The birds were chirping on the roof of Rain’s house. However the call of the cucco drowned out that peaceful tune. It was the next morning as the Sheikah arose from her bed to get ready for her day. Last night's conversation still fogged her head. She didn't want to leave Kakariko Village but at the same time she wanted to know more about what their ancestors were able to create from times long passed. Rain looked down at Hotaru for whom she shared a bed with and saw she was still fast asleep. Rain turned around and looked to see Yoshiro’s bed was empty along with her mother’s. Getting up, Rain put on her traditional Sheikah garment and went over to the pantry to find something small for breakfast. She pulled out some peach jam and bread that she herself made. After she finished that, she headed outside to go find her mother and brother. She saw them walking down the road heading in her direction. Rain ran over to them.
“Where did you two go?” Rain was curious. Tsumugi reached into her bag and pulled out a letter and handed it to Rain.
“This letter is your ticket into the castle. It should say that you are Colonial Sou’s daughter and have come to learn and study as an apprentice. I had Elder Itsutsuji and Okemia sign it along with myself.” Rain couldn't believe this was happening. She was still very unsure of this idea. But her dream was starting to set into motion.
“Thank you mother! Thank you so much! I'm going to pack!” Rain hugged her mother and rushed inside the house. Upon entering she saw Hotaru was sitting up in bed rubbing her eyes.
“What happened?” Hotaru was very sleepy. She was confused by Rain suddenly bursting through the front door. “Is something wrong?”
“Hotaru! I'm going to Hyrule castle! I'm going to become a scientist!” Rain ran over to the wardrobe. She grabbed her clothes, shoes, and traditional Sheikah hat and tossed them onto her bed. “Hotaru, can you fold these into tight bundles? Except the hat.” The little girl shook her head to wake up even more and started folding. Rain reached under the bed and pulled out her journal in which she kept all of her research in and tossed it onto the bed. At this point her mother and brother had entered the house and saw the frantic packing taking place. Yoshio walked over to the pantry and took out many things. Peach jelly, bread, tea leaves, dried chicken, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a few other items. He wrapped them all together in a cloth, tying it up to make sure nothing would fall out.
“Wait, how am I getting there?” Rain stopped in her tracks. They didn't own a horse. And it was a long walk to the castle. Rain wasn't really a nature, animal, kind of girl. She preferred to stay inside, read, and not get dirty. So the thought of walking made her unhappy.
“I'm sorry honey. You're going to have to walk. But don't worry. You can use my old traveling backpack. I used to use it when I made trips to Hateno and Mabe Village.” Tsumugi found her way over to her wardrobe and reached into the very back. She pulled out the travel pack and set it onto the floor. “This should be able to hold everything you will need to bring. Let me help you.” The rest of the early morning was spent with the family helping Rain prepare for the journey ahead. At 10 o'clock, once the bag was full and upon Rain's back, the family slowly walked over to Karkariko’s west entrance that leads onto Sahasra Slope. “Here is a map of Hyrule. You should be able to find your way to the castle with that. Good luck Rain I love you so much and I hope everything is as you dreamed it would be.” Tsumugi hugged her daughter tightly. Hotaru walked up to Rain and handed her a little leather bag.
“This is for you.” She said as Rain opened it up and saw many sparkling green, blue, and a few red rupees. “I hope it’s enough.”
“Oh Hotaru you didn't have to. Is this the money you earn from selling your flowers?” Rain’s little sister nodded her head in response.
“You're going to need to buy things once you get to the Castle. And maybe you could bring me something back once you come home.” Rain hugged her little sister and squeezed her tight. Waving goodbye, Rain headed out from the village. On their way to the castle to fulfill her dream.
Rain walked through the short mountain pass leading out and away from the village home. Cliff swallows flew around catching bugs. Chirping and singing their songs. Rain was filled with much joy at the constant thought that they were finally able to do what they wanted to do. They didn't like working in the dirt which included growing pumpkins and flowers. Now they don't have to worry about that anymore. Once they were out of the mountain their eyes grew wide as they saw the green wide open spaces of Hyrule field. She looked all around at the marvels of the geography far off in the distance. To the south were hills that hid the Faron Jungle and Lake Hylia. To the southwest was the Gerudo Highlands with snow tipped peaks. Directly to the west was Satori mountain, and the region of Tabantha. Far in the cold northwest was Hebra and it’s almost never ending snowy mountains. There they saw it. In the northern part of Hyrule Field surrounded by The Hylia river with blue roofs and glimmering white brick was Hyrule Castle. Because of the open field the castle looked much closer that it actually was. Rain walked down the grassy Sahasra Slope. This path into the village wasn't much traveled. Most people took the long way round into Blatchery Plain and threw the Dueling Peaks. On foot that would add two more days onto the journey. And there was no way Rain wanted to walk that far. As she walks down the slope, heading towards the main road. She started thinking about all that might happen. What will she learn? If the research was forbidden, how would she be allowed to read about it? Would she even be able to be an apprentice to anyone? Oh no. She was spiraling into her own head again. But suddenly she remembered something someone had said to her when she was a child.
“Don't overthink it! You'll be okay. Just be brave.” She remembered it was a little Hylian boy who said this to her. She remembered he traveled with a group of soldiers who had stayed for a few days in the village. Even though their time was short she remembered he had blond hair and brown eyes. However she couldn't quite remember his name. But they played together non stop when he was in the village. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” He asked her.
“I want to be a scientist and learn everything! I want to be able to help people with things that I will create!”” Rain said back “What about you?”
