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
Chapter 19 - Science Lesson

"Sh-Shit!"

Link glowered at the rock face he'd just touched, sucking the tip of his finger to make the sting of the burn go away. He'd barely even grazed the thing before it felt like his skin would melt off.

"I told you not to touch it," Sheik said in a tone that implied rolling eyes. "You're like a child sometimes, I swear. I tell you not to do something, and you do it anyway just to spite me."

"I was c-curious!" Link protested, reaching into his pack and pulling out another bottle of fireproof elixir, thoughtfully provided to him (for a price, like every-bloody-thing else Link needed) by the kind lady at the Foothill Stable. He hadn't been happy about leaving Maladict behind, but it was pointed out to him by the stable master that an active volcano wasn't really the best environment for a horse.

Link had a feeling Maladict, out of some misguided hatred towards all living things, would thrive in such a place if only to prove some sort of point, but had acquiesced to the master's suggestion of leaving Maladict in their care, promising his mount that he'd return soon. He'd gotten a snort to the face for his trouble.

He popped the cork and swallowed the foul-tasting concoction, immediately feeling the effects as his body began cooling down. He had no idea how it worked, but he was glad to have it, as the temperature only continued to rise the further up he climbed the mountain.

Going clad in only his undershirt and the thin Sheikah trousers had done little to alleviate the effects of the heat, and he'd begun feeling woozy until Sheik had convinced him to finally use the elixirs he'd bought.

"Curiosity is not a valid reason to get your limbs burned off, Link," Sheik said. "I have sensors that tell me exactly what temperature the environment around me is—won't you, for the sake of my sanity, please believe me when I say something is hot?"

"F-Fine," Link said, fighting the urge to pout. It wasn't that he didn't trust Sheik's readings—he just found it difficult not to indulge his own curiosity sometimes. When Sheik had told him the rock was hot enough to fry an egg on, he'd just...reached out.

"Poor impulse control..." Sheik muttered.

"Wh-What?"

"Oh, nothing," Sheik said innocently. "Just compiling a little list here."

"A l-list of wh-what?" Link demanded.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. It's just for a little...theory, I'm working on, relating to the side-effects of your long sleep."

Link frowned. Half the time, he knew Sheik was joking, but this had him wondering exactly how much of his current...state was due to the time he'd spent asleep in the Shrine and how much of it had been pre-existing conditions. The stutter, to his disappointment, had always been there according to King Dorephan. That was bad enough, and clashed horribly with his image as a Hero. If everything else that was off about him had always been there as well, how the hell had he ever managed to become a knight in the first place?!

"All right, that's enough worrying," Sheik said with a sigh, clearly aware that his words had been heard, and then promptly disregarded. "If you keep thinking about it, you'll just make yourself feel worse. Think of it like this: In the worst-case scenario, where your long sleep had absolutely no side effects whatsoever, and your little idiosyncrasies have always been part of you, you still managed to become a knight despite them all. If anything, Link, you are the very model of what hard work and perseverance—and an odd affinity for fish people—can accomplish!"

It all sounded quite good until the end. Deciding not to argue, he simply hefted his pack over his shoulder and continued trudging up the rough stone path. "Th-Thanks?" he asked.

"You're very welcome," Sheik said obliviously.

It was becoming harder and harder to tell when Sheik was being facetious or not.

"Despite its owner being a pervert, the king's paraglider certainly came in use," Sheik said once Link managed to reach the top of the Eldin Sheikah tower. "It's gotten us out of more than one hairy situation."

Link made an affirmative noise as he pulled the tangled mess that was the paraglider with him over the edge, thanking his lucky stars he hadn't accidentally dropped it during the climb. Frankly, he'd expected to lose it at some point when he'd made what was, honestly, a suicidal jump from a cliff.

Relying on the paraglider to carry him the rest of the way to the tower was nerve-wracking enough, as was the knowledge he'd have to slot his feet into the rungs of the tower perfectly on the first try...or he'd end up a broken heap at the bottom of the tower...which happened to be surrounded by a pool of magma.

"Lava," Sheik corrected him, which made Link realise he'd spoken out loud. He wasn't sure what it said about him when all he wondered was whether or not he'd stuttered. "You did."

