The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.

The Voice
3 - Bothersome Old Bag

Link's last sweep of the plateau before they left had been anything but a triumph. He was getting the hang of fighting bokoblins, especially after Sheik suggested a stealthier approach to taking them on, which Link surprisingly took to a lot better than the traditional, knightly way of...well, yelling loudly and charging into the midst of the enemy.

Contrary to how clumsy and awkward he felt while facing down the stinking, ugly pig-creatures in a straight-up fight, he found that slinking through the grass, slowly creeping up on the things while they were busy fighting each other or sleeping or dancing and striking while they were distracted was far more suited to his style, as Sheik put it.

"We'll make a Sheikah out of you yet," he'd said, which Link supposed was high praise coming from the self-proclaimed Sheikah in the slate.

He'd done a rather handy job of cleaning out a bokoblin camp in preparation for leaving the plateau, gathering supplies for the journey, finishing the last one of them off with an arrow to the face. The shot had been an accident, the arrow loosed sooner than he'd intended, but it was still damn impressive.

"We should see if they had a stash hidden nearby," Sheik suggested after Link had gone through what few possessions the bokoblins had around their campfire. "The woods over there look thick enough to hide something in, don't you think? Map shows something interesting too."

Link took Sheik's word for it. He sometimes double-checked the map when he wanted to see something for himself, but he trusted the Sheikah for the most part when it came to giving him directions and pointing out areas of interest.

It was a small clearing with a large rock in the middle of a crater-like indent in the ground, but there was no stash, to their disappointment. Link took a seat on the rock, intending to take a breather, but he'd barely gotten comfortable when the rock suddenly moved, and he shot off it with a yelp.

The earth around the rock cracked apart as the rock itself rose...and rose...and rose. About five times taller than him, the rock monster groaned loudly as what apparently passed for a head craned around the clearing before it stopped, zeroing in on the confused Hylian.

"Wh-What is th-that?" Link barely managed to stutter out before he was dodging the thing's massive stone fists, dirt and earth exploding around him when it struck the ground where he'd been standing barely seconds ago.

"I have no idea but I would very much like to not be near it!" Sheik said. "Run!"

At least the damn thing hadn't followed them far.

"Got everything?"

"I th-think so," Link said, going through the contents of the pack he'd found in a bokoblin camp. It wasn't much—just food, an extra shirt he'd discovered in one of the shrines, and a dagger. The paraglider, when folded up, fit inside as well.

"Right, time's a-wasting, let's go!"

When no activity took place after such a, admittedly, out of character proclamation, Sheik cleared his non-existent throat.

"I note a distinct lack of going here. What's up?"

Link didn't reply. He was standing still, pack in one hand and paraglider in the other, staring at the vast land of Hyrule stretching in all directions below them. Endless grasslands, forests, and mountain ranges. What sort of people dwelled in those places? What sorts of creatures? How many of them would try to kill him?

The uncertainty of it all. That was what made the whole thing so much worse. He had a general goal in the form of Kakariko Village, whose approximate location Sheik had marked on the map, but even the slate had admitted he had no idea what they would find down on the ground.

"More hostility than hospitality, I believe," Sheik had succinctly put it.

Hell, they had no idea if Kakariko Village even existed anymore. The king had seemed certain, but how would he know if he hadn't left the plateau for so long?

The closer he got to the figurative and literal edge of the tiny world Link had inhabited so far, he felt a strong urge to stay, and it only got stronger the more time he spent thinking about it. The plateau was anything but safe—the bokoblins saw to that—but at least it was familiar by now. He knew most of its layout, its roads and paths. He had Sheik's map for the bits he didn't.

Down there, he knew absolutely nothing, and there were only two things that could shed some light on it all: exploring, and activating the Sheikah towers. That was, he supposed, a more tangible goal than the village. At least they could see several other towers from here. They actually existed.

"Link?"

Sheik's voice broke him out of his reverie. This wasn't the first time he'd trapped himself in his own thoughts and doubts.

"Are you worried about the paraglider? I wouldn't be—I mean, King Perv probably weighed a lot more than you, and the thing seemed to carry him just fine."

"I w-wasn't until n-now," Link said, quietly adding the mental image of the paraglider breaking apart under his (increasingly) long list of worries.

"Well...shit," Sheik said. "Well done, me."

"You know," Sheik said after a long moment of awkward silence, "that could have gone worse. Not a lot, but still—well done on not getting us killed, I suppose."

Link wasn't sure if he could take any more of Sheik's unique brand of encouragement, which he'd unfortunately chosen to unleash on the unsuspecting Hylian from the moment he woke in the steeple that morning. It was, technically, positive and optimistic, but clearly Sheik's internal pessimism was cutting right through his attempts to make Link feel better about his various failures of the day. This latest one felt, at this point, more like adding insult to injury.

