Breath of the Wild: Link and Friends

Chapter 22

Elijah followed behind he group as they walked up to the gate into the city. There was a lone Goron guard holding a big hammer like club on his shoulder. He was easily twice Elijah's height and 4 times as wide. Really quite huge compared to Hylians. But, he had on a slight smile so that was probably a good sign.
"Well, lookee here...welcome, Master Link!" The goron said to Link.
Link visibly started. "How did you know?"
The goron looked confused. "What do ya mean? More importantly, I hope ya made past all those magma bombs without injury!" He shook his head. "To be honest, we haven't had too many visitors here since those magma bombs started fallin' from the sky. I'd be bored to tears if I didn't pass the time pretendin' to greet the long lost Hylian Champion, heh. Oh, in case you didn't know, Link is the little Hylian that fought alongside the Goron Champion, Daruk. If ya wanna hear more, talk to the boss. He lives further in town."
"But...oh, never mind. C'mon guys," Link started, skating his head. He walked past the Goron into the city.
Elijah looked all around as they walked. He could see a bunch of shops like Ripped and Shredded, which looked like an armor shop, Rollin' Inn, and the Goron Gusto Shop. Really, Elijah was looking for the food. He didn't know what Gorons would eat but they had meat simmering off next to one of the shops. Elijah would stop by when he had time. There had to be something interesting in there.
Elijah looked at the town itself. He was currently walking on metal bridges over lava and the city was surrounded by towering rock formations. In fact, the one on Elijah's left looked almost shaped purposely. He stopped on the bridge, looking at it.
It was definitely not natural. Looking at it all, Elijah gasped softly he realized that it was a statue. Multiple. The biggest by far was a bearded Goron with a fierce but happy face. Probably a very important person. Maybe even their Champion of the Divine Beast. It looked realistic, aside from that it was made of rock. Elijah tore his gaze away and focused on where they were going. Link was heading straight for the building in the middle of town. It was big and had a almost paw shaped symbol on it. It was probably where this "boss" lived, the leader of the Gorons. Apparently, they weren't going to the inn to drop off their stuff first. Link was getting down to it. Elijah shrugged and followed them.
As they neared the building, Elijah saw a big, grumpy and kind old looking Goron. He had an enormous beard, and an eye patch over his right eye. There were rocks on his back like a shell and a metal, thick band on his wrist. He looked pretty angry. Elijah instantly did not want to get very close to the guy. He had thick arms that looked like it could squish Elijah like a grape. Link walked right up to him though.
"Drat! That blasted Rudania!" the Goron boss roared, pounding his big fists together.
"What's wrong?" Link asked.
The Goron boss eyed him, as if wondering why a little Hylian was talking to him and whether or not he should squish him. Or maybe that was just Elijah. "With Rudania runnin' wild recently, Death Mountain's eruptions have gotten real bad. Do ya see Rudania stomping around up there on the mountain?" The big goron asked. Link nodded.
Elijah looked up at the mountain. The Beast was closer than was comforting, especially when it could send rocks tumbling down on you.
"They say that 100 years ago, it actually used to protect our people from harm...but that was then, and this is now!" the "boss" said. "Now all it does is mess up our mining operations! We're all suffering because it's stoppin' us from doin' business! I can't tell ya how many times we've used the canon to chase off that fiend. But it ALWAYS COMES BACK!!" The Goron pounded his fists together again and hit the ground and then there was an audible crack. "Arrrgh...youch... owwwowow..."
"Are you ok?" Link asked, looking concerned. He looked worriedly at them all.
"Hmph, it's just some back pain...wait. Who are you?" the Goron leader demanded. So he'd finally thought to ask who they were.
"I'm a traveler," Link answered. Well, that was true.
"I see...so, then, you came all this way to pay your respects to me? I like you already, brother! Well, my names Bludo," he said. "I'm the great Goron Boss who's fearsome enough to silence a crying child! Or to make a silenced child cry, either way." Elijah believed it. "Yes, it is none other than I, Bludo! I was plannin' to drive off Rudania like I always do, but then this blasted back pain flared up outta nowhere..."
He muttered something that Elijah couldn't hear, but Link must have for he said, "Who is Yunobo?"
"Yunobo is a young Goron who helps me drive off Rudania," Bludo explained gruffly. He turned. "He went to grab some painkillers for my back from the Abandoned North Mine, but he hasn't come back yet..." Bludo turned back and muttered, "Slacker...I bet he's off somewhere wastin' time..." Louder, "Hey, if ya happen to see Yunobo, will ya let him know I'm lookin' for him?" There was another crack from Bludo. "Arrrgh...ugh... ouch..."
Elijah took it as a dismissal and turned around, walking to the inn for the city. He glanced behind him, where the others were following. He walked past the Goron who was advertising his inn and walked up to the counter, where another Goron was.