"Hm?"

"Yes, you did stutter, and it's called lava when it's above ground, and magma when it's underground. There, your science lesson for the day."

"Wh-Why?"

There was a long, pregnant pause before Sheik answered. "Hell if I know, it just is. Look, I'm just reciting what comes up in my head when the relevant information is discussed—I've no idea how it works."

Link didn't say anything as he tried to fix the paraglider, reassembling it until he could fold it back together to fit in his pack. It was an annoyingly complicated device, for its simple function. Just as well, probably, since it kept him alive.

He wondered what it looked like inside Sheik's mind. Was it the same jumbled mess of doubts and borderline-panic, intermingled with idiot impulses and embarrassing ideas, like in Link's head, or was Sheik's more structured, with useful (and not so useful) information just...appearing there, accompanied by razor-sharp logic and...well, a large compendium of insults and a list of enemies that grew for every person they met? Possibly even a core of affection for two certain individuals, and paralysing fear of his adopted aunt?

Regardless, it was probably a far better place than Link's. Less debilitating fear and more...pragmatic action, even if said action was really just increasing the volume of his voice and output of insults.

They went through the motions of activating the tower. Despite how many times he'd seen it by now, Link never got tired of the way the tower transferred its local cache of information to the slate, in the form of a glowing drop of...liquid? He still had no idea what it was, and by this point he felt it was too late to ask.

"Ah, well, there we are, then," Sheik said. "Link, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"G-Good," Link said immediately.

"We're quite close to the Goron City now," Sheik said dutifully. "At the pace we had before focusing on the tower, I'd say we'd have hit it by nightfall."

"A-And the b-bad?" Link asked, knowing there was no way in hell they'd reach the city by nightfall given the way his companion had phrased that sentence.

"A recent eruption has...er...melted a substantial part of the road not far from here," Sheik said carefully.

"M-Meaning?"

"...I hope you're good at long jumps."

Link stared, fighting every urge he felt to jump into action. Half of it was out of self-preservation, the other half from the sheer confusion he felt at what he was seeing. Judging from the way Sheik had yet to say anything whatsoever, he was just as flabbergasted. Whether that was a good thing, he had no idea.

"...every now and then I see something that has me wondering if the world around me and the people in it are real, and I'm not just stuck in some ridiculous simulation brought on by the slate," Sheik finally said, his voice distant. "And then I see something like this, and I feel like it isn't real, and I'm still stuck in that fucking Shrine, dreaming away. Link, tell me, do you see the same thing as I do?"

"Th-There's a p-person," Link said dutifully, keeping his eye on the individual in question, choosing not to acknowledge their waving arms and shouted pleas for help just yet. "W-Waving at us."

"Good, good, I see that too," Sheik said, humming. "Tell me, then, are you also seeing that they have, somehow, managed to strand themselves on an island in the middle of a river of lava?"

"I d-do," Link confirmed.

"Do you also see the poorly hidden bunch of bananas behind them?"

"Y-Yes."

"And the smouldering, red uniform at their feet, still burning a little? Which, by the way, is very similar, if not identical, to the uniform worn by the Yiga clan members who attacked us in Akkala? There's even a mask beneath it."

"Indeed."

"All right, good, then we are in agreement," Sheik said. "Now, this is where I get confused: They are a member of the Yiga. They have declared their hostile intentions towards you. This one has utterly blown their cover with not only their uniform, but also their inexplicable obsession with bananas, which so far appears to be clan-wide. Am I right so far?"

"Y-Yes."

"And they are asking us for help?!"

That was, indeed, the crux of this matter. The Yiga member had spotted them from afar and had, immediately, begun waving at them and shouting for help.

"S-So it s-seems," Link said unhelpfully.

Sheik seemed to need a moment to process it. "Well...you know what we have to do, right?"

"H-Help them?" Link asked.

"Exact—wait, what? I...that's...no!" Sheik sputtered. "They're the enemy, Link! Helping them is like helping Ganon, and gives them an opportunity to stab you in the back the second you turn it on them! No, we leave them to it. They got themselves into this mess, they can jolly well get themselves out of it! Now come on, there should be another path nearby that'll get us higher and away from this mess."

