Wow, my last chapter ended up being a popular one, based on the reviews and followers I picked up as a result. Thanks! I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy it. Purah is a blast to write, and it seemed to me that she would have never let Link go down into that Shrine without her. It took me a long time to figure out how I would describe the Shrines, finally settling on something closer to how the game showed them than I initially thought I would. I figured that they could be giant puzzle rooms, but this will likely be the only one I ever actually describe in any detail, though I will definitely have Link visiting others as needed.
Just going to respond to a couple reviews here...
Shinshinjane: Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you're liking how I'm describing Link thus far. I always felt that Breath of the Wild was a more somber game in its tone, and I definitely want to capture that, while also maintaining a degree of hope. I think you'll find that in abundance in this chapter as well.
Xmana033, I appreciate the compliments and hope that I keep portraying Link in the good way you like. I've grown very fond of the character I've tried to make with him, with all his strengths and flaws. The game portrays him as such a strong warrior that I knew I needed to try to double down on some of his other flaws. Thankfully, it gave me a great place to start with in the diary entries. Now, about those spelling and grammatical errors... I'm going to go crazy now thinking that I've missed some. Thanks for that.
OnePunchFan8: Thanks for the constant encouragement! I agree that BOTW lacked some in story, though I feel its characterizations were good, if not shallow. It feels like just about every major character in the game has a good level of personality, yet they just weren't given quite enough time to fully realize them. I guess that's where fanfiction comes in, though.
Chapter Nine
The sun had dipped with the late afternoon into the evening and, finally, into the first suggestions of twilight. The air had cooled some, which prompted him to pull the dark cloak around his shoulders. He could have gone inside, he knew—she would have only yelled at him if he interrupted her work. Maybe. He actually wasn't as sure on that concept as he thought. But still, he didn't need to stay out here.
But stay, he did. He sat in the grass, his back towards an old tree—apples again, he had noted with a wry smile. This country certainly had plenty of apple trees. Any mirth he found in this thought was quickly lost, however, as he gazed towards a frozen mountain in the distance. He watched as clouds floated through the sky, gathering around its peak, and then dispersed as the day wore on.
Part of Link itched to look at the photographs on the Sheikah Slate, to see the small glimpses into the life he'd had before everything had gone to ruin. At the same time, he was inordinately grateful to Purah for taking the cursed thing from him. Had he been holding it now, he knew that he would have found the photo of Princess Zelda again, beautiful in her simplicity, and he would have… what? He didn't know.
A noise behind him first alerted him to Purah's presence. A strange sound that Link seemed to recall hearing as he and Purah had teleported back onto the shrine's base earlier. He frowned and looked around the base of the tree, surprised to see a small person being formed of glowing blue particles on a familiar-looking circular stone base in front of the Ancient Tech Lab. How had he not noticed that before? The particles took the shape of a little girl with a strange owl-faced bow, solidified, and then flashed with bright light.
"Aha!" Purah cried, leaping into the air with excitement. "I did it! I did it, I did it! I! Did! It!" She seemed to do a little dance for a few seconds before she noticed him watching. She grinned brightly and laughed happily, running over to him. "Linky, did you see that?"
Link stood from his spot on the ground, looking at her in confusion. "I don't… How did you…"
"I just teleported from here to the top of the tower on the Great Plateau, and then back!" He noticed that she was holding his Sheikah Slate in her hands, and he glanced from it to her face.
"The Sheikah Slate can do that?"
"It can now." She laughed again, shrill and slightly manic. "That was the only rune I was still having trouble with before we went to the shrine. But when we teleported back, it gave me an idea, so I made some adjustments and wham! Instant transportation."
"I don't… how…"
"Well, I am the world's top tier scientist when it comes to ancient technology." She seemed to stand a little taller at this, and Link noticed with some chagrin that she was actually standing on her toes to do so. "And Robbie can just deal with it. I tried teleporting over to see him, but it seems that the Sheikah Slate can only visit places that it remembers being to recently."
"And it can go anywhere?"
"No, just places it's been to recently. I just said—"
"I mean, anywhere that it's been recently."
