Zelda had decided that they were going to walk to Goron City after the morning's slight detour to the Temple of Time. They had gone with Robbie, who was conducting another survey of the Shrine of Resurrection, to visit the temple and hopefully find something to help with the process of unlocking Zelda's sealing powers. Nothing had happened, like Zelda had expected. At least they hadn't had to walk all the way out to the Great Plateau.

Sheik hadn't voiced any complaints about Zelda's questionable decision, of course, but Hylia above this had to be some form of cruel and unusual punishment. He hadn't bothered to give the Hero a visual check since they'd left the plateau, so Sheik had no idea how he was managing. And he didn't particularly care, either. Let the Hero's feet get blistered. It would serve him right.

Oddly enough, Her Royal Genius didn't seem to be too affected by the walk. Actually, she almost looked like she was enjoying it, considering the slight bounce she had in her step. Though that was almost certainly due to the fact that she held the Sheikah Slate and was outside of the castle.

"My father said that Daruk is having some trouble controlling Vah Rudania." Zelda said cheerfully, her eyes on the screen of the Sheikah Slate. It was currently displaying the map, a function that Purah had only recently discovered. It depicted Hyrule's surroundings in a monotone light brown color, and their destination of Goron City was marked by a red square. "I already have some ideas for how I can adjust the controls in order for him to manage it as easily as possible, but I've based it all on what I saw in Vah Medoh. For all I know, Vah Rudania's controls could be completely different!"

Right now, it seemed more like she was talking to herself, so Sheik declined to jump into the conversation when she paused for breath. Instead, he opted to scan their surroundings, since it had been roughly fifteen minutes since his last thorough look. He and the Hero had agreed that two of them watching the princess at all times was a bit redundant, so logically they could split the job of watching her and the world around her. Sheik had opted to watch everything else, because he was reasonably certain that he could do a better job at it than the Hero could. Of course, he could do the whole job by himself, so naturally he would excel at only needing to do one half of it.

Today was another bright and sunny day. There was less of a breeze than there had been on their ride to Rito Village, so as a result it felt a bit hotter. The trees here had white bark flecked with brown. A couple feet behind the trio, there was a tree that was completely devoid of leaves. Beneath their feet, the grey cobblestones of the road were partially hidden by grass growing between the stones.

Satisfied that there were no assassins lying in wait, Sheik returned his attention to Zelda and the path ahead of them.

"Obviously we have much more to learn about the Divine Beasts. It's really quite exciting!" Zelda glanced over her shoulder and cast a grin back at the two of them. It was rare to see her so... unguarded was probably the right word. Since he'd come back to the castle, Sheik had been struck by just how private she kept her emotions now. Of course, it hadn't taken long before he figured out how to read her like a book again (some things never changed, as his discussion with her yesterday had proved) but the difference was still noticeable. "I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to build them in the first place. The ancient Sheikah really were almost wizards with technology."

"It is pretty incredible." Sheik said, keeping his tone carefully neutral. Even so, his right hand balled into a fist at his side as he continued speaking. "And of course the treatment they received from the King was even more incredible."

Zelda faltered in her step. "The King was wrong to demand that the Sheikah destroy it and vow never to build anything so advanced ever again. His fear led to the destruction of so many documents that could have helped us now. And, in many ways, a large part of Sheikah culture was lost."

"Decisions made out of fear never do anything but harm others." Sheik forced his hand to lie flat against his side once more.

"He's right." the Hero unexpectedly chipped in. Sheik stared at him in shock, partially because he had spoken and partially because he was agreeing with him. "But. It happened. And we can't change the past."

"We only have control over our future." Zelda finished the quote from a hero from Hyrule's past and glanced back at the two knights again. "But, each day, we learn more about the ancient technology just by studying it. And hopefully we can restore some of what was lost in time for us to master the Divine Beasts and the Guardians before the Calamity arrives... otherwise we will never be able to triumph over Ganon."

They walked in an uncomfortable silence for a bit longer. The very mention of the Calamity was enough to completely kill Zelda's mood, as usual. She hadn't outright told Sheik anything about her struggles with the sacred power yet- all that he knew was from second hand sources. It was enough for him to put the little pieces of her behavior together, though. Sure, this was a slow process, but it was better than being completely oblivious.