Link didn't move, keeping his eye on the Yiga member. They were still waving desperately. "W-We can't j-just l-leave them..." he said.

"Link, two of those morons tried to kill you less than two weeks ago," Sheik said slowly. "Chances are this one is going to try the same thing the moment they're out of danger."

"Th-Then I'll f-fight them," Link said firmly. There were many words, in his opinion, that could be used to describe the Hero of Hyrule as he was right now (a coward, weak, pathetic), but he was not and would never be cruel. And what could be crueller than leaving someone to die like this? The small island of untouched rock the Yiga member was standing was shrinking rapidly as the lava slowly consumed it. Link didn't even want to imagine the pain they would suffer before dying. He doubted it'd be quick.

"Link—"

"I'm n-not l-leaving them t-to die!"

For once, Sheik didn't continue arguing, but he made a point to sigh as loudly as he possibly could. "Fine, you want to rescue your own assassin, that's your business. And how, exactly, do you propose we do that?"

That was the bit Link wasn't too keen on explaining. The eruption that had led to the current lava flow had apparently been quite violent, as large stones sometimes passed by, swept along by the current. Instead of explaining it, however, he simply pointed to one of them as it floated past, then to some of the rocks that still hadn't been completely submerged.

"Absolutely not," Sheik said. "Those things can't take your weight."

"A-Are you c-calling m-me fat?"

"Link, this is not the time to be joking! This isn't the Zora River, where you had a chance of surviving as long as you could swim! You fall here, you die!"

The Hylian wiped the sweat off his face, the elixir doing little to cool him down this close to the lava flows. "F-Fine," he said, "any b-better ideas?"

"Well...no, but—Link!"

No time like the present. Link ran forward and jumped, landing on the floating rock and quickly hopping onto the step stone-like ones that were, now that he was closer, sinking faster and faster. That was a little worrying. But he was in it, now, and he felt like he was going to catch fire just standing there, so he continued jumping, one by one, until he landed on the little island. There was a high-pitched sound that kept whining in his ear the entire time, and it wasn't until he had a chance to take a breath he realised it was Sheik, who was cursing up a storm.

"—and you, traitor!" he finished, directing his rage towards the Yiga member, who upon closer inspection turned out to be a man. Or boy, really. Somewhere around Link's age, if not a little younger, and definitely on the smaller side. Sheikah through and through, however, if his crimson eyes and almost white hair was anything to judge by. The Yiga seemed to shrink as Sheik unleashed another litany of insults and pure rage upon him. "—and I see that dagger of yours, don't think I don't!" Sheik finished. "You take that out, and toss it into the lava, along with every other weapon you have, or I swear you're going in next!"

Contrary to what Link thought would happen next (confusion about the slate speaking, refusal to comply, and so on), the boy immediately dropped his dagger into the lava, where it immediately began warping and melting because of the heat. He then drew a long, slender stiletto from his boot, tossing that as well. He offered Link a weak grin and a shrug.

"Why are you just standing there?!" Sheik shouted. "Get off this damn thing before we're all killed!"

"F-Follow me," Link said, waving for the boy to come closer. "D-Do exactly as I d-do."

"Right," the Yiga boy said, his voice quiet...or just easily swallowed by all the other noises around them (including Sheik's persistent barking), keeping a respectful distance (or fearful, since Link was now the only one of them who was armed.

"And don't get any funny ideas about pushing him, yeah?" Sheik warned, causing the Yiga to look at the slate with a horrified expression. "I'm keeping a close eye on you, boy!"

Link wanted to point out that, technically, Sheik wasn't much older than the Yiga, but he had a feeling that would start another argument about him undermining Sheik's authority, or whatever. He took a deep breath, and pointed at the step stones. "J-Just th-those, yeah?" he said, waiting for the Yiga to confirm before preparing to jump...

...or so he would have, had it not been for another surge in the lava flow that immediately swallowed said step stones completely...and rapidly began eating what little remained of their island.

"Sh-Shit," Link muttered.

"Well, I don't want to say I told you so..." Sheik muttered.