"Well… no." She shook her head and turned the Sheikah Slate to face Link, where he saw a map of Hyrule. Several new icons had been placed on the map, each of which was a bright Sheikah blue color. "You see, that's why I was having so many problems with it before. I was trying to tune it to transport me to anyplace I wanted. Then I thought about how we arrived back on that circle in front of the shrine, and I thought, 'Wait, Purah! What if the shrines and towers were used for teleportation points too?' And so I made some adjustments and… tested it. And it worked!"
Link stared at her, dumbfounded, but aware of the breakthrough that this must have been for her. Not to mention the incredible boon it could be on his own journey if it worked the way he hoped.
"So I could use that to teleport to any of the Sheikah shrines or towers I find? Can I teleport with my horse?"
"Linky, you're probably pretty lucky that it doesn't just teleport your hands, much less a whole horse. I really wouldn't even recommend trying it." Purah wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Link's heart dropped somewhat, his hopes of being able to flit all over the country with ease dashed. "Right now, it is only going to work for just you, honey. Maybe with some more time…" She considered this for a moment but then shook her head, her expression growing more serious. "But no. I can't keep you here any longer than I need to. I have the Sheikah Slate that I made for myself. It isn't nearly as… amazing as yours, but I think I can get the teleportation rune working on it too, now that I know better how it works."
"But I can use it to teleport back here anytime, though? How can you use it to transport to your lab?"
"Click, snappity snap! See that circle on the ground there?" She pointed at the spot she had appeared. "That's why I built my lab here. I actually think that the ancient Sheikah were planning on building a shrine here, too, but never finished it. I recognized it when I first saw it, since I'd already seen some shrines by then, so I built my lab here. It seemed right, at the time, and now I'm especially glad I did it. Just think—when I get it working on my Slate, I'm never going to have to walk back up that hill again."
Link gave her an honest smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "I can see that being useful, I suppose."
"You suppose…" Purah snorted. "All you can think of is how it will be useful in battle, I bet."
Well, now that she mentions it…
"You're going to have to use it to come back and visit me." Her expression had grown serious again. "I need to keep researching your real Sheikah Slate to make sure I get mine just right, and…" Purah's cheeks flushed slightly and she clasped her hands behind her back, digging her toe into the grass. "It's good having you back. Well, you're kind of fun for an old stick-in-the-mud."
"A… stick-in-the—"
"At least, that's what you used to be!"
Oh. She was talking about his former self, then. His mood immediately began to sour again.
"Now, come on! Symin has some stew cooking, and I made sure he made enough for you too." That did improve Link's mood some, and he followed her around the lab to another door that led into a much cozier section of the house, where it was warm and the smell of beef and vegetable stew filled the air.
It was sometime later that Purah and Link walked back outside. He approached Spirit, placing a handful of additional supplies that Purah had given him into Spirit's packs. The horse seemed eager to get moving again, and he nickered impatiently. He grasped the saddle and pulled himself up into it.
"Linky?" Purah looked up at him, that same strange serious expression on her face again. He looked down at her, eyes meeting hers. "I know that you are probably a little… overwhelmed right now. But I think you can do it."
Link gave her the smallest of smiles, though he didn't truly feel it in his heart. First Rhoam, then Impa, Telma, and now Purah. So many of them seemed confident in him, so why wasn't he able to feel the same confidence?
"And we'll help you! Me and Impa and Robbie, too, once we tell him you're back. Impa might have already done it."
Link felt a sudden surge of gratitude for the woman standing beneath him, and he gripped Spirit's reins tightly in order to avoid showing the emotions. It wouldn't due for Purah to see him growing emotional over such a simple statement. But really, he was grateful. Just hearing that someone else wanted to help him was… something that he truly needed to hear right then.
"Purah, you haven't…" Link cleared his throat, blinking rapidly. "You keep mentioning Robbie. Who is he? I don't remember…"
"Oh! Let me see your Sheikah Slate." Link handed it down to her, and her fingers danced across his screen. She handed it back to him a moment later, and he saw that the screen was showing a photograph.
Three people were standing arm in arm in it. Link immediately recognized the woman in the middle, with her round face and blonde hair. Princess Zelda stood in the photo, her blonde hair flowing down her back like the previous photo he'd seen, though now she had a braid that seemed to form a crown atop her head as well. She wasn't wearing the white dress this time but wore a blue blouse with golden trim, a white bodice, and a pair of brown tight-fitting trousers. She was smiling much more brightly in this photograph than the others were. At once, Link's heart seemed to ache at the sight of the young woman, who seemed even younger in this photograph than the previous one.