Choosing not to respond to the slate's negatively positive reinforcement, Link very carefully untangled the paraglider from the branches of the tree he'd crashed into, folded it until he could store it on his back, and then released the death grip he'd had on the tree trunk with his legs. Unfortunately, he was so focused on getting the paraglider stowed away that he forgot to actually grab onto the tree with his hands afterwards.

"I'm trying my damnedest," Sheik added after the disastrous, though very fast, return to the ground, "but I can't really put a positive spin on this. It generally helps to actually grab the tree when climbing down one."

He was quiet for another few seconds before adding:

"At least you didn't break anything?"

"I th-think I p-preferred you wh-when you d-didn't try t-to b-be n-nice," Link muttered.

He gradually got the hang of handling the paraglider. Granted, he wasn't thrilled by the idea of being chased off a cliff by a moblin (the bigger, fouler tempered cousin of bokoblins), but at least it made him less nervous about throwing caution (and himself) to the wind.

He could have done without Sheik cackling like a maniac the entire time, however, apparently done with the positive reinforcement for now.

"Fear is the most effective teacher, it seems," the Sheikah said after they'd landed on the other bank of the river. The current was too strong for him to swim across it, and Link had been reluctantly looking for a cliff high enough to paraglide from instead when he'd tripped and crashed into the moblin's campsite. "You should piss off moblins more often!"

"I d-didn't mean t-to knock his s-soup over!" Link protested.

On the other side of the river, the moblin was standing on the cliff he'd jumped from, waving its fists angrily at them and bellowing something that was lost in the roaring of the river.

"Meh, according to the tower database they're all servants of Ganon anyway," Sheik said matter-of-factly. "They don't deserve soup."

Link bowed to the ancient monk as they disappeared into thin air, their essence finally unbound from the shrine by his successful completion of its trial.

"Th-Thank you," he said quietly, offering a silent prayer for the monk's soul. His voice echoed throughout the shrine, bouncing off the walls. He hated the sound of it. To him, it was weak and uncertain. Nothing like that of a knight.

As he walked back towards the elevator that would take them back up to the surface near the Duelling Peaks, he noticed that his companion was unusually quiet. Come to think of it, Sheik barely said anything at all inside the shrines, only breaking the silence to offer suggestions on how to complete the trials.

"Sheik?" he said, lowering his voice so it wouldn't make another echo. Bad enough that Sheik had to hear it under normal conditions.

"Hm?" the slate grunted.

"A-Are you a-all right?"

"As far as my current condition allows, yes," he replied. "Why do you ask?"

Link wondered if it was worth risking another argument for the sake of his curiosity. "Y-You're always s-so quiet in these p-places..."

"Am I? I hadn't noticed," Sheik said in an off-handed tone. It wasn't very convincing. He didn't offer anything else, and Link decided to leave the matter alone for now.

It wasn't until they made camp that night that Sheik apparently decided to elaborate, beginning to speak just as Link was making himself comfortable on a bedroll he'd salvaged from an old army camp.

"The monks in the shrines...they're like me," he said, almost startling Link. "Stuck in the same place, though they've been waiting, what, thousands of years? That could have been me, only stuck in this slate, which is like a different sort of cage. What if you hadn't woken up when you did? I'd still be waiting...I don't know, I just feel...disrespectful when I speak in the shrines. They have enough troubles without me adding to them."

Not that being disrespectful has bothered you before, Link almost said, but caught himself before his tongue began forming the words. He didn't understand it, but he'd let Sheik have this.

Honestly, he was quite sure the slate shutting up was a big contributor to his being able to solve the puzzles in the shrines to begin with. It made it so much easier to think without the (admittedly attractive) voice continually speaking its mind, letting him focus on the trial.

"You should get some sleep," Sheik said finally. "I'll keep watch and wake you at dawn."

"M-More data to g-go th-through?" Link asked.

"Something like that," the Sheikah replied. "Recovering the damaged data is my priority now, though. I'm making some progress, but it's slower than I'd like. I'm hoping that activating another tower or two will help—add to my processing power."

Link hummed in response, unsure of what processing power was, but if Sheik needed it he'd be happy to help him get it.

"West Necluda tower activated," Sheik's voice spoke mechanically as the tower came alive around Link. "Tower nodes offline, network incomplete. Distilling information from local cache. Collating existing data."

Once more, a drop of blue liquid fell from the central stone and looked like it was absorbed into the slate.

"This is getting better and better!" Sheik exclaimed after an agonisingly long moment of no activity.