The Yiga boy's eyes widened with fear, and he looked to Link, waiting for instructions. Strange, really, how the boy wasn't taking the opportunity to rid Ganon of the enemy. Actually working with the enemy, even. Maybe it was all a trick, like how the two Yiga brothers had lured him into a false sense of security before trying to kill him, but if so he was impressively dedicated to playing the role of helpless.

"A-Any ideas?" Link asked no one in particular. Strange how, if he were alone, he would be a panicking mess, curled up and crying somewhere, but when he had someone depending on him like the Yiga boy he was just...there. He had a job to do.

"No..." the Yiga said, looking like he was on the verge of tears. Link knew the feeling.

"Hm," Sheik said. "I might have one, but it's risky."

"R-Riskier th-than staying h-here?" Link said.

"Well, when you put it like that," Sheik said. "The heat is generating a lot of updraft here, because of the moving air currents. Strong enough to support, say, a certain gift from a certain pervert?"

"Th-The paraglider?" Link asked, reaching into his pack.

"It's the only option we have right now," Sheik said. "Unless you want to see how much time it takes for a Cryonis pillar to melt in this heat. Spoiler: Too fast to climb on!"

"All right, all right," Link said, withdrawing the collapsed paraglider and quickly assembling it. "W-Will it t-take th-the weight?"

"See, that's where the math goes a bit wonky—I know it will take your weight, but both of you? Not so sure."

Link rolled his eyes. "N-Not leaving him!"

"All right, fine, but let me point out that you're the one with pain receptors, not me!"

"I'll l-live w-with it!"

"Yeah, for a few seconds and then you'll be dead!"

The Hero shook his head.

"Correction: All three of us will be dead!"

He did feel a little guilty about that. He'd been too focused on saving the boy that he hadn't even thought about leaving Sheik safely on the shore instead of dragging him into a rescue attempt that, currently, was looking less and less likely to succeed. Oh well, he just had to trust that Sheik wouldn't suggest a solution he knew had no chance of working whatsoever...even if that didn't necessarily include bringing the Yiga boy with them.

He held up the readied paraglider. "Wh-Where t-to?" he asked.

"A little to the left," Sheik said. "That's the strongest draft I can find."

Link nodded and looked at the Yiga. "C-Come on—h-hold on t-to me."

The boy hesitated. "Er..."

"Or would you rather burn to death? That'd suit me just fine."

That seemed like a good enough incentive, and the boy did indeed hold on tightly as he, more or less, scrambled upon Link's back. If anything, it highlighted the size-difference between them...and how light the boy was.

If I'm short, Link thought, then how tiny is this one?

"And don't you dare kick me," Sheik warned the boy as Link took off at a run, praying to Hylia that the paraglider would hold, or this would be the shortest rescue ever attempted. He reached the edge of the island and jumped. For one brief, horrifying moment, they lost height. His boots were hot enough to catch fire on their own, Link was certain, and he was waiting for the agony when they struck the surface of the lava...

...and then they lifted, the warm air carrying the paraglider upwards and forwards. Not very far, but just long enough for them to land in a pile on the opposite shore, killing two birds in one stone, as it were.

"Link!"

He knew what Sheik meant, and he rolled off the Yiga boy and drew his sword, pointing the tip down at him. Just as a precaution, of course; the boy seemed too busy thanking his ancestors in a burst of words in the Sheikah tongue, muttering under his breath. If it hadn't been, as Sheik had pointed out earlier (and proven by Link soon after), hot enough to fry eggs on, Link had a feeling the boy would be kissing the ground, too.

"My name is Kiro," the boy said, gratefully drinking from the flask of water Link had handed him. "Thank you for saving me." He looked up at Link with what appeared to be an honest, completely open smile that betrayed no other agenda, but Link remembered that the brothers had been much the same...before they had tried to take his head. That was why he remained several steps away, sword still drawn.

They'd retreated further up the hill, away from the flow of lava that had covered up most of the road, where it was cooler.

"Uh-huh," Sheik said. "Don't thank us just yet—we've got some questions for you. If we like the answers, we might decide not to kill you for treason."

