Sorry for taking awhile, life keeps getting in the way.
[X] Sif
"...Sif?" You ask, and your new friend gives a happy bark of affirmation.
You reach over to scratch Sif behind the ears, the rapid wagging of his bushy tail telling you he quite enjoyed it "Well Sif it is, heh," You give a small laugh as Sif lunges forward and gives a few slobbering licks of your face, as you half-heartedly try to push him off.
Zelda carefully walks up beside you, still rather cautious around Sif, "So what now? Even if you have him under control those injuries are still pretty bad, we'll need to take Sif to Mipha."
"You wouldn't happen to know where Mipha is, would you? I haven't seen her since the morning," You ask, finally pushing Sif off you.
"Yes, Mipha told me she might visit the river to catch lunch, we should check there first."
You nod, standing up. The two of you then head off, Sif following just behind you, the going slow with how he was limping. You felt bad about forcing him to walk but he'll be healed up when you get to Mipha.
Zelda leads you on a circuitous route back to the village and the river Mipha was at, but you do get there relatively quickly. Sure enough, Mipha was there, sitting on a stone next to the riverbed as water slowly dripped off her. She must have just gotten out of the river, judging by the fish held in her hands. Great chunks had been bitten off from its side, and you watch as she opens her mouth wide and sinks her fangs into it and rips off a strip of flesh that she happily chews, rivulets of crimson blood dribbling down her chin. She hadn't seemed to have noticed the three of you yet, and you raise your hand to call out to her when Sif lets out a great bark and hobbles over to her.
Mipha looks over to Sif, confusion on her face before she see's your new friend. Her eyes go wide and she lets out a loud "EEP" when she notices just how close he was for a rather injured canine and falls backwards into the river with a tremendous splash.
You and Zelda both grimace before running over to check if Mipha is alright. Thankfully her head emerges from the water, a strangely unperturbed frog perched on top of it as she looks up at the two of you first with caution then confusion when she see's who it was at the edge of the river, "Link? Zelda? Wha-"
"Sorry, didn't expect my new dog to run out to you like that," You apologetically tell her. Mipha only looks more confused, and she looks over to Zelda, who shakes her head.
"It's tame,
somehow. I think it was owned by someone but escaped. Link... Link somehow got it to listen to him and now... now we have a pet wo-
canine," Zelda explains, and Mipha gives a nod of understanding that is betrayed by the expression of disbelief on her face.
You then interject, getting to what's important, "Sif's badly injured, can you heal him? I'll be eternally in your debt Mipha!"
"O-okay... um yes. Could you help me out?" She asks, shaking her head to dislodge the frog from its perch, who gives an angry croak before swimming away.
You offer a hand which Mipha takes, and you pull her from the water. Mipha takes a moment to just stare at Sif before shaking her head and getting to work, only occasionally interrupted as Sif tries to lick her face.
It only takes a few moments before after a quick bath Sif was right as rain, his grey fur and angular features now clear and proudly displayed after he drenches you all with a shake of his body. Strangely though, one scar had not healed. When you ask Mipha only shakes her head, "I'd love to give him back his eye but the injuries too old, he must have had it since he was a puppy. I'm beginning to believe as well he was owned by someone, I'm not sure at that age in the wild to have an injury like that would be survivable. But I'm not a wildlife scholar."
"I could make an eyepatch!" Zelda chimes in, "He'll look rather good in it, I think."
"Then we better head to the manor, you don't think Impa would mind bringing in a dog, would she?"
Zelda suddenly looks nervous, biting her lower lip as she rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Uhm... I'm not sure. I mean... I don't want to leave him outside but... I'll talk to her, okay?"
You nod, "Thank you Zelda, that means a lot."
Now, how would the others react?
++++
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!" Paya shrieks as Sif pounces on her, licking her face with mad abandon as his tail wags a mile a minute. She seemed to have completely frozen up, arms held closely up to her chest as her hands twisted into some claw gesture.
"SIF! NO! You can't jump on every person you meet!" You yell, and Sif reluctantly peels himself off and pads over to you, head held low. You reach down to scratch his ear, "It's alright, just wait until she lets you, okay boy?"
Paya's head jerkily turns to you, eyes wide in stark confusion as Zelda immediately interjects, "Link tamed it! We uh... now own it I guess? He's called Sif."
Paya's expression immediately shifts to one of amazement, admiration and disbelief, which felt odd to you as it wasn't like owning a dog was a big thing. You always wanted a dog though just could never afford it...
Paya suddenly lets out a surprised "EEP!" As two white heads of hair push past her and immediately rush to Sif, burying themselves into his fur.
"PUPPY!!" Cottla and Koko exclaim as they immediately shower attention onto Sif with all the enthusiasm two small girls can muster.
You laugh, shaking your head as Sif enjoys every bit of attention thrown on him. To go from being out in the wild to being adored must be a pretty big change for him, yet your new dog had adapted extremely quickly. It's nice that things had turned out so well-
Impa was standing behind the two girls.
No one moved as every eye fell on the older Sheikah woman who was intently looking down at Sif. You could hear your heart beating in your chest as the Sheikah woman regarded your new dog for a moment before reaching into a pouch.
You have half a mind to call out to her stop, to rush forward and protect Sif when you see Impa pull out a piece of Jerky and give it to Sif, who happily snatches it up before looking up at Impa with a pleading expression for more, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
Impa then looks at you, her expression stoic as she says "I'm not letting him out at night."
She then turns and walks into the manor, leaving all of you to breathe out a sigh of relief.
