That night held a different dream and not a wholly unpleasant one. He was with his mom, himself young enough that he held her hand above his head as they walked down the steps of Kakariko village. When he woke, he realized just how much the Sheikah village had suffered since Ganon's return, how much it had shrunk, but his younger self in the dream thought the village was small and cramped compared to the wide roads and stacked buildings of Castle Town.

Despite the fact there were more people, the village didn't sound any louder, which made sense to Link now but as a child felt eerie as he was used to the loud sounds of wagons rumbling in the streets, parents yelling after their children, and the chatter of businesses and neighbors. Each step felt too loud and he tried to step a little lighter, careful of how and where he placed his foot all the while trying to keep up with his mom's longer steps. It didn't work but, hey, he tried.

She talked to some people he didn't recognize, not completely. He had seen Sheikah at the palace when his mom took him with her to work in the library with the other scholars, where he'd usually get bored and steal off to try and find his dad. But the people with the white hair and red eyes tended to capture his attention.

Link watched as his mom rolled out scrolls on the table and watching with minimal interest as she and the others talked to themselves. He could catch words like "blue flame" and "low power" over the cross talk, but even some of the words he could hear made no sense to him when strung together. Like he did in the Castle library, he left this too, though he was sure that the Sheikah noticed his oh so sneaky retreat. He wandered around just enough to look lost since an older kid grabbed him and asked if he was.

When he explained it to her that he was just bored, she smiled and led him by the hand to an empty house, minus some weapons on the wall.

"Have you held one of these before?" she said, offering him a light wooden sword. He nodded, his father having given him what could have been considered extremely basic lessons in sword play with an emphasis on the play. He swung the sword wildly and without restraint and found he was no match for the older girl.

He landed on his back in defeat several times but always got right back up to continue. His mom stayed in Kakariko village for a week, and he happily spent every day getting his butt handed to him.

Link woke in Kakariko village, in the hotel where Zelda slept in the bed next to his, not panicked like he had been waking from the memory-like dreams in Lurelin village, but he couldn't say he woke feeling refreshed either. Ollie was asleep on the job again, leaving him alone with the thin, fleeting memories of his mother and his apparent informal training with the Sheikah girl.

But what also stuck with him was the mention of the blue flame. Both Purah and Robbie needed the blue flame to operate their labs. Though Zelda didn't exactly have a lab here of a similar capacity, he wondered if at least having it on hand would help. He might not know how to build whatever it was she was making, but he could sure fetch a flame.

From the Sheikah Slate, he knew it was too early to wake her – just because he was sleeping less didn't mean she had to join him – but knew that a sudden disappearance might be in poor taste. He borrowed a paper and quill from the check in desk to leave a note behind for Zelda, writing, "Be back with blue flame soon" and setting it on his bed's pillow.

It took him several hours and several tries to get the flame back to Kakariko village intact. It was a further distance to travel without posts to hold the flame the further he got from the source. Going too fast on horseback snuffed out the flame and going too slow gave the flame enough time to burn his torch to a crisp.

He ended up having to take the horse and wagon, "borrow" the cooking pot outside his house, and fill it with enough wood to last the journey back. It ended up being a poor choice of words to leave behind in his note, saying "soon" instead of "later" or "much later" or maybe even "this evening" since wasn't until the sun started to set that he arrived back in Kakariko village, at which point he wasn't sure if he wanted Zelda to have completed her project or not as it would've made his entire day pointless if she ended up not needing it. Then again, he hadn't asked her if she wanted it.

He used the last leg of the journey to practice an excuse. He got too caught up in the challenge he gave himself, or that he just wanted to help. But by the time he reached the village with the fire still burning in the back of the wagon, he realized why he spent all day away from her: part of him was still afraid of remembering too much. He had consciously and purposefully decided to come back, to help her, but that didn't make him any less afraid.

Zelda wasn't in the inn but at Impa's home again. He found her, Impa, and Paya eating dinner together with a fourth hopeful placement. They didn't comment on his absence, Impa insisting he join them for dinner. He couldn't exactly argue with that, his stomach growling loudly at the mere mention of it, drawing a laugh from all three women.

He ate in relative silence, the others talking among themselves as he scarfed down the food. Zelda talked about her efforts in recreating the relay they used to use for controlling the Guardians a century ago, which felt like a cue if anything for Link. He set down his now empty bowl and signed a thank you to Paya, having recognized it as her cooking.

"I'm sorry it took so long, but I did bring the blue flame here," he signed after getting Zelda's attention. "Robbie and Purah both needed it before they could help me, so I thought it might help you."

Zelda gave him a soft smile that dropped his hopes to the pit of his stomach.

