Zelda walked up one of the roots of the Deku Tree to try to get to higher ground, to better see what the Knights were doing.

"Yo!" A voice shouted from ahead.

Closer to the Trunk, Zelda found Purah, closely examining an errant mushroom.

"Hey, big tree guy! You've got mushrooms! I, uh, I don't know if they represent like a disease, or if that's a normal thing for you."

"I am a host to a wide variety of natural and healthy Flora."

"Cool… Cool."

Zelda eyed Purah in alarm. "Have you been here this whole time?"

"Hmm. Well, I was only born nineteen years ago, so at a maximum, I only could possibly have―"

"Since… Since we arrived at the forest, Purah. Obviously, Purah," Zelda said despondently.

"Oh. Uh, then yeah, pretty much."

Zelda folded her arms defensively. "So you heard my conversation with the Deku Tree then."

Purah shrugged dismissively. "I mean, I heard it, but I wasn't really paying attention. Something about 'Ravaging Defenses', and you mentioned an Ouroboros at one point? I didn't understand the connection. Of all the dragons I'm aware of, I don't think any of them eat their own tails in a paradox."

"Don't… Don't worry about it," Zelda replied pensively.

Another rising and falling cheer from the Knights.

Purah glanced at the crowd, then knocked on the trunk of the Deku Tree. "So… Ballpark estimate… where do you put the odds that any one of them succeeds at actually yanking that thing out? Ten-to-one?"

"Only the truly worthy would be capable of drawing that blade."

"Mm. Well, I once saw one of the Knights benchpress two other Knights, in full armor. So maybe twenty-five-to-one?"

"The Blade seeks far more than physical strength. Any would-be wielder who is not noble in their heart will fail, irrespective of their physical strength."

"Fifty-to-one."

"Hundreds of thousands of souls have, in my tenure as Guardian of these lands, made a sincere effort to draw that Blade. None have succeeded."

"… Forty-to-one?"

"A gauntlet such as that which your Knights have proposed is even less likely to produce such a Champion, as the Blade most certainly will refuse even a worthy soul who participates in jest."

"Mm. Odds TBD." Purah leaned against the trunk. "A hundred-thousand souls, huh? You know, maybe you need to filter the applicants a bit. You could restore the protective magicks around this forest, so only those marginally worthy even find their way here."

Zelda scoffed. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Purah. Make the one failsafe we have against utter annihilation inaccessible… before tragedy strikes."

"It is not necessary for the Lost Woods to live up to their namesake in a time of peace. I feel no compulsion to instigate her wards."

"Anyways," Purah continued, dropping the train of thought entirely and turning to Zelda, "aren't you worried that someone's going to get seriously hurt? Shouldn't we like… stop them?"

Zelda sighed. "The Knights are rambunctious, but part of their training is learning responsibility and discipline. If straining themselves too hard on a Sword is what ends up getting them killed, they probably weren't going to last long in the field anyways."

Purah leaned in towards Zelda, who took a step away from her in response. "That's a pretty gruesome hypothetical, princess."

"We might be at peace," Zelda said quietly to Purah, "but that's not the same thing as literally never needing the Knights. I sit in on the War Council meetings. The Knights get deployed almost every fortnight to deal with incidents within our own borders. Every year, there's at least one full-blown uprising they have to quell."

"Hmmm." Purah shifted her weight back and forth across her feet. "Yeah, I don't actually know much about that stuff."

"I know."

Purah displayed a wide grin. "But it's been centuries since anyone has successfully wielded that sword, hasn't it? Don't you think it's time someone finally withdrew it?"

"Isn't that the point? That only the truly worthy can take up the sword? It would besmirch the legacy of the sword if it simply chose to allow itself to be pulled for no good reason."

"Oh please. What does 'worthy' even mean in this context?" Purah turned to the Deku Tree. "How about it? Why don't we let one of the knights successfully retrieve it?"

"The Sword of Evil's Bane does not answer to me, nor to any other being that I am aware of. I am not even certain it answers to the Gods themselves."

