Vaal laughs. "I heard some of that but, uh, not a really clear telling. I hope you find them or someone useful to talk to."

"What did you hear?"

"That a hylian came by saying something about a cloud spirit breaking up a fight."

"That sounds not wrong, which I want."

"I like being near people I know who do not hate me, so I think going with you to Rito Village might be a way to learn more words that I like, if you do not want me to not go."

"That's also fine. Might be fun to have you along."

Well, Griffie has a plan! Before ey goes, ey'd like to ask other people here what they think of Hylia, mention that ey's trying to talk Vaal and his friends out of evil things, and ask if given that there's any obvious reason to not go with Vaal to Rito Village.

"I'm not saying not to go," says Banji, "but have you seen that thing, that - that bird thing in the sky?" She gestures at a distant thing soaring in the vicinity of a tall mountain. Unless the mountain is much closer than it looks, the thing isn't really plausibly bird sized, at least not for a nonmagical bird in gravity this strong. "It suddenly appeared above Rito Village and won't go away."

"I will take care. Thank you."

"You're welcome, of course. Any time."

Other people have other warnings. It apparently gets cold near Rito Village, and you can't get all the same produce there, and someone heard a rumor about someone falling off a walkway once.

Griffie appreciates the warnings. Eir magic for dealing with the air problem also keeps em warm. Ey can be ready to prevent falls with magic. Ey doesn't need to buy produce.

Then aside from one of the kids asking suspiciously if that's because Griffie is produce, no one has anything else to bring up. Some folks tell Griffie goodbye or just wave.

Griffie is a plant but not the food kind, ey is the kind that makes you sick to eat. Except ey also tastes really bad so instead of actually getting very sick you just spit the plant out.

Ey hopes everyone at the stable does well and appreciates them welcoming em.

And when Griffie's ready, they can head out.

Griffie has not stopped being in a state of being ready to travel since ey arrived. Ey can go now.

Past Tabantha Bridge the road runs between some hills topped with... ruins? Mossy stone and mossless dark metal and glowing orange something. An orange-glowing tower stands on a hilltop in the middle of something purple-black that seems to be giving off sparks.

"The dark stuff is Ganon's malice, by the way," Vaal says conversationally. "'Malice' usually means wanting to hurt people but it can mean wanting to destroy them."

"How rare is it to see raw samples sitting out like that, and can we take a bit for learning from?"

"It's really common and... mmmaybe? It's kind of, uh, destructive, I wouldn't touch it with my bare hands if I valued them continuing to have skin."

"I wouldn't either. I could put some in a jar, I have tools. I don't have a magic jar. If I put it in a not-magic jar, I think it will go out?"

"Not quickly, I don't think."

"If you will not unmake the world this six days, then I think I want to wait to make a jar a bit magic? If something wants to hurt or kill me I do not want it in a bad jar right by me and my things."

Shrug. "I hope we can unmake the world that fast but it's been a century so far."

"…If I have a better plan for people not hurting too much, which is the thing you want, and I show it may work, and I don't fight you, then can you say 'We will talk to Griffie before we destroy the world'? I don't like to fight…"

"I don't have the authority to negotiate on Ganon's behalf. That means I can't go to Ganon and say 'I told Griffie you would do that' and expect Ganon to do that."

"You don't work for Ganon and you have friends who also don't work for Ganon but want the world destroyed, what about them?"

"I also did not come out here authorized to negotiate on their behalf but it's much more feasible for me to talk to them about it. I... really don't expect this to come up in the next week, honestly?"