Kiro frowned, but nodded. "I...will try to answer them as best I can."

"H-How o-old are y-you?" Link asked, unable to stay his curiosity for much longer. Here, away from danger, Kiro looked even younger than he had before. And smaller. It made him uncomfortable, because if he'd almost considered leaving a child, regardless of his allegiance, to his death...

Kiro blinked. "Er...eighteen?" he said, like it was a question.

"Bullshit," Sheik said, snorting. "Try again, with a little more honesty this time."

Kiro's eyes lowered to the ground at his feet. Out of his uniform, he was dressed in a simple, sleeveless shirt and loose-fitting trousers. Ideal for hot environments, really. "Fifteen..." he admitted quietly.

A child, then. Sheik had advocated for, and Link had considered, leaving a child to a horrible death by burning. The Hero's stomach gave a lurch. He lowered his sword, too, not sheathing it (because he wasn't that stupid), but not pointing it directly at Kiro either.

"That's better," Sheik said. "And what, pray tell, are you doing up here, Kiro? Waiting to ambush a certain Hylian, perhaps?"

Kiro nodded.

"I knew it," Sheik said, sighing. "Well, you failed rather spectacularly at that, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes..."

"Are there any more Yiga bastards waiting for us up here?"

Kiro shook his head. He still wasn't able to meet Link's eyes. "No...just me..."

"Try again," Sheik said, surprising Link. By now, the Hero had expected Sheik to call for his execution for lying twice, but his companion seemed to actually want to give the boy a chance. Maybe even Sheik had qualms about killing someone that young...

Heh, that young...like Link wasn't just two years older...well, a hundred and two years older, if you really wanted to nit-pick. He still couldn't quite reconcile that number in his head, so he went with seventeen, as Impa had told him. Maybe seventeen and a half, judging by how close his birthday had been when the Calamity happened.

"It's just me up here," Kiro insisted. "I...I went alone. To prove them wrong."

"To prove who wrong?"

"The...others."

"Look, kid, you're really going to have to step up your game here, or we'll leave you dead in a ditch here—"

"The others!" Kiro exclaimed. "The other...Yiga. They keep saying I'll never amount to anything, just because I'm not as big or strong as them, but they're wrong! I was going to show them I could kill or capture the Hero and the slate by myself! Show them what I can do!"

"Oh for f...Link, a word?"

Link nodded and stepped a little bit away from Kiro, to a spot where the wind was blowing too loudly for him to hear their hushed conversation. He still never took his eyes off the Yiga, however. He'd been lured in by too many acts to be comfortable with that just yet.

"He's telling the truth, from what I can tell," Sheik said quietly.

"S-So he's a-alone?" Link asked.

"I think so," Sheik replied. "Makes sense—the Gorons have always been firm allies of Hyrule, so they'd quickly root out the presence of Yiga in their territory...plus, any member of the other races sticks out like sore thumbs here, so the Yiga wouldn't be dumb enough to try surprising you up here in disguise...well, except for one, apparently."

"He m-mentioned the s-slate...and d-didn't s-seem s-surprised b-by you..."

"I think it's safe to say that the Yiga knows about me by now," Sheik said, humming. "If only for the way I distracted the ones who attacked you. Pity, really. Means I'm not a trump card anymore."

"Wh-What should we d-do?"

"Had this been anyone else? I'd say we kill him..."

"B-But?"

"He's pretty young," Sheik said uncertainly. "Pretty sure he's not even fifteen...maybe fourteen, at the most."

Link considered the boy once more. Given his size, that certainly made sense. "W-We can't kill him," he said.

"No, but I don't feel comfortable just cutting him loose either," Sheik said. "There might not be any Yiga waiting for us ahead, but you can be damn sure they're posted all around the mountain. Kid'll just link up with them once he gets away...or he'll be dumb enough to head for his cache of weapons and come after us again."

"W-We s-saved his life," Link said. "D-Doesn't th-that count for s-something?"

"Were he a Sheikah, he'd owe you a life debt," Sheik said. "But since he isn't..."

"He k-kinda is, th-though? He's g-got r-red eyes—"

"He's still a traitor, Link, and not one of us," Sheik interrupted.