On either side of Zelda, two more individuals stood. Both were clearly Sheikah by their red eyes and white hair. One was a young woman, a few years older than Zelda, but wearing an altogether familiar cheeky grin and an even more familiar owl-shaped bow above her head. Link glanced down at Purah with some surprise, who nodded with a grin.
He looked at the other Sheikah in the photograph. This one was an unfamiliar man with a shock of messy, yet stylish white hair. He was slightly taller than Zelda and had a curved sword attached to his waist. Even in the photograph, his eyes seemed keen and watchful.
His eyes fell back to Zelda's face. Her cheeks, he noticed, were tinged with what looked like a blush. He squinted at her face, wondering at the redness of her cheeks. Something about the photograph… Something…
"Come on, Zelda! No time like the present!"
"Oh, but I'm not—we were just digging and my hair isn't quite—"
"Oh, hush, you look as beautiful as ever! Your knight can tell you, won't you, Linky?"
"What? Purah, that is hardly—"
"Get over here! Link, are you ready to take it? Smile, everyone!"
A lighthouse atop a cliff overlooking the sea. A cool, salty breeze playing across his skin. Two women and a man standing together. The woman in the center was flustered, her cheeks slightly pink, but she smiled, nonetheless. He raised the Sheikah Slate and…
And…
Link gasped sharply and looked around, eyes wide. It was early evening. He was on Spirit. Purah was by his side, and he faintly heard him say his name. She was frowning up at him, concerned.
"Linky? Are you…?"
"Robbie, he… he is the one in this photograph?" Link's voice cracked slightly, and he swallowed heavily.
"Well, yes. I just said that. He lives up near Akkala now, in an old lighthouse that he turned into his lab. I think he's been studying Guardians and how to make weapons that are more effective against them. You should probably visit him sometime—maybe if you end up near Death Mountain… Linky, are you sure you're okay? You look a little…"
"A lighthouse by the sea?"
Purah frowned at him, pursing her lips. "Yes. The one in the photograph. We had gone there because we heard there was a Sheikah shrine that had just been discovered there. I heard you and Princess Zelda were in the area, visiting Death Mountain, and I knew she could never pass up the opportunity to see something new that we'd found, so I sent you two a message to join us."
Link looked back down at the photograph, now able to see the lighthouse, though distantly. He was sure that he hadn't noticed that while looking at the picture initially. At least, he didn't think that he had…
"Linky?" Purah reached out, touching his calf with her child-like fingers. "You… remembered something, didn't you?"
Link looked back down at Purah and, after swallowing again, nodded slowly. "I took the photograph."
Purah clapped her hands together in joy. "Linky, that's great! Keep looking at those photos—maybe some more of your memories will come back! Just like Impa thought, actually…" She made a face as if she didn't like the idea of her little sister being right about something. "Still, when you see her, you should mention that you were looking at my picture when you had your first memory."
"I'm not sure when I'm going to be getting back to see her, but—"
"She didn't tell you?" Purah's face lit up with a mischievous grin. "The old hag must be getting senile in her old age." She cackled to herself softly. Link merely waited for her to finish, which she did a few seconds later. "She asked that you stop back by Kakariko Village. She has something that she wants to give you, and besides, there's a shrine hidden up in the Kakariko hills. It wouldn't hurt to activate that one so you can easily transport back there too."
If she wanted to give me something, why not just do it while I was there? Still, Purah made a good point. If there was a shrine near Kakariko, then it might be very useful indeed to activate it, if only to be able to seek Impa's advice while on his journey. She certainly seemed to be the one who knew the most of what he needed to accomplish to defeat Ganon—Purah had not seemed to know much of Zelda's plan in this regard when he asked her during dinner earlier.
Finally, he agreed to make one more trip to Kakariko Village before continuing, as Impa had originally suggested, north to visit the Zora—whoever they were. He bid Purah one final farewell and began the long ride back down the hill to Hateno Village. Once he reached the town, he paused at the inn, thinking to stay there one final night, but the sight of the evening crowd in the common area made Link rethink the decision.
He found that he truly did not want to be around anyone at that moment, especially if they might have questions about what he and Purah had been doing with the shrine earlier. Instead, he simply gathered up the last of his things that he had left up by his bed, managed to purchase some simple travel provisions, and set out into the evening.