"The blue flame is a potent heat source to meld things together, but it's primary function is in providing energy to workshops and I haven't seen one in this village," Zelda explained. "Unless there's one I haven't seen?" she asked Impa and Paya.

"What was left of the workshop we used to have was split between Robbie and Purah when they left, I'm afraid," Impa said. She turned to Link and raised her hand slightly to get his attention. "But your work was not in vain. Even if it doesn't help the Princess now, we can use the flame to begin our own workshop. It will help us build in the future, especially if… if what Zelda said about the Yiga clan is true."

The mood immediately dampened. Paya looked nervous at the mere mention of the Yiga clan, and Zelda looked more distraught than anything else, which Link chalked up to her concern for Ora. For Impa, she seemed unfazed.

"Princess, I know your thoughts on the matter, but we have been under the impression that the Yiga clan broke away as more and more citizens of Hyrule feared us and our history with the ancient technology."

"That's why it's even more important that Purah and I can turn the Guardians into a force for good, to rebuild Hyrule without the fear of its combative abilities," Zelda broke in. "I remember the scrutiny the Sheikah faced before, but if there is even one small thing that could be good from the devastation in the last century is that we get to rebuild the way we wish to see Hyrule built."

"What is to stop them from following the same path of blame? After all, despite the peoples' concerns, we were the ones that built back up the army of Guardians that laid waste to the land. Princess, I know it's a hard reality to face, but we all need to accept the fact that our actions may have made Ganon's return more deadly than it would've been otherwise."

"I… I know that. That's why I want to fix it. Fix everything," Zelda said. Link could feel the heart she had behind the words, how she blamed herself. He already knew – or at least figured – she blamed herself for his near death, and while he felt the deaths of the empty towns and villages he passed through, like ghosts tugging at his shoulders to ask "Why you and not us?", he realized that while he could've fought more, fought longer to save more lives, it didn't change the fact that their own defense was turned against them.

"You can't fix everything, Zelda."

"I can try." Zelda sounded like she was pleading with Impa to give her permission rather than stating her goal or intent. He reached across the table to touch her hand, hoping he could help her somehow. She barely responded to his touch, her eyes flickering to him in a brief show of recognition – or thanks? – and then back to Impa, but she didn't say anything. Perhaps there was nothing left to be said.

"Thank you for the meal," Link signed to thank Paya once more. Then he stood and held out his hand to Zelda, waiting a moment and then two before she took his hand. He helped her stand, content with letting go after she was on his feet, but her lingering grasp made him reconsider. In an attempt to make it look not like what it seemed, he walked ahead of her, his arm stretched back like he was pulling her along behind him.

He led her out of the house, past the wagon with the blue flame still burning bright, and through the village, her hand still in his as he led her up and up, past the Shrine and taking a left at the fork. He stopped as soon as the Great Fairy Fountain was in view and turned back to Zelda, taking back his hand to talk.

"Let me show you something," he signed. She nodded silently, and he saw her watchful eyes trace his steps as he walked backwards into the grasses. His eyes searched the ground, looking past the Blue Nightshade and ignoring the glow of the Silent Shrooms until he finally found what he was looking for. He kneeled down, careful to pluck the flower at the base. Ever so carefully, he turned back towards Zelda and hid his finding behind his back.

"What do you have there?" Zelda asked as she walked closer to him.

He found himself briefly surprised that she didn't look surprised or otherwise enchanted by the flower fountain but figured that it was certainly not her first time to Kakariko village or its surrounding lands. As she drew closer, Link couldn't help but think back on one of the few memories he had that guided him in his travels, that begged him to find hints of her to know more about her, to remember her.

He showed her the Silent Princess, and she gasped, her hands at her mouth and her eyes wide at the sight of them. Since he needed his hands to say what he wanted next, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling it forward to place the stem of the flower in the palm of her hand.

"I can always find these here. There's even more up on the top of that rock," he signed, then pointed at the steep, cliff-like hill they passed on their way here. "I wanted you to know the Silent Princess thrives now."

Zelda dropped the other hand from her mouth and he saw her smile and the tears in her eyes. He watched as her eyes darted past him, the face she wore just then a familiar one to him; it was the way her eyes looked out like she could see every detail and found each part, each piece of what she was looking at to be utterly and completely fascinating. In a flash, a picture so fast in his mind he swore that he conjured it up from his own imagination, but in it he saw her looking at him that exact same way.

"I thought you needed good news. I know I haven't been the… easiest to be around. I don't remember much, but I remember you worrying for these flowers… Well, before you tried to make me eat that frog."

Her smile grew until laughter poured from her. "That was before I knew it wouldn't work on its own!"

