Can You Teach Me?

Can You Teach Me How to Climb?

They were on their way back from Zora's domain. The air was warm, but a cool breeze blew through the air. In other words, it was a wonderful ride home. Link and Zelda were having a conversation about the dinner they had been served the night prior.

"I'm only saying," Zelda said, "I am unsure of what sea beans are."

"They're delicious, that's what."

"Are they even a legume? They were certainly a different hue than any legume I've ever seen."

"What's a legume?"

"It's a food group. Beans, peanuts, lentils... you know, legumes."

"Oh... hmmm... Yeah, I think they were legumes. They are beans, after all."

"They didn't look like beans."

"Neither do lentils."

"But at least lentils aren't claiming to be beans. Sea beans just feel... deceptive."

"Huh. I hadn't— Look!" Link interrupted himself and pointed up the cliff. On top sat a big hearty radish. "I'm going to go get it."

"Are you sure?" Zelda asked, "We can't take the horses up the cliff."

"I'll just climb it."

"It's very steep... What if—" she paused. "Are... are you putting on different shoes?"

"Yeah. They're my climbing shoes."

"And different pants?"

"Yeah. They're my climbing pants."

"Right over your other pants?"

"Yeah."

Link seemed to find nothing odd about this, so Zelda pretended she didn't, either. As a princess, she had to pick and choose her battles both literally and figuratively. With Link, a battle she chose to pick was 'please stop leaving your diary open on the table because it makes me want to read it and I have the ability to stop myself, but you write very big and sometimes I see a sentence without trying to and feel bad for several hours and you can easily stop this by just closing it or putting it back on the shelf.'

(The sentences she had seen in his diary included, but were not limited to, 'I saw a big frog today. Like, the size of my head,' 'I'm so happy Zelda didn't see me fall in that mud,' and 'Why are there so many holes in an ocarina, anyway?')

A battle she chose not to pick was figuring out why Link made the choices he made. He had changed over the 100 years. It was only natural. He wasn't different enough to be a whole new person. But having lost his memories, he lost that which was holding him back. He had grown freer, more joyful, more... was it wrong to say feral? No, she didn't think so.

"Pants over pants. Shoes with no socks. Not at all odd. We are in agreement," she said.

Link hoisted one foot up onto the rock and began climbing. He was on top of the cliff in a snap, and jumped down, perhaps recklessly, without the paraglider.

"Oooo, what a large radish. It will be a splendid in a salad. Or perhaps a kabob."

"Or we can eat it like this!"

"Wouldn't that be bitter? And it wouldn't be as healthy."

"You're right. We'll make something with it."

On the rest of the journey, Zelda thought about how Link had climbed the steep cliff so swiftly. She could climb a bit, but only about a foot high, and not nearly so effortlessly or with such speed. She felt an urge to become better at it, so she could match Link's skill.

"Can you teach me how to climb rocks?"

"Can't you already climb rocks?"

"I can climb less than one radish high."

"Ah, okay. Sure! I can show you on the way to Lurelin tomorrow, if you want. There are plenty of cliffs on the way."

___________________________________________________________________________

It had been a fortnight since Zelda had decided to improve her climbing skills, and she was getting bored of waiting. Finally, the weather was clear and Link had found a cliff he thought was adequate.

The clothes were more comfortable than the gown she had worn to name Link a champion, and less comfortable than most anything else she had ever worn. The fabric was what Granté described as 'medium soft' and what Lasli, upon being asked if Enchanted sold them, called 'totally icky'.

The climbing gear was Sheikah-made, woven from a fabric that didn't exist anymore. It was more expensive than Link's house, but money was no object. Still, she thought it best to save the money and borrow Link's set. He could climb in normal clothes just fine, and she'd be doing most of the climbing anyway.

It was unfortunate that Link had been in an emo phase when he acquired the clothing, and while the phase had lasted a week at the most, his clothes had all been dyed black. Most of them were back to their normal hues, but he hadn't gotten around to changing the climbing gear. He also had eyeliner left over, but neither of them used it, so it lay forgotten under the sink.

The cliff Link had taken her to was about 19 Links tall, and 20.2 Zeldas tall. It was not a good form of measurement, but life does not always go one's way.

"Okay, so," Link said from the top of the cliff, "You just go like that."

"You're forgetting something," Zelda called up to him, "I have no idea what you did to do that. It was a lovely show, but I have learned nothing."

"Oh, dang. Okay, one second." He jumped off the cliff and paraglided down. "Maybe we should start smaller. I don't want this to be like when I taught you about fighting that time."

"Yes, avoiding that outcome would be ideal."

"I know a better cliff. Let's go there instead. Then if you fall, you won't get as injured. Here if you fall, you'd get super injured."

Zelda wondered why he had picked this cliff in the first place, then. She supposed everyone had their dim moments. Her most recent one was asking Link to teach her how to climb rocks.

The cliff in question was behind their house. It was more the side of a hill than a cliff, but it was good for beginners and close enough to go inside if anyone got hurt.

"Much better," she said. "Now if I get hurt, I will not be maimed."

"You have to jump up like this—" he did a small jump onto the cliff. "You put your foot on the rock like this—" he placed his foot on one of the ledges. "Then you put your other foot up here like this. Make sure to look for the ridges. They give you better grip. Then with your hands, find a ledge or a ridge and use it to pull yourself up. The clothes will make it easier."

Zelda jumped onto the cliff, placing one foot onto a ridge and one hand on another. "I'm doing it! I'm a turnip high, but I got here much faster than usual."

"Nice job!"

"Now how do I get higher?"

"Now you take one of your feet and lift it up, then put it onto a higher ledge."

"Alright." She took a deep breath and raised her foot to a new ledge. "Now what?"

"Now repeat that with the other foot."

"And now?"

"Just keep doing that until you get to the top!"

Zelda climbed and climbed until she got tired. She took a fried staminoka bass from her pocket and ate it. It was as if her energy was back in an instant. She continued climbing until she was at the top.

"You did it!" Link cheered from the bottom, "Now paraglide down and we'll celebrate!"

She jumped off the cliff and opened the paraglider. It was going terribly slowly, so she put it up and fell, then took it out again at the last moment. Link's mouth would have fallen open has he been that sort of person (ie the sort of person who opens their mouth when surprised). "Can you teach me how to do that?"