Suddenly, Zelda stopped, forcing the two knights to stop walking as well. She lowered the Sheikah Slate to her side and turned ever so slightly over her left shoulder to look at the Hero. "If we cannot get control of the Guardians or the Divine Beasts, you are our last hope."

The Hero's jaw tightened ever so slightly, which was the only outward shift in his expression that Sheik could see. He really was quite talented at maintaining a poker face. Annoyingly talented, that is.

"You and that sword on your back must stand against the Calamity either way."

"I'm aware, Princess." He locked eyes with her and the corner of his mouth twitched downwards. "If it was up to me. I wouldn't be anywhere. Near this sword."

"How well can you wield it?" Zelda asked tiredly.

"I'm considered. To be one of. The best swordsmen. In Hyrule. I can wield. This sword. That's not. The problem."

"Then what is?" Sheik snapped, unable to control his temper for a moment.

The Hero looked at him then. His icy blue eyes met Sheik's fiery red, and he was surprised to see barely controlled anger burning there. "It's none of your business."

Sheik was about to respond with something sarcastic, Zelda's presence be damned, when she sighed and said "According to legend, an ancient spirit inhabits the sword as a voice to guide the bearer. Tell me, Hero, can you hear it yet?"

Zelda gave him enough of an opportunity to answer, but he didn't. He just stayed stubbornly silent. Which was more of an answer than his words ever could be, really. After she realized he wasn't going to answer, she sighed quietly and started walking forward again.

It was going to be a long afternoon at this rate. They still had at least four hours until they reached the stable at the base of Death Mountain, where they had all decided to stop for the night before making the final push towards the city.

-/-/-/-

They finally arrived at the stable at midnight. There had been far too much walking for Sheik's liking, even though he was in excellent shape. He could only imagine how Zelda must feel, since she probably wasn't as active as he was. Bookish people never were, really. The sun had long since set, and Sheik had never been more glad to see the cloth and wire model of a horse's head that each stable was topped with. This stable wasn't too busy at this time of day, because most people were already in bed.

"Link, will you make sure we have enough fireproof elixirs to last for the duration of our trip?" Zelda asked. The Hero nodded tersely in response. Evidently he was still angry about earlier. Sheik couldn't exactly blame him, but it did serve him right. "Great. Thank you." She unhooked the Sheikah Slate from her belt and handed it to the Hero. Then she turned to Sheik and said "Sheik, I want to talk to you."

A little confused, Sheik followed her to the back of the stable. She gestured for him to sit down, which his poor feet very much appreciated, and sighed. For a moment, he didn't think she was going to explain why she wanted to talk to him, so he was about to say something to start the conversation when she held up a hand to stop him.

"Is everything alright?" Zelda asked.

"Yes."

"I'm only asking because of earlier. I know you have a bit of a quick temper, but you've proven to be just fine controlling it around people you don't trust."

"My aunt would call that an understatement." Sheik muttered, his gaze fixed on the ground in front of him. Before she could ask him about that particular statement, he looked up at her and sighed. "I doubt I'll ever properly get along with the Hero, so if you're about to tell me to make an effort to be nice to him, you're wasting your time."

Zelda raised her hands in a placating gesture. "I wasn't going to ask you to do that."

"Then what's this really about?"

"Just try not to provoke him. He's Hyrule's last hope, like it or not. That warrants giving him a little respect, does it not?"

"If he wants my respect, he has to earn it." Sheik said flatly.

He stood up again, ignoring the way his feet protested the action, and tried his best to look scary as he walked away. It didn't work too well because he ended up limping a bit, but the spirit was there.

The Hero looked up from counting the bottles of fireproof elixir he had lined up on the ground near the cooking pot, which was where he'd evidently decided to sit down. The Sheikah Slate was hooked on his belt now. That was a relief, because if it was on the ground someone could accidentally step on it or something. Sheik sat down across from him and stared blankly at the nine bottles of elixir on the ground.

"Lover's quarrel?" the Hero asked quietly.

Sheik legitimately choked as he inhaled. He coughed for a good thirty seconds, desperately trying to get air into his lungs again. "...I'm sorry?" he wheezed once he could sort of breathe again.