Purah raised an eyebrow. "Pretentious sword."

"It's just as well," Zelda said, folding her arms. "The last thing I'd want is to find out that the new wielder was someone who hadn't earned it."

Purah blinked.

"Think about it. Some of those Knights have been in service for decades. They've dedicated themselves to the service of my father, myself, and the Kingdom of Hyrule without ever once faltering. They've trained, day after week after fortnight after month after season after year. If ever there were a metric of 'worthiness', wouldn't it be their training and their dedication? Would it not be a slap to their ethos if that sword literally chose someone clearly lesser than them?"

"That's a very interesting attitude to take on the subject of merit and worth, Princess."

Purah smirked and leaned up close to Zelda again. Zelda was backed against the trunk of the Deku Tree, and couldn't step away.

"Yourself literally someone who was born into their station and did nothing themselves to earn it, preaching the merits of a system where only the dedicated and worthy succeed."

Zelda flinched. "I..."

Purah narrowed her eyes, her smile fading slightly. "I have to wonder, princess, if we truly lived in a just and equitable society, whether you would have been judged worthy of the power you hold."

Zelda didn't say anything as she continued to look away from Purah's interrogating face.

"Well?"

"… Then maybe I shouldn't have been."

Purah's eyes widened, and her imposing expression vanished instantly. Whatever she had been expecting Zelda to say in response, it wasn't that.

Before she could respond in any meaningful capacity, there was a sharp rising of gasps from the direction of the Shrine, followed by unnerving silence.

Purah and Zelda both looked in the direction of the shrine.

By this point, the crowd of Knights was massive, to the point that they simply couldn't see to the middle of the clearing.

"Did someone get hurt?"

Zelda spoke those words without directing them towards anyone, but the Deku Tree responded cryptically, "this is… a truly curious development."

Zelda began to run in the direction of the shrine, Purah close behind in tow.

"I wasn't aware the Deku Tree could be sarcastic," Zelda said quietly.

Purah spoke quickly, her jocularity now completely absent. "What happens if someone screws up and over-exerts themselves? Are they just dead, or can you save them? Do you know any healing magic?"

Zelda shook her head. "The only healing magic I know are basic cantrips―not nearly enough to help for real injuries or emergencies. But yes, whatever happened, it should be possible to revive them. Go to my tent and grab my supply bag. I have medicine there."

Purah nodded and split off from Zelda as she reached the crowd of Knights. They didn't notice Zelda as she tried to push her way past them.

"This is a direct order! Stand aside and let me pass!"

The Knights responded lethargically, seemingly transfixed by the accident in the middle of the shrine. But eventually, they did clear enough to allow Zelda to pass.

She ran into the center of the gathering, where she began to shout again, "alright, where is―wait."

She looked around.

No one was lying on the ground.

She then looked at the sword.

Or rather, the pedestal with no sword.

And the boy standing over it, loosely clutching the sword in his hand.

Wait, what?!

Zelda focused on the boy.

It was Mipha's friend.

Link.

He stood there, holding the sword loosely in one hand, his other hand cradling the flat edge of the blade.

"… Are you kidding me?" were the words Zelda finally spoke.

Link turned to face her, and Zelda reflexively took a step back.

He had an absolutely terrified look on his face.

"Did… Did you…?"

Zelda allowed the words to hang in the air.

Link looked around at the onlooking Knights, and as he began to nod, they seemed to nod along in consensus.

Purah ran into the clearing, holding the wrong bag.

"Okay, I'm trying to look through this thing, and I can't find―"

Her voice broke off as she realized, same as Zelda had moments before, what had happened.

Purah tilted her head sideways as she looked at Link. "Hey, aren't you the Zora princess's boyfriend?"

A quiet, high-pitched gasp emitted from Link's mouth, but he didn't properly say anything in response, and simply returned to staring at the sword.

Purah produced a wide grin and elbowed Zelda in the side. "Well, that's gotta be awkward, huh!"

In response, Zelda let out the longest, most exasperated sigh she had ever produced.