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 78 - The Magic Touch

It was before dawn, and Sheik couldn't be unhappier about it. The sky was dark, the sun not even close to rising just yet, and it was freezing cold, his breaths emerging from his mouth as clouds of fog that quickly dissipated, robbed of its precious heat in seconds. It took a monumental effort not to say bugger this and go back to the Sidon's chambers, where he could siphon heat from the pair of bodies in it.

The Domain was oddly quiet, at this hour. There were patrolling guards, of course, mixed groups of Zora, Hylians, Sheikah, and Gorons working together to not only protect their people from attack, but also to calm the tensions that invariable rose in these situations. For once the usual din of a city of thousands preparing for war was nowhere to be heard, the sound of rushing water instead filling Sheik's ears.

It was...calming, he had to admit. It was no wonder Link had enjoyed growing up here, a century ago.

He was brought out of his thoughts as two diminutive shapes approached him, both carrying wrapped bundles on their backs. One was quiet, but the other was complaining in a harsh whisper.

"...and it does no wonders for my back either, I'll have you know," Robbie said, climbing the stairs to the Ne'ez Yohma shrine, looking up at Sheik with a baleful look. "Hmph, at least you're on time."

"Unlike you," Sheik replied, pushing off the shrine wall he'd been leaning against. "I know you don't have an internal clock like mine, but was asking for punctuality so much to ask?"

"Give us a break, Sheiky," Purah said, rubbing her eyes sleepily, looking exactly like a toddler that had been woken from her nap. "It's too early to expect any sort of speed."

"Why are we even doing this at such a wretched hour?" Robbie asked, hands on his hips. "Surely this could have waited until sometime more civilised?"

"I have my reasons," Sheik said vaguely, looking at the activation pedestal, opening a connection to it.

"Care to enlighten us as to what these reasons are?" Robbie asked.

"Not really," Sheik said with a smug grin, finding the right command. There was a click, and the stone-like metal door slid open, revealing the elevator that would take them into the shrine's interior. "Now come on. We're losing time."

Robbie and Purah grumbled but followed him inside. The elevator ride was longer than Sheik remembered, but since the shrine itself occupied a vast chamber far below the lake, he supposed it made sense. Plus, he'd been busy trying to keep Link from having an anxiety attack at the time, so he hadn't had the time to absorb the length of the trip.

"How far down does this shaft go?" Purah asked, seemingly enjoying floating in the air and being pulled downwards.

"Far," Sheik replied. He was too tired to start fights or be snarky. "Half a mile, at least."

"Amazing," she said, eyes wide with excitement. "I still can't believe we could build these things once. Robbie!"

"Hm," Robbie agreed with a hum. "So much lost knowledge. A tragedy."

Well, not entirely lost, Sheik thought. Just mostly.

There were still vast amounts of information stored in the Network, blocks he had not even started decrypting because it was simply not prudent to the matter at hand. He'd given Stabby the task of organising what they had discovered so far, and to start decrypting some of the smaller, more manageable sections if he was bored. The brat had taken to the task with gusto, mining data like it was nothing.

Much of the data they had found so far would surely be of interest to Robbie and Purah, but not of immediate usefulness, so Sheik didn't mention it. Not yet. For now, he needed the two of them focused on their war efforts.

They reached the end of the shaft, and the huge chamber opened up around them. Neither Robbie nor Purah could hide their wonder at shiny walls, the floating platforms, and the constant thrum of magical energy that permeated the very air itself.

Fucking magic.

The root cause and seeming solution to all of Sheik's physical problems.

They touched down on the lift platform and took a moment to find their balance, then Sheik led the way across the chamber, and up the incline leading to the spot where the shrine's guardian had once sat, waiting for untold centuries for the Hero to show up. Sheik still couldn't imagine the horror of such a fate, even if the Sheikah had volunteered for the task.

"Linky beat this challenge already?" Purah asked, looking around curiously at the pillars that had served as obstacles for the never-ending number of boulders to bounce against, making life miserable for Link.

"One of the first things he did when we got here," Sheik replied. "Say what you will, but Link doesn't back down from a challenge, despite how scary it is."

"I daren't...imagine what...it was like...when active," Robbie said, panting slightly from the effort. Sheik bit down his comment and instead reached down, grabbing the bundle from Robbie's back. It was quite heavy. "Hey! Careful with that! That's fragile!"

"I fucking know, old man," Sheik snapped. "I designed the damned thing! But I can't have you keeling over from oxygen deprivation from a little walk, can I? Fucking feeble-lunged geriatric!"

"Who are you...calling feeble-lunged, you...little shit?!"

"Ah, the peace was nice while it lasted," Purah said, giggling.

It took them a minute to ascend to the top of the incline, mostly because the supposedly non-feeble-lunged geriatric needed a break. Or, rather, a "moment to study architectural skill and technique unlike any he had ever seen".

Sheik let it slide. He'd gotten his barb in already.

"So, this is where the sage sat?" Purah asked, looking at the raised dais with awe, her fingers surely itching to start taking notes and make sketches. "Must have been so lonely..."

"They're free now," Sheik said, placing Robbie's pack down near the dais. "That's all that matters. Let's get this set up, yeah? We don't have much time."