Oddly enough, the Hero's mouth twitched almost like he was going to smile. "You and the Princess have. An interesting relationship. From what I've seen."

"Maybe so, but not in that way." Sheik could breathe properly again, which was a relief.

"Coulda fooled me." He shrugged and unhooked the Sheikah Slate from his belt. "Do you like her. Like that?"

"Why do you care?" Sheik asked, a little snappishly.

"Well. I'm not sure." The Hero dropped his gaze. If Sheik wasn't mistaken, that was a hint of a blush on his face, which was... strange.

"I don't. Like her in that way, I mean."

That caught his attention. He looked up again, any hint of embarrassment gone. "Really?"

"Really." His tone made it clear that he wasn't willing to continue this discussion, and all he could hope was that the Hero picked up on it and stopped asking questions.

Sure enough, the Hero didn't try to push it any further. He just tapped the Sheikah Slate to each of the elixirs in turn. They disappeared with a soft popping noise and a brief flash of blue light.

Well. That had been mildly stressful. The last time he'd had a variant of this conversation (not centered around Zelda, but rather a pretty Sheikah girl named Aiya), it hadn't ended well. Actually, no. That was an understatement. After that conversation, Daisuke and the other boys who were tripping over themselves to get a chance to talk to Aiya had started telling anybody who would listen that he was most likely gay.

Looking back, they weren't wrong, but it had been terribly upsetting to his ten year old self. And, of course, it had led to a cruel prank a few months later that had led to-

No. Don't go there.

In the end, who he was attracted to was none of those boys' business then, and it certainly wasn't any of the Hero's business now. Not unless he proved himself worthy of respect, because there was no way Sheik would dare to trust him enough to talk about that unless he respected him, and he highly doubted that would happen.

Now that he had completed the task Zelda had given him, Sheik could tell that the Hero didn't know what to do with himself. Sucks for him. Though, truth be told, he didn't really know what to do either. All they could do was wait for Zelda to reappear, because she was making sure they had a spot to sleep for the night.

It was mildly irritating that they couldn't have much free will, thanks to the King's strict decree. He was willing to bet that if it was just him, the King wouldn't need to be so harsh.

This was a dangerous line of thought to follow when he was literally sitting five feet away from the Hero. But, then again, seeing his damn face only made it more tempting to entertain the possibilities of what could have happened. What should have happened.

He allowed himself to run over these hypothetical outcomes for a little while, before attempting to get his emotions under control with some mental exercises Impa had taught him for this very reason. After all, it wouldn't do if Zelda came back and found him pouting (even if he hated to use that exact word to describe what he was doing, he had to admit that it was painfully accurate at times.)

Around fifteen minutes later, Sheik was feeling a lot calmer and Zelda still hadn't come back. The Hero's careful glances around the open front area of the stable where the two knights were sitting had slowly begun to get more and more frequent. That happened to be the only outward sign of the anxiety that was likely wreaking havoc inside his head. The source of his concern eluded Sheik, though. Why did he care that much about the princess if he was just following orders?

This knight really was a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a rock-solid mask of uncaring. It was infuriating.

Sheik was about to suggest that they get up and go look for the wayward princess when she came walking out of the stable's main room, talking with a mildly attractive young stable hand. The stable hand had dark brown hair and even darker skin, and he held a broom with his right hand. Both knights rose to their feet upon seeing her, though Sheik winced slightly as his sore feet were forced to take his weight once more. The softly muttered curse from beside him said enough about the Hero's feelings on the matter.

"Where did you go?" Sheik asked, trying his hardest not to sound accusing.

"To clear my head." Zelda replied cryptically. "And also get beds for the three of us."

The two knights glanced at each other. To Sheik's surprise, the Hero actually rolled his eyes slightly before returning his focus to the princess and the stable hand who was still standing beside her.

"Right. Well. Should we..?" the Hero asked, a bit haltingly. Another odd thing about him that Sheik had noticed- whenever the princess was around, he spoke in choppy sentences, if he even spoke at all.