Link shook his head. He highly doubted someone Kiro's age paid much attention to the concept of treason, and certainly not when the schism itself had happened more than a hundred years ago. "H-he was p-probably b-born into the Y-Yiga," he said carefully.

"And?"

Link couldn't believe how dense Sheik could be sometimes. "M-Means he d-didn't choose t-to join them."

"And that just excuses his working for Ganon?"

"N-No, b-but he p-probably never had a ch-choice!"

"There is always a choice," Sheik growled. "He could have defected, come back to the Sheikah—"

"At f-fourteen?"

Sheik's screen dimmed. "I hate it when you are the logical one," he muttered. "Take us back."

Link trudged back to Kiro, who'd shrunk in on himself, like he was expecting a death blow at any minute. He looked up at Link's approach, but still couldn't meet Link's gaze. Almost like he was ashamed, really.

At his belt, the slate lit up, and Sheik's projection appeared, standing beside Link.

"You know who I am?" Sheik asked.

Kiro shook his head, surprised by the sudden appearance. "No...just that you're...some sort of person living in the slate?"

"I see," Sheik said. "Well, listen very carefully to what I have to say..."

The Sheikah language flowed from the projection, and Link immediately had to force himself not to pay too much attention to Sheik's voice, in case Kiro tried something. He wondered if he could convince Sheik to speak to him in his people's language later, when they were alone. It was...pleasant.

Kiro's eyes had widened the moment Sheik had begun to speak, mouth falling open, but he soon recovered and answered back in the same tongue, an extended conversation taking place. Only when Kiro nodded firmly and stood up, bowing with a hand hovering over his own heart, did it end.

"All right, then," Sheik said, crossing his arms. "Guess you're not as dumb as you look."

Kiro chuckled. "Just a little..."

"Yeah, well, not much we can do about that," Sheik replied. "Now bugger off, before I change my mind."

It didn't take more convincing than that. Kiro bowed again, and finally looked Link in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Hero," he said.

Link could do little but nod, not entirely sure what Kiro was apologising for (likely his plan for ambushing him...and possibly needing the rescue), but it seemed to take some of the burden off the boy's shoulders, as they lowered.

"Remember your promise, boy," Sheik reminded him. "Or you know what will happen."

"I will."

"Oh, and before you go, one more question."

"Yes?"

"What's with the fucking bananas?"

Link watched Kiro heading back the way they'd come, having assured them both that he could find a way off the mountain on his own. Link wasn't so sure, but he had a feeling Kiro was embarrassed enough as it was, and certainly didn't need Link babysitting him.

"...and he doesn't even like bananas," Sheik muttered. "Sure, they're a good source of potassium, but...I still don't get it."

Honestly, at this point Link didn't even care about the Yiga's obsession with the yellow fruit. Frankly, it didn't matter. If anything, they served as a good way to spot traitors from, frankly, miles away. Sheik, however, was completely unable to let it go. It honestly worried Link a bit.

"It was probably a mistake, letting him go," Sheik said after Link refused to take the bait and indulge his need to rant on the subject. "I made him swear on his honour to never take up arms against us, or the Sheikah, ever again, but chances are he'll just head right back to their hideout, rearm, and head out again. Or maybe he'll be punished for his failure—impossible to know, really."

"W-Was that wh-what you s-said to him?" Link asked.

"More or less," Sheik said. "I made it clear that you saving his life means he owes you big—and I asked him a few questions about the Yiga in general. Where their hideout is, for example."

"And?"

"He said it's in the mountains north of the Gerudo Desert," Sheik said. "Didn't really go into specifics, but I've marked the approximate location on the map anyway. Should be easier to find it once we activate the tower in that region. Impa will find that information useful, no doubt."

Link sighed. This just kept getting more and more complicated. He'd been happy to...well, not happy, but satisfied with considering the Yiga as a nameless, faceless group of enemies he could fight with no remorse, but now...well, Kiro was neither name- nor faceless, and that made it harder to think of them as just enemies.

"Also, their current leader is one Master Kohga, apparently."

"K-Kohga..."

"Sounded like a nasty piece of work, according to Kiro. We'll probably have to deal with him too, at some point."