"Again with the rush," Robbie muttered, crouching down and undoing the bundle, revealing a complicated-looking array of machinery and wires. "All right, where's the connection point?"

"Should be around...here," Sheik said, trailing the fingers of his right hand along the edge of the dais, the air practically vibrating here. His nails caught on a hidden edge, invisible to the naked eye. "Ah." He used his left hand to push, his odd, triangle-shaped nails getting a better grip, and then pulled.

A square-shaped block of metal came loose and let itself be removed from the dais, revealing the interior. Sheik had to cover his eyes as blindingly bright blue light spilled out of the opening, needing a moment to adjust. Within the dais there was...chaos. A spinning core made of pure light hovered at the centre of the small chamber, contained by a cage of metal rods, to which millions of fine wires were connected, taking power from the core and distributing it the machinery of the shrine. Link had turned the traps off months ago, but the core kept spinning, kept generating and supplying energy.

An endless amount of it.

Or as endless as a fission reaction kept alive by self-sustaining magic could get.

Theoretically, the reaction would end at some point, but that point wasn't even on a timescale Sheik could comprehend, for all his processing power.

His ancestors had all been mad, every single one of them. But in this case, he thanked them for their insanity, because this was what was going to keep him going for a long time.

"Adapter?" he asked.

"In a minute," Robbie hissed, still in the process of assembling the thing from the parts carried by him and Purah.

It was a crude device, hastily designed by Sheik in a fit of anger at the idea of having to rely on batteries for the rest of his days. Never mind that intact ones were hard to come by; he was also dependant on Robbie and that creepy furnace of his to charge them. It'd be a long time until they could even start to think of manufacturing new ones, too, and Sheik had no intention of needing Robbie's favour for that long.

So, he'd designed himself an alternative measure.

"There, it's ready," Purah said, giving the bits and pieces of modified scrap that served as the adapter's construction a few nudges to make sure they weren't about to fall off. "I think."

"As ready as the prototype will be, at least," Robbie said.

"All right, stand back," Sheik said, picking up the device and carrying it over to the opening. "Way back, or you'll get fried."

"Why are we even here if we're not allowed to watch?" Robbie asked, frustrated. "This is our tech too, you know!"

"Because if this goes wrong, it'll go spectacularly wrong!" Sheik snapped. "Plus, if something happens to me...well, you're the only ones I trust to be able to fix it."

That, and Link would kill Sheik if he found that Sheik was conducting dangerous experiments using equipment that had only been put through the most preliminary of tests before going up against the big one.

"Aw, Sheiky, you really trust us?" Purah said, eyes shining. "I thought you hated us!"

"Well, trust is a strong word when it comes to Robbie," Sheik said, giving the old man a disdainful look. "But you know your science and engineering shit, and I can respect that, if not Robbie himself."

"I'm too old for this shit," Robbie growled. "Go ahead, blow yourself up, see if I care."

"And me?" Purah asked.

"You're...okay," Sheik said after a long pause. "In small doses."

"I'll take it!" Purah announced and striking a pose. "I'll worm my way into your heart yet, little nephew, don't doubt that!"

"Please don't," Sheik said, ignoring the little touch of warmth in his chest at being called that. "And I'm not calling you aunt."

"We'll see," Purah sing-songed, dragging Robbie further away from the dais. "Come on, Sheiky, show us some magic!"

"Oh, there'll be magic, all right," Sheik muttered, kneeling in front of the opening to the reactor and slowly, and very carefully, inserting a thick bundle of cables into one of the rods. The adapter powered up, making a loud humming noise as it began to receive and convert the power from the reactor into something that wasn't liable to explode whatever it was fed into.

On the other side of the adapter was another bundle of cables, these much smaller and finer, terminating in a triangle-shaped socket. It was crudely put together, but definitely fit the specifications of the blueprint he'd given to Robbie and Purah in exchange for more physical samples for Robbie and open question times for Purah.

There had been so. Many. Fucking. Questions.

At least Robbie was satisfied with a bit of blood or whatever it was that ran through Sheik's veins. Purah asked a million questions, none of which could be answered in single sentences.

"Right, enough stalling," he told himself. "Stabby, you awake?"

There was no response. He wasn't sure if Stabby actually slept at any point, or went into hibernation, but there were select hours of the day (usually at night) where he was simply...not there. Or maybe he was, and just didn't say or do anything to reveal his presence. Perhaps he, too, needed or wanted some privacy.

Either way, it was a good thing he wasn't here. He'd probably be telling Sheik he was about to do something incredibly stupid.

Not that Sheik agreed. This was incredibly brilliant, if anything. The possibility of catastrophic failure wasn't even at ten percent. He liked those odds.

"Here we go..."

He flipped his ear up to reveal his charging port, pulling out the cable he'd normally used to connect to and drain batteries. He held the plug in one hand and the cable in the other, hesitating for a moment...and plugged it in.

Everything went black.

Consciousness returned exactly nine minutes and fifty-three seconds later, and he opened his eyes to find Purah looking down at him with worry, and Robbie fiddling with the adapter, frowning.

"He's awake!" Purah exclaimed, smiling. "Thank Hylia, I thought we'd lost you, Sheiky!"

