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Zelda is wary about getting close to Death Mountain the next morning.
“Ganondorf has been playing with it the whole time we’ve been here,” she whispers as they follow Yunobo across the Bridge of Eldin, downing an extra-strength fireproof elixir. “Rudania is probably in its base mode which might mean meteors in the next few minutes, and now with the Master Sword burning me-”
“We’re right next to a volcano,” he whispers back. “All of my swords get hot.”
“But do the hilts burn you?”
“No, but the Master Sword did when I first-”
“I know that-” So she does know where the burns come from- “-but I picked it up Before to take it to the Deku Tree and there was no issue. What changed?”
He thinks, Fi?
The voice in the Master Sword is silent.
(Great. So she can show him his dead father who he barely remembers but not answer an important question?)
I apologize, Master, Fi then whispers in response, sounding almost confused when she adds, I…cannot answer your question.
He frowns. What? “Why the hell not?”
“What is it?” Zelda asks.
“She said she can’t answer my question,” he tells her. “Why not, Fi?”
I… The Master Sword buzzes on his back. I’m…sorry, Master, I do not know.
“Anything?” Zelda prompts.
Link shakes his head. “She doesn’t know.”
“We’re here!” Yunobo announces, stopping in the middle of the path. “Rudania’s right above us!”
Zelda looks up, craning her neck and squinting from the sunlight. “How do you and the other Gorons get up there?”
“We…don’t?”
Link stares at him. “Yunobo, we told you we need to get inside Rudania.”
“I know, but you’re so good at puzzles I thought you could figure it out for us!”
Zelda opens her mouth, then shuts it, the corners of her lips twitching up.
“Um…” Link glances up to where Rudania, silhouetted by the sun, glares down at them. “All right.”
If he were alone, he could just climb up the side of Death Mountain no problem. But Zelda knows how to read the slate to see if Rudania has the same problem as Ruta, and if it really does need a pilot to function again, Yunobo is quite possibly the only eligible candidate. They need to see if the Divine Beast even accepts his entry before bringing up the idea.
“Zelda,” he says, a plan forming in his head. “Can I have the slate?”
She hands it to him. “What for?”
“Here, Yunobo,” he pulls up the map and zooms in on Death Mountain, to where the warp for Rudania is still available. He gives the slate to the Goron. “Tap on the Divine Beast. You’ll teleport up to it.”
“Will it hurt?” he asks, frowning as he holds his finger over the screen.
“No, but you might get a little dizzy.”
“What about you guys?”
Link just smiles, taking the paraglider off his belt. “We’ll meet you up there. Shout to us so we know you’re okay.”
Yunobo taps the screen, and begins to dematerialize into blue strings. He yelps, shaking his arm as it lifts into the sky, and the rest of him disappears with a terrified, “Wait wait wait-!“
The blue strings plummet back down onto Rudania, and there’s silence. Then-
“I’m alive, goro!”
Zelda laughs, covering her mouth. “I don’t think that was very nice, not telling him how the teleportation works.”
Link shrugs. “He’s brave. It would’ve been mean if this was before he faced Rudania with me.”
Then he steps towards her and curves an arm around her waist, tugging her his way. Zelda’s hands land on his shoulders as she stumbles towards him, he tightens his grip to keep her on her feet, and their faces are close.
He can’t help it. He leans in and kisses her.
(He hasn’t had the chance to kiss her like this in a while. They were either too focused on traveling or surrounded by too many strangers to do anything beyond grazing hands and pecks on the cheek.)
“Hi,” he tells her once they pull apart.
“Hi,” she says, breathless. “What’s the occasion?”
“No occasion,” he smiles again. “I also need you super close to me for my idea to work.”
“What’s the idea?”
He shows her the paraglider in his other hand. “Revali’s going to give us a lift.”
Zelda blinks. “You’re serious?”
“What, you don’t think it’ll work?”
“Is the Gale even strong enough to lift the both of us that high? Maybe there’s another-”
“We’ll find out together. Hug me.”
“Wait-”
“Revali? We need a big one.”
“Link wait-”
Wind rushes at them from the ground, roaring and puffing out Zelda’s shirt. She shouts, grabbing him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
“What if my power surges?!” she yells in his ear.
“Try not to think about it!” he yells back, readying the paraglider, holding it in both of his hands. “Ready?!”
Link hears her say, “Ready!” and snaps the paraglider open above their heads. They rocket into the sky and Zelda shrieks, bracketing her legs around his waist and crossing her ankles at his lower back. She tightens her hold on his neck and digs her nails into his nape, squeezing him close, her face buried in his shoulder.
(That doesn’t seem very ready of her. Did he hear her wrong?)
They soar high above Death Mountain, flinging past Rudania and Yunobo, who’s distant, “Whoa!” barely reaches Link’s ears.
