New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 09 - Navigation Confusion

With each stride away from Hateno, the surer I became that this was the right decision. In all my ruminations, and in the way I could hardly pick a single direction to look in, it was all I could do to hold onto Link. With my arms securely around him, I was free to look around, and look around I did.

Midla Woods sat to our left, and Ginner Woods to our right, the only distinction between the two being the name. Growing up, perhaps it was my inclination to eventually leave, or perhaps just the result of my incredible amounts of free time, though maybe it was because of both, but I studied maps quite often.

In Hateno, maps of all of Hyrule were hard to come by, but at the very least, I knew the regions of East Necluda and Mount Lanayru relatively well, considering Hateno sat nestled between them.

Leaving the Necluda Sea in our wake, if we followed this road, we'd find ourselves nearing the Dueling Peaks and then, central Hyrule, where there sat the ruins of the Castle Town and Hyrule Castle. More specifics would have to wait until I could take out the long copy of a map I packed away.

So for now, I was content as we followed the road, with dappled sunlight dancing across our faces and the sound of rustling leaves in the wind about all we could hear, save for the pounding of the horse's hooves against the dirt.

Though I didn't want to break the serene sort of silence we had fallen into, I wanted to know more about Link, about the man who had saved me so kindly, the boy stranger than any other I'd ever met.

"So," I began, and I could practically see the way his pointed ears tipped upwards with sudden attention and interest. "What's its name?"

"Hm? What's whose name?"

"Your horse," I clarified, taking advantage of the horse's smooth gait to lean slightly to one side. Link dropped the horse down into an even trot and sat up straighter, peeking at me over his shoulder. "What's its name?"

"Her name is Epona," Link answered easily.

"Epona," I repeated, distinctly noting the way her ears turned back, as though to more closely listen to whatever it was we were saying about her. "The name suits her. It's pretty."

"Thanks," Link said, smiling now. "I came up with it, actually."

"Wow," I said, somewhat indulgently because it really seemed like this was something he was incredibly proud of. "What does it mean?"

"Oh, I've got no idea," Link replied. "Just seems like she's always had that name."

Well, that was a weird answer, if ever I'd heard one, but again, he was a weird guy, so I let it slide. We lapsed back into a strange sense of quiet, one not entirely comfortable yet not one wholly uncomfortable, either. Within the span of that quiet, we soon emerged from the dual woods, and rode out into the sunlight of afternoon.

If I had to guess, I'd think that Link was taking us along the quickest route to and through Fort Hateno. With the mountain ranges Hateno's foothills gradually led to, the roads had to account for them, but the ponds and cliffs waiting at the end of these woods were attractions in and of themselves. There were roads that wound through the trees of the smaller pockets of trees, around the ponds, and along the clifftops, offering scenic views of varying degrees.

These were natural features that I had heard about, for these were the woods where our hunters went and these were the clifftops where folks would forage, and these were the ponds in which some couples would hike out to and share a romantic meal, but I had never gone. I'd always been too scared to leave the town I'd always known.

Still, if my knowledge was dependable, and my recollection of their stories accurate, then if Link had turned right while tucked within the woods, then we'd be on a sure course for the Dueling Peaks, which meant that Camphor Pond would be to our left.