++++
Sif ends up sleeping in your room that night, a fresh eyepatch on his head. It was a bit warm in the summer so you ended up having to push him off the bed and get him to sleep on some old blankets in the corner but as someone who always wanted a dog but could never afford one you couldn't be happier.
You hope Epona and Sif will get along.
++++
After extracting yourself from under Sif in the morning after Zelda wakes you up and getting dressed and washed up you head over to the kitchen to grab breakfast. To your surprise, there wasn't much left to eat, and you end up having to settle on some bread softened in milk. Not sure how shopping is handled here you quickly finish up and get up to find something to do today when Zelda, Paya and Mipha walk in, Paya and Zelda's hair still wet from getting washed up. They were leading in a still half-asleep Cottla and Koko. As Mipha and Paya get them seated for breakfast Zelda walks up and quietly tells you "Hey Link, Impa would like you to help with buying food, do you mind heading over to her room while we watch Cottla and Koko?"
"Sure?"
"Thank you Link," She says, telling you which room to go to before disappearing into the kitchen.
So you end up making your way to where Zelda had told you to go, just catching sight of Prince Sidon heading out the door whistling a jolly tune as he made his way to meet up with the guards. Reaching the room you reach out to knock on the door when before you even brush the wooden door with your knuckles a voice calls out from inside, "Come in Link."
Dropping your hand you slide open the door and step in, only to freeze as you got a sight of what was inside of it.
The room was much like yours, including an armour and weapon stand upon which sat what you could only assume was Impa's armour, along with her Naginata. Yet decorated on the walls were trophies and symbols of her previous rank. Most noticeably were three sets of massive horns belonging to beasts much larger than any oxen, the largest having tufts of golden fur at its base, while the other two seemed to come from a silver beast. You knew who they once belonged too, even if you had any read about them. Those were Lynel horns. Yet to have killed silvers, nevermind a mythical Gold Lynel... those things could devastate armies as their weakest type, and Impa had slain the strongest of them! A beast so powerful it could regenerate even the most grievous of wounds in seconds! Considering her age, she must have been a young girl when she had did it as well! That was incredible, and you strongly suspect they weren't even the worst monster she had slain, as you notice horns and claws belonging to beasts you could not identify.
The rest of the room was oddly spartan, and in fact rather similar to Paya's. There was a place where she probably prayed or meditated, a small bed that had been carefully made and a writing desk, which had a small mirror set on it. Around the table were pictures hung on the wall that looked like they had come from the Sheikah slate, yet how they had been made physical and placed on the wall you didn't know. You notice the bespectacled woman who you had seen in Paya's pictures who you presume is Purah sitting next to a small girl with a fierce expression. Very familiar tattoo's graced her face, and in her hands was a much smaller Naginata then the one Impa now wielded. On the Purah's lap was an adorable looking girl with white hair who was shyly trying to hide her face. Another had her with a small girl, barely five years old. She had a wide smile and was dressed in an ornate dress yet you could still see the familiar ruby eyes and blonde hair. Next to the young Zelda was a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, staring stoically forward as though he had no idea what was happening.
...Wow, did you really used to wear that kind of expensive looking clothes?
Another picture had Impa standing next to Purah. Yet there was two other woman with them. One looked like a carbon copy of Zelda, except significantly taller. The only difference was a maturity Zelda didn't have, along with her face being decorated with blue Sheikah tattoo's and her hair as white as the other two Sheikah beside her. She was wearing a set of ornate robes of Sheikah design, of such complexity you wonder how she possibly moved in them. Intricate designs were sown into them yet she was strangely bereft of jewellery, save a tiara of obvious Hylian design. That was the late Queen Tetra, Zelda's mother. Which would make the woman next to her...
Something catches in your throat.
It was a Hylian woman in ornate clothes signifying that she was of Hylian nobility. Yet like the Queen she didn't seem to be wearing a gaudy amount of jewelry. She was a tall woman, yet she seemed to radiate a kindness that made your heart ache. Blue eyes peered out from the picture, ones you remember so clearly and so much resemble your own.
You look away, and only then realize that a woman had been sitting silently at the desk, carefully fixing her hair as she looked in a mirror. You'd been so caught up in the pictures you completely missed her. She was wearing clothes much like Zelda and Paya had, opting for a skirt rather then the pants Paya so often wore. Her hair, while significantly longer then Paya's, was carefully arranged in a similar style and now that she was satisfied with it she carefully pulled out a necklace of remarkable quality, made of silver and jade that was delicately arranged to resemble the swirling designs you saw painted on the walls, all leading to a larger piece designed to look like a Sheikah eye that she afixed around her neck. She stood up, and you were transfixed by the presence she seemed to command, as though she exuded a power that drew the eye to her as soon as she entered a room. Then she turned to look at you, crimson eyes regarding you with a calculating expression. Yet by her face and familiar tattoo's you immediately realized who this was.
"I thank you for coming to assist me Link, it'll go much faster with two sets of hands and..." Impa sighs, and you see for a moment a flicker of sadness cross her face, "And sadly Lady Zelda and Paya are not able to help."
It takes you a second to realize this was Impa wearing casual clothes, not the outfit she wore normally. It was shocking, to say the least at what a change a different set of clothes could do to someone, to the point you didn't even recognize her!
A single white eyebrow moves up a millimetre as you realize you're still staring at her, "Is something the matter? You're staring at me. Do I still have some of breakfast around my mouth? Something caught in my teeth?"
What do you say?
[] Write-in