He eventually made camp in the woods that he'd made camp in on the way into Hateno Village. There, he made a small fire and pulled out the small cookpot that Purah had given him—inspired by the photograph of himself cooking. He set out to prepare a simple meal of fruit and vegetables, but he then noticed a large, dark grey truffle growing nearby, illuminated by his fire. Curiously, he approached it, smiling faintly at the memory of Nat and Meghyn arguing over finding some of these truffles in this forest. He decided to add the truffles to his meal and was quite satisfied with the end result.
After eating, Link spread out his simple bedroll and, for a time, he lied there, gazing up at the stars overhead. It was a clear night, with a light breeze causing the tree leaves to shiver. Nearby, an owl hooted.
"Princess Zelda?" His hesitant voice cut through the quiet. "Princess, can you hear me? Can you speak with me?"
Like before, his voice seemed to fall on deaf ears. He received no response to his queries and felt irritated with himself for even trying. Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes, trying to sleep. Rest, however, did not come easily that night. After for what seemed like hours of tossing and turning, Link finally reached for and turned on the Sheikah Slate. The brightness of the screen blinded him at first, causing him to squint in discomfort at the colorful icons that filled the screen.
He touched the gallery rune, which brought back up the dozens of photographs left behind on the Sheikah Slate. Impa had suggested that they were left there by Zelda in hopes that seeing them might spark some kind of memory in his mind. Clearly, she had been wise to do so, as he believed that just such an occurrence had happened earlier that night, though the memory was little more than vague flashes in his mind. He wouldn't have even known who any of the people were in the memory, had Purah not told him.
Still, though… If had been something. The first something since he'd woken the week prior.
Link spent a long time looking through the many images on the Sheikah Slate. There were many more of him, several of Zelda, and quite a few of the other four beings that he'd seen the night before. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar to Link, but no amount of effort on his part awakened any distant memory. At one point, he found a photograph of the six of them—himself, Princess Zelda, and the four other beings, all wearing similar blue scarves or sashes. He and Princess Zelda were in the center of the photograph, surrounded by the others around them. The large tan creature with the wide grin stood behind the others and seemed to be embracing them all at once, which had clearly caused some commotion among the others, based on their positions and shocked expressions.
The photograph made Link smile. He certainly could not remember anything about this image—the only one in the Sheikah Slate that showed them all together at once—but it warmed his heart nonetheless to see the apparent friends together. It also occurred to him that he thought he might know who the four beings were.
Mipha, the Zora. Daruk, the Goron. Urbosa, the Gerudo. Revali, the Rito. The four Champions that Rhoam had spoken of. The four Champions that had traveled with Link and Princess Zelda. The four Champions whom, to Link's horror upon realizing, had perished in the Divine Beasts when Ganon had broken free.
Link shut the Sheikah Slate down, placing it over with the rest of his things. He felt sick to his stomach. Where there had once been six, now there remained only one. His heart ached with shame for a failure that he could not even remember. If he had worked harder, could he have stopped their deaths? Could he have stopped the Calamity Ganon?
Could he now?
That night, Link got very little sleep, kept awake long into early morning by his haunted thoughts.
The next three days passed in a blur for Link. He tried to avoid looking at the photographs in the Sheikah Slate, though he did occasionally flip through them, wondering if any other memories would be sparked. None were and even the one that he had remembered was little more than a fragment of one.
As he journeyed back towards Fort Hateno, he spotted, again, the orange Sheikah Tower near Hateno Village. He had considered again going to activate it, but when he scouted it, he saw that several groups of monsters had made camps around its base. He decided to keep moving at this time but felt some concern over their proximity to Hateno Village. The tower was at least a day's travel away from the village, but it was close enough that it could be a viable staging point if they did want to attack.
Deciding that there was no immediate danger to the village or roads—the tower was a good way off from the main road—Link left things as they were. With the Sheikah Slate, he could always come back to check on the monsters' activity from time to time. He certainly didn't know if he could clear all of the bokoblins and moblins by himself, though the story of the Hero of Hateno Village came him some pause. Surely, he hadn't been alone in that battle, right?