"Yeah." Zelda nodded. The Hero held the Sheikah Slate out to her and she took it, hooking it on her belt as usual. She led them into the stable's main room, which doubled as the sleeping area. The stable hand muttered a brief farewell and then walked off in the direction of where the horses were stabled. Sheik barely even noticed he left, if he was being completely honest. Normally, he would have paid a lot more attention to his surroundings, but he wasn't thinking very clearly right now. Which was weird, because usually it took a lot more than a lot of walking to wear him out, but whatever. 

It didn't take long for him to get ready to go to bed- all he really did was take off the extra leather armor pieces he wore, and his mask. But almost as soon as he did so, he turned his back to both Zelda and the Hero.

He felt... odd, not wearing his mask around someone who hadn't seen his face in ten years and a complete stranger who was his rival. Sheik was half tempted to put it back on and risk suffocating. But he decided against it, since he wasn't that stupid.

It took him a while to relax enough to go to sleep, despite how tired he was.

-/-/-/-

They left the stable at five in the morning. While they walked, there was still a lingering tension between all three of them that made it tough to actually initiate a conversation. Since Zelda was the one who usually did that, and she didn't look likely to try, they were silent. Also, only getting five hours of sleep wasn't helping much.

At least it gave Sheik time to appreciate the scenery, when he wasn't busy looking for Yiga Clan assassins. They might not enjoy being around Death Mountain, but that didn't mean they wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this. Luckily for him (or the would-be assassins), he couldn't find anybody lying in wait.

The green grass and trees soon gave way to red rock surrounding them and black gravel beneath their feet. As they walked, the air got noticeably hotter. This heat was different from the heat of Gerudo Desert. A lot different, actually. The air of Gerudo Desert was dry and the heat was borderline oppressive, but here, breathing almost felt like trying to inhale live coals. Since Sheik had never actually been to the Eldin region before, the experience was new and altogether unpleasant.

Almost as if Zelda read his thoughts, she unhooked the Sheikah Slate from her belt and summoned three fireproof elixirs from the Slate's inventory. She very nearly dropped one of them, causing the Hero to step in and hold them while she placed the Slate back on her belt. Once she was done with that, she grabbed two of the elixirs from him and handed one to Sheik.

"These don't taste good." Zelda warned. She popped the cork on the small glass vial and stared distastefully at the brownish red liquid inside.

Sheik followed suit, staring at the liquid of the elixir for a moment before pulling his mask down and hurriedly downing it. He pulled his mask back up before he'd even had a chance to swallow, casting a nervous glance over at his two companions. Had they seen his face? Or, more importantly, the scar? Nayru, he hoped not. Last night had been bad enough.

Once he did swallow, though, he had to fight the urge to spit it out. Somehow, it was both bitter and sour at the same time. The only elixir he'd ever had was a speed-boosting one, and that had been just straight up bitter. But this one was also sour, for some reason, and it was absolutely horrible.

"I've never had to drink one of these so early. Usually it's not a problem until well after Goron City." Zelda sighed and tapped the empty bottle to the Sheikah Slate. It vanished, getting stored in the inventory once more. She collected the other empty bottles and repeated the process.

"Yeah." The Hero made a disgusted face for approximately half a second, then it was back to the regular emotionless mask. "Never have liked those."

"I'm starting to see why Goron City gets so few visitors." Sheik said dryly. "Glad I never had to come out here before, if it means drinking those regularly."

"You are missing out on the city itself, though. It's quite lively." Zelda commented.

Oddly enough, despite the fireproof elixir, the air was harder for Sheik to breathe. He was almost tempted to pull his mask down and see if that helped at all, but his honor (okay, his pride) wouldn't let him. Thankfully, as he waited a little while for the elixir to work a little more, the suffocating feeling disappeared.

They passed through the Southern Mine at about noon. None of the Gorons, who were hard at work chipping away at huge chunks of ore deposits, even noticed their presence. It had already been a miserably long walk, but at least they were getting closer to the end goal. At this rate, they'd be lucky to arrive in Goron City by nightfall.

Despite Sheik's pessimistic prediction, they actually ended up walking under the wrought iron gates of Goron City at three thirty in the afternoon. As they did so, several Gorons waved at the trio and called out cheerfully to them. The attention made Sheik feel a little uncomfortable. He much preferred the atmosphere of Rito Village, where nobody gave you a second glance.

