Of Royal Blood - The Legend Of Zelda

[X] Alright let's see what Sheik can do.
-[X] she said she's a good shot so let's see how good.
--[X] stationary targets before moving on to moving targets
---[X] if Sheik is as good as she says she is: increase the difficulty of the shots she has to make.
-[X] Toss her a stick and tell her to come at you; lets see how good she is in melee.
-[X] Ask if Sheik has any skills that could be useful in combat that she hasn't mentioned yet.

Sheik was pressing two fingers together, looking rather bashful as you climbed down from your treehouse and walked over to her.

When you finally walk up to her you stop a few metres away, crossing your arms and giving her a look. Sheik looks up at you before returning to staring at her feet. For a moment neither of you speak until you say. "Well...?"

"I um..." Sheik stammers out, still looking at her feet. "I... well... we Sheikah are trained to use magic to enhance our acrobatic skills to superhuman levels. We aren't really that stronger, but well..."

You sigh, "Alright, just show me."

She nods, and then does a perfect backflip onto the branch of a tree, standing perfectly balanced even if you were sure it wouldn't support all her weight. You blink, feeling your arms and mouth drop in amazement even if you were expecting something. You could do a backflip as well (often several in a row as bokoblins swarmed you) to dodge but a perfect backflip that high, onto that kind of branch? Yeah, that was incredible by any standard.

Sheik rubs the back of her head, face gaining a slight blush as she looks away from you. "Come on, stop looking so shocked, I'm not used to doing this to show off," She mutters.

"Can all Sheikah do that?" You ask as she leaps down, Sheik's bare feet not even making a noise as they touch down, her long blonde braid falling against her back like a rope. Considering her acrobatics she probably tied it up like that simply so she wasn't blinded after every jump.

Sheik stands up nodding, "Most, but it takes years to get down and some physical fitness. You get a little out of shape and you'll mess it up often."

You nod, you couldn't imagine someone who wasn't in shape doing that kind of stuff without injuring themselves even with magic.

"So um... What did you want me to do Link?" Sheik asks, glancing around obviously looking for a training dummy or obstacle course.

You hand her your Boko bow and your quiver. "You said you're a good shot, right? I'll get my old target out. Go stand over by Epona." You say, point with your thumb to the mare.

"Huh, who's Epona?" She asks, before her eyes widen and she takes off like a rocket. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!!"

Shaking your head you walk over to Epona's stable and pull out your straw target. It was old and well used, but it'd serve well for today.

After placing it against a tree you head back over to Sheik and Epona, the former stroking the latter's neck.

"Oh, she's absolutely beautiful! And so well behaved!!" Sheik exclaims when she notices you approach, a wide grin on her face.

You try not to wince when you see how the ruined flesh of her jaw stretches, and instead smile back. "Yeah, though... she's usually very uncomfortable around other people."

"Aw, you just enjoy being left alone, right?" Sheik says and Epona lets out a whinny.

"Anyways, I've set up the target. Try shooting five arrows at it, we'll see how you do."

Reluctantly Sheik leaves Epona and instead picks up the bow, only to pause and furrow her brow at the target. "Really, there? Well, alright then."

Taking an arrow she aims, draws the string back and...

"Bullseye-" You start to say, your eyebrows meeting your bangs as they ascend upwards. Then four more arrows hit the target at a rapid clip, all clustered around that central arrow. Huh, though this wasn't the best test you could tell she was just as good as you were, and you've been practicing archery nearly every day for years.

Sheik, however, didn't seem all that impressed at what she did, turning to look at you with a frown. "Hey, you've got anything you could throw? This is way too easy."

"Well, just over there is an Apple tree-"

"Perfect!" She says, and immediately takes off, leaping up onto a tree branch and then from branch to branch rapidly disappearing from view.

You rub the back of your head, not really sure how to process all this. Those skills were superhuman, yet weren't the Yiga supposed to be Sheikah? Did they have those skills as well?

You aren't given long to process it however as two apples came flying through the air from the treetops, followed by a loud "THUNK" as an arrow embeds itself next to the cluster that was already in the target.

