Unskilled (L)Ink

Chapter 4: Kakariko Village; The Isolated Plateau, Part 2

I awoke during the night, covered in a thin film of sweat, my breathing erratic. The images quickly faded from my mind as I looked around the room, eyes darting to and fro looking for a Guardian.

Just a nightmare, I told myself, hoping that was all it was. It must've been from all the writing I did yesterday. Those first several days on the Great Plateau were rough to say the least. I knew that I wasn't going to get much help from the old man, outside of his cryptic responses, and I felt utterly alone. I'm ashamed to admit how happy I was when I finally walked past the first fellow wanderer.

When I was walking along a road in the general direction of the small yellow beacon on my Sheikah Slate I spotted the figure coming over the rise of the road. As soon as I saw them, I didn't even think about the fact they could've attacked me and I would've gotten off the plateau for nothing. Yet I didn't care. I was too relieved to see someone else once I got off the Great Plateau that I ran straight up to them and threw myself at their feet, breathing erratic and tears coming down my face. As I slumped there, crying in the middle of the road to a complete stranger, I felt a huge wave of relief. There were other people out here and I wasn't alone. The kind traveler lead me to the side of the road so I could sit in the grass, and offered me something they called a waterskin. I looked up and saw that it was a young Hylian woman, or so I assumed. She had pointed ears like mine and her build seemed to be close to mine. As I sat there, the lady just sat next to me as I caught my breath and try to explain what I was doing on the road. The look of disbelief came over her as I told her what I had gone through and I thought that maybe I had overshared.

"You poor thing," she muttered more to herself than to me. Looking up into my face, I can still recall the look of pity and horror, along with confusion. She didn't know if I was telling the truth on my survival by myself for almost two weeks atop that plateau. She had then mentioned to me that she was certain no one had been up there for so long considering there was no easy way to get up to the top. All the roads that had led there were destroyed long before she could remember, maybe around her great-grandmother's time, and to hear that I came from there was the biggest thing preventing her from believing me.

I didn't know how to take that look on her face, but I felt somewhat ashamed to be taken for a liar. I know that what I had gone through, the battles I had to do, killing the monsters, being captured one time and beaten until I somehow broke free... I just looked at this kind woman, thanked her for the water and hearing me out. I stood up and held my hand down to her, offering to help her up. She had taken my hand reluctantly, probably from hearing me talk about killing monsters, and I helped her rise. I politely asked if she knew how to get to Kakariko Village and she told me that if I continued along this road going north and take a right at the fork, I would see an odd building on my right. She can't recall if it's always been there, but she does mention a bridge I can take across the water, but to be careful. All the time she told me these directions, I could tell I had made her uncomfortable with what I hoped was a polite look on my face. I just wanted to take my leave and find Impa, but I stumbled upon someone that knew where I was heading.

The lady continued to tell me how to easily get there and that I should be extremely careful. She heard stories from the stable that was on the other side of the Dueling Peaks of monster attacks further up the road near the ruins of Hateno garrison. I nodded and thanked her for the directions and left her, wanting to put distance between us. I felt better knowing there was a somewhat easier way to get to Kakariko Village and that I may be able to stay the night at the stable, already welcoming the idea of meeting more people.

I didn't mind traveling on the road by myself as much as I thought I was going to. It was rather peaceful to be able to go at my own pace, but I sensed this feeling probably only came on after i ran into the woman. The fear of being alone was still very prevalent and I wanted to prevent feeling that way as much as possible. I still felt the dread of being by myself on the isolated plateau and thought back to my first weeks there.