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The Wolf let out a small puff of air as his nose twitched. He could smell the change of the air currents, he could feel the shift in air pressure.
The weather was going downhill, and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant shower or soft rainfall.
It was going to be a torrential downpour.
And that was an unpleasant thought.
He quickly resumed his scouting for a safe place for them to make camp for the night, as they did not want to get caught unaware in such weather. Twilight wasn’t sure if the others experience phantom pains with bad weather, but he did not want to be at a disadvantage in a combat situation.
Especially when the phantom pains come from his proficient sword arm.
It wasn’t unbearable right now; just a twinge in his left forelimb, but the ranch hand knew it was going to worsen as the storm develops.
He used to love the rainy weather, as it was a part of the natural life cycle, helping nature flourish and thrive. Storms, while it could be scary, also helped out clearing old, rotten flora and make way for new life to grow. The blown-down trees became the nutrients for young plants, became housing for small critters. The rain quenched the land of its thirst.
Every time when a storm passed through the area, it felt like it cleansed the lands of the old and corrupted.
He was fascinated at how a destructive force of nature supported the life cycle of the forest and the creatures dwelling in them. As a resident of Ordon, a village nestled inside a forest, he knew how to work with the forces of nature. The ranch hand appreciated them.
All of that changed when his journey to save Hyrule happened.
Ever since he had his arm chopped off by that monster (and reattached right after by the light spirit residing in the spring), whenever it stormed badly, his left arm seemed to cramp up. Lightning bolts seem to surge through his veins, frying his nerves. It recreated the sheer pain he had experienced when he was dismembered by that heavy ax.
Sometimes it was so bad he could barely hold a sword, let alone swing it.
Twilight was used to pain though, and he wasn’t completely defenseless when his right arm could still function. So even though he knew that bad weather was causing him pain, it didn’t make him dislike it.
No, what made him dislike it was how unforgiving it felt when he had been desperate to save his companion’s life.
The cold, stormy rain beating mercilessly at the weakened imp on his back, who was barely clinging onto life. The pounding of the rain drowning the sound of her raspy, desperate breathing. Water that fell from the sky turning the ground into mud, making it hard for his paws to find purchase on hard ground. His legs getting stuck multiple times, slowing down his progress to Hyrule castle. With each slip and trip, he kept squandering valuable time.
Time he knew Midna could not afford to lose.
That unforgivingness of the storm had drenched him in fear, seeped into his very being that he still remembers that feeling to this day, every time when a thunderstorm brewed.
Twilight knew that his combat performance would be compromised when storms affected him both physically and mentally, and as such he did his best to avoid getting in those situations as much as possible.
The wolf let out a huff of relief when he detected a cave that his pack could use as a shelter from the oncoming downpour, making him snap out of his depressive thoughts. He prowled the vicinity of the cavern, putting his nose to the air as he searched for any signs of hostile beings that could ambush them.
There were none.
Turning around, the blue-eyed beast headed toward where he left his companions to lead them.
There was a noticeable limp in his gait as he sped back.