"And I was sick from eating a live frog the rest of the day!" he added, hands speaking as his own laughs joined in the air with hers. They laughed like that for a moment, comfortable with each other until he realized two things: that was the first time he laughed in a while, and in front of Zelda no less, but also that he had unknowingly remembered something beyond what he saw in that brief memory. As his laughter stopped, so did hers, and he saw what was probably his own realization mirrored on her face, her smile still there.

"I can't believe I haven't heard your laugh until now!" she exclaimed. Then she quickly added, "Since we sealed Ganon away."

Against his better judgement, he asked, "What did I used to laugh at before?" He asked it even though he remembered that night in Lurelin village when she tried to paint him a picture of his old home. It made him feel sick to his stomach, hearing about something he knew he should remember and just didn't. In the absence of memories, the feelings her words did conjure hadn't been pleasant either, the idea of trying to remember a place called home that was now a pile of rubble.

"I tried to make you laugh with food jokes a few times. It ended up being mostly word play that you considered cheesy." She rubbed her forearm with her free hand nervously. "You were rather serious and focused back then, but I suppose we both were. I can't remember laughing all that much either."

Link tried to smile for her despite working through what she told him: if his forgotten self was hardly any happier than he was now, what was the good in remembering? Another part of him noticed how fondly she spoke of the time before, even as hard as it must have been. Perhaps the good in it outweighed the bad. Regardless, it seemed like spending time around her would bring them back, and he had already decided he wanted to stay by her side; there was little point in dwelling on the small points.

They ended up sitting beneath the trees for the last hours of the evening. As the night stole the sky, the luminescent flora came to life, shining through the darkness. Zelda hunted for more Silent Princesses, even picking a few Blue Nightshades. With some difficulty, she braided the flowers together into a circle and placed it on Link's head.

"Give me the Sheikah Slate," she told him, and he did. Holding it up at eye level for both of them, he heard the familiar click! of the camera.

He smiled and carefully removed the flower crown from his head, setting it on hers and holding out his hand for the Sheikah Slate. He found it cute how she handed it to him and immediately sat up straight and proper, her hands folded in her lap and chin held high, but he switched the Slate to face towards him, he scooted next to her and pulled her in closer to fit in the frame, holding it up and click! the second picture of the night was taken.

She looked flustered in this picture, nowhere near as composed as she had been a moment before. It almost reminded him of that picture they all took, the one where Daruk grabbed them at the last moment. Zelda laughed at her own mirrored image, the bells of the Nightshade bouncing as she softly laughed at the picture.

"It's perfect."

Link woke too early once again at the Kakariko Inn. The memory in his last dream was pleasant but hard to grasp. The most he remembered was having his head laying in his mother's lap, the only comfortable place to rest as the travel wagon bumped along the rocky dirt road. Even awake, he felt the lingering touch of his mother's hand on his head, brushing his hair with her fingers. It was the first time he wanted to have stayed in the memory longer, and not just because the lack of sleep was wearing on him.

He tried to sleep a little longer but found it to be a fruitless measure and decided to slip out of the inn once more. Outside, he caught the eye of Dorian, and the events of two days ago gave reason to the urgent look in his eyes. They stood in silence for a moment, Link not knowing what to say while also knowing what Dorian wanted to say though they couldn't openly discuss it.

Not here.

Dorian raised his arms over his head and stretched tall. "I could use a walk right about now. Link, would you accompany me?" he asked. Link nodded and followed him to the cliff side that overlooked the wetlands, under the tree by the graves.

"I don't know… I don't know if the Princess is right or not," Dorian told him. "I don't remember feeling any dark presence or influence when I was- you know." Link nodded. "I want to believe it. It would certainly take away some of the guilt I've felt all these years, but that feels cheap, to reduce it to it only being partially my fault."

This wasn't exactly Link's area of expertise. He wasn't a scholar or magic user like Zelda was. He had no way to confirm if Ora had the darkness in her that Zelda said she felt, but he trusted her enough to know she wouldn't say it if she didn't think it was true.

"Your will was strong enough to break free and leave," Link guessed. "Perhaps it was strong enough to resist Ganon's influence."

Dorian shuffled, knocking aside a few small rocks on the ground with his feet. "I wasn't strong enough to defy the Yiga that blackmailed me."

Link couldn't find the words to argue with that. "Have you heard of other Yiga leaving?"

"No," was all Dorian said.

"Then I think it's something to consider."

Dorian headed back to the village without Link. Link took a seat on the wooden fence and looked out over the wetlands until the dawning sun painted the waters orange and he heard Zelda's voice back in the village.