Once more, Sheik chose to project his image, walking around. This time, the image was a lot more complete, clearly filled in by the additional data Sheik had collected from this tower. His projection still didn't have a face, however, its details obscured.

Despite that unnerving bit, Link liked it when Sheik did this. It gave the Sheikah a bit more presence in Link's life—made him feel less alone, knowing that his companion was more than just a voice, even if it was just temporarily when activating the towers.

"I've combined the existing map with geological data from this tower," Sheik said amidst a constant stream of words that made no sense to Link, but he was more than happy for Sheik to enjoy this moment. "It should be more complete now, and guess what?"

"Wh-What?" Link asked dutifully.

"There's people nearby!"

Link left the Duelling Peaks Stable with a smile on his face, despite the early hour. He'd slept better than usual, the smell of horse strangely lulling in combination with a proper bed.

The people there, while very kind, had made him nervous at first. After all, he had no idea whose side they were on...or if they'd recognise him as the person responsible for the miserable status quo.

Granted, the last one was an irrational fear given that a hundred years had passed since his monumental failure at defeating Calamity Ganon, and no one would expect the knight who'd fucked everything up still looked like the seventeen-year-old he'd been at the time...but still...

They'd treated him with nothing but kindness, however, and even offered him a discount after taking in his dishevelled appearance (and recounting an unfortunate encounter with an octorok in the nearby river).

The stable master had offered him a few tips on taming the wild horses that roamed the nearby plains, and Link had thanked him politely even though he highly doubted he'd be able to just sneak up on one of the beasts and bend it to his will. It made for an interesting conversation at least.

Sheik had even kept his mouth shut for most of his stay. Link suspected it was because he didn't want to ruin the hospitality they'd shown Link...and possibly (or rather definitely) that a disembodied voice coming from a strange device was bound to raise a few eyebrows...and who knew how many spies Ganon had out here?

Still, it was nice to meet other people. It proved that the world wasn't as empty and desolate as Link had feared, that life still went on after the disaster that had befallen Hyrule. Things were dangerous, of course, but Hylians were nothing if not hardy and stubborn, it seemed.

The people there had even confirmed that Kakariko Village was intact, its resident Sheikah still alive, albeit somewhat reduced in number. That, too, had brightened Link's mood considerably. His quest wasn't a complete bust just yet. He'd continue concentrating on the towers for now, of course, but now he knew he still had allies out here, and wasn't completely on his own.

He was so bolstered by the visit he began whistling as he crossed the bridge and began climbing the hill towards Kakariko.

To Sheik's credit, he waited for about two minutes before telling Link to shut up.

"What...even was that thing?" Sheik asked a few minutes after the strange plant-looking creature called Hestu had lumbered off towards his home, thanking Link profusely for retrieving his maracas from a group of bokoblins.

Link didn't have much of answer, only that Hestu was apparently something called a Korok, and was a victim of bullying by his own kind, and something of an outcast. That alone made Link want to help Hestu in any way he could. No one should have to suffer such treatment by their own kin.

"Bit of a simpleton, if you ask me," Sheik said after Link voiced what little analysis he could offer.

"N-No one did," the Hylian said sharply.

The rest of the day was spent in tense silence, Link's good mood thoroughly squashed.

"You're doing fine, just don't look down."

Of course, as anyone would after being told that, Link looked down. The world began tilting at an angle, and he quickly focused back on the side of the tower, fingers tightening at the rung-like carvings he was using to climb it.

"You looked down, didn't you?" Sheik asked.

"N-No comment."

"If I told you not to jump off a cliff, would you do it just to spite me?"

Link didn't deign to answer. He was tempted to remind Sheik of the numerous cliffs he'd been jumping off in the past few days (at the slate's behest, even!) in order to use the paraglider and, in some cases, to escape some rampaging beast Link had accidentally pissed off by virtue of...well, existing, really.

"I have to say," Sheik said as Link continued to climb the tower, "your wrist strength is impressive. The way you scramble up rock faces like they're just a tricky bit of flooring is admirable."

Link nearly lost his grip at that. What was the Sheikah playing at now? Had he decided to be negatively supportive again, despite the failure from before? Before he could offer any sort of retort, Sheik forged on obliviously.

"Do you think you trained by rock climbing a lot back then? Or did the sword training do most of the work?" There was a pause. "Or did you do other sorts of training, perhaps...?"

Link had a feeling he knew exactly what Sheik was talking about, but his already burning face was begging him not to walk into what was surely a trap. He had no idea, of course, but he hoped that it was the more...traditional modes of training that had led to his surprising climbing skills.