“I didn't really know until these people helped me. But I want to be a knight just like this really old hero Commander Numor told me about.” When the day came that the patrol had to leave the village was one of the saddest days of Rain’s life. Both her and the hylian boy were crying and hugging each other, not wanting to go. But alas the patrol had to leave and Rain never saw that boy again. Rain wouldn't think about him very much. After all, it happened a very long time ago.
Rain was halfway down the slope when she heard a little scuffle in the grass to her right. She froze as she saw what was lurking in the distance. She saw two red beasts with pig-like features. Bokoblins! They appeared to be hiding in the tall grass waiting for unexpecting people to attack. Thankfully, Bokoblins were nearsighted and Rain was far enough away. However Bokoblins had good hearing and an even better sense of smell. She slowly continued walking, keeping her eye fixed on the monsters. Just as she thought she was out of danger, crack! She stepped on a twig and the Bokoblins raised their heads looking around for the cause of the noise. Immediately Rain dropped to the ground, hidden in the tall grass. Grunts and snorts slowly got closer and closer. Rain covered her nose and mouth with her hand. Trying to be as quiet as possible. She was now able to hear the footsteps of the approaching monsters. Rain peered through the grass and saw the outline of the pig monsters. They had stopped and started sniffing around. One of the Bokoblins let out a screech and Rain knew she had been found out, so she got up and started running! With the Bokoblins running close behind her, Rain had no way of defending herself. No sword, no shield, nothing! Her best bet was running to the main road and hoping someone traveling could help her. Rain didn't have very good stamina so the line between her and the monsters was increasingly growing thinner. Finally she made it to the main road but she tripped and fell face down! Turning around she saw the enemy was almost on top of her. Was this it? Was this how she died? Rain closed her eyes preparing for her tragic end. Suddenly she heard the galop of hooves on the dirt road. She opened her eyes to see a giant gray speckled horse jumping over her! A woman with long blond hair, clothed in shiny armor was on top and was charging the Bokoblins with her spear in hand. If the horse didn't run over the monsters, the spear would have sliced them. The Bokoblins ran away, knowing they were no match for this new opponent. The horse trotted up to the fallen Rain and the woman hopped off her steed and walked over to her, the sparkling armor clanking together.
“You alright hun?” Said the woman. Holding out her hand to help Rain up. Her voice was deep and cold. Rain saw she was very strong and firmly built with bright blue eyes. Her expression seemed stern. Rain grabbed her hand and was pulled up off the ground with much force.
“Thank you ma’am. I for sure thought I was done for.” Rain said, brushing off the dust from her clothes.
“Don't mention It. I was just doing my job. What were you thinking?! You should not be traveling alone without some sort of weapon!” This woman scolded Rain as she crossed her arms. “Exactly who are you and where are you going? Speak quickly.”
“I'm Rain and I'm heading to Hyrule Castle to become a scientist.” Very much intimidated by this woman, Rain pulled out the letter from her mother to hand to the woman soldier.
“I don't need nor want to see that. I honestly don't care what you're doing. You nearly got yourself killed and that was foolish enough.” The woman continued to yell at Rain who was now getting quite angry. Who was this woman to talk to someone like this? But she wasn't going to say that.
“Who are you?” Rain asked
“I'm Major General Oliviea of the Hyrulian army. Now get your ass on that horse. I’ll take you to the castle.” Oliviea whipped around and walked back to her horse. Rain was in shock at being in the presence of such a high ranking soldier.
“You really don't have to do that Ms. I think I can make it on my own now that I'm on the main road. Plus I don't really like riding.”
“You will do what I tell you. One more thing is that you will address me as General and nothing other than that.” General Oliviea said, tightening the saddle and grabbing hold of the reins. Rain slowly walked over to the steed. She had never ridden on a horse before. “Alright hop on up there.” She said. But after Rain not doing so and just standing there, Oliviea asked “Do you not know how to get on one?” Rain shook her head for a no. Oliviea sighed “Ok you see this part right here?” Oliviea pointed to the very front of the saddle to a part that was round and stood straight up. “This is the horn. You will hold onto this first. Now do you see this loop right here?” She then pointed to the thing hanging at the bottom. “That is the stirrup. This is where you will put your foot to hoist yourself up onto the horse. Make sure you do this quickly. If you go too slow the saddle will rotate and you will fall. Now get up there!” Rain was so nervous she almost started to sweat. Taking a deep breath she held onto the horn and put her foot through the stirrup just like the general had instructed her to do. She jumped up and if like in slow motion she started to fall backward! Her back hit against the ground with a thud. She could see Oliviea grip the bridge of her nose clearly disappointed. “Nayru save my soul” She said through gritted teeth. She helped Rain up again. “Take this while I fix the saddle.” She handed Rain the reins. “At least nothing fell out. Or else you'd be picking it up.” Once that was done Oliviea grabbed the reins from Rain “Again, but do it faster. The more you think about how scared you are, the higher that chance that you will fail. Hurry up, we're wasting daylight.” Oliviea’s harsh tone of voice wasn't helping Rain at all. Rain repeated the steps and taking a deep breath she jumped up quickly, swung her other leg over the horse and sat down upright on the saddle.
“I did it!” Rain shouted. That startled the horse who started backing away. Oliviea held the reins tight as she gently spoke to the horse to calm it down.
“This is Ross. One thing you should know about her and most other horses is that they can be easily spooked so don't shout! Now scoot your ass back. You're taking up the whole saddle.” Rain’s excitement was crushed by the harsh words of the general. Throwing the reins up and over Ross’ head she hopped up on the horse with much grace. “Hold on tight.” Oliviea kicked Ross side and whipped the reins and with a loud whiny they galloped down the road with much haste.