"There ya are!" came Daruk's booming voice from somewhere on Sheik's left. The Goron Champion came rolling towards the three of them, thankfully stopping a good six feet away from them and walking the rest. "I was beginning to wonder what happened to the three of ya."

"It's a long story." Zelda replied good-naturedly.

"Either way, it's good to see ya." Daruk (lightly) clapped Zelda on the back and laughed. "Rudania is this way, Princess. I'll show ya what I've been having trouble with to make it easier to fix."

Zelda looked back at the two knights accompanying her and paused. She seemed to be considering whether or not it was worth it to ditch the two of them. "Daruk, is Vah Rudania inaccessible to a person on their own, like Vah Medoh is?"

"Nah." Daruk shook his head, generating a small clinking noise from the chain that he wore across his chest in addition to the blue Champion's bandana. "Your knights should have no problem getting to it."

"Well, in that case..." Zelda sighed softly. "Sheik, I'm going to need your help with the controls. Link, you can stay with Daruk."

Both Sheik and the Hero nodded, perfectly content with this arrangement.

With that decided, Daruk led the princess and her knights to the Divine Beast. The sheer scale of it up close was awe-inspiring, and Sheik had to fight the urge to run ahead and gawk at everything like he was five. He had never actually been this close to one of the Beasts before, because he had been too busy with training when Purah was initially called to research them after their discovery. Also, he didn't have much interest in studying ancient technology. He found it mildly fascinating, but it wasn't something he was likely to pursue beyond a casual interest.

Either way, there was no denying that Vah Rudania was a marvel of a structure. The exterior consisted primarily of an odd stone-like material, interspersed with exposed glowing blue machinery. It was shaped like a lizard, complete with four three-toed legs. Overall, the most impressive thing about the exterior was the size of the Divine Beast.

The interior, however, was an entirely different story. The main chamber, where they entered, was set in the belly of the beast, and was a large space with beams running across it. Thin panels of glowing blue Sheikah runes were inlaid in the walls. Several torches carved out of the same material that the Divine Beast was made of were set across the space, each one burning with the ethereal blue flame that powered some ancient Sheikah inventions.

The central terminal was located on the top of the Divine Beast. It dominated the mostly bare space here, and its solid blue glow was quite comforting, in a way. A cage that formed the "spine" arched over their heads.

"Just in case, where are the other four terminals located?" Zelda asked Daruk.

The Goron Champion rattled off a series of directions to her, counting off the terminals with his left hand and gesturing vaguely with his right hand. She nodded after he finished speaking and gave him a bright smile. Then she dashed off to the central terminal and gestured for Sheik to follow her.

"Before you say anything, I'm aware that you are completely hopeless when it comes to doing anything besides picking fights or defending yourself." Zelda said as they reached the central terminal. She crouched down beside the odd flat panel that was imprinted with the Sheikah eye and studied it for a second. Before long, she found what she was apparently looking for, and pried off a section of the pedestal the flat black stone sat on. She tied her hair back to keep it from getting in her face, then turned back to him. She was still holding the loose panel in her hands, and after a moment's consideration she added "I really don't think that you will need to do anything; I should be able to handle this myself. So, feel free to sit down or something."

Well, she wasn't wrong. Sheik's mouth quirked upward under his mask and he bowed, the action oozing sarcasm. "As you wish, Your Highness."

Zelda rolled her eyes at the title, but even so an amused grin touched her face. "You're insufferable."

"You could say that." Sheik shrugged.

"Oh yeah." Zelda set the loose panel down, leaning it against the side of the pedestal. Inside, there was a mess of cogs made from the same material as the exterior of the Divine Beast and glowing blue... things that Sheik didn't have a clue how to describe. It all looked terribly confusing, but Zelda was obviously happy.

After seeing exactly what she was going to be dealing with, he decided it would be an excellent idea to just sit down and wait, not to mention be as little of a distraction as possible. So, he sat down a little ways away from Zelda and the central terminal, in a nice open space where nobody could possibly be hiding.

Spaces like this were his favorite for a variety of reasons, but the defining one was that usually they were very calm. Something about the air of a wide open space just felt like you were supposed to be quiet, and it always did wonders for clearing his mind.