Now they’re hovering in the silent air, suspended by the strength of Revali’s spirit, Hyrule sprawled out beneath them. In the distance, the Deku Tree’s petals peek out through the fog of the Lost Woods, and the other three Divine Beasts are still standing on their perches, Naboris and Medoh black blobs against the horizon while Ruta glows orange. The Great Plateau is so tiny, and the empty castle is nothing but a dark stain on the lush green of Hyrule Field.
“Zelda,” he says, taking in the view that never gets old. “Look.”
She lifts her head from his shoulder and gasps.
“We’re so high up,” she breathes, her death grip on his body only getting tighter when he spins them around so she can see the rest of her kingdom. “Is…that Naboris over there? And Medoh?”
Link nods. “It won’t take as long as you think to go all the way to the other side. Especially on the Master Cycle.”
“How many days?”
“Five, I think? Maybe six or seven if we stop.”
The Gale starts to falter. Link tilts them out of it and they slowly drift to the top of Rudania where Yunobo waits.
“Link?” Zelda asks as they descend, staring at him, the wind blowing any hair that escaped from her ponytail out of her face.
“Yeah?”
She kisses him.
“Thank you,” she whispers, leaning her forehead against his. “For trying to help me through all of this chaos. I don't know how I would have managed without you here."
"Of course," he whispers back.
"I know you're dealing with, um, 'Bad Days' of your own," she continues, albeit a little awkwardly. "And I want you to know you can talk to me about it, if you need. I feel like we've been focusing on me this whole time when-"
"I'm okay," he tells her. "For now, at least. It's nothing I can't handle."
(Did she know his father? Did he have a mother? A brother or a sister? Did he have any pets? Who was his family? Are there any second-removed cousins or nieces and nephews out there in the Wild who've heard stories about him?)
They touch down on top of Rudania, next to where Yunobo waits beside the main terminal that spawned Fireblight, gently holding the Sheikah Slate in his large hands.
“This started glowing orange when I got close,” he tells them, pointing to the terminal and passing the slate to Zelda. “I swear I didn’t touch it.”
(His stuff can wait until they’re on the road, right? If he follows his own advice and tries not to think about it?)
Zelda frowns down at the slate. “It’s just like Ruta. Weak readings, no malice, and its base functions are active.”
Link sighs. “So this means we’ll need new pilots at Naboris and Medoh, too.”
She nods. “Most likely. Are there any people you’ve met who could be possible candidates for these three while Sidon works on persuading his father?”
“Candidates?” Yunobo repeats. “For piloting the Divine Beasts? Like Lord Daruk and the other Champions?”
“Yes,” Link tells him. “And I was thinking you could be the one to take your grandfather’s place.”
The young Goron stares at him for a long moment. Then his eyes widen and, “Wait, you’re serious? Me? Take his place?”
“Who else?”
“One of the Goron Brothers, or one of the guards that kept us safe from the meteor showers, or-or even Boss himself! Definitely not me!”
“Why not?” Zelda asks.
“Because...” he looks between them, then he shrinks where he stands, hunching his shoulders and bowing his head, fiddling with his hands in front of his chest. “Because I’m not strong enough, or brave enough, or-”
“Enough in general?” she quietly finishes, expression softening. “I understand that.”
“How? You’re…you. You’re Princess Zelda!”
(Link can’t stop his smile.)
She frowns. “You know what happened a hundred years ago, don’t you, Yunobo?”
“Of course I do!”
“Then you already know how I understand.”
“But you were enough! You tried your best and-”
“Exactly,” Link cuts him off. “All we’re asking you to do is try. Besides, Rudania is the one that decides who her pilot is, no matter what anybody says.”
“We’re not going to force you,” Zelda tells him. “Daruk himself only volunteered because no one else was brave enough to do it. The other Gorons all but shoved him into that sash you’re wearing.”
Yunobo looks down at himself, lightly touching his sash. “Really?”
“Really?” Link repeats, just as confused. “In my memories and his journal he seemed eager to fight the Calamity. He was the best warrior out of all of the Gorons, wasn’t he?”
Zelda chuckles. “He was a good fighter, but he wasn’t the best. He once told me he was terrified every time he picked up Boulder Breaker, and that the confidence he showed was to make his family feel better about him leaving. I’m sure some of it was real, though. He loved to insult the monsters.”
“So…” Yunobo looks at her. “Lord Daruk was like me? He was scared all of the time, too?”
She smiles. “Yes. Despite his fear, he was always ready to put his life on the line for his people. I think that’s why the Goddesses blessed him with his Protection, even before he was placed into his role as a Champion. They knew he was destined to be Hyrule’s shield.”
“Hyrule’s shield,” Yunobo quietly echoes.
“Think about it,” she says. “Link and I are leaving tomorrow morning, so you have the rest of today and tonight. And if you take longer to decide, we can always come back.”
Zeldas have always had a way with words, Fi tells Link, humming on his back. They are natural born leaders.
“Hyrule’s shield,” Yunobo says again, turning his head and looking at the glowing control terminal.