As the sun set over the ridge separating the Blatchery Plain from Hyrule Field at the end of his second day of travel, Link made camp just across the Kakariko Bridge, before the land started sloping upward into the mountain pass that led to the village. He had considered turning south to spend the evening at the Dueling Peaks stable but decided that the additional hours of travel that would have required wasn't worth it. That evening, he had managed to shoot a rabbit with his bow, so he ended up well-fed before the last leg of his journey.
Mid-afternoon on the third day brought Link under the wooden arches into the village of Kakariko. He felt the villager's eyes on him as he climbed down from Spirit's back and led him through the village. A couple of them greeted him, and one lady tried getting him to shop at her clothing shop, but he pressed on as politely as he could. Finally, he reached the bottom of the hill, where a familiar pair of Sheikah men stood guard over the wooden bridge that led to Impa's home.
"Welcome back, Link!" Cado called, raising a hand in greeting as Link approached. Dorian greeted Link as well, though he was more reserved than Cado's. Link found that he enjoyed the presence of these two men, after having spent some time in their presence during his last visit. Dorian, he'd found out, was a single father of two little girls after his wife had passed away long prior. Cado had been married, but it sounded to Link that some kind of disagreement had resulted in their separating.
"Cado, Dorian," Link said, nodding to each of the older men. "Is Lady Impa available to speak? I was informed that she wished for me to speak with her again before continuing on."
Silence fell between them as they all seemed to consider Link's mission and ultimate goal. Finally, however, Dorian spoke. "She told us that she expected you to come back soon, and to allow you to see her whenever you arrived."
"I'll have someone take your horse to the inn." Cado stepped up, taking Spirit's reins from Link. "I am assuming that you will be staying with us tonight?"
Link glanced up towards the sky, where the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, and nodded at Cado gratefully. He began up the wooden bridge suspended over the small moat that seemed to surround Impa's home. When he reached the top, he noticed that Paya was on her hands and knees next to the door leading inside, scrubbing or maybe polishing the wooden floor.
"Hello, Paya."
When she heard his voice, she gasped sharply, leaping to her feet. "O-oh! Master Link! I didn't know that you were coming back." She paused and her face seemed to turn even redder. "Today, I mean. Grandmother said that you might be back soon, but I didn't know y-you would be back today."
Link wasn't quite sure what to make of Paya. From his perspective, she seemed to have a great deal of difficulty speaking around others, and he wondered if she struggled with anxiety on top of that. She seemed charming in her own way, however, and always seemed to be hard at work on some kind of project.
"I just came from Hateno Village. Purah told me that your grandmother wanted me to stop here again."
"Oh, you met my Aunt Purah?" Paya's face lit up some and she stood up a little straighter. "I spent the summer with her five years ago. We write each other. She can be… eccentric at times."
Link couldn't help himself and laughed at this. Paya, in turn, looked somewhat mortified, ducking her head. Her blush reached the tips of her pointed ears. He cleared his throat, feeling somewhat embarrassed by her reaction. "Yes, I think eccentric should about… cover it."
Despite the awkwardness of the moment, Link and Paya both shared a slight smile before she announced—a little more loudly than he thought was necessary—that she would go in and make sure that Impa knew of Link's arrival, and that he was welcome to wait in the audience chamber in the meantime.
When they entered the house, however, both Link and Paya were surprised to find Impa already seated on a pillow on the floor, a tray with two cups of steaming tea beside her. Impa gave Link a knowing smile and a wink before looking at Paya.
"Paya, please retrieve the package that I had brought for Link." Impa motioned to the other pillow across from her, and Link dutifully sat down after removing his sword and shield, laying each of them down on the floor. Paya hurriedly went up the stairs to do as she'd been told.
Impa watched the girl go with a fond expression before looking back at Link. She fixed him with an even stare, lifting the cup of tea to her lips, sipping at it softly. Finally, when she lowered the cup, she spoke. "I trust you saw my sister? Did she restore your Sheikah Slate back to working order?"
Link pulled the Sheikah Slate from his belt and activated the Gallery rune before turning it to show Impa. "I found the photographs. Is that what you—or the princess—meant to help me regain my…"
"Oh." Impa fixed her eyes on the screen, setting her tea down with suddenly trembling fingers. She reached out and took the Sheikah Slate from him, gazing intently at it. Link saw tears at the corners of her eyes, and he was grateful when Paya came down the stairs a few moments later, carrying a package wrapped in brown paper and tied with a piece of twine.