Link drank from his flask and turned his back on Kiro, eyeing the path ahead. "It n-never ends, d-does it?" he said.

"A Hero's work is never over."

Later that night, when Link was tucked into a small nook in the cliffside, still pleasantly warm from the geological activity around them, and fast asleep, Sheik thought about the conversation he'd had with Kiro.

A lot of the information the Yiga had offered correlated with some of the things Impa's spies had reported earlier, but what had him a little worried was the fact that Kohga had specifically ordered for the slate to be captured. And only the slate. Link had a price on his head, but the enemy desperately wanted the slate.

But why?

True, from what he could tell, Sheik's slate was only one that was currently active, but it was far from unique. Dig deep enough in the old ruins, and you'd stumble across one eventually. Hell, you might even be able to activate it and, if you knew the Sheikah language, use it, but still...nothing special about the slate itself.

So...were they interested in Sheik himself? But if so, why? Sure, he was certainly unique, but what were they hoping to accomplish by capturing him? He wasn't exactly going to switch sides and help a bunch of traitors to his people, that was for damn sure.

Eugh, like he didn't have enough to worry about, with the Divine Beasts, Link's wellbeing, the ever-present danger of the Calamity lingering on the horizon wherever they went... And then there was that strange scan the shrine in Akkala had made of the slate.

He'd gone over the log files again and again, trying to find anything hinting about why the shrine had asked for what it had. It wasn't just the authenticating handshake protocol that had been requested, but everything, down to the software's version number. Sheik was pretty sure his behavioural matrix had been part of the data transmitted back into the pedestal, but why? What use did the shrine's computer have for that information?

Unless...the shrine had taken that data, and then transmitted it somewhere else? Sheik hadn't been able to gain access to that particular part of the network, which the system had claimed was far too damaged by the collapse to work, but...what if the system had lied to him?

Ridiculous, of course. A machine like that wasn't able to think, wasn't able to lie. As far as Sheik knew, he was the only machine capable of thinking.

But if the shrine had transmitted the slate's information somewhere...where had it gone? And what was the receiving system using it for...if it wasn't just some sort of repository, that is, which collected and organised new data whenever it was detected?

Too many options, too many possibilities, too many variables.

Sheik gave up hypothesising, deciding that putting together a profile on Kiro was a far better use of his time. He'd have to find some way to relay it to Impa, of course. Maybe they'd run into Pikango again at some point, who could bring it to her.

His work stilled when Link sighed in his sleep and adjusted his position, his face smooth and free of the worry-induced wrinkles and anxiety-caused grimaces that were usually there. He looked so...young, like this.

Am I doing this right? Sheik wondered.

He'd (silently) promised to whip Link into shape, into the knight he was supposed to be...but so far Link had done most of that whipping himself. Sure, Sheik helped out with some of the more tactical or strategic planning of his quest, but it was Link who remained the driving force behind it all, and while the Hylian himself might not believe it, he had changed a lot. He was definitely not the same scared and anxious boy who'd awoken in the Shrine of Resurrection. His rescue of Kiro alone proved that.

Had he been projecting himself, Sheik would have smiled. Whether or not he was failing in the task he'd set for himself, at least he wasn't making things worse, like he had back then...

He paused. Where did that thought come from? Back when?

It was gone before he could analyse it any further. Damn. What was it? Some sort of glitch? As far as he knew, according to Robbie's notes, none of the original Sheik's memories had been brought over, just his...way of thinking. So, what failure had he just been reminded of?

He gave up on going through the collated information from the towers, which was in dire need of a defragmentation, and chose instead to run a deep diagnostic of his memory, curious to see what else he could find in there.

In the south, deep within the cave of the Shrine of Resurrection, the pedestal came to life, glowing purple. The entire shrine soon took on the same colour, the malice quickly taking hold. With a loud pop, the basin came to life and began to fill with blue, shining liquid. It was thicker than usual, however, and a thin layer of corruption floated on top. The lid came down over the basin, sealing it from prying eyes and intruders.

Soon...soon...

The presence was satisfied with its triumph, the malevolent energy swirling around the chamber like a foul wind.