In the Fourth Age of Hyrule, little is known of its culture, due to both the scarcity of Primary Documents surviving the age, and the wildly divergent accounts from those documents which did survive. In some accounts, the entirety of Hyrule had sunk beneath the seas, Hyrule was no longer an entity, and instead her people were mere inhabitants of the world above. In other accounts, Hyrule had entered a golden age of prosperity, brought on by the advancement of technology and the trade of commerce and culture with other nations. In yet more accounts, Hyrule was utterly obliterated, leaving only ruins and fragments of a cohesive society.

Attempts to resolve these contradictory and, in many instances, fantastical histories of Hyrule have primarily involved presumptions about the nature of magic as it existed in periods prior to contemporary history. It is indeed necessary to reckon with the understanding that the fundamental nature of magic has morphed over the course of Hyrule's history, as no other hypothesis has withstood even the most cursory examination.

The leading theory, put forward by Hylian Historia (Hannes, C., pg. 592), begins with the following conjecture―

A massive explosion rang out, bolting Zelda up from her seat, dropping her textbook to the floor. Her eyes, previously weary from reading, were darting about.

No vibrations. Explosion Source not inside the Castle.

A Cannon?

Before she could deduce any further, the window behind her was smashed through as a large object crashed into the floor of her bedroom.

Zelda spun around, gasping and clutching her chair, her hand reaching for a homemade arrow that she kept on her desk, as she surveyed the object.

Or rather, the person, whom she realized was wearing some kind of protective suit.

"PURAH!" Zelda exclaimed, her voice a mixture of shock and horror as she realized what had happened, allowing the arrow to clatter onto her desk.

The young woman stirred, slowly removing a series of scorched, armored plates from her body as she rolled onto her back. She was eventually able to extricate herself from the armor, and slowly stumbled to her feet. Then, she pulled her goggles off, contrasting her eyes against her soot-covered face. When she finally beheld Zelda's tensed up stance, she broke into a wide grin and exclaimed, "Good morning, princess!"

Zelda stammered, "I… I… Why?!"

"Hmm?" Purah responded as she absentmindedly tried to clean herself. "Because it seems like a pretty good morning."

"Why… did you… become here?!"

"Oh. I was testing reagents."

"… WHY?!"

"… To see what would happen! Why else?"

Zelda continued to stare at the young doctor, before eventually dragging a hand over her face as she surveyed the damage to her room. "My window..."

Purah clumsily spun around to look up at the broken window frame. "Ah." She turned back to Zelda. "I'm sorry about that! You can deduct that from my research budget, can't you?"

"I..." Zelda composed herself. "Yes. I think I can."

"Then don't worry about it! I'll even put in a word with my interior decorator, he'll get you something really nice to replace the old window!"

Zelda sighed. "So… Can I presume, based on the outcome of your experiment, that it was a failure?"

Purah dramatically brought a finger to her chin. "Weeelllll… I suppose that's one interpretation of the events that took place. I failed to accurately predict the explosive potential of my reagents. But on the other hand, my calculations underestimated the strength of the explosion by almost 70%! So in another sense, my experiment succeeded in finding new, more efficient compounds to initiate a combustion reaction!"

"IT WAS SUPPOSED TO EXPLODE?!" Zelda burst out, unable to contain herself.

"Well, of course! Why do you think I was wearing that armor in the first place? Come on, Zelda, put two-and-two together!"

Zelda slumped into her seat, staring listlessly forwards. "This is my life now, isn't it?"

The door burst open. "Your Highness, is everything―OH COME ON!"

Impa burst into the room, her worried expression quickly turning into terrified fury as she caught sight of her soot-covered older sister, cheerfully standing in the middle of the room, the carcass of a blast-proof suit of armor lying open on the floor.

Purah turned to Impa. "Good morning, sis!"

Zelda waved helplessly in Impa's direction.

"Purah… Why… Never mind! Get out of here! If anyone finds out what you did…!"

Purah grinned and threw her hands behind her neck. "Relax, the repairs are coming out of my research budget! And with this new compound I've developed, I'll shore up that hole in the budget in no time at all!"

"That is not..." Impa also took a moment to compose herself. "Sister..."

Purah began to pout. "Aww, don't do that..."

"I am very disappointed in how you've conducted yourself," Impa concluded, her expression formal and solemn.

Purah dramatically contorted her face into a pout as she folded her arms behind her back and approached Impa. "Aww, come on, sis, don't be like that. It was an accident."

Impa tilted her head so that she was looking in a direction away from Purah. "I am just grateful that no harm came to the princess."

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again!" Purah had flung her arms around Impa.

Impa's eye twitched. "THAT'S WHAT YOU TOLD ME LAST TIME! Do you know how difficult it was to contract someone who could replace her dresser in only three days?!"

