So, I forgot one thing about my very good plan to tame a horse... you need to sneak to one and then jump onto its back. And apparently, I am not very good at sneaking. Who would have thought?
Anyways. The first horse I tried to sneak up on noticed me immediately and ran away without me even being near it.
The second one noticed me a bit later, still not even close to it, but at least I can say that I made some progress, or at least I thought so, unlike Linkle... who just supported me by laughing at every try.
"You know what? I this is so funny to you, why don't you do this?" I asked, being just a tad bit fed up with this.
"You want me to do it, with only one hand? Do you want me to hurt it even more?" She answered me while waving around her hand, while at the same time proving how mature she was, by sticking out her tongue to me. I simply shook my head.
"Do you at least have some kind of tip? Anything would be appreciated, oh, Hero of Hyrule." Was what I answered while widely throwing around my hands.
"Although this is way too funny and I would rather you continue this, if you ask like that then this hero, will help you, but just this once!" She answered with such a haughty voice that I could almost imagine her practicing this. "How about you simply stop trying to be sneaky? You won't make it anyways... just try to outrun one of them and then jump onto it."
That makes... surprisingly, a lot of sense.
"Sure, I can try that." Although, her starting to giggle again doesn't give me any more hope...
But I did it anyway and without even noticing it, I was on the back of a horse, which was when I noticed another problem. Where do I hold onto? Surprisingly there is no saddle on a wild horse, who would have thought? And so, it immediately threw me off again...
...
"Linkle? How about we just continue to walk?" And now she is laughing even harder... I hate this soooooo much...
"No, no. You're doing great! I believe in you!"
Yeah sure, you just want to see me suffer.
I searched for the next horse anyway. And soon I was once more on top of it. This time I simply tried to hold my balance without grabbing onto anything because let's be honest, I was a bit scared that I would simply strangle the horse if I grabbed onto its neck... and surprisingly I was able to stop myself from falling.
Now then... what should I do next? Ah, yes. Just stroke its mane for a bit and then it's done... you know this sounds a lot more stupid than I thought it would.
I did still start doing it, but without much hope for it to actually work, as opposed to what I thought it... worked? What the f*ck? How?!?
Well, I won't complain about it... I then looked towards Linkle only to see her look at me with a flabbergasted face.
And my reaction to that, you ask?
"Heh." Yes, very mature. But she started this! I think...
And then I noticed another problem. The horse might not struggle anymore, but it doesn't quite listen to my thoughts and isn't able to walk in the direction I want it. And I also do not know how to show it where I want to go. But Linkle did say that she would be able to ride one, with one hand, no?
"So, oh, Hero of Hyrule, I did what I was asked to do. Now it's your task to ride this... eh, noble steed." She laughed once more but then shook her head.
"How about I simply teach you how to ride it?"
"Why not? Although now that I think about it, how long does that take?" She shook her head.
"I wouldn't know, some are better at learning riding others not. I wouldn't know how good you are."
"Well, let's just try it. But if it takes too long, then let's just forget about it, ok?"
"Sure, let's do it like that."
After that Linkle tried to teach me how to ride a horse and after about an hour I was able to ride it just fine. Not too good, but good enough that I wouldn't just fall down while trying to go a bit too fast.
"Well, let's ride to the stable and see if they can give us a saddle, preferably for two people."
"Yeah, that would be nice. Doesn't make much sense for one of us to just run alongside the horse, while the other rides, although I would probably be able to do that, now that I think about it..."
I then slowly rode the horse towards the stable while Linkle just walked beside it. Apparently, she wants to see how well I can control it while other people are near it, or so she said.
"After we get a saddle, let's try to go through the swamp near here. We don't need to go through one to get to Kakariko, but it would be a good 'final test' for you. Besides, who knows when we need to ride through one in the future? And if you already know how to do it, that would be for the best."
"If you want to." I shrugged my shoulders. I wouldn't say that I enjoy riding horses, much less through a swamp or something like that, but it isn't too much of a bother either, which is why if Linkle wants to go through the swamp, then through the swamp we go.
Soon we arrived at the stable again and instantly walked towards the woman we previously talked with, and she almost seemed to light up, after she saw us walking towards her with the horse.
"Seems like you actually tamed one! Do you want me to register it now and if yes to whom?" I saw Linkle looking at me and just shrugged and let Linkle do everything.
"Yes, please register it under my name and here is the fee." She reached into her S-Slate and pulled out a red rupee, which she then gave the employee.
"Thank you for using our services! You will also get a saddle as a welcome gift. Do you want one for two people?"
"Yes, that would be nice."
Huh, convenient.
"Then please, give me one second, I will be right back." The employee then went inside and soon came out with a saddle in her hands.
"Here you go." Linkle took it, while she continued to talk. "The first time you leave a horse here, we will teach it to always return here, if you order it to run away, but we do need a bit of time to do that, so the next time you spend a night here, we will do that. We also sell food for horses, so if you ever need some just ask me or my co-workers."
"Then, we would like to immediately buy some. Enough for about three weeks, please." The face of the employee once again, seemed to start glowing.
"That would be 15 rupees then." 15 rupees later and we had enough food for our new horse, which Linkle stored inside her Sheikah Slate.
"Can I do anything else for you?" Linkle shook her head.
"No, thanks."
"In that case, I wish you both a great day. And please do come back soon."
I then looked towards our horse, only to see the saddle already on it. Linkle only raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes and led the horse a bit out of the stable.
"So, now we go to the swamp?" I asked Linkle.
"Mhm, it's in that direction." After which she pointed east. I then sat atop the horse and waited for Linkle to sit behind, but she simply gave a pointed look.
"Aren't you going to help me?"
"I thought you would be able to ride a horse with one hand?" Contrary to what I said I stretched out my hand.
"I would be able to, yes. But that doesn't mean that it would be easy." She took it and I pulled her up, barely even feeling her weight. After which she simply grabbed onto my hips.
"You ready?"
"Sure, let's go."
I then started riding in the direction where she pointed and soon, I was able to see the small swamp. I was also able to hear a Bokoblin camp and something along the lines of... gears? or something like that.
"There is a Bokoblin camp here somewhere." I said, with an unspoken question of whether we should clear it.
"Let's at least take a look at it. It's quite close to the stable so maybe it would be a good idea to clear it, we wouldn't want them to plunder it." She answered and then seemed to think for a bit. "I am also able to feel something, or someone, here... I don't really know what it could be, I have never felt anything like this, at least as far as I remember..."