"What happened?" Sheik asked, sitting up slowly. He felt...sensitive. Like every nerve in his body was at attention.

"Over-voltage," Robbie said. "You didn't take the adapter's sheer output versus your input into account, at least not correctly. Your system was probably overwhelmed. Diagnostics?"

"Already running them," Sheik said, bristling at being called out on design flaws by the old fuck. He received the results a moment later. No damage, luckily, just a shock to his system. His power reserves were now at...four hundred percent? "Well, how about that?"

"This needs a little more work, I think," Robbie said, poking at the adapter. "Have to find a way to account for that charge. Give me a few days and I'll have it figured out. My price is—"

"More samples, I know," Sheik said. "Just get on with it."

"If nothing else, I think we can say this prototype works," the old man said, giving Sheik the barest of nods. "Maybe you're not as stupid as you look, boy."

"Smarter than you," Sheik muttered.

"Oh come on, boys!" Purah said, patting their shoulders. "This was a success! We should celebrate! Hey Sheiky, maybe I can talk to some more to Ichigo?!"

Sheik decided that a little more unconsciousness was a good thing right now, and shut down.

Brother, why does your power reserve say it is at 399%?

"Uh...faulty readout?"

May I look at your system logs, please?

"...no."

What did you do?

"Nothing! Oh look, there's a system failure in the Akkala tower. Get on that, will you?"

You caused that. I have access to the maintenance logs too.

"...don't tell Link?"

I'm activating the projection stone. Uncle Link insisted I tell him if you did something reckless.

"Stabby Ichigo Sheikah, don't you dare!"

Link found out. He was angry.

Sheik was grounded. He was no longer allowed to conduct science without careful supervision.

Paya was given the joyous task of keeping an eye on him even outside of training. She repaid it by trying to turn him into a pretzel during sparring sessions. She succeeded.

Stabby applauded Sheik's ingenuity in repurposing a shrine reactor. Sheik did not speak to him for a whole day.

"Betrayed by own data and neural matrix! Unacceptable, intolerable! Little snitch just couldn't wait to go running to Uncle Link," Sheik grumbled, leaning into Sidon's side as the prince made humming sounds, acknowledging his angry rant. "Ought to cut off his Network access other than the Sheikah poetry. That'll give him something to cry about..."

"Please don't be too mad at him," Sidon said, petting Sheik's shoulder. They were in public, near the edge of the main square, overlooking the lake below, which meant he couldn't be too overt in his affections, even if the whole affair was more or less an open secret. "He was only following Link's instructions."

"Don't even get me started on that mother hen," Sheik grumbled. "Bad enough he keeps foiling my attempts to further scientific understanding, but now I have her to contend with as well." He threw a dark glance in Paya's direction. She hovered nearby, following her instructions to the letter. She gave a little wave, which only pissed him off more. "Babysitter from fucking hell."

"Believe me, Sheik, I know what it is like to not be trusted with my own well-being," Sidon said in a sympathetic tone, looking to his own permanent shadow, who mirrored Paya's position on their right.

Bazz grinned. "Stop throwing yourself into danger without a second thought, and maybe the king will trust you with your own safety. Till then, my prince, I will remain at your side."

"See?" Sidon said. "There is no end to it."

"We'll show 'em, Sharky," Sheik said darkly. "We'll show 'em."

Link felt Sheik's gaze in the back of his neck, like a needle poking at the sensitive skin. As he spun around the sparring ring, he occasionally caught a glimpse of the Sheikah, sitting on the outskirts, his uncovered eye never leaving Link's form for a second as the Hero dodged and weaved his way around his three opponents, occasionally darting in with a blow to knock them down.

It made heat blossom in the pit of his stomach, the way the dark red of Sheik's eye kept catching Link's, kept making him aware that Sheik was there, that he was watching...but for what purpose? His mask was up, hiding the rest of his face from view, and Link was too preoccupied to read the minute details of what he actually could see. Sheik didn't appear angry, just...very, very focused.

He ducked under a wide blow and slammed the pommel of his training blade into the other Hylian's gut, ramming the elbow of his other arm into the chin of the second. They went down hard, and the third did not stand a chance as Link easily parried his thrust and, using the momentum of his spin, knocked him down with his shoulder.

And then the fight was over, as Link alone remained standing, with his opponents littering the floor around him.

"You done? Good!" Sheik said, suddenly standing beside Link, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from the ring without giving the Hero a chance to reply. "I'm conducting an experiment, and you're my subject."

"E-Experiment?" Link asked, feeling the heat in his stomach fade and give way to the cold dread he always felt when Sheik was in the mood for experimenting, and not in the fun way. He looked around, hoping to spot Paya, but she'd taken the reprieve of Sheik wanting to observe the spar as an opportunity to...well, fucking disappear, apparently. "Wh-What kind? It's n-not going t-to explode, is it?"

"Not unless we somehow find a way to defy the laws of physics," Sheik assured him. "You owe me."

Link dug his heels into the floor, forcing Sheik to stop. "H-How do y-you figure?" he asked.

"You just do, okay?!"

Well, how could Link argue against that?

He tried.

He failed.

Sheik was just so much louder.