"This is a nice view, by the way," Sheik prattled on. "The bokoblin camp sort of ruins it, of course, but that's why you set fire to it, right? To purge its hideousness from the land?"

"Y-Yeah," Link said, inching his foot onto the lowest platform of the tower. He specifically did not mention that the fire had been started by pure accident when one of his arrows had passed through the campfire and landed in a pile of dry firewood...and then spread before he could do anything about it.

"Not an accident at all, no sir," Sheik said. "Purely intentional."

Link wasn't sure if Sheik was teasing him or trying to preserve his dignity (and failing miserably). He chose to believe the latter, even though he strongly suspected it was the former.

The projection was even more complete now, and Link could see hints of a face, though most of it was covered up by some sort of cowl, only a pair of eyes peering out at him from under unruly bangs visible. Sheik's blue-tinged image was, once again, marching back and forth as he spoke excitedly about yet another wealth of data he'd recovered from the activation of the Hateno tower.

"You did well, Link," he said, an unmistakeable joyous tone to his voice, which only made it (to Link's shame) more attractive. "At this rate, we'll have the network up and running in no time."

Link nodded, resting his back against the tower railing, watching his companion nearly giddy with excitement. He preferred this version of Sheik far more than the one he'd bickered with all day yesterday. Granted, that, in turn, was an improvement over the chilly silence between them after the Hestu encounter, but Sheik's derision of the poor creature had really struck a nerve in him. He'd made his position on it quite clear, and while Sheik didn't really apologise as such, he promised (sort of) that he would keep similar opinions to himself.

"Hm, seems the stable people were right—there's another village nearby called Hateno that survived the disaster. Want to go there?"

Link shook his head. "M-Maybe later," he said. "After K-Kakariko."

"Of course, have to stay focused," Sheik agreed.

Link nearly sighed in relief. He'd been mentally preparing himself for the Kakariko visit in the past few days—the thought of so many people, so many faces, in one place at the same time had made his stomach roil with nervous tension. He wasn't sure he could handle another village so soon.

"Well, the geo data confirms Kakariko's position," Sheik said, the map on his screen displaying a small valley near his original marker. "With the paraglider, we should reach it by noon." The projection paused, looking at Link. "You ready? Or do you need a little more time to prepare?"

Link froze. Had Sheik noticed his nervousness about the visit to the village? He'd been sure he'd been hiding it so well...

"Link, I'm monitoring your heartbeat and internal temperature, among other things, at all times. Every time we've spoken about the village, your heart rate has sped up considerably, and your skin has broken out in cold sweat. You're nervous about it, and while I don't understand why, we can't have you suffering another panic attack when we're going there to gain allies. So, if you require more time to prepare yourself for it, then take as much as you need."

As he spoke, the projection crossed its arms, looking contemplative.

"Y-You m-monitor me?" Link asked, his voice small. So he wasn't as good an actor as he'd thought. Sheik had seen through his ruse the entire time. And yet, he'd said nothing...

"Not consciously," Sheik said, sounding a little embarrassed. "There are certain functions of the slate that I haven't been able to gain access to yet, including a specific set of sensor applications. I can't shut them off, basically," he added when Link's eyebrows knitted with confusion. "I try to ignore them, but as it turns out I can't; the readings are pretty much flowing into my mind all the time."

"Huh..."

"So, with that said, do you need a break?"

It was tempting to say yes. The stable had been...manageable. There had been very few guests, and the stable employees had left him mostly to his own devices. Kakariko, though... The idea of setting up camp at the top of the tower and spending the night there was far more appealing than putting himself in the middle of a crowded village, full of people and faces and voices...

...but then, how much time would he need to regain the momentum he'd built up so far? Days? Weeks? And what would Sheik think about that? The Sheikah got impatient if Link took too long to finish the washing up after supper. He seemed fine with Link taking a break for now, but there was no guarantee that patience wouldn't snap after a few hours of no activity.

"N-No, I'm fine," Link said, shaking his head. "I c-can keep g-going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Sheik nodded. "All right, then. Kakariko's north-west of here. Almost a straight shot with the paraglider." The projection faded away, and the slate was released from the pedestal. "Ready when you are."

"A-All right," Link said, retrieving the slate and attaching it to his belt. He then pulled the paraglider out of his pack, unfurling it.

How such a thing was able to take his weight was beyond him, and Sheik's attempts to explain the concepts of, and relationships between, airspeed velocity, aerodynamics, and carrying weight had not helped. If anything, that only served to confuse him even further. In the end, he'd simply chosen to go with it, accepting that such a flimsy-looking device could carry him on the wind.

Minutes later, as he rode the winds across the cliffs of Hateno towards Kakariko, he heard Sheik saying something too quiet to hear over the wind howling in his ears.