The apples hit the ground, split in half.

Sheik lands beside you, beaming. "Woohoo! Still got it!" She cheers, pumping a fist into the air and hopping excitedly, "And here I thought I was out of practice. It's a great thing Hylian Apple trees bear fruit for most of the year, they make the perfect moving targets!"

She then looks right at you, a smug grin on her face when she see's your shocked expression. "So, I think I've proven there's nothing to worry about if we go to the Shrine."

You give your head a shake to compose yourself. "Yeah, that was... impressive, the best archery I've ever seen. Um...thank you for the breakfast."

She puts her hands on her hips. "Ha, I knew you'd be impressed. I do not overstate my own abilities."

You roll your eyes, picking up the apple pieces from the grass and tossing half of them to Sheik. You lean against the treehouses trunk, biting into a piece of apple. Sheik joins you, though she's looking at you rather expectantly. "Soooo," She begins, looking impatient, "When are we going?"

"Not yet, I want to see how well you do in close quarters, and anything else you can do."

Sheik freezes.

"Ahahaha, I don't think we'd need to worry about getting close-"

"I'll grab some sticks after we finish eating."

Sheik just deflates, a worried expression on her face. You aren't sure why though, with her skills, she'd probably be great at it.

After finishing your breakfast you gather up two sticks, tossing one to Sheik. "Alright, I want you to come at me and try to hit me. Don't worry about hurting me, just treat me as an enemy alright?" You ask her while Sheik experimentally swings the sticks around.

Sheik swallows nervously, but nods.

"Don't be nervous, now try it."

Getting into a combat position Sheik holds the stick with both hands, then charges at you, her bare feet beating against the ground like a pair of drums, a yell issuing from her throat. "HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

And then you step aside and she trips on your shoe, landing face first.

"Oooowwww...."

So that's a rather firm "No" on close combat skills.

You help her climb to her feet, brushing off dirt. "I guess your training didn't cover sword fighting, did it?" You ask the miserable looking sheikah girl.

"It did but..."

"You skipped it to read books," You state flatly.

"I... skipped it to read books," Sheik admits.

You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose.

"A-ah, but I have something that'd help!" She suddenly yells, an edge of panic in her voice. "Here, I'll show it to you!"

You look up as Sheik runs a few meters for you and holds out her hand. You raise an eyebrow as it glows before suddenly she seems to grab something with both hands and swings it hard in your direction. A powerful gust of wind hits you, and unprepared you land flat on your butt. You just manage to catch her holding a giant ethereal green leaf before it disperses into motes of light.

"What the-" Was all you can manage as Sheik smiles.

"Oh thank goodness, you're impressed." She breaths out, holding a hand to her heart. "It's a spell, it summons a gust of wind in whichever direction I swing that leaf. I've even modified it slightly to help me with long distance jumps. It's said to be taught to the Sheikah by the Koroks but I've never met a Korok to confirm it. "

You push yourself up to your feet. "I'll uh... ask them when I see one," you manage, still in shock. You've never seen someone cast magic spells before.

"Ha, I can tell you're amazed at my magical power!" She exclaims, bringing her hands to her hips and puffing out her chest in pride.

"Yeah, wow. What other spells do you have?" You ask.

She stares at you. "...Eh?"

"What other spells do you have?"

"Uuuuuuhhh...."

Oh, you've got to be kidding...

Sheik doesn't take you pinching the bridge of your nose again to well, running up to you and practically waving her arms in her panic. "B-but just the one spell is good enough right?! Just because I've only learned about one doesn't mean anything, right Link?! Link? Link stop giving me that look!!"

You sigh. "Let's just... plan out how we're going to do this."

She stops panicking at those words, staring at you. Then her eyes widen, her mouth splits into a wide grin and she hugs you. "Thank you thank you thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-"

Beet red she peels off you, stepping back a few steps before turning her back to you.

"So um... want me to tell you my plan for how we'll attack the place?"

"Yes!" Came the high-pitched response.