At first, it really was working. But then his thoughts drifted towards his current situation and, of course, the Hero, as they seemingly always did. Which was mildly irritating, because all he wanted to do right now was relax, refocus, and ignore the latest- and quite possibly greatest- of his failures. Likely the only reason it was still bothering him was the fact that Impa still hadn't said a word about it to him. Actually, no. That wasn't quite true. Another factor was how abruptly it had happened. Normally, in the face of a major change in the appointee to a position like this, the former appointee would be given more than a day's worth of warning.

So, yes, he was bitter. Should he still be this bitter about it nearly three weeks later? Of course not, according to the monks' guidance on the subject of forgiveness. But while the monks advised being forgiving, they also advised to have a will of steel and that emotions other than no emotion at all were worthless.

Those damn dead old men (and women, though female monks were a lot rarer) and their contradictory statements.

He was startled out of his thoughts by an unexpected rumbling noise that seemed to come from the Divine Beast itself. Caught off guard, Sheik looked over at Zelda, who was sitting back on her heels and staring perplexedly at the tangle of cogs and blue things.

"Is everything alright?" Sheik asked, getting ready to stand up and walk back over to her if she needed it.

"Yes, I think so." Zelda didn't sound convinced.

"You sure?"

"Well, no." Zelda sighed quietly. "When I tried to adjust the controls, the gears resisted all my attempts. It's like they're all locked up, which makes zero sense because look, they're still spinning." She gestured to the gears, which Sheik took as his sign to come forward and take a look. He stood up and walked over to her, then crouched down next to the open panel of the pedestal and peered inside. While he was looking, Zelda started speaking again. "It's even weirder, because when I poked around Vah Medoh's controls, I had no problem changing them."

Sheik turned to her and raised an eyebrow. She was looking at the gears, completely focused on them, and didn't bother to look back at him. "Does Revali know you messed with the controls of Medoh?"

A slight grin touched her face. She actually did look back at him now, with unguarded amusement dancing in her eyes. "I set them back, of course. But no, he has no idea I messed around with the controls in the first place."

"He was asking for it." Sheik laughed once and returned his attention to the gears. As he watched them spin, he tried to think of what could possibly be causing them to resist adjustment.

"I agree."

They both fell silent as they thought. For a good minute or two, the only sound was the soft whirring of the gears as they turned. Zelda leaned forward and tried to adjust the gears again, to no avail. She kept at it for a couple more seconds, then dropped her hand.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Zelda exclaimed, sitting up so quickly that she smacked her head on the underside of the black panel that rested on top of the pedestal. She muttered a curse that no princess had any business knowing and rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head. "The reason I can't adjust the gears is because Daruk hasn't linked properly with Rudania yet."

"What do you mean?" Sheik asked.

"All the notes about the Divine Beasts that we've recovered keep referencing something called the Linking. Purah theorized this meant that the pilots would have to perform some kind of ceremony to join their mind with the Beasts's control mechanisms, but new research has shown that the Beasts themselves have minds of their own. So, now, the leading theory is that the Linking refers to the way the pilot and their Divine Beast have some kind of mental connection, or a link- which is where the name comes from- and I don't think Daruk has done this properly yet." Zelda explained. She was speaking very quickly and it was a bit difficult for Sheik to keep up, but he managed to get the gist of what she was saying.

"So you think that the problem is in Daruk's head, not the mechanisms themselves?"

"Yes, exactly." Zelda nodded. "I'm not sure how I would help him do this, because what we do have on the Linking is very vague. Revali wasn't any help whatsoever, so this is going to be difficult..."

She stood up and winced, her hand going back to the spot on the back of her head that she had probably bruised, then began cautiously making her way over to where Daruk and the Hero were idly chatting. Sheik chose not to follow her, mostly so he didn't need to interact with a certain someone. But then he felt like he wasn't doing his job properly, so he stood up with a sigh and headed over to the other three.

"...gears aren't letting me adjust them, and I think I know what you need to do, but I'm not sure you can accomplish it." Zelda was saying as he arrived.

Daruk frowned thoughtfully. "That's strange."

"What I believe you need to do is establish a mental link with Vah Rudania. But I haven't got a clue how you would go about that."