"What?!" Link said.

"Nothing!" Sheik answered.

Link could have sworn, however, that he heard the words hands and strong coming from the slate.

Kakariko was more peaceful than Link had expected. According to Sheik, the Sheikah as a people focused on two things: the martial arts, and science. Individuals tended to favour one path over the other, resulting in a cultural duality that other races found off-putting. When Link had asked him what path Sheik had chosen, he'd had no answer, strangely enough.

However, the description of the people had not prepared Link for the small, cosy-looking village nestled in the small valley he'd just entered. Houses lined both sides of the central road that passed through the village, yards covered in lush and bursting full vegetable patches and fruit trees.

The people who roamed this place looked nothing like the warriors Link had described, wearing practical outfits clearly made for farming and other professions that resulted in wear and tear. Very few carried weapons save for the individuals Link assumed to be guards, while all other weapons he could see clearly also doubled as tools.

They mostly left him alone; a few of the guards gave him suspicious looks, but everyone else kept a respectful (or careful) distance as he made his way to the biggest house in the village, which was framed by a pair of twin waterfalls behind it.

A pair of Sheikah were standing guard in front of the house, watching him approach with narrowed eyes.

"That's close enough, Hylian," one of them said at about five paces away, his accent nearly identical to Sheik's. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Link made a few false starts, but he managed to force out the (supposed) standard Sheikah greeting in their own tongue. The pronunciation was wrong, he was certain, and definitely not as fluid as Sheik had made it sound when he'd taught it to him, but...it clearly had an effect on the guards, whose eyes widened...and then narrowed even further, suspicion clear on their faces.

"So you know how to greet us," the first one said, while the other's hand clenched tighter around his spear. "That still does not explain what you want."

"I n-need t-to sp-speak with y-your l-leader," Link stuttered, aware that his speech was getting worse, his heart already beating faster than normal. Cold sweat was breaking out across his forehead, and he knew Sheik's sensors must have been going crazy. Sheik kept silent, however, as per their agreement. A trump card was a trump card, even a particularly foul-mouthed one.

"No."

It was a logical answer to such a request from a complete stranger who'd just brazenly butchered your language to your face, and Link wasn't very surprised by it. It still made his stomach give a plunge, and he stood there gaping for a moment before he found his voice again.

"I-It's v-v-vital th-that I sp-speak w-w-with—"

"The answer is no, Hylian," the Sheikah said, stepping forward in a threatening way. "Now turn around and walk away, or we will make you."

"I...I..."

His trembling fingers found the slate, hoping Sheik would take the hint. He felt it grow a little warmer at his touch. He could practically hear the shrieking insults already, and—

"Is...Is that a Sheikah slate?"

A young girl had walked over to them, fingers laced together nervously. Her hair, white like every other Sheikah Link had seen so far, was kept up in a complicated-looking array of locks and buns, and a prominent red eye, identical to the symbol on the slate, was painted on her forehead. Her outfit was identical to that of the other villagers—more practical than decorative. Her eyes were big and red, and focused entirely on the slate.

"Paya," the guard began, "be careful—"

"Don't you see?" the girl, Paya, apparently, said. "This is what grandmother has been speaking about the entire time! This is the Hero of Hyrule!" She looked up, then, and her eyes met Link's. Her face immediately turned red, and she looked away. "A-Anyways," she said, "let him in!"

"We should let Impa know before—"the guard began.

"Oh for...let us in, you idiots!" Sheik screamed, after which he let loose a tirade in the Sheikah tongue that left the guards' eyes wide, Paya even more of a blushing mess, and Link pale as a sheet.

"...and I will laugh while doing it!" he finished in Hylian.

A long, pregnant pause fell over the five of them as the guards and Paya looked at each other, at a loss for words, before stepping aside.

"Go with him, Paya," the guard said slowly. "And call out if he tried something."

Paya hesitantly stepped forward and waved Link towards her, still unable to meet his gaze, making sure to stand on the side that didn't have the slate. "C-Come on," she said haltingly. "F-Follow me."

"Hey Link," Sheik snickered as they climbed the stairs to the leader's house, "I think I've found your soulmate!"

Link buried his face in his hands, face burning with embarrassment. In the corner of his vision, he saw Paya doing the same.

Sheik cackled.

"...and then I brought him inside, grandmother," Paya finished, kneeling at tower of pillows. On top of them, a supremely old Sheikah woman was sitting, her wrinkled face not even twitching as she observed Link with a sharp, red-eyed gaze that did not reflect her age whatsoever. It was a chilling look, analytical, carefully deciding whether or not she considered him a threat.

