So I don't forget again

Entry 179: Pondo's Lodge

Kass made sure I said my goodbyes to everyone before leaving. Apparently, he had been keeping a close eye on me so I wouldn't just disappear like I usually do from towns, he even gave me a little note to remind me to say goodbye to people. I think before now, the only person I usually said goodbye too when leaving a place is Sidon, but that's because he usually sees me off. I guess saying goodbye is better than not. Even if I don't say it, that doesn't guarantee we'll meet again, I'm sure I never told Mipha and Daruk goodbye, but they're definitely gone forever.

Amali made sure to send me off with a few extra portions of food for the trip and gave me another bundle of arrows since I was running out. She also told me to not be a stranger and to visit soon.

Kass had also given me one other thing before going. When I was gone Kass thought to look through his teacher's belongings again, and he found something. It's like the frozen moments of the Shikah slate but it's physical, like a painting. It's of me, and Dahruk, and Mipha, and Rivali and Urbosa and Zelda. He told me that he thought I was it's rightful owner, and that if I'd like too, I could take it, but if it was too emotionally heavy for me, I could leave it and come back whenever I feel ready.

I

I don't know what I feel about it, but it's a lot. I am glad Kass gave it to me. I'm glad we seemed to be good comrades, yet I just hurt. a lot.

But I'm the last one, I have to carry on their memory, for their sake. I don't want to ignore them anymore I already did so for a little more than a hundred years. They are an undeniable part of me. I'm not going to forget them, and let them die again.

Bossa Nova and I found this little path not marked on any maps. At the end is a little log cabin. The path caught my eye because there are carvings of moose on poles, which clearly are new, or much newer than any ruins at least. Pondo, the guy who lives there calls me "kiddums" I've been called lots of things, but that was certainly a first. Much of the day was spent fighting monsters so it was already evening when we got there and Pondo offered for us to stay the night. With the sun already setting in this was very much appreciated.

Fire can only last for so long and keep you so warm so he showed me a game he made up to keep warm. He told me I'm sweet for showing interest. He also makes snow puns! Basically you roll a snowball down a hill, as it rolls it gets bigger and bigger, gathering more snow, and at the end of the hill are these pins it can knock down. No matter how many times I tried though I never hit any, but it certainly warmed me up! I made dinner as thanks for letting him stay for the night. He told me the company was enough, as much as he loved the solitude, it was nice to have a visitor.

He's very good at carving and art in general. He says the quiet helps him get lost in his craft and not get distracted by how noisy towns could be. I can see that, living in towns, there's always so much to do. It's a busy life, but a nice one.

We're only a little past Hebra Tower. Soon we'll be off the grid on the Sheikah Slate map. Thankfully I got some more but now I have so many maps, I keep mixing them up, and I have to open all of them in order to find the right one. On top of that we'll be nearing the castle, I have to be careful.

I can't sleep. I find I just keep looking at the frozen moment. Do I have more memories of them locked away? Were we friends? I doubt it, but... It's okay. I have others to fight for. And even if we were never friends, They still deserve to be avenged and to have protected this land and people they held dear. I can at least try to fulfill their final wishes.