"Grandmother?" Paya said, concern laced through her voice. She knelt on the ground beside Impa, placing a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Oh, is that the…"
"Yes, dear. That is Princess Zelda." Impa's voice was heavy with emotion and Link found himself fixing his eyes on the wooden floor between them.
"She's so beautiful…" Paya, oddly, glanced towards Link when she said this. "Oh! And there is Master Link. And… another one of Master Link."
Link felt his face redden slightly at this. It was not lost on him that there were quite a few photographs in the Sheikah Slate of him. He assumed that was just because the princess had been the bearer of the Sheikah Slate at the time, and since he was always with her, he just ended up being in many of her pictures.
After a few more moments of looking at the pictures, Impa requested privacy for her and Link, and Paya dutifully went back outside, presumably to continue cleaning the deck as she had been doing when Link arrived.
Impa cleared her throat and Link finally looked back up to meet her eyes. Impa's eyes looked slightly red, but any signs of the painful emotions she had felt upon seeing the photographs were otherwise gone. She drank her tea again and looked at Link patiently, apparently waiting for him to speak.
Link, in turn, took his cup of tea, taking a sip of it. It was warm and pleasant—not at all like that awful Gerudo brew that Telma had given him. He did not immediately say anything either, feeling comfortable in the silence that stretched between them.
Finally, Impa did speak. "Have they assisted with your memory loss?"
Link wasn't sure how to answer that. He had remembered something, yes, but the other things that he felt when looking at the photos were far worse than not remembering anything at all. He still remembered next to nothing, but now he knew that he had failed all of the smiling people in those photos.
"I remembered… something. A fragment." He grimaced slightly and looked away. "Nothing of substance or use."
"Link." Impa's voice was firm, drawing his eyes back. "I did not send you to Purah in hopes that you would recover memories that would be useful in defeating Ganon. I doubt there will be much at all useful in the memories locked away in your mind—after all, you did not know how to defeat Ganon one hundred years ago."
Link flinched at that and something must have shown on his face for Impa's voice grew sharper. "Yes, you failed. The princess failed. We all failed. And the kingdom has paid a terrible price for that failure. But you have been given another chance—another opportunity to right the wrong that has befallen Hyrule. Do not be so focused on your failure that you cannot see the hope before you."
Link's face grew hot, and he still did not meet her eyes. Impa muttered something about youth before taking a long draw on her tea. When she brought the cup back down, she continued in a softer tone. "I want you to regain your memories for you, as I am sure the princess wished as well. There is much pain in your history, and remembering it will not be pleasant, but there is also much joy and laughter. You deserve to have those memories back as well."
"It was only one memory. One simple… event. For all of the other photographs that I've looked at, I haven't remembered anything else." He chose not to reveal the strange pull he felt whenever he saw photos of Princess Zelda. Something about that felt more private to him.
"And that may be all you ever remember." Impa nodded sagely. Link felt his heart sink. "But I do not think so. Given time, I believe that you will recover more of your memories. Already, these images have helped you, and I would imagine that visiting the places that these were taken at might have an even stronger effect."
Link felt a stab of worry at this. Was she suggesting that he go to the locations in each of those photos? He expressed these concerns to her, which only made Impa laugh.
"No, fool boy, I do not suggest you try to find each of these places! However, the journey that you must take to free the Divine Beasts is not so different than the one you and Princess Zelda took one hundred years ago. You visited each of the different races in Hyrule to see the Divine Beasts, and that is reflected in these photographs." She turned the Sheikah Slate around to show Link an image of a beautiful white stone structure standing on pillars over water. He could see some of the strange fish-men and women on the walkways of this structure.
"Zora's Domain," Impa explained. "That is where I recommend you go first. It is closest and easiest to reach from here, and I have heard some… troubling news from that region recently. I am not sure of its validity, but the Divine Beast appears to be acting in a strange manner. It is possible that it is related to your awakening, but I am not sure."
Link nodded, troubled by the news that the Divine Beasts appeared to be acting strangely. When Princess Zelda last spoke to him, she indicated that Ganon did not know of his awakening yet. If he did know now, then what did that mean for the princess? What did that mean for his journey?