She tilted her head to the side slightly, the chains on her hat rattling slightly, her lips stretching in a tiny smile.

"So," she said, her voice rough, "you're finally awake. It has been quite a long time, Link." the smile turned into a grin as she slapped her thigh with delight. "I am much older now, but...you remember me, don't you?"

Link couldn't find the words, not even to say he didn't remember her at all. There was no recollection whatsoever of this old woman in his mind.

Such a disappointment, not only to myself, he thought bitterly.

The old woman frowned at the lack of an answer. "What is the matter?" she asked. "You are looking at me as though I am a stranger to you. Those eyes..." Her red bore into his blue. "They lack the light of familiarity." She leaned forward. "It is I, courageous one, Impa. Surely you must at least remember the name Impa?"

Link wanted so badly to answer in the affirmative, to remember this tiny, old woman who clearly knew him, but the hole in his memories only seemed to grow into a bigger, darker abyss, mocking him with the absence of his life's experiences. He could only give her an uncomfortable look in return.

Her eyes widened, her shoulders lowering a little with disappointment. "I see...so you have lost your memory."

"Ding ding, we have a winner!"

Impa's eyes fell to the slate, narrowing. "You will speak when spoken to, young man," she said dismissively before returning her attention to Link. "Well, it matters not. In fact, that may actually be a blessing in disguise for the time being."

How? What good was Link without the memories of his knightly self?

"Don't ignore me, you old bag!"

"Dearest Link," Impa continued, doing just that, "please come a bit closer."

Link did so, kneeling beside Paya as the younger Sheikah shuffled a little out of the way.

"Hey, are you listening?!" Sheik shrieked.

As she spoke of the events of a hundred years ago, Link felt a slight tug at his heart. This woman...she clearly cared for him. He could hear it in her voice—even a hundred years after his failure, she recognised him and didn't yell at him for allowing the disaster to happen.

Sheik tried to butt into the conversation more than once, but Impa steadfastly ignored him, and Link followed suit.

"...the words that the princess risked her life to impart to you...I cannot pass them on to someone who lacks conviction," she said gravely towards the end, fixing him with another analytical gaze. "Are you prepared to risk your life for the greater good?"

Every fibre of him screamed at him to say no, to run in the opposite direction, to find a hole to hide in until the end times put him out of his misery...but in her eyes, he also saw hope, and utter belief in him. He could not for the life of him understand where the old woman saw any sort of potential within him, but she definitely did. He couldn't disappoint her. Wouldn't disappoint her. Not again.

He nodded firmly, not trusting his voice.

She slapped her thigh again, grinning. "Ha! Not a memory to your name, yet you are as intent as ever to charge forward with only courage and justice on your side. You have not changed a bit. Once a hero, always a hero."

I'm not a hero, Link thought, smiling hesitantly in return. But I'm trying to be.

She didn't seem to mind his not speaking, and forged on. "Very well. Since you have lost your memory, I shall recount for you all that has happened..."

Link's mind was reeling from the tale of the four divine beasts, and the loss of their pilots. He'd thought to gain allies and a clear guideline on what to do next from visiting Kakariko...and he supposed he did, only now he apparently had more work cut out for him than he imagined. Four divine beasts to awaken, a tower network to reactivate, an ancient malevolent evil to defeat, and a princess to save. It was a wonder he didn't suffer a panic attack right then and there, for all his heart was trying to explode out of his chest.

"The Sheikah slate will guide you on your way," Impa continued, giving the slate a critical look. "Provided it can behave itself."

"I'll show you behave, hag!"

"You must go where it tells you, and meet with each leader there." Her ability to ignore Sheik's voice and insults was nothing short of astonishing, and Link briefly wondered if she could teach him how to do it as well. The effect the lack of attention had on his companion was remarkable as well—at first it only made him louder and angrier, but as it continued he seemed to be...subdued? Almost like he tired himself out. Like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

That image alone was almost worth the mortifying start to this meeting.

And then Impa delivered the final blow:

"...it seems that your Sheikah slate is not yet complete."

"Not complete?!"

Paya had to cover her ears at the volume.

"The device Princess Zelda left you is your guide and also your memory. I believe someone at the research lab in Hateno Village might be able to help you...and perhaps correct this one's attitude."

Finally, Impa looked at the slate again, and Sheik's insult was silenced at the same moment. "This voice...it claims it is one of our people?" she asked.

"Y-Yes," Link said. "H-His n-name is Sh-Sheik."

"I-It spoke our l-language, grandmother," Paya added.

"I am not an 'it'!" Sheik protested.

"May I have a few moments with him alone?" Impa asked. "I am rather curious..."

"Link, don't you dare leave me with this old harpy!"

