God Games: A Legend of Zelda

Mount Lanayru

About half of the route to Mount Lanayru overlapped with the road they'd taken to the Temple of Time from Hateno, and as a result, Arn and Zelda expected it to be uneventful.

Arn was in the middle of recounting a time he'd accidentally encountered a Sheikah Guardian in a forest. "- and so I ducked behind a tree, and-"

Zelda shrieked and Safflina reared, neighing and backing up, as something red and black leapt into the path.

In a heartbeat, Arn launched himself forward, drawing his sword.

Hissing and squirming, a black and red lizard the size of a hunting hound stood in the road, baring misty fangs.

Arn let out one short huff before feinting once, making the lizard leap out of his way. He did it again, before the lizard could attack, and then again, and then he slammed the tip of his sword through the lizard's eye.

Zelda managed to rein in Safflina and sighed in relief as the lizard vaporized.

"What was that?" Arn asked, looking up at her.

"I'm not sure," Zelda said, looking around at the bushes, and she shuddered.

The ride became much quieter after this. There was an unspoken hope that if they didn't draw any attention to themselves, nothing else would find them. Also unspoken was the question of where a blatantly demonic beast had come from in the first place.

They crossed Lake Siela, skirted the Pillars of Levia, and followed the canyon north to Kakariko.

Zelda pulled her hood up as they approached the gate.

"You don't want to be recognized?" Arn checked.

"No," Zelda said. "If I remain concealed, perhaps whoever took Link won't catch wind that we're after them."

"As you wish. Do you have a cover name in mind?" Arn asked, smirking a little.

Zelda narrowed her eyes at him.

"What? I'm serious," Arn said.

Zelda thought about that, and then replied, "Tetra."

Arn nodded. "Alright then, Tetra. Are we stopping for food and supplies?"

Zelda raised an eyebrow at his unquestioning acceptance of the name and role, but decided she appreciated it. "We should, but if I go to see Impa, word will spread. So, stores and apple trees only."

Arn nodded and slowed his horse from a trot to a walk.

The duo passed through Kakariko without any signs of being recognized, and rode into the mountains, following a canyon east towards Lanayru Promenade.

"... you know," Arn commented casually as they reached the base of the mountain, "I should've brought thicker socks."

Zelda looked at him, staring in disbelief, trying to tell if he was serious. He looked back at her with a very dry, slightly tired look on his face. Zelda promptly burst out laughing.

"Let's go," she said, chuckling and shaking her head as she dismounted her horse.

Arn stared up at the mountain with the same slightly mournful, doofy expression, then dismounted as well and patted Truffles before following Zelda.

Zelda remembered intensely disliking the experience of climbing Mount Lanayru on her seventeenth birthday. It turned out, very little had changed in the last century: it was cold, it was windy, it was icy, and the climb was slow.

At least she wasn't wearing sandals and a sleeveless dress this time- though, last time, as she recalled, Link had given her his cloak. She recalled him pulling her out of the spring early, her trembling from cold, and him refusing to let her go until she was warm and he was sure frostbite wouldn't take hold. He'd given her his cloak, jacket, and boots, and started a fire to dry her dress as quickly as possible.

The memory made Zelda's eyes water- or maybe that was the wind. She quickly rubbed away the tears and began to climb faster. She'd disappeared and left him to try to reach her twice now; she wouldn't fail him now that he was in that terrible place.

She growled to herself as a chunk of ice dislodged under one of her hands, quickly shifting to find a secure hold.

They finally approached the spring. Zelda could barely feel her fingers and she couldn't stop shivering, but she pulled her cloak farther around herself and stepped into the mist.

Water flowed around Zelda's feet, cool and slow. She took a deep breath, clearing her head and preparing herself. Arn placed a hand on her shoulder, looking at her with concern.

"I can handle it," she assured Arn quietly, though she didn't feel at all confident.

Hylia was one thing. She was known as a gentle presence, one of light- one who communicated with Hylians and was on their side. But the Triforce goddesses, the embodiments of the elements? They were much more unpredictable, picking and choosing their favorite mortals.

As the mist shifted and cleared just ahead of her, Zelda stepped onto a stony platform in the center of the water, slick with frost. She looked around, seeing nothing there. One glance off the far edge and she shuddered- a waterfall shrouded in impenetrable mists. Her breath matched them, clouding the icy air, and subconsciously she hugged herself.

Something in the air shifted, and with certainty Zelda knew Nayru was nearby. Her eyes scoured the gathering mists, and she spotted the fog shifting in one small area. She narrowed her eyes, and began to make out a shape, a pocket in the fog.

Zelda bowed. "Nayru," she called out. "I see you."

The mist swirled together into a pillar of water, and then solidified into Nayru.

The goddess was tall and slender, almost delicate in appearance. The sleek gossamer layers of her apparel flowed seamlessly into the water and vapor floating about her feet, and her hair was cropped shorter even than Zelda's. Her garb and being appeared so fair as to be nigh translucent.

"Zelda of Hyrule," she greeted the princess. "You've a keen eye."

"Thank you," Zelda said, unsure of where to go from there. "Lady Nayru, I would not impose if I did not feel the situation was dire."

"Link has been taken," Nayru nodded. "You need the power to find and retrieve him, and so you approach us for aid."

"I do," Zelda said. "He vanished without a trace. I tried to- to find some way to track him, but that's not the purpose of the sealing power, so it's done me no good. Please, I- he's saved Hyrule twice. He's saved me more times than I can recall. He's worked so hard and so long, he deserves to be safe, to have a single moment of rest without one of us having to go and- and vanish off the face of Hyrule!"

Zelda stopped herself and swallowed, the tips of her ears warming- she hoped that wasn't frostbite setting in. "My apologies, Lady Nayru, I forgot myself for a moment."

"To use genuine pathos in a persuasion attempt rather than attempt to sway by facts or logic with a being that knows more of the facts than you do is a perfectly reasonable approach," Nayru stopped her. "There is even a certain wisdom to it." She smiled and placed both hands on Zelda's upper arms. "Young princess, I have always stood with you. With encouragement, your quick mind and selfless heart can grow to boundless wisdom- but not if your heartbreaks continue unchecked, I believe. When you go to retrieve Link, the waters will go with you."

Zelda stood even straighter with a relieved sigh. "I cannot express the depths of my gratitude, Lady Nayru."

"I advise you see Farore next," Nayru added. "She will try you, but she will not be nearly so difficult as Din. If you can persuade her, your chances with Din will be much better."

"I had thought that might be the case," Zelda agreed, "and had planned on that precise course of action. Thank you again, for your wisdom."

Nayru smiled, and her peculiar paleness faded into the mists.

They thickened around Zelda, and for a moment she held perfectly still, afraid one wrong step might send her over the waterfall. When the mists cleared, she stood in the shallows at the Shrine of Wisdom once again- she'd barely noticed she'd been transported someplace else, what with all the fog.

"Zelda," Arn said quietly, "is everything alright? The mist- you disappeared, just for a moment, like a blink."

"I'm fine," Zelda assured him as she stepped out of the frigid pool, and she smiled brightly. "Better than fine. The goddess of wisdom is on our side."