"So those are Zora?" Link said, finally. Impa gave him a flat look before launching into an explanation that, yes, those were Zora—a race of aquatic people that lived at the mouth of the Zora River. She also showed him the Gorons—the large, rock-like creatures that lived at the base of Death Mountain. The Rito were the avian people that lived to the west, in the Tabantha Frontier. Link was able to guess who the Gerudo were from what little Telma had told him, but Impa informed him of where they lived as well—in the large desert, southwest of Hyrule.
Sometime later, Impa cleared her throat and pushed the small brown package towards Link. "I had this made when I saw that you had awoken. I apologize that I had to call you back here, but I felt that you should have this."
Link took the package, curious. He untied the twine and carefully unwrapped it. When it was unwrapped, he was shocked to see that it was a sky-blue tunic, which matched the tunic he'd worn in the photographs perfectly. White trim formed simple symbols around the waist and sleeves, which he thought might have represented the royal family and the different races of Hyrule, and the trim, likewise, formed what appeared to be an upside-down sword directly beneath his collar. Beneath the tunic was a simple white shirt with bands of red and green color at the collar and around the wrists.
"It is the Champion's tunic," Impa said, looking at Link intently. "Each of you had an article of clothing or ornamentation cut to mark you specifically as Hyrule's Champions. Anyone who would look upon you while wearing that would have known who you were and your purpose."
Link found that he was without words. Distantly, he wondered why Impa would give him this. He was no Champion, was he? In fact, from what he had been able to ascertain, he no longer even had the one thing that set him apart in the first place—he had apparently lost the legendary blade in his battle.
Impa, perceptive as usual, seemed to know some of his thoughts. "I do not believe you ever felt you truly deserved to wear that tunic, even one hundred years ago. But you are our Champion now, just as you were then. I will not mince words with you—we need you, Link."
Link looked back up at her, his voice barely above a whisper. "How can there be no one else?"
"You hold within you the power to defeat Ganon." Impa's expression was gentle, but her voice was firm as always. "Just as Princess Zelda did all along, so too do you. You are the one chosen by the Goddess, as you were in ages past."
Link fell silent. The stylized sword on his tunic almost seemed to mock him. "Impa?"
"Yes?"
"What of the sword?"
She remained silent for several moments—something that Link considered to be a bad sign. "The Legendary Blade has had many names over the years. The Blade of Evil's Bane. The Sword that Seals the Darkness. The Master Sword." Her voice was carefully controlled, but he could tell that his question concerned her. "You were chosen by it—and it did choose you. No one else could have pulled it from its resting place."
"But where is it? Won't I need it?"
Again, Impa hesitated. "I… do not know, Link." His heart sank. "It was damaged in your fight against the Guardians before you fell. I did not see it with my own eyes, but that information was relayed to me by the princess.
"She assured me that it would be repaired in time, and that it would be revealed to you when it again deemed you worthy of wielding it."
Link's fist connected hard with the wooden floor beside him, causing pain to shoot up his arm. He didn't care. "It will be revealed to me?" His voice came out in a hiss between clenched teeth. "The weapon that is apparently the key to my victory was broken one hundred years ago, and now no one alive knows where it is."
"The princess—"
"Won't talk to me! She spoke to me when I woke up, just enough to get me started on this quest, but now, when I try to reach back out to her, she is silent. I can't—" His throat constricted and he closed his eyes. "I do not know how I can be any more successful now than I was one hundred years ago."
Impa stood slowly, and Link thought that she might be about to walk away. He wouldn't blame her. He sounded like a petulant child to himself—how must he look to her? "Link." Her voice was soft, gentle. He looked up.
She slapped him. Hard.
He yelped, placing a hand on his cheek, and staring up at the old woman with wide eyes.
"You complain that Princess Zelda has not spoken to you in the last week? Boy, she has not spoken to me in one hundred years. Before you showed up here, I did not even know she could still speak. I did not know if she even still truly lived!
"Our princess was seventeen when the Calamity befell Hyrule. And for seventeen years, she worked—every day—to awaken her sealing powers that would enable her to combat Ganon. You traveled with her for a short time but make no mistake. She had been told since she was a little child that she needed to learn to use her powers. She was made to pray to the Goddess every day—every day—for her powers to be awakened. And they were not."
"But she—"
"They were not, Link!" Impa's voice raised, cutting Link off. "Not until Ganon had risen and destroyed everything and everyone she had ever loved. Not until her closest friends were killed. Not until you fell in battle. Only after all of that, only then did her power awaken.