Wordlessly, Link unclipped Sheik from his belt and set it down on the floor in front of Impa. He and Paya then stepped outside, where they shared nervous glances (well, tried to, at least, on account of neither of them being able to meet each other's eyes).

"So...Sheik, is it?" Impa asked.

"A keen observer, aren't you?" Sheik said. "No wonder you're in charge around here."

"For someone who claims to be part of the Sheikah tribe, you show remarkably little respect for your elder and chief," Impa continued. "Tell me, young Sheik, how much longer do you believe you can test my patience?"

"Based on what I've seen so far, quite a bit longer. What could you possibly do to me, old woman? In case you haven't noticed, I'm trapped in the slate the hero needs to complete his quest."

"I suppose I could withhold the fact that I have some degree of knowledge regarding the nature of your existence," Impa mused, scratching her chin. "After all, Link doesn't need you to complete his quest, just the slate. He will simply have to put up with your obnoxious voice for the duration of it."

"...you know who I am?" Sheik asked uncertainly.

"Not exactly, but I know someone who might," Impa said. "Though I find myself unwilling to divulge this information based on your behaviour so far."

Sheik grunted. "Fine, I'm sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear."

"An apology would be good, yes, but only if it is genuine," Impa said mildly. "And I don't believe you are capable of one."

"Oh, for...okay, fine. I am very sorry for my behaviour, Master Impa. Please forgive me for trying to hurry along a process that is already taking forever because your hero is an anxiety-ridden mess!"

"So close, and yet so far," Impa said, shaking her head sadly. She slid off her pillow with surprising ease and agility for her age, kneeling in front of the slate, glaring down at it. "It would appear I have to take some personal interest in the correction of your attitude, young one." She reached out to the slate.

"What...what are you doing? Keep your grubby hands to yourself, hag!"

Sheik's scream could be heard all over Kakariko.

"I-It looks g-good on y-you," Paya said as she stepped around Link, tugging at the various straps that held the shoulder protectors in place.

"A proper Sheikah warrior," Claree, the shopkeeper, said, nodding vigorously in agreement.

Link blushed under the praise, rubbing his arm nervously, happy that the face mask was covering up his cheeks. "Th-Thank you," he said. He wasn't sure about the sticks holding up his hair, but they certainly seemed to do the job...and he found he quite liked how it looked in the mirror.

"Y-You're w-welcome," Paya said, a smile hidden by her hands.

Link liked Paya. She was kind, and sweet, and gentle. He found he actually didn't need to hold a conversation with her to feel comfortable (mostly on account that neither of them were able to get through a single sentence without stumbling over their own tongue).

She'd taken him on a tour of the village while Impa and Sheik, neither of them able to listen to the slate's grating shrieks for very long. Once they'd passed the clothes shop, Paya had taken a look at the Link's excuse for an outfit (ragged trousers and boots, and a doublet that was far too warm for the environment around here), and pulled him inside.

"I d-don't h-have m-much m-money!" he'd protested helplessly.

"I-I'm sure g-grandmother won't l-let you g-go around in r-rags," she'd said and started talking to Claree, who'd immediately started measuring Link and more or less thrusting the Sheikah uniform into his arms.

It was better than his rags from before, that was for certain. The fabric was of high quality, surprisingly tough but still light enough not to be stifling. The pauldrons, shin protectors, and bracers were nice, too. The mask offered him a sense of security he hadn't expected, especially when surrounded by other people. And the boots didn't chafe at his heels, which was a true mercy.

"Th-The mask is n-nice, r-right?" Paya said quietly as Claree busied herself with something behind the counter. When Link nodded, she smiled. "I f-figured you w-would l-like it."

"I'm n-not Sh-Sheikah, th-though," Link said. "Is it r-really all right f-for me to w-wear th-this?"

"The outfit is generally reserved for Sheikah only," Claree answered for Paya as she returned with a white scarf and two sets of bandages. She wrapped the scarf around his neck, and then the bandages around the bracers. "For stability," she clarified at his confused look. "However, we are more than willing to make an exception for the Hero of Hyrule," she finished, stepping back and looking him up and down. "Perfect. All you're missing is red eyes."

He blushed even more fiercely under the combined weight of their scrutiny. He was grateful, really. They didn't owe him a thing, and yet they'd seen fit to clothe him with what appeared to be a very expensive set of armour.

"I'll send the bill to Impa," Claree said, looking at Link's pack and equipment. "Might want to see about getting him outfitted with a better sword and shield—these look like they're about to fall apart."

"I-I'll t-talk to h-her," Paya said, bowing gratefully to the older woman. Link did the same, which had the shop keep cooing and pinching Link's cheek through the mask. "Th-Thank you, C-Claree!"