Contrary to his fears, Sheik didn't lead Link to Robbie and Purah's lab, where most of the exploding things were. Instead, Sheik took him outside the city, down along the many paths to the edge of the lake, and then along the bank to a small outcropping of stones and cliffs. It was a narrow path, but it led to a place Link was more than familiar with.

A small, private pool, tucked away among razor-sharp cliffs, known only to the locals. Usually used by courting Zora for a bit of hidden canoodling, Link felt the fire ignite in his stomach once more. Maybe Sheik had some pleasant experiment in mind for once...

Except they were not alone. A pair of Zora, a male and a female, were waiting at the pool, looking expectant. Link wasn't sure he'd ever seen them before, but they appeared to be about Bazz's age, meaning he'd very likely crossed paths with them as a child.

"Ah, there you are," the female Zora said, her melodious voice calm and incredibly soothing...not unlike Mipha's, if Link's regained and muddied memories could be trusted. "Hello, Hero. It's a pleasure to meet you again." She dipped into a short bow, her dark blue scales catching the sunlight in a beautiful display.

"A-Ah," Link said, having not the faintest idea of who this was.

"You wouldn't remember me," she said, noting his confusion. "We met only once, a century ago, and I was much smaller. My name is Uteh, and this is my mate, Aros."

The male Zora, Aros, whose bright orange scales complimented Uteh's in a dazzling display, also bowed. "We never met, Master Link, but I am happy we can remedy that today."

"Wh-What's g-going on?" Link asked, all the while trying to smile at the pair of Zoras, whose presence he couldn't quite figure out.

"That," Sheik said, poking Link's cheek. "The stutter. That's what's going on. Why we're here."

That was...not what Link had expected. Any other time he might have gotten annoyed and embarrassed at having the stutter pointed out, but now he was just so relieved that Sheik wasn't about to embark on some weird breeding experiment that all he could do was stare at the Sheikah with a nonplussed expression.

"Huh?"

"Look, it's driving me insane that I can't figure out why your stuttering is all over the place," Sheik said, glaring at Link. "Sometimes it's barely there, sometimes you can barely get a syllable out without tripping over it. When you're exhausted, you don't stutter. When you're angry, you don't stutter. When you're relaxed, you sometimes stutter and sometimes you don't. It's inconsistent, which means it cannot possibly be a physiological thing, meaning it's definitely linked to what's going on in that noisy head of yours." He grabbed Link's shoulders and pivoted the Hero so he was facing the Zoras again. "So we're going to figure out what triggers it, and what calms it down. We're starting here, with these two, who have kindly offered their services!"

"Wh-What s-s-services?!" Link almost wailed, his calm from before blown away by the verbal storm coming from Sheik's mouth.

"These two are experts in their field!" Sheik said, gesturing grandly. "They'll have you relaxing in a matter of minutes, guaranteed!"

Uteh raised her hand, smiling. "It might take a little longer than that, Master Sheik, but yes. That is our goal."

"H-How?!" Link almost wailed, wondering if he should just make a run for it now, before whatever experiment Sheik had concocted could begin.

"An aquatic massage," Aros said, smiling just as calmly as his mate. "Our customers are usually Zora, but it appears to do wonders for Hylians, Gerudo, and Sheikah as well. We have yet to try it out on Gorons, but they are rather leery of going into the water, understandably enough."

"See? It'll definitely get you to release the tension you've been carrying in your shoulders since you woke up in the damn Shrine," Sheik said, looking very proud of himself. "Now strip."

"Wh-What?!"

"Don't be shy, it's just a massage!"

"Sh-Sheik!"

Credit where credit was due, Uteh and Aros were very good at what they did. They'd turned away while Link stripped to his underwear and let him enter the pool at his own pace. Sheik had gently but firmly shooed away, tasked with guarding the entrance to ensure Link's privacy.

Just as gently, they'd had Link float on his back in the water, waiting until he'd found his balance, after which they got to work.

Their hands were soft and careful, kneading and rubbing at tense muscles that had felt locked up for months upon months, softly coaxing them into releasing and finally stop clenching.

At first, he'd been uncertain of the strange hands touching him, but the Zora had taken their time, letting him get accustomed to their touch, before tackling the bigger, denser muscles of his shoulders and thighs. It hurt, but it was a good pain, the healing kind.

Link lost track of time, but as more and more of it passed, he felt less like a person and more of a floating blob in the water. And it was lovely.

"How do you feel, Master Link?" Uteh asked quietly. "Are you comfortable?"

"Mmm," Link hummed, unable to even summon the will to speak.

"That is good," Uteh said, chuckling quietly. "I think we are ready for the last part. I will need you to hold your breath. Can you do that? It will only be a moment."

Link wasn't sure why that was necessary, but he hummed again, shivering as Aros' large hand suddenly splayed across his chest.

"Deep breaths, Master Link," Aros said. "With me, now. One...two...three...and hold it."

And then Link was pushed underwater.

For a split-second, he panicked, but Aros' hand on his chest, and Uteh's gentle hold of his shoulders were still calming. Their hands moved to his limbs, taking hold of his ankles and wrists...and began to pull.

It wasn't harsh. Merely a little stretching. But the effect was immense. Abused tendons burned in protest, but that too was a good ache. They manipulated his body into various positions, stretching every part of him.

