Plotting

"Spicy Rat? Seriously?" 

Zelda stopped in front of the bar, looking at the sign in absolute bewilderment. "What an absolutely ridiculous name!" She laughed, smile brightening her face. Her hood fell back slightly as she looked. "Guess that would keep the birds from eating it, wouldn't it?"

"Wait, is that why the rat's spicy?" Odie asked, looking at the bard with the lute who was sitting at the door. He thought, then nodded. "Well, guess that makes sense."

"As much sense as a bowing wolf, I'd say," Arson said, grabbing his two companions and dragging them down the road.

"Just a moment," the bard asked, walking over to them. "I have a favor to ask. You three look like you're headed out of town, and I have something that I need to send to Zora's Domain. Are you headed that way?"

"We are," Zelda said, stepping forward. She was the most diplomatic of the three, so it was best that she handled this, or at least Odie thought so. They stood behind her, looking intimidating. Though, it was hard to intimidate someone who was twice your size. "And we will be headed that way before we come back here. Is it time-sensitive?"

"Oh, no, just a gift for my sister." The bard handed over a small package. "As long as it gets to her, then I will be happy."

"We'll do it, then!" Zelda chirped, bright smile on her face.

~~~ 

They managed to get their horses without any other delays, and Zelda actually had the sense to buy a map from the marketplace. 

They stood outside the town, their horses grazing on grass at the moment. 

"Right, okay, so it looks like we'll have to go around a huge mountain to get into Lanayru anyway, so Eldin is definitely the right start," she was saying, tracing a route on their map. "Southwest through this pass, and then turn north to Eldin. It's mostly a volcano, though. I don't know how we'll be able to get up there."

"Maybe it's lower," Arson said in thought. Though, that didn't sound right for the Goddess of Power. They'd have to prove themselves somehow.

"Well, either way, it'll be interesting," Odie said with a grin, leaning closer, half hanging off of Arson's shoulder. This was normal for them, and Arson had long since stopped asking why they were like that.

"Then we should get moving before we lose too much light," Zelda stated decisively, nodding once. She then turned to mount her horse, and Arson and Odie followed suit. They had a long way to go.

"There are a couple stables on the way, so we should rest there when we come across them," Arson said, spurring his horse before pulling the map out again, double-checking. "Like you said, it's a long way. We'll need whatever rest we can get, and we don't know what Din will do to test us." 

"Yeah, that whole thing in the forest kinda came out of nowhere," Odie said, busy removing their shoes to put in the saddle bags. There was no need for them if they were going to be riding a horse. It had only been a matter of time before they got rid of the shoes anyway. "The ghost said that the attacks stopped when you picked up the stone, so I think that might have been your test."

"Maybe. And with that in mind," Zelda chimed in, settling in. She was clearly comfortable on a horse. "We shouldn't expect that the answer will lie at the foot of the mountain. Scaling Death Mountain is a dangerous challenge as it is. We may have to do that, so we'll need to find out how to prepare."

"Well, I'm ready for anything she throws at me!" Odie said, over-confident as always. "I hope we gotta fight a Goron! I want to fight a Goron."

"You'll be a greasy spot on the ground," Arson intoned flatly, still looking at the map. There was a stretch along their path that would be a very narrow pass. He wasn't sure he liked it. "Zelda, what do you know of the land around here? Who inhabits it? Specifically…well…" At her quizzical look, he elaborated: "There's a very narrow path. I want to know if you think it'll be dangerous. If there's anyone who will…y'know…" Attack.

Zelda shook her head. "As far as I know, the land surrounding the two paths through the mountains is uninhabited. Unfortunately, this means monsters could have taken up residence there." But she wasn't opening that disastrous can of worms again. "But there was no problem when a whole royal caravan came through, so if there is anyone, they're not enemies of Hyrule." 

Arson nodded. "I think I prefer the pass to the south of the plateau," he said, leaning forward over the map, squinting at the minutia. "The one to the north is much too tight, according to the map."

"Wouldn't the tighter one be better, cover-wise? I thought that was a good thing," Zelda said, horse coming up alongside the young man, peering over at the map in his hands. 

"Don't ask me to look at that thing," Odie grumbled, feeling a bit left out and wanting to pretend that they didn't. "Pfft, maps are for nerds anyway. Let's just slice anything in our path to shreds." They smirked. 

"Now, I doubt there's any need for that," was Zelda's response, still mulling over their options. "I suppose we could go through the forest and scale the mountain early, but we won't be able to ride at all. These are horses, not goats."

Arson raised the map again, squinting. Was that a path? "Yeah, we could go over these foothills here and make it to the path on the other side, but we'll miss both stables that way. I think it's better to have a set resting point, and we'll want time to prepare."

"Hm, I suppose you're right." Zelda couldn't come up with any better plan, either. "So between the weird little plateau and the Lanayru plateau, then? That sounds good."

Arson was slightly disappointed to have to go around Keshi Forest this time, but that was okay. He'd live. The ghost probably was glad to be rid of them anyway.