"Hi, sir, me and my friends need beds. How many are open?" Elijah asked.
"Hey, the names Troy. Well, I think we've got 2 open, brother. Not too many travelers come nowadays with that Rudania runnin' around. How many in your group?" Troy asked.
"Four."
"Ah, well, I'll tell you what. You only have to pay for two beds since that's all you're using but the rest of your group can still stay here, that ok?" Troy said.
"Yeah, thanks," Elijah said. He got out 40 rupees and handed them over. He walked away from the counter and put his stuff next to one of the beds. His friends came in, and put their stuff down too. Elyza laid down on one of the beds and seemed to be out in an instant, which was strange considering the beds appeared to be rock with a blanket on top. Elijah turned to go and check out the stores when Link stopped him.
"Hey, Elijah, I'm gonna go find this Yunobo kid. I'll probably need his help to get to Rudania. Just wanted you to know where I was going," Link said.
"Do you want us to come with you?" Zalie asked from behind Link.
He looked back at her. "Nah. I can handle this. I'm capable. I'll be back. You guys can stay here. I'll be gone a while. I'm gonna grab any shrines I can do, so don't wait up for me."
Zalie looked like she wanted to protest but said nothing as Link left the inn. She looked at Elijah, who shrugged. "He can do things by himself. Anyway, wanna come with me? I'm gonna go look at the other shops."
Zalie sighed but nodded. Elijah walked out of the inn, Zalie next to him. He strolled across the metal bridges over to where a shop was selling meat outside. He walked past and into the shop.
Elijah looked along at the wares. Rock salt, special arrows, sugar, and something else. He walked up to it, looking for a label or something. Didn't find any. Elijah turned to the Goron running the shop. "Uh, hey, what is this?"
"Goron spice," the guy said proudly. "I don't like it meself but Hylians like yourself love it. 16 rupees. Pretty strong though, brother. Names Tanko by the way."
"Awesome. This is just the kind of thing I was looking for," Elijah said, grinning as he picked up all the bottles offered. He paused. "Wait. What do you eat?"
"Gorons? Well, brother, we eat rocks. Rock roasts are the BEST. Nothing better, brother," Tanko said.
"You eat rocks? But, wouldn't that, like, I don't know, break your teeth?" Zalie asked, curious.
Tanko laughed hard. Elijah thought it was a valid question. "No, no, sister! We Gorons are made of way stronger stuff! Does your food break your teeth? Nope. Same for us."
"Alright then. I'll take all of the ones you have here," Elijah said, putting the bottles on the counter.
"Great! That'll be 48 rupees, brother," Tanko said. Elijah handed it over and grabbed the jars.
He went back to the inn really fast and dropped the jars off and joined Zalie again and walked to the other shop, Ripped and Shredded. They need better shop names. These ones are weird, Elijah thought.
They walked inside though and looked at the armor they had. It was red and clunky looking and, checking the price tags, very, very expensive.
"Hey, um, what make this armor so special? And expensive?" Elijah asked the guy at the counter.
"That's our Flamebreaker armor. It makes it so you can withstand the heat up here, brother, without any elixir. Mighty useful. The expensive part is because business has been rough lately and it's hard to get the materials to make the armor," the goron said.
"Oh. That makes sense, I guess," Elijah said. He inspected some more but it was too expensive to ever realistically buy so he left the shop. Zalie followed.
"You know, there's not much to do around here is there?" Zalie noted.
"Nope not really. But, I wanna make something with that Goron spice. I bet it's delicious and I could do so much with it. But, I don't have any meat on me," Elijah said.
"Well...I saw some birds around when we were walking here. Maybe we could go hunt some," Zalie suggested.
"Ok, let's do it. I'll go grab our weapons real fast."
Elijah jogged off and snatched there weapons from the inn, passing the still sleeping Elyza. He jogged back out and handed Zalie her serpentine spear. Elijah strapped his sword in and together they left the city, walking back along the trail.
They hadn't walked far when Zalie spotted a red and gray bird off to the side. It was big as birds go and looked meaty. Elijah smiled and motioned for Zalie to crouch down with him so they could sneak up on it. They moved forward slowly and Elijah prepared to grab the soon to be dead bird. Zalie snuck right up behind it and struck faster than Elijah could see. The bird, now dead, was indeed juicy looking. Elijah picked it up by its feet. He grinned at Zalie who smiled back. They turned around and walked back to the city.
Elijah and Zalie went to the inn the drop their weapons off and found that Elyza had woken up. The rock bed must have been really uncomfortable. She still looked tired but she smiled when they walked in.
"Where were you guys?" Elyza asked.
"Looking around and grabbing some stuff for dinner," Elijah answered.
"Elijah found some good spices here and wanted to try them. We were just hunting," Zalie added.
"Nice. Sounds good. Where's Link?"