The whole thing was over in seconds, surely, and before he knew it Link was back above water, drawing deep breaths as he was brought to the shore.

"And we are finished," Aros said, chuckling. "How was it, Master Link? Did it help you relax?"

"Yeah, did it?"

Link opened his eyes, spotted Sheik standing on the shore. "I got impatient," he said. "Well? Are you relaxed? Try saying something."

"Sh-Sheik—"Link began.

"Fuck!" his lover cursed, stomping the ground in frustration. "I thought for sure that would do it!"

"It w-was w-worth a sh-shot," Link said, quite certain he should be feeling bad about this not helping his infernal stutter, but finding himself unable to care because his body just felt...fantastic. "Th-Thank you," he told Uteh and Aros, who smiled and nodded in return.

"It was our pleasure, Master Link," Aros said.

"Please call on us again should you require our services," Uteh added. "We are not fighters, but we can at least make those who do put their lives and bodies on the line a little more comfortable."

Aros looked up at the fuming Sheik, cocking his head to the side. "Master Sheik, perhaps you would like to give it a try? You seem awfully tense."

"Y-Yeah, Sheik," Link agreed, grinning lazily up at him. "D-Do it."

"No time," Sheik said with a sniff. "I have another experiment to design, I—"

Link grabbed his ankle. "Y-You're not g-going anywhere," the Hero said.

For once, Sheik listened.

"W-Well?" Link asked, staring up at the blue skies above the Domain, the fluffy, white clouds occasionally blocking out the midday sun.

"...what kind of fucking magic was that?" Sheik asked, his voice just as calm, which was a far cry from the hissing hellcat he'd been at the touch of water before Uteh and Aros had worked their...well, magic. "Half my body is metal, plastic, and glass, and even those bits are relaxed."

Link smiled, leaning over to place a kiss on Sheik's cheek. "T-Told you."

"Hm, you were right," Sheik conceded. "It even helped me figure out the next experiment."

Link blinked. "Wh-What?"

"I'm not done trying to figure this thing out," Sheik said, turning his head to look at Link, his artificial eye glowing. "Not by a long shot. I'm going to ask Impa for help. She's a good person."

Link smiled wider. He wasn't sure if this relaxed Sheik was just a temporary thing or not, but he was going to enjoy it for as long as he could...and he was so proud of Sheik for finally beginning to accept his family.

It lasted until the moment they stepped inside the Sheikah barracks, and Sheik spotted Impa sitting on her customary mound of pillows, a calm expression on her face. Link saw Sheik snap out of his comfort-induced haze, and before he could stop him, Sheik was heading for the nearest window, shouting "Nope!"

"Going somewhere, nephew?" Impa asked pointedly, her words freezing Sheik in his tracks. "I was told you had a favour to ask of me."

"Link can fill you in, I'll just be in the way—"Sheik tried, but he might as well have tried to talk down a lynel.

"I'll hear it from you, nephew, and none other," Impa said firmly. "Be a good role model to Ichigo and fight your own battles."

"He's not even here!" Sheik exclaimed. Then he paused. "Will you stop listening in all the time?! I swear, I will force you to analyse Sheikah poetry till the cows come home!"

Impa rolled her eyes almost imperceptibly, mirroring Link's own reaction. Those two had been bickering a lot lately. Or, Sheik had bickered. Stabby had been his usual self, treating it like it was just a big game, enthusiastically answering Sheik honestly until the older brother had to find something to smash to pieces.

"So, what can I do for you?" Impa asked, cutting Sheik's internal argument short.

"I have an idea to help Link deal with his stutter," Sheik said, surprising Link with his lack of flippancy. There really was nothing Sheik feared in this world other than Impa. It was almost scary.

Sheik explained his plan, and Impa seemed interested. "Interesting, and definitely something I consider a worthwhile effort," she said, nodding. "Of course I will help. Paya, too."

And so Link found himself sitting on a very comfortable pillow in the middle of the Sheikah barracks, an eerie silence having fallen upon the large set of rooms. Around him were many Sheikah, some of whom he'd yet to formally meet. They'd all volunteered once Impa had explained Sheik's plan to them.

The planner himself was sitting next to Link on a pillow of his own, cross-legged. To Link's right sat Paya, her eyes closed and perfectly poised.

"Now, we shall begin the meditation," Impa said at the head of the room. "This is an excellent way to clear your mind and bring you back to your natural equilibrium. It all begins with breathing."

As one, the Sheikah fell into a calm, deep pattern of breaths, even Sheik. Link did his best to follow it, taking a few minutes to finally sync up with the others. He could feel his heart beating slower as he started breathing with everyone else, feeling less like a room full of individuals and more like a single organism.

"Now, close your eyes, and focus on your breaths, the way the air fills your lungs, drawn to the very pit of your stomach," Impa's calm voice said. The darkness made Link feel even more like a part of a single being. "Focus on that, and only that. Do not worry about what has been, what is, what will be. They are mere trifles, not worth your attention. Simply be..."

Once again, Link lost track of time. Several hours must have passed at the very least, if the dying light outside was any indication. As one, again, the Sheikah had come back from...wherever they had gone. Link wasn't even sure he'd been aware of what he was doing after a while, even wondering if he'd fallen asleep.

