Scenic Route to Satori

    As summer faded away and autumn danced its way into their days, Zelda and Link invited several of their friends to go on an adventurous hike with them. This would be an opportunity to climb and explore a mysterious mountain they had discovered in their travels. Satori Mountain had many rumors surrounding it; ones of spirits and ruins. That was enough to peak the interest of this adventurous crew! The mountain was a bit far from their hometown and would be quite tricky to climb. Tuft, Ame, Elodia, and Lena were all up for the challenge. Since the four of them were all coming from the same direction, Tuft offered to pick everyone up.

   “Road trip!” Ame shouted as she hopped into the backseat, greeting Lena with a high-five.

   “I can’t wait,” Lena rustled with excitement.

   “I do hope I packed everything,” Elodia placed a knuckle to her chin in thought. “And that I didn’t leave anything on… oh dear I hope I closed the fridge…” she mumbled.

   “Ya checked about three times and then asked me to come in and check, I’m sure ya remembered everything!” Ame patted the Zora on her shoulder. Elodia nodded and pulled up her map.

   “Zelda gave me detailed directions and coordinates,” she smiled, handing the map to Tuft. “This is a genuine map she sent me of the area as well. GPS won’t have these side roads she marked.”

   “Great!” Tuft glanced over the map before returning it. “I’d say we’re in for a few hours of driving ahead of us!”  Everyone settled down and their trip began.

  Things were off to a smooth start as they passed through several towns, then onto the highway. Ame took photos as the trip proceeded. Lena rolled down her window and her leaves gently rustled in the wind.  The group chattered about their days and their excitement to explore Satori Mountain. The radio played quietly underneath their discussions as Tuft would occasionally flip through the channels when the commercials dragged on too long.

Some time passed and as they were coming to the second half of the trip, they missed an exit Elodia had marked. They decided upon having to take a different road that it was worth it to stop and stretch their legs at the nearest town. This gave them time to explore, which ended up making everyone quite happy.

   “I let Zelda know we would be arriving soon,,” Ame tapped away at her phone. “Well we would be getting there a little sooner if we didn’t miss that exit,” she teased as she snapped another photo.

   “Hey now, we all get a little lost in the road sometimes!” Tuft laughed.

   “I did try to tell you that you were going a bit too fast!” Elodia scolded gently.

   “Things worked out,” he playfully defended. “Plus you wouldn’t have gotten to stop at that library you all liked so much if we stayed on the right track.”

   “And we wouldn’t have stopped at that little café,” Lena added.

   “I suppose you’re right,” Elodia smiled, noting the several new books tucked next to her feet. “It has been exciting traveling like this. I would have never imagined taking such a trip on a whim.”

   “You’ve come a long way, I’ll tell ya that!” Ame leaned over the center console. “Link and Sidon sure pulled ya out of your shell!”  

   “Link definitely has a way with people,” Tuft laughed. The group nodded in agreement.

   “Ah,” Elodia pointed to a sign ahead of them, “there’s our turn!” As they pulled closer they noticed a small path at the bottom of a hill; just barely wide enough to be considered a road.

   “Are we sure this is the right place to turn?” Tuft glanced over at the map again. Elodia nodded and pointed at the notes she had written along the road. He carefully turned up the hill onto a dirt road. It was seemingly abandoned and bumpy to the point where even Tuft decided it would be a good idea to take it slow.

   “Zelda said we could drive on this thing?” Ame laughed.

   “We should be able to drive directly to the mountain on it according to her,” Elodia turned the map slightly, squinting her eyes. As they hit their first bump, the whole group jumped slightly. Then they hit their second. And third.

   “Maybe it’ll smooth out at some point,” Ame peeked over Elodia’s shoulders. As they approached another turn, Elodia looked down at the map as the group continued discussing their surroundings. She stared, trying to determine if there was any way she had missed something told her.    

   “Elodia, you should take a look at this!” Tuft’s voice snapped the Zora girl out of her thoughts. She looked over to her friend as he gestured to the road ahead of them. Elodia looked to the window, and her eyes softened in awe. The previously bustling car fell silent as the crew all stared.

   The road was fully lined with trees on either side. The leaves were of the warmest colors, many falling as they drove past. The wind shook the trees so gently it looked as if they were dancing in place. Tuft had slowed down just enough for a single bright yellow leaf to drift into the back window and fall onto the seat.

   “Well would ya look at that?” Ame picked up the leaf, then extending it to Lena.

   “Wow!!!” Lena exclaimed, kicking her feet. “So pretty!”

   “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such colors before,” Elodia noted with awe. The road went on like that for several minutes before they came to a small clearing with another car parked

   “Here we are! And look who’s here,” Tuft announced as he pulled the car into a makeshift spot. Link and Zelda sat on a bench just beside a tall set of stairs.

    Link spotted the group immediately and gave a wave. Zelda’s eyes lingered on her Sheikah tablet for a moment before she looked up with a warm smile and wave as well. As the group unloaded from the car the duo walked over to them.

   “How were your travels?” Zelda asked, “I do hope the directions I gave were of use!” They proceeded to tell her and Link about their travels; ready to face the next adventure that lay before them.