"Went to go find that Yunobo guy Bludo mentioned. Said he'd be back late probably because he was gonna do some shrines if he found them," Elijah replied, grabbing a jar of the Goron spice to use. He was thinking some curry would be fantastic with this. He was pretty sure he had some rice stored in his bag. He knelt down to look for it in his stuff.
"Oh, so just him went?" Elyza confirmed.
"Well, we can't really go into shrines with him. We'd just sit there anyway," Zalie said, sitting on Elyza's bed.
Oh, come on. I know it's in here, Elijah thought, groping (for definitions sake, groping means to grab blindly, people) and feeling inside his bag.
"Well, yeah, but I'd feel more comfortable if someone went with him," Elyza said.
"You were kinda out in an instant Elyza," Elijah said, emptying his bag onto the floor. Ah! There it is! Elijah grabbed the sealed bag where he kept the rice, and picked up the jar of spice and the dead bird. "Ok, ready to go make food! Anyone wanna help?"
"I will!" Zalie said. She jumped up and helped Elijah carry all the stuff. "Coming with us Elyza?"
"Sure, I guess," she said. She stood and they all walked over to a cooking pot that Elijah had spotted earlier.
Elijah handed the bird to the girls to de-feather while he poured some water, from his big canteen he kept for the purpose, into the pot and dumped the rice in. He opened the spice jar and stuck a finger in to get some of the spice on his finger. He tasted it. Yup. That was pretty spicy. Elijah's eyes started to water a bit. Well, it would go well with the curry. Prime poultry curry. It even sounded good.
Elijah scooped out some of the spice with a spoon from his bag and put it in the pot with the rice. It'd soak up right nice. He stirred it a bit. The girls finished with the bird and handed it to Elijah. He sliced off some chunks and put it in the pot. (I'll be honest, not sure how to make curry so just go with me here.) It sizzled appropriately, and smelled really good. The girls were trying the Goron spice and Zalie looked like she was crying but it was just the spicyness.
"Wow, this is really strong," she said, waving her hands as if trying to cool herself down.
Elijah grinned. He stirred the curry some more, deemed it done, and grabbed some bowls from his cooking bag and served up some curry for them all. "Enjoy! It's prime poultry curry!"
He took a bite of his own bowl and savored the flavor. He was definitely gonna get as much of this spice as he could. Elyza looked like she absolutely loved it by the way she was shoveling it in, but Zalie was taking small bites, like she was trying to get used to it.
Elijah smiled. He really loved cooking. It was just fun to see reactions to flavors and it reminded him of simpler times. When he didn't have to worry about anything but the harvests on the farm. When he could run under the stars in the fields with Elyza and listen to stories of faraway places. Elijah's father had been a trader before settling down and had gone all over Hyrule. Mom knew lots of lore and so they would often tell about them over a warm meal. He sighed. Those had been the days. Now it was constant going in order to save Hyrule. At least he got to see all the places Dad had told him about. Made him feel closer to his dad.
Elyza nudged him. "Whatcha thinking about?"
"Home. Mom and Dad. Before all this," Elijah sighed. Elyza nodded. She didn't press him further and they finished their bowls. He turned though as he heard footsteps.
"Hey, guys," Link greeted tiredly. He was holding a wicked cool boomerang that looked a little battered. "Hope you saved some for me."
"Of course!" Zalie said, jumping up and grabbing Link a bowl and filling it. She handed it to him and he started to eat. He seemed really tired but not particularly hurt.
"You good?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah. Just a bunch of lizalfos shooting at me. Lots of dodging," Link answered between bites. "I also did a shrine so...you know, I'm pretty tired. I'm gonna probably tackle Rudania tomorrow so, I'm going head to bed. I'll take the floor so don't worry." Link set his bowl down, stood, and walked away. Elyza stood too and went after him.
Elijah glanced at Zalie who laughed. "I guess we're on dishes duty, Elijah."
Elijah shook his head and picked up the bowls. Zalie followed and so they walked out of the city but a different way. Elijah had seen on Link's map that there were springs over here. They went quickly and made it there and washed the bowls off in the hot water. It was getting darker so they hurried back to Goron City and packed all the food stuff up.
Link was on the ground asleep, and Elyza was settling down. Elijah whispered that Zalie could have the bed and set his bedroll out. He was tired but it was so hot. Elijah sat upright.
"Hey, did everyone have a fireproof elixir so we don't burn in our sleep?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah. Me and Link anyway. You need to," Elyza yawned. She pointed to her bag lazily and looked like she fell asleep just then. She started snoring softly.
Zalie hopped up and grabbed two and handed one to Elijah and they both drank. Elijah felt the effects immediately and felt cool enough that he could fall asleep.
He put the bottle to the side and laid down and closed his eyes. It was still hard to sleep because he swore he could feel Rudania stomping up on the volcano but he eventually drifted off into unconsciousness.