He had no idea. What he did know, however, was that he felt...calm. A lot calmer than he usually did, even when lying in bed with Sidon and Sheik, where he felt safest.

The anxiety...wasn't gone. But it was not nearly as pronounced, as noticeable, as it usually was. Even here, surrounded by people he didn't know as well as he'd preferred.

"Thank you for joining us," Impa said sincerely to her clan. "These are hard times, but we must not forget to take time for ourselves, to realign our hearts and minds."

Paya turned her head to look at Link, smiling. "H-How was it?" she asked.

Needles pricked at his neck again, and Link knew Sheik was listening intently now.

"It was," okay, good start, "very," even better, keep going, "c-calming—"

"Son of a bitch!"

And there went the peace.

"Get in!"

Link looked dubiously into the small chamber, hidden on one of the lower levels of the Zora palace. How Sheik had convinced the guards to give them access was beyond Link's comprehension, but he suspected it involved bribes, threats to their eardrums, or a favour from Sidon. Possibly all three.

"Wh-What is—"

"It's a supply closet," Sheik explained, as if that...well, explained anything at all.

"And wh-why are w-we s-standing outside a s-supply c-closet?" Link asked. This level of the palace was suspiciously quiet and devoid of people. Again, presumably because Sheik had been out and about. People could only take so many insinuating comments about their mothers before they fled the room.

Or punched Sheik in the face.

Which was a mistake, honestly, because that only spurred him on further.

"Well, no one would take my commission for an isolation chamber seriously," Sheik said with an annoyed grunt. "The Gorons said it'd be a waste of precious resources, and Robbie just laughed at me, the bastard. I've measured the whole damn city at this point, and this is the closest thing we've got to a soundproof chamber, so...in you go!"

"B-But why?!" Link asked, bracing himself with his arms against the doorframe when Sheik tried to push him inside. "Why d-do I have t-to go into isolation?!"

"To test my hypothesis!" Sheik exclaimed, like it was a completely natural thing to ask of someone. "You know, like I've been doing this whole past week! You didn't mind the massage or meditation!"

Link relaxed, which was yet another mistake, as that meant Sheik's full weight was suddenly at his back, and they both went tumbling inside the small room. Even calling it a room was generous, as there was barely enough room for a normal-sized person to turn around without their shoulders brushing against the shelves. Or a normal Hylian or Sheikah, at any rate. The average Zora were lithe enough for this not to be an issue.

At least their landing was soft. Sheik had spread several blankets and pillows on the floor, including one of the thicker meditation pillows Link had used with the Sheikah.

"Oof, thank Din for my amazing foresight," Sheik said as he pushed himself off of Link, looking regretful about it. So was Link. It'd be an excellent place to cuddle. "Anyway, here we are! Make yourself comfortable!"

Realising he had no choice but to comply here, as Sheik was blocking the only way out, Link sighed and arranged himself to sit cross-legged on the pillow, looking up at his lover with a dubious expression.

"N-Now what?" he asked.

"Now I leave you," Sheik said, turning away.

"W-Wait, wh-what?!"

"This is an isolation experiment, right?" Sheik said. "You need to be alone for this, and with no one around to hear you. You can be as loud as you want."

"D-Doing wh-what?" Link asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Talking?" Sheik said with a shrug. "You know, the whole point of this? Look, it's simple. You sit here, I close the door and vacate the floor entirely. There's no one else on it either, I've made sure of it. And then...well, you get comfortable, internalise the fact that you're completely alone...and talk. To yourself, to an imaginary person, to fucking Ganon if you must. Just...talk."

Before Link could ask any more questions, Sheik was already out the door closing it behind him with a decisive slam.

"I'll be back in an hour! Good luck!" his voice, muffled by the door (which was an impressive damned feat and a credit to the architect) said...and disappeared.

Link stared at the door for a long, confused moment. It was quite dim in here, only a single glowing coral providing light, and it was a rather warm shade unlike so many of the other ones he'd seen littering the Domain. It made the room...cosy, despite the rows of shelves filled with various supplies needed to keep a palace running and looking pristine.

I could leave, Link thought. Sheik is gone, and he didn't lock the door. I could just leave and go do something more productive with my time.

But that'd waste all of Sheik's efforts, wouldn't it? Abrasive as ever, Sheik made it a goal to make sure no one thought he ever did something out of kindness, but more out of spite or just to plain annoy someone. But this was nothing but kindness. Link was perfectly functional as a Hero despite his stutter; the only one who truly minded it was himself.

And Sheik knew that and had worked so hard and asked so many people for favours to try and help Link.

It'd be so heart-warming, if he hadn't gone about it in the most frustrating way possible.

He's so stupid, and an idiot, Link thought, smiling a little. But he's my idiot.

Well, half his, and half Sidon's, but wasn't sharing caring and all that?

So...just talk, was it? Link drew a breath, prepared a phrase, opened his mouth and...nothing came out. He felt self-conscious, as he always did. It was worse with people around, but even when he was alone he wasn't free of it. Talking randomly, even just to himself, was apparently a titanic struggle.

