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It was sweltering hot up on death mountain, Wild had his Flame Breaker armor, but the others had to resort to mass amounts of heat resistance elixirs. Needless to say, there was a tsunami of sweat drawing the bois. Wild had decided to introduce them to
the Gorons of his Hyrule (not that he told them, though. He wanted to see the surprise on all their faces), and perhaps introduce them to rock roast. Wild nearly drooled thinking about the delectable silica-based feast.
“Whatcha think about there, gremlin?” Warriors had caught up to Wild’s clanking clanging metal suit, walking beside him. Hair stuck to his face, flushed, and sweating up a storm, Warriors certainly did not feel pretty right now.
It was nearly impossible for Wild to sign with his metal gauntlets on, so he silently pointed to a metal bridge that stretched over what seemed like a divot in the mountain.
“Oh?” Warriors asked curiously, walking in step with the metal abomination Wild called ‘fire protection’. They strode up to the bridge and as Warriors peaked over, he realized it overlooked not a divot in the rock, but the Goron village. He stared wide eyed in awe at the bustling village down below, memories of his own Hyrule’s Gorons raising him sweeping through his memory. His head whipped back to Wild, a breathless smile on his face as he stared at the silent hero in wonder.
“Can we go down?” Warriors asked excitedly, as the rest of the Chain sauntered up behind them.
“Woah, pretty boy, what’s got you in a rush?” Legend stared at the usually calm and collected hero in front of him, as said hero was practically vibrating in anticipation.
The group came to a decision and meandered down to the village’s entrance, Wild being swarmed with the rocky inhabitants of Death Mountain as soon as one of them realized their Champion was there.
“Wild, how in the name of Hylia do we eat this?” Twilight stares down at his rock roast dubiously, only to bolt up when he heard a crunch to his left. Wait, Wild’s on his right, Warriors is on his left…..
Twilight whips his head to stare at the captain, who is crunching down on his meal, eyes closed with a tear starting to drip down his face, smiling. The rest of the Chain notice that their wolf boy’s focus isn't on them, so they turn to look at what caught his attention. They also stare, minus Wild, who's too busy chowing down to bother with anything else. When Warriors finally opened his eyes, he noticed that the noisy atmosphere of a Goron village was noticeably quieter, especially for 8 other chaotic heroes added into the midst. He looked over to see his comrades staring at him, and he scratched his neck awkwardly.
“..It reminds me of home….” The captain looks down at his lap. “I,,,was raised by Gorons, so,,, this is nostalgic for me. Sorta making me homesick, actually…” He trailed off.
“So, the whole time we (including you) were giving Wild shit for eating rocks, you could also eat rocks?” Legend asks incredulously, breaking the silence.
“......” Warriors averted his eyes.
Wild, who had finished his rock roast at this point, softly giggled. This took all the attention off of Warriors and onto Wild, the Chain had never heard any sort of vocal noise from the scarred Champion. The mostly-silent lad had been eating with his back towards the group, not wanting anyone to get a glance at what was under his mask. He had pulled up his mask, and turned towards the Chain to listen into their conversation, and now was softly snickering. This was the most emotion they’d ever seen out of the mostly stoic boy, and they had been traveling together for 3 months.
“What?” Warriors raised an eyebrow, looking at the shaking boy. This seemed to make Wild snicker even more, drawing attention from the surrounding Gorons.
“Hey Brother, what's got you laughing?” A Goron came up and asked the small boi. Wild just pointed at Warriors, who poured out a bit of his drink onto the ground.
“Ah! One of your friends knows the traditions of old!” The Goron exclaimed, delighted. The Chain looked up confused, what old traditions did the Gorons have?
“Pour out a cold one for the giant sleeping Goron we’re on.” Warriors explained, after seeing his family’s curious looks.
The night went by, the Gorons being glorious hosts to Wild and his family. They were a merry people, earnest and hard working, and valued family above all else. So, it wasn’t to any of the Goron’s surprise when Yunobo came up to test their dear Champion’s family. Daruk had all but adopted Wild, and that made the small lad Goron family. And Gorons were, after all, highly protective of family.
Yunobo wasn’t known for his bravery. His grandfather was Daruk, and he felt like he couldn’t live up to Daruk’s legacy, but he did know that his Grandfather had pretty much adopted Link as his son. Which made Link his Uncle, his family. So he gathered up all his courage and determination to protect his family, and strode up to the heroes of the past.
Time and Twilight turned their heads as another Goron (the other one still talking to Wild) came up to the group.
“First time hearing his laugh, yeah?” The normally timid Goron asked.
“Yes, we were surprised to say the least. I wonder if this means he can actually speak….” Twilight pondered.
“And if he chooses to never to speak to you?” Yunobo asked, eyes narrowing. Link had a reason why he didn't speak in front of people he didn’t know, and if this group couldn’t accept that Wild might never speak to them, well……The silence can fill in the rest to say the least.
“We were just glad to see him laughing. If he never speaks to us, then nothing will change. We’re managing just fine currently, so it doesn't really matter as long as we can communicate.” Time offhandedly mentioned. Yunobo laughed.
“Link,” He called to the Hylian Champion, catching the shorter’s attention. “You have a great family. They passed my test!”
Wild just looked confused at his friend.
The rest of the Gorons, hearing this, broke out into loud cheers, enthusiastically stepping the metaphorical party (after all, it was just dinner) up a notch, bringing out some fancy spiced drinks, Yunobo explained that this particular drink’s recipe had been passed down Daruk’s family line through the centuries. Wild seemed to light up at the mention of the drink and waved his arms around, signing in Goron sign (it got very loud in the mines and the Goron’s thick fingers weren't exactly the best to sign with, so they used their arms to sign) quickly and excitedly, which led Yunobo to confirm that yes, this was in fact the drink Wild was so excited about.
The Chain fell asleep well fed and watered in the warm inn that night, turns out the Gorons really knew how to party.