Zelda perked up. "Wait… Last time?" She glanced at the dresser in the corner of her room. "So that's why the tears vanished in my cold-weather clothes..."

Impa went pale. "Uh. I mean..."

Purah snapped upright. "You got this, sis!" She grabbed the wrecked pieces of the armor and quickly dashed out the door before either of them could respond.

Zelda blinked at the door. "… That armor must be like half her weight, how is she able to move so quickly while carrying it…?"

"Your highness, I am so sorry..."

"Ehh, forget it," Zelda said solemnly, propping her head on with her arm on her desk.

"Zelda?"

Zelda looked at the broken window, then at the shards of glass on the floor. She then got up, grabbing a broom-and-pan from her desk, which she used to carefully clean up the glass.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about it, I can..."

"It's fine," Zelda remarked, scanning the room for any errant fragments. "I'm just glad it's between seasons right now. Maybe a little fresh air will be nice."

"O-of course."

An awkward pause hung in the air, broken only by the sound of sweeping glass.

"Is… Um… Will Purah be punished?"

Zelda shrugged. "Depends on whether my father finds out. Personally, I think she's too useful to reprimand. And..." Zelda smiled ruefully. "… To be honest, even if she occasionally causes me headaches, I actually admire her spirit. Please tell your sister to be careful, though, okay? People are much harder to replace than things." She set the pan down on a table adjacent to the door. "Take that with you and empty it when you leave."

"Sure," Impa replied, allowing her guard to fall.

Zelda sat back down at her desk. "So. What's going on today? I assume you were getting caught up on the day before all that happened."

Impa blinked. "Oh! Right. Well, your father asked for your list."

Zelda rolled her eyes, and searched her desk until she found a list of names. "Any one of these men would serve excellently as my guard. So it's just down to the Commander to identify which of them is most worthy." She handed the list to Impa. "What else?"

"Uhh, I've received word from the Printing Press, they've been backed up, and they won't have the next volume of your textbook ready by tomorrow. They say it'll be early next week at the latest."

Zelda shrugged. "That's alright. I've been moving through this one rather slowly." She reached down below her desk to recover her errant textbook.

"Okay. Um. Also. You've received a formal invitation."

Zelda's eyes widened. "To what?"

Impa produced a letter from within her tunic. "The Coming-of-Age banquet for the Princess of the Zora's Domain, Mipha Dorephan." She handed the letter to Zelda.

Zelda briefly flipped through the letter. "She's turning 16, huh?"

"Yes. I'm told that's a significant milestone for the Zora."

"Hmm." Zelda's eyes dulled as she set the letter down.

"Your highness?"

"I..." Zelda awkwardly scratched at her elbow. "I don't think I'm going to attend."

"For what reason?"

"Well, I'm somewhat behind on my studies, and I don't actually know the Zora Princess particularly well." Zelda narrowed her eyes. "Plus… I… don't do so well at parties."

Impa took a deep breath. "Might I offer some advice, your highness?"

Zelda sighed and placed her head on her hand. "Seeing as I already know that's a rhetorical question, you might as well."

"I think it would be a significant mistake to turn down her invitation. It might be that you don't know her that well, but the princess is quite fond of you. More importantly, I happen to know that diplomatic relations between our kingdom and the Zora's Domain have been… terse… these last few years. And even if you say that you're struggling with your studies, I also know that you have been working very hard on them these last few weeks. It's good to take a break." Impa paused briefly. "There's no doubt in my mind: attending this banquet would be good for you, and for the kingdom."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. How many council meetings did you eavesdrop on to learn that?"

"I, uh..."

"I'm seriously asking. Those meetings are so boring. The advisors are the masters of needless meandering. I don't understand how you could have even had the time to eavesdrop for the exact moment they discussed our diplomatic situation."

"… Anyways. Let me make you an offer, Zelda," Impa continued, ignoring Zelda's question. "If you're so worried about falling behind on your studies, why don't you let me sort through your texts while you're absent. I'll condense everything into a more digestible format, so that when you return, you'll be rested, and welcomed by less daunting texts to read."

Zelda groaned. "… I guess it would be a good opportunity to study some of the flora and fauna unique to their region."

"… Or you could do that."

Zelda glanced at the letter. "In two days."

"If I order a carriage to pick you up this evening, you would arrive shortly before sundown tomorrow in their capital city. That would give you time to relax before the banquet begins, and it would enable you to perform your 'Field Research', as it were."

Zelda folded her hands behind her neck. "Alright, alright. Send word to Princess Mipha that I will be attending."

Impa bowed. "Very good. What should I tell your father?"

Zelda scoffed and leaned back in her chair. "I suppose you could tell him the truth?" Her expression got distant. "It's not like he expects anything from me anyways."

"… As you say, your highness," Impa replied hesitantly.

She left the room, carrying the parchment with the list of names, and the pan of broken glass.