"Come back soon, dears," she called after them as they left. "I wonder if there will be a wedding soon," she muttered to herself.

To Link's surprise, Impa was waiting outside her house for the two of them. She held Sheik gingerly in both hands and quickly handed the slate to Link as he approached.

"You've outfitted him, I see," she said to Paya, who nodded. "I was going to suggest the same thing myself." She studied Link's appearance. "Quite dashing."

"Th-Thank you," Link said, clipping the slate onto his belt. "H-How was th-the talk?"

"We have...come to an agreement, I would say," Impa said, looking at the slate. "Don't you agree, nephew?" she asked pointedly.

For a minute, Link thought Sheik had gone mute, or Impa had done something to silence him, but then Sheik spoke, his voice oddly quiet and submissive: "Yes, aunt."

"And you will behave like a proper representative of our people once you and Link take to the road once more?"

"Yes, aunt," Sheik replied again. He definitely wasn't happy about this development.

"And you will keep your unsavoury comments to yourself?"

"...yes, aunt."

"Good boy," she said, turning her attention back to Link and smiling happily. "Go and see our blacksmith before you leave, Link. He will see that you're properly equipped. You are more than welcome to stay the night, of course, but I imagine you are eager to get back into it."

Link wouldn't actually mind another night in a proper bed, but he had a feeling something would explode if he spent the night here—either the slate or something else, like the capillaries in his cheeks. So he nodded. "Y-Yes, I-Impa." He nearly called her aunt as well. Thank the Goddess for the mask, he thought.

"Paya, I trust you can escort him on his way?" Impa said with a knowing smile as she turned back to her house, letting one of the guards take her arm and support her up the stairs. "Come back when you have recovered your memories, Link," she said over her shoulder. "I will have something for you by then."

Leaving Kakariko went by in a blur. Paya took him to the blacksmith, where he was given a long, slender, slightly curved blade of much higher quality than the rusty longsword he'd used so far, as well as a black-painted shield with the Sheikah eye symbol on it.

"Perfect for stealthy manoeuvres," the blacksmith had assured him. "Treat them right, and they'll treat you right."

Another stop by one of the gardens, and Link's pack was full of food, both perishable and non-perishable. The Sheikah had no intention of letting him starve on the road.

He thanked the blacksmith and garden owner profusely, almost embarrassed at the kindness he was being shown despite his earlier failure.

Sheik, surprisingly, was quiet the entire time.

"S-So...h-here we a-are," Paya said, pausing by the village gates. "T-Take this r-road and y-you w-will reach H-Hateno Village."

"Th-Thank you, P-Paya," Link said, smiling at the Sheikah who'd managed to put him at ease in the course of a single afternoon. "F-For everything."

"Goddess...there really are two of them..." Sheik muttered quietly.

"Sh-Shush, you," Link said.

Link touched the spot on his forehead where Paya had kissed him for the fifteenth time. She'd done it quickly, so fast he'd barely realised it happened before she retreated quickly, wishing him luck and telling him to return whenever he wished. All in a stutter so bad it was a wonder he understood even a single word.

"You two really are made for each other," Sheik said, sighing dramatically. "At least you'll never run out of things to talk about, since the two of you never manage to finish a conversation."

Link rolled his eyes. The words were not pleasant, but Sheik's tone was far from venomous. If anything, he sounded tired. Like the conversation with Impa had been far more taxing than Link had expected.

"Wh-What d-did you and I-Impa t-talk about?" he asked as he tended to the fire, careful not to let the flames get too high.

"Not much. Just Sheikah stuff."

"Y-You screamed."

"She sat on me."

"L-Liar."

"It was a private conversation and none of your business."

"O-Okay..."

Link was halfway through his supper when Sheik spoke up again. "She adopted me."

"Hm?"

"She was so horrified by my behaviour she assumed personal responsibility for me," Sheik clarified. "Made me her kinda-sorta nephew. I am...unsure of how to feel about it."

"M-Makes you a r-real member of the c-clan, d-doesn't it?" Link said, smiling a little.

"I suppose..." He cleared his non-existent throat. "A-Anyway, Hateno's next, right? Apparently, there's a Sheikah research laboratory there. They can help us unlock the slate's remaining functions."

That sounded good to Link. Once the slate was fully functional, they'd have plenty of tools and weapons on their side, which surely meant that reaching the Zora would be easier.

As he tucked himself into his bedroll for the night, comfortably full, he could have sworn he heard Sheik muttering to himself.

"I hope she's not as bad as her sister..."

Never piss off Impa - she will adopt you and discipline you like only a clan head can!