Mipha: A Champion Rises

Chapter 9 - Akkala Ancient Tech Lab

Summary: A note from Impa changes Mipha's plans, and she travels instead to the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

As Mipha fell asleep, she felt a sense of satisfaction. She had freed Ruta from Ganon's control and had renewed the bond she once had with Ruta.

But it turned out that came with consequences, some side-effects to her heavily damaged mind. Her sleep that night was troubled, not by nightmares, but rather dreams of times she spent with Ruta. As often happened during sleep, her subconscious mind tried to organize her thoughts, structure them. But given the state of her memory, that meant attempting to recall incidents involving her relationship with Ruta.

Her dreams came in short segments and moved from one event to another. In one dream, she was training with Ruta, learning how she could use her thoughts and movements to control Ruta. She could sense the thrill of accomplishment that she must have felt back then as Ruta began to respond to her wishes. And she also felt a closeness start to develop between them. This masterpiece of ancient Sheikah technology was more than a giant machine. It came alive to her, and Ruta became her friend. They even conversed in a limited sort of way, and she felt Ruta growing closer to her as well, becoming more comfortable with her newest pilot. Sometimes Ruta would playfully squirt her with water, and the bellow that followed seemed like laughter. And then she would laugh along with her. They were happy with each other.

Then her dream moved on to a later time. She was practicing with Ruta now, piloting her to her standby position on the plateau situated at the highest point in the Zodobon Highlands. That was where she planned to attack Ganon when the time came because it afforded such an excellent view of all Hyrule. No one knew where Ganon would attack, so the Champions needed to position their Divine Beasts where they could attack Ganon no matter where he arose. She could feel the rush of the current as she steered Ruta underwater. Ruta was a magnificent creation, massive yet responsive to her will. She had Ruta climb up and then settle down in the small pond atop the plateau. Then she climbed on top of Ruta and paused to gaze upon the scenic view. In one direction lay the beautiful architecture of her home, the domain. And in another direction, one could see mighty Hyrule Castle, and its turrets pointed proudly skyward. Hyrule never looked so beautiful from this vantage point! As she lived in her dream, Mipha realized that must be what Hyrule looked like before she awoke to a land ravaged for a century by Ganon and its servants. She could no longer remember that beautiful Hyrule, and it made her want to cry!

And then that dream ended, and she had a final dream.

It was a sunny late afternoon, and she was sitting atop Ruta's trunk alongside Champion Link. He had visited her today, and she sensed she had been looking forward to his visit. She raised Ruta's trunk higher, affording them a better view of the beautiful scenery, including the sparkling blue cliffs that surrounded East Reservoir Lake. Was there perhaps something subconscious about her doing that? Was this her way of assuring she would have Link undisturbed all to herself, distancing the two of them from any distractions? She could not remember why she felt a nervous tension inside back then. She thought that she wanted to say or do something important, but she could not remember what it was.

"Very impressive! You certainly have a great command of Ruta," said Link as he admired how effortlessly she raised Ruta's trunk while at the same time administering to a wound on his right forearm.

"Thank you," said Mipha. "I have spent a good deal of time training with Ruta, making sure we will be ready to aid you when the time comes. But may I ask how you came by this wound? It's rather nasty."

"I was careless, or reckless as you always like to say, not taking my time to sneak past a Lizalfos camp," said Link shaking his head. "I took on a few too many Lizalfos at one time, and one of them managed to cut me in the arm. It was the last thing it did."