"Why not just let him. Wander around the Divine Beast?" the Hero asked quietly.

Zelda blinked in surprise. "Actually... that's not a bad idea."

To Sheik's disgust, the Hero actually looked mildly pleased by hearing Zelda say that. Of course he was the one to come up with the solution. Wasn't he just amazing? Look at him, the golden standard of all knights. Able to follow orders perfectly and even come up with solutions all by himself.

Why couldn't he just fuck up once so Sheik would have proof that he wasn't perfect?

"Daruk, try going and checking in at each of the four terminals before coming back up here. While you're down there, I... don't actually have any more ideas. But something might come to you." Zelda said.

"Gotcha." Daruk gave her a thumbs up, then curled himself into the peculiar ball form that all Gorons could take and rolled over to the ladder that they had used to access the top level of the Divine Beast. It was a lot more efficient for them than walking, since their walking speed was... less than speedy.

And now they had to wait. This likely wasn't going to be a very fast process.

Oh joy.

While they waited, they each had to drink another fireproof elixir, because they could feel the air starting to burn their lungs again. As before, it wasn't a very pleasant experience, and the elixir didn't taste any better the second time around. All this, plus the fact that he was even more annoyed with the Hero than usual, just added to the bad mood Sheik found himself spiraling into.

An hour passed. Then two. The whole while, nobody spoke. It seemed like the vast majority of their time together was spent in silence, which was perfectly fine with Sheik. The less time he spent actually interacting with people in general, the better.

When Daruk finally emerged from the lower deck of the Divine Beast with his trademark grin on his face, the sun had slipped close to the horizon, beginning to paint the sky with the soft oranges and yellows of sunset.

"Well? Did it work?" Zelda asked, jumping up from her sitting position and slightly tilting her head to the side. Both Sheik and the Hero remained sitting, however.

"Yeah!" Daruk replied energetically. "It's hard to explain, but it's like Rudania is listening to what I think."

Sheik looked over at the Hero and snickered when he saw the weirded out expression on the blonde's face. "What's the matter? Are you scared or something?"

The Hero turned his head and legitimately glared at him. "Scared? Yeah right."

"Prove it."

"Are you trying to. Get me to. Make a fool outta myself?" The Hero winced as his accent showed up again. Either Sheik was already used to hearing him speak that he didn't register the accent itself anymore or the Hero was already losing it. Which didn't make any sense, because he presumably hadn't been away from his home for that long.

"No. But is that a challenge?"

His eyes narrowed, the words hanging dangerously in the air between them. "You know damn well that it. Wasn't."

"Oooh, look at you. Better watch yourself. What would Zelda say if she heard you using language like that?"

"I don't really care what. She would say." he growled. "Look. I'm not. Scared of this tech. It's new. And I don't. Understand it. I'm just confused by it. Got that?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." Sheik rolled his eyes. He was definitely smirking under his mask, and he was pretty sure that the Hero knew it too, as evidenced by his annoyed scoff that followed Sheik's words.

Zelda, who had walked over to the central terminal with Daruk, returned to where they were sitting and glanced suspiciously between the two of them. "Is... everything alright?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Well, in that case, it's a bit too late to set off from the city tonight. We wouldn't make it to the stable until four in the morning or so. So we'll have to stay here." Zelda said, all business as usual. At least whenever it involved giving them information. Good thing one of the three was actually capable of intelligent thought.

Sheik took another look at the sky and nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

The Hero was either really pissed off about their little conversation or he literally just didn't have an opinion on this development, because he didn't say anything. Sheik was willing to bet it was the first one.

"Daruk wanted to stay here for a little while longer and keep practicing with Rudania, but he said that we can head back to Goron City now if we want to. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch him go through some drills early in the morning, and then we'll head back to the castle. I just want to make sure that he's managing properly now." Zelda explained. "I don't really mind either way, so what would you two prefer?"

"I don't care." The Hero said flatly. Yeah, he was mad. Hilarious.

"Looks like it's up to you anyway, Zelda." Sheik replied. "I also don't really care."

"Right, well. Great help you two are." Zelda jokingly rolled her eyes and reached up to take her hair down. "Back to Goron City it is, then."