He tried. Again and again, but his tongue absolutely refused to cooperate, locking itself up entirely. Five minutes passed, ten, fifteen, twenty, and he was still sitting there, mouth opening and closing like a gasping fish on land.

He clenched his fists, his fingernails biting into the flesh of his palms, making a frustrated noise.

Why couldn't he just be able to speak normally? Why couldn't he just stop caring about every single thing he did and how it would be seen? Why did he have to fucking worry—

"...about every single fucking thing?!"

The oppressive silence of the room returned, pressing down even more, but Link was too preoccupied by what he'd just done. Sheik had said so, anger seemed to help Link bypass his speech issues. But he couldn't be angry all the time, could he? He didn't want to be.

Calm. He had to be calm.

He was alone. Entirely alone. There wasn't a single chance of anyone hearing him. Alone, alone, alone.

"N-No one c-can hear me," he said quietly, gritting his teeth at the familiar stumbling. "N-No one can h-hear me."

He'd stumbled over a different sound now. So, it was inconsistent, as Sheik had said.

Link concentrated. "No one...c-can hear me."

A little louder.

"No one can hear m-me."

Louder.

"No one c-can hear me!"

Frustration began building up, but he fought it down. Anger wasn't the solution, despite how Sheik might insist that it was. It might work for him, but Link didn't have the smouldering furnace in his chest kept feeding his anger, unlike Sheik.

"F-Fuck...f-fuck...f-fuck...c-come on..."

He took several deep breaths, remembering Impa's instructions. It was all about cleansing, about re-setting, re-centring oneself. One final breath, gathering everything he had at the pit of his stomach, and he shouted:

"No one can hear me!"

He paused, blinking.

"No one...can hear me?" he asked out loud. "No one can hear me," he realised. "No one can hear me! I can...I can talk normally, because no one can hear. This is me, talking without a stutter..."

Butterfly wings tickled the inside of his chest, a big grin coming to his face.

"It works," he said, laughing. "It works! It works, it works!"

He stood up, too excited to really think about what he was doing, rushing for the door. He had to find Sheik, he had to tell him that this experiment of his was a success! He wrenched the door open...

...and found Sheik sitting on the floor, leaning against the opposite wall. He had a pair of knitting needles in his hands, a ball of dark-blue yarn, and the most intense look of concentration on his face. That is, until he realised the door had opened.

"What?" he asked, scowling as his cheeks turned a deep red. "Never seen someone knitting before?"

"I...uh..." Link trailed off, not quite sure which topic to go with first. "It w-worked."

Fuck! He wanted to punch the nearest wall, but he forced himself to calm down, taking another series of deep breaths, focusing on the fact that while he wasn't alone anymore, he was with Sheik, the person he trusted most in all of Hyrule. He trusted Sheik, Sheik was safety, Sheik was comfort.

Even if he was a lying bastard. Vacate the floor, yeah right!

"It worked," he said slowly. "Being alone...isolated...worked."

Sheik stared. "So...I was right? Hell yeah, I was right!" He stood up, dropping his knitting and shoving Link against the wall excitedly. "Come on, say something else!"

"I love you," Link said.

Sheik froze. "I...I...I..."

Link smiled, endlessly entertained by Sheik getting completely stumped, leaning forward to place a kiss on his lips. "Thank you," he said.

Sheik stood back, looking at anything but Link. "Yeah, well, I couldn't just...you know...leave it. And as for what you said...the feelings...I...er...that is, the sentiment! Yeah, sentiment! It's...mutual. You know."

He couldn't say it. How adorable. Link fought the urge to coo, knowing it'd just make things even more awkward for Sheik. Instead he reached out, snagging Sheik by the front of his uniform, and drew him close, wrapping his arms around him tightly. After a moment's hesitation, Sheik did the same.

"I mean it," Link said quietly into Sheik's ear. "I don't know...how it will go around others, but...for now, it's fine. Thank you, Sheik."

"Hmph, it was only a matter of time until I figured it out," Sheik groused. "But...yeah...you're welcome."

They held each other for a long time, but Link's patience could only take so much.

"So...knitting?" he asked.

"Impa insisted," Sheik grumbled. "Said I needed to work on my dexterity, or I'm more likely to hurt myself with kunai and shuriken than my enemies."

Link snorted. "Thought you'd just scream at them till they surrendered."

"Now there's a thought," Sheik said. "I just need an amplifier and a microphone, and I could potentially turn my voice into a weapon. Think Impa will authorise it?"

Hylia, I hope not, Link thought.

Riju's world was spinning around her, her ears ringing and vision swimming as she slowly came to. What had happened? She'd been riding in the middle of the caravan's column, talking to Ayla about...something, as they rode through a narrow canyon almost directly south of Zora's Domain.

And then everything had gone white, and she'd been...flying? Floating? Falling?

She looked down, saw the grassy ground less than an inch away. She was on the ground? How?

She tried to push herself up, but her body was struggling to obey, still confused. The grass was wet, but not from dew or moisture. Red. Blood.

Hers?

"...lady! My lady!"

She looked up, saw the blurry shape that could only be Buliara rushing towards her, sword drawn. More blood dripped from its tip, as well as a gash in her bodyguard's leg.