"I'll need to draw a map first."

"I have one here!" She says with the same high-pitched tone, though she was rubbing her side.

You walk over to her, eying it with worry. "Hurting?"

The blush lessens, and she nods. "Y-yeah. It's just a dull ache though."

You frown. Unless it was healed by a Zora healer that dull ache would probably remain, how painful it was probably changing by the day. Even healed, what the Yiga tribe used was horrific.

You don't express your worry though, simply letting Sheik explain how her Sheikah Slate's map function worked. It was mostly just a terrain map, but she could add markers and information to it however she wanted too. What an impressive piece of technology. Sheik isn't that happy that you plan to go at night when the Bokoblin's are probably asleep but she understands your reasoning even if she wants to go there immediately. If the two of you can silently kill off the Bokoblin's in the camp you'll be able to get there unopposed, and you'll have plenty of warning if it's a blood moon. It does mean some Stalkoblins might show up but they weren't much of a threat.

The Blood Moon, an evil night when the aimless spirits of monsters slain return to life when the moon reaches its highest point in the sky, appearing where ever they had taken root for a significant period of time. The effect could be mitigated by killing monsters before they nested for too long in one spot, and monsters to the best of your knowledge didn't reproduce conventionally so their numbers shouldn't be increasing other than Stal's that could be eventually cleaned out. But it was a fact of life that had driven many in Hyrule to despair, that no matter how many times you slay them monsters would always return, while loved ones struck down by them wouldn't.

Even Sheik seemed to grow quiet as she discussed the blood moon as if it was knowledge she wished she didn't know.

The two of you didn't really talk the rest of the day as you made your preparations, saddling up Epona and filling her saddlebags with things you might need. You have no idea how long you'll be there at the site, and you always traveled prepared. Of course, you had so little personal belongings that other than your furniture you basically managed to fill your saddlebags with room to spare.

For dinner the two of you had baked apples Sheik helped you collect, it wasn't much but you two needed something in your stomach and it took your mind off it. The two of you ate in relative silence but while you were eating the sweet treats you ended up snapping your fingers, a thought reaching your mind. "I completely forgot, someone came here before you arrived. They were traveling in the same direction as the shrine and stopped to share a meal and sleep for a night under a roof. It's why I'm out of almost everything."

Sheik looks up from the meal, which she had speared on a skewer to prevent her hands from getting sticky. "Oh? Was he a friend of yours?"

"More like an acquaintance. Big guy, with red hair in a kinda weird hairstyle," You explain, "He's probably not at the shrine, but he might have cleared out a few of the Bokoblins, made our lives much easier."

Sheik nods. "I hope so, I do not wish to spend the night hunting Bokoblins when I can be studying the ruins."

As night fell you gathered up the rest of your belongings, placing them in Epona's saddlebags as Sheik changed into what was left of her old clothes. When she emerged she was wearing her old pants and boots, but with your shirt, as her last one had been destroyed. As she finishes packing up you pass her your spare cloak, and she gladly dons it as the nights chill begins to set in.

So the two of you set off, the thankfully normal moon illuminating your path as you steered Epona through the woods. Sheik had opted to leap through the treetops, even if it'd be a bit tiring after awhile, over riding with you on Epona's back. Her face had turned practically luminous at the suggestion. Thankfully, the shrine wasn't too far away and you leave Epona a short distance away and the two of you creep up on the ruins to survey it. Sheik was rather quiet, even for someone inexperienced with the wilds, following you so quietly you actually didn't hear her footsteps for a minute. Sheik was armed with your bow and quiver full of arrows while all you had was your dagger and hatchet.

The ruins were rather easy to spot, a mass of decaying moss covered bricks emerging from the side of a cliff, with a crude watchtower set up in the largest of stone. So was the Shrine, inlaid into the cliff rock, soft glowing orange lines standing out in the dark of night. Between the watchtower and shrine sat a bonfire with a crude spit set up on it, the bones of a boar that had recently been stripped of all meat lying around it. You also saw them, Bokoblins.