Chapter Text
Outside of the cool shade of the temple, the sun beats down against Ghirahim’s back. Heat rolls down his shoulders, strokes his spine through the thin fabric of his clothes, bleached glowing pearl in the light, then comes to rest in a coil around his waist. He takes a deep breath he doesn’t need, spreading his arms to invite the warmth to overtake him. The forest fills his lungs, earthy and thick, and he laughs, reveling in it, breathing in again.
Hylia stands as a tower beside him, her hair and wings billowing behind her like a great mass of clouds. She’s all blues and golds, a piece of the sun and sky just barely managing to contain this white spark of lightning from shooting across the forest -- Ghirahim’s eyes are locked on a gnarled tree, with branches sprawling higher than all the rest, and he’s about to snap his fingers to reach it before her hands latch onto his wrists. An indulgent smile graces her lips. “Patience, Ghirahim. Someday, the horizon will be yours to claim with your eyes.”
In the distance, that long, endless blue stretches beyond the trees and over mountains. It’s been days since he last saw the sky; Hylia’s lessons to prepare him for the hero allowed for precious little time to escape the temple’s dull stone walls. Now, back in the light he so craved, he feels his fingers twitching, itching, and he wrenches his hands away from her, exasperation unbidden.
It is Hylia’s turn to laugh. She interrupts his view (yet again, he thinks irritably) by gliding in front of him. Her hand floats down to his cheek, briefly pressing her cool palm against the diamond there, before moving down to his chin, tilting his head up to look at her. Hylia is so tall that Ghirahim has to arch his neck back a little more to face her properly, and the fact irks him more than usual, a grimace tugging down the edges of his mouth.
“How much longer?” He asks, the words jumbling together into one, too excited for pause.
She taps the thin point of his chin with her thumb. “Soon, my child.” She assures him. “Very soon.”