"So before you speak of feeling unworthy, before you complain that you do not have the necessary tools, know that Princess Zelda faced that every day for her entire life. And yet, unworthy, untested, having failed her nation, Zelda—our princess—has kept Ganon at bay for one hundred years." Impa shoved a finger into Link's face, causing him to lean back some. "In order to give you time to awaken. Because our princess still needs her knight at her side."
Link stared up at Impa, shocked by her outburst, and shamed to his core by his own. Every word she spoke was like a knife, cutting pieces of him away to reveal the rot underneath. He felt disgusted by himself.
"Now then," Impa said after taking a deep breath. "What will you do? Will you turn away? It is, of course, your choice now, just as it was then."
Link stared down at the blue tunic in his hands and gripped it much tighter now. "No."
"Link." He looked up at her, suddenly nervous that she might strike him again. "This journey will get more difficult. I expect the trials you will face will be difficult—more difficult, even, then the ones you faced one hundred years ago. Is this something you are willing to do?"
More difficult trials than the ones he faced one hundred years ago? One hundred years ago, he died in facing those trials. Link took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before he nodded. "I am."
Impa smiled in a strangely grandmotherly way. "Good." She eased herself back down onto her pillow, picking up her tea and taking a sip of it.
"Impa?"
"Yes, Link?"
"How did she do it? If what you say is true, how did she keep going?"
Impa remained silent for a few moments before smiling. "She was strong. She was stronger than anyone had any right to be. Far stronger than anyone, perhaps, gave her credit for." She paused. "And if you think that is the first time I have slapped a petulant teenager, then you would be mistaken."
Link smiled wryly, rubbing his cheek. "You know, I'm not sure I can be classified as a teenager."
"Yes, well, I am still your elder. That gives me certain rights."
Link looked back down at the tunic, running his fingers over the fabric.
"You should wear it." Impa's voice was gentle. He looked back up at her. "You may not feel worthy, but it will give the people hope. Many may not remember you or what that tunic stood for, but some will. And those some will tell others."
"I will."
Link stepped out of Impa's house, the blue tunic and shirt folded over his arm. When he stepped out, he saw Paya methodically scrubbing one of the wooden banisters. She straightened when she noticed him.
"O-oh, Master Link! I was told to tell you that your horse has been seen to and that a bed is waiting for you at the inn." Her cheeks were red and it was clear that she had been working hard while he was inside with Impa. Some of her white hair was plastered to the side of her face by sweat.
"Thank you, Paya," Link said, smiling at her. "Have a good evening." He began down the bridge away from the house.
"M-master Link?" Link turned back to face her, curious. "I couldn't help but to… overhear some of…"
"Oh." Link rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks growing hot. He had hoped that no one else had overheard them.
"Grandmother is well known in town for how effective her slaps are."
Link stared at Paya for a second, confused, but then his lips split into a grin, despite himself. "Oh, I can believe it." He rubbed his cheek. It still felt a little tender, and he wondered if there would be a palm mark visible on it.
"I've certainly been on the receiving end of a few in my time…" Paya, for the moment, seemed to be speaking easily. She wasn't looking right at Link, instead she was looking to the distance, a small smile played across her lips.
"Somehow, I can't imagine you ever doing anything to earn one," Link said, looking at the meticulously clean and polished deck. "I don't think I've ever seen you not working…"
"O-oh!" Paya's face suddenly turned a furious red and she gripped the banister so tightly that it looked like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. "M-master Link, that is very kind, but—"
"Link."
"I… what?"
"You can call me Link. Really. I'd actually rather you do so."
Paya, in that moment, looked quite uncomfortable, and Link worried that he had offended her somehow. She was an incredibly proper woman, very disciplined. He hoped that it was not improper to ask her to drop the "master" when speaking to him.
"I… I-I will. Link." Paya didn't quite meet his eyes, but it was a start.
"Thank you." Link turned and began back down the bridge. "Have a good evening, Paya."
"Y-you as well, Ma—Link!"
Link glanced back at her once more, seeing that she was watching him as he walked away. When she saw him looking back, however, she squeaked and quickly began polishing the banister again. Chuckling softly, Link continued on towards the inn, eager for the warm food and bed within.