 160: ???

Below the mountain is this trail. Somewhere along the trail is this place, there a mountain with a statue of a horse on top, and the little area is shaped like a horseshoe. We were riding towards it. Zelda thanked me for the advice I had given about horses, but she never said exactly what. Maybe it was for training or bonding? Maybe she directly said my words? She did say something about soothing your companion so they know how you feel, but she just started so abruptly I don't think I quite caught it. She wasn't sure about adorning her horse with all the royal gear, thinking it'd have to earn it, but she decided to be more empathetic and give them the benefit of the doubt, whatever that meant. But she was looking directly at me, not in the way when you talk to someone but like the comment, giving the benefit of the doubt to me? She also seemed different in this memory, more relaxed and open. I guess we had become friends, but I'm not sure. When we arrived at the place we got off our horses.

The sun was setting and she pointed out Mt. Lanayru. It's named after the goddess of wisdom. The goddess said that no one younger than seventeen can step foot on the mountain because they are not wise. I find that rather odd. I don't think age dictates how wise someone is. I'm a hundred and something years old, and by far I believe Sidon, Kass, and even the children in Kakariko and back home are wiser than me, but in different ways. The children know how to take responsibility when needed but also how to just let go and have fun when needed, Sidon he just understands everyone so amazingly on an emotional level I often overlook, even when the person I'm trying to understand is myself, and Kass, he knows how to stay true to himself, he follows his heart and is such a comforting presents, maybe that's something he learned from being a father. I however, I struggle with all those things, but I know how to battle and I know how to keep going even when I can't take any more! It think everyone is wise, but it different ways, it just depends on their experience, and age just says how long your experience was, but it's doesn't... age doesn't show the quality of your experience. I could be wrong, since I'm not wise in... whatever this is, self-reflection? I don't think that quite describes this, but if a goddess of wisdom thinks wisdom is dictated by age, I might just laugh at her, she doesn't seem to know much, but I could just be horribly wrong about that.

The princesses had tirelessly trained at the other springs, the spring of courage and the spring of power but she had yet to unlock her powers and so she was hoping the spring of wisdom would finally do it. There was no evidence the spring of wisdom would be different from the others, but there was always the chance, after all... your life could always change completely in just a single moment. Tomorrow was going to be her seventeenth birthday, and she was going to go there.

It... has been a while since I last found a memory. I checked the slate and indeed this was one of the locations. I wonder... Why do I only remember something at these locations, and why only Zelda, and the champions? Why do I never recall my family, or the time before preparing for the Calamity. Why is it never anything before that?

I recall there being the goddesses, but I never really thought about them, or questioned them... They seem rather cruel. Even if it was to test me, it's not fair to trap living beings just for me to take their scale and place it in water to unlock a shrine. What else have these gods done? Did they set up all the shrine tests? Did they force the Sheikah members to be sealed away in them, to be forced to live in cages till I arrive and complete the trial and allow them to die? What are these gods like, truly. I'd like to know. It'd be nice to know why they did what they did, and if I'm just misinterpreting their actions.

In the memory, I was also riding a black and white horses, it was mostly black with only a little white, but... maybe if Sidon reincarnates, maybe Friend dose too.

If I ever get the chance to meet her again, I just wish I could say I'm sorry, and promise to try to be a better traveling companion for anyone who travels with me, even if they aren't her.

The castle is so close by and I can see three long red lines of light pointing to it from the Divine Beasts. It's so eerie seeing the place, those odd pillars pointing to it and that dark smog that shrouds the place.

There's a deep chasm that a bridge crosses, when nearing it, I heard Kass! He was surprised to see us; I think we more so startled him since he even lost his footing for a moment and almost fell over. First thing I did was thank him for telling Sidon I needed help, of all people I think Sido really was the only one who could guide me through all that. He told me I was looking much better and admitted that I had him really worried for a time. He knew Sidon and I were close and he couldn't imagine anyone else who could be of better help to me, and he also knew Sidon would want to know about my less than poor condition. I loved getting to talk with Kass again. I told him about how I have the infection that's eating me and about my dark thoughts, about being some hero when I don't feel like one, how all that was just taking such a toll. Kass understood completely how all that could be so strenuous, he told me as much as he loves the isolation of exploration, often when left in your own head for too long you end up hurting yourself, that's why keeping your connections with others is all the more important. People need other people, it's as simple as that.

He told me he knew of a song of the area, and asked if I wanted to do some puzzle solving again. "When a single arrow threads two rings, the shrine will rise like birds on wings." This song is rather self explanatory he admitted but because it had been so long since I last had traveled he thought this simple song would be good to get my footing back. There are many oddly shaped rocks around here, some piled atop one another, some not, but almost all of them have a hole that goes through them, so all I had to do was shoot an arrow through two rocks. We had gone searching for a while, some seemed like they might work, but no matter how I shot the arrow wouldn't reach. Kass taught me a few things about bows and techniques on how to shoot farther, even with that though it didn't work. We wondered if there was more to this than meets the eye, but we couldn't figure out anything else. Eventually we did find the right alignment and rocks and when I shot my arrow through them a shrine unborrowed itself from the ground. It took even longer to collect all my arrows, we really should have collected them right after I shot them, but we were kind of impatient and wanted to solve this. We speculated on how Sheikah technology works again, how any sort of technology could recognize that specifically an arrow was shot through both and not two people each shooting through a different rock with great timing or an arrow was shot and it wasn't some fast bug that happened to fly though both.

It was night so Kass, Bossa Nova, and I set up camp. Kass asked if I was sure I didn't want to sleep in the shrine. I told him I was okay now, I could get some sleep, and protect everyone from the Yiga Clan, and skeletons and other monsters. Kass asked for me to sleep tucked under his wing. His feathers are much softer and warmer than any blankets or clothing.

Kass asked me how Sidon was doing. He hadn't seen Sidon since telling him about my looking unwell. He then chuckled and told me I must have had a good time with how I was blushing. He wondered aloud about perhaps writing a song about the love between the great adventurer and Prince of the Zora. I just blushed more. He told me it was kind of obvious though when he saw my new armor piece with Sidon's scale in it. I think Kass took too much joy in flustering me. I asked Kass how his family was doing. He told me they were safe and staying in the village. How he worded it was odd though and I asked about it. It's been too dangerous to fly as of late, everyone is earthbound unless they want to be lit aflame in the sky. I know Kass has his own things to do but I asked him if he could lead me to his village. For now I'm going to sleep while Kass keeps look out, then the moment the sun rises we'll set off.