>>5994905Jinom asks Kaparik to return him to his people at the base of the mountain. The trip is silent this time, the only noise made the wind blowing in Jinom’s hears. When they touch down in Aemon's village. Jinom thanks Kaparik and apologizes for the trouble he's caused him. "It's alright, I don't spend much time in the village anyway and when I am there, I just stick to my books." He says readjusting his wings in the Owl equivalent of a shrug. Jinom and Kaparik finish their goodbyes and the Owl departs silently into the evening sky.
The following morning the prince and his retinue depart for the source of all rivers in Hyrule and the home of the River Zora. The trip is uneventful, and as spring transitions to summer the rains let up and the roads solidify making the journey a swift one. The Zora's domain is nestled into a set of old mountains, well worn by the winds, rain, and time into what are now very large hills. The natural springs and rains coming in off of the western sea have dotted the landscape with ponds, lakes, and springs all interconnected via a series of streams and rivers that carve through the area, and eventually flow out into the rest of Hyrule.
Taking the main road, the prince approaches the land of the Zora alongside one of Hyrule's major rivers and eventually runs into the first of the Zora's large gate-locks. Massive stone structures that control the flow of water, goods, and people in to and out of Zora lands. Partially paid for by Hylian tribute money and river crossing taxes. Jinom and his men are halted before the landward gate side and asked their business by the tall, silvery scaled Zora gate guards. A brief explanation of their diplomatic mission is enough for the Zora guards to let the prince through and escort him to the Zora Capitol. There is little chatter along the way as, despite the cooling tensions, there is still much bad blood between the Zora and Hylians. Many in the prince's retinue keep their hands gripped tightly around their swords and the Zoras keep their webbed fingers wrapped around their spears and tridents.
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