Observations

Gorons were weird, Odie had decided as they watched the rock-people roll around the mining camp, humming to themselves, and eating rocks. They seriously ate rocks! Odie was baffled. Was that cannabalism? Was there a difference between the rocks on the ground and a rock roast? 

Ah well. They weren't here to do a study on the big round creatures, who were far less startling once Odie took time to watch them. They all seemed friendly and open enough, easy to laugh and easy to antagonize. How wonderful! Odie was enjoying the laugh of one big mother-rock as they told yet another ridiculous joke. 

"I really lava you!" they cried, to uproarious laughter, the Goron in front of them clapping as if that was the best joke they'd heard. 

Another thing Odie had decided that they liked about the Gorons was the fact that none of them had a gender! Though they had an unfortunate habit of trying to call Odie brother, which made their skin pill up. 

"Not 'brother'. Anything but 'brother'," Odie begged, eyes big and a sad brown. 

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Arson groused, poking at the drawing of the surrounding area that one of the Gorons had been kind enough to sketch out. "We've got to figure out where we're supposed to go and, y'know, get there." As much fun as it was to watch his cousin bond with giant sentient rocks, they did have a mission…and Farore seemed to be implying that they didn't really have much time.

"Spoilsport." Odie stuck their tongue out at Arson and plopped down, honestly happy to escape the Goron young who had decided that it was fun to play chase. There was only so much running Odie could do in this heat, after all. "Right, well, where to?"

Odie, Arson, and Zelda leaned over the sketch, trying to commit it to memory. The paper map was useless in this heat and would catch fire if they removed it from its protective casing. They had to do this by memory.

"If we continue following the path, we'll get to Goron City. We can ask their Boss what they know about the various stones." Zelda said softly "Showing the Boss the Forest Stone we got from Farore might get us in the right direction." 

"Remember: Din's all about power," Arson said just as quietly, pointing to some of the areas of the map that indicated elevated regions. "We'll probably have to show some sort of power, maybe by climbing the rest of the mountain. Be aware so we're not caught by surprise."

Odie and Zelda nodded quietly, watching Arson's fingers along the map. What if they had to climb to the top? Certainly they wouldn't have to jump in, would they? If so, they would have to move on to the next stone. Not even a Goron could survive that much lava!

"So…fight our way to the top?" Odie suggested with a hopeful grin, hand drifting to one of their daggers. Oh, yes, they would love to do that!