Something red flashed to her side, and it was only years of combat training that had her body reacting without any input from her mind, muscles tensing and throwing her aside, barely avoiding having her head severed by the Yiga's nightmarish, scythe-like blade.

"My lady! Here!" Buliara was still so far away, but her hand moved, throwing something that caught the flash of torches and fires around them brilliant. Curved and deadly; a scimitar. Riju reached out and caught it, once more by pure instinct, and immediately lashed out at the Yiga who'd attacked her. They dodged backwards, landing just outside Riju's reach.

"Aw, why'd you dodge that?" the Yiga asked, cooing. "You wouldn't even have felt it! Now I've got to make an example of you!"

Riju adjusted her grip and stance, her head still spinning. Her forehead hurt, and warm blood kept running into her left eye, forcing her to clench it shut. Around her, everything was chaos. The canyon walls were a ruin, blown to pieces by buried explosives at two points, cutting the caravan into three and isolating them from each other.

An ambush.

Her soldiers were fighting Yiga and Ganon's other minions all around. She was on her own, for now, with blood in her eye, blurry vision in the other, and a woozy head, versus a Yiga who looked fresh and spry, practically dancing in his spot.

Riju smirked. Bad odds for this poor bastard.

His element of surprise lost and with battle raging all around them, the Yiga had no option other than a frontal attack, and that weapon of his was not suitable at all. He attacked with a yell, swinging with speed that spoke of utmost familiarity with the blade, but even in her condition Riju had no problem dodging his blows. When she parried the blows with little effort, the Yiga began to panic, drawing a second, shorter blade in his off-hand, swinging it wildly with the curved blade.

"Just die, already! For Master Kohga!" he shrieked, trying to fool Riju with a fake swing that turned into a stab with the short blade.

Standard diversionary attack. Riju saw right through it, not bothering to dodge the fake swing and instead side-stepping the stab, suddenly standing within the Yiga's range of attack.

Her arms were not in a good position for an attack, but she didn't need it. Instead, she drew her head back and thrust it forward, slamming her forehead into the Yiga's mask, which fell to pieces. The impact worsened her dizziness, but that was nothing compared to how the Yiga must have been feeling. As he stumbled back, she brought her own blade up in a swipe that caught him across the chest, drawing blood.

"Ah, you bitch!" he screamed. "Lord Ganon wants your head, and I'll deliver it to him!"

"You'll have to take it first," she replied, taking the momentary reprieve to swipe the back of her hand across her forehead and eye, taking some of the blood away. There was quite a lot of it. One hell of a gash, probably.

Before he could reply, she rushed him. There was no time to lose. Every moment she wasted on this opponent was time better spent on helping her sisters. The Yiga's attacks grew desperate, clearly not expecting his target to be this aggressive. Still reeling from her initial hits, his blows went wide and far, easily dodged.

Just one more step, and she could make a decisive cut, and—

His fist appeared out of nowhere, the short blade nowhere to be seen. It slammed into her cheek, and was followed by a knee to her gut, knocking all the air out of her lungs. The same knee connected with her temple immediately after, knocking her down.

The scimitar was gone, lost in the onslaught. She tried to reach for it, coughing and trying to regain any semblance of an oxygen supply, but it refused to come.

"Just make it easy for yourself!" the Yiga shouted, voice coming at her from behind, alerting her just in time to roll out of the scythe's blade. Again and again it came down, and again and again she rolled out of the way, given no time to think, strategize, or even breathe! "Just die!"

Something hard under her. A knife? A blade? It didn't matter, she grabbed it, struck out and knocked the scythe blade aside and thrust forward, felt the blade sink into something soft, and warm and wet coating her hands.

"Hgh...agh..."

The Yiga gurgled, clutching at the handle of his own short sword, now sticking out of his neck. He looked surprised, but it didn't last long as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell dead to the ground.

There was no respite. As the Yiga fell dead, two more, including a pair of vicious looking bokoblins with grey hides spotted her and rushed in, leaving the three Gerudo they'd been fighting dead in the grass. Everyone else were too occupied to help. Buliara was bogged down by an entire group of enemies, Ayla was nowhere to be seen. Everywhere Gerudo were fighting and dying, and Riju had no way of breaking free, surrounded as she was.

She found her scimitar once more, just in time to meet the first blows of the nearest bokoblin, which raised its club with a triumphant squeal and swung down. Riju knocked it aside, but that alone set her entire body shaking from the effort. The second bokoblin was on her immediately after, trying to take her head off with a horizontal swing with a rusty cleaver. She ducked, only to get a foot to her chest from one of the Yiga while the other tried to stab her. The blade nicked her shoulder but did not stick deep.

They didn't let her re-centre, kept her dodging and blocking and getting several knew nicks and scrapes. Exhaustion was getting to her, unable to breathe properly after the knee to her gut, and the wound on her forehead was still bleeding freely, blinding her in one eye.

A bokoblin came at her again, and this time her grip around her scimitar was so numb it simply slipped from between her fingers, landing somewhere far away. Not that she could see where, being too busy to avoid having her brains bashed in by the club or her head cut off by the cleaver and swords.

"My lady! Riju! I'm co—agh! I'm coming!"

Buliara's voice came from everywhere and nowhere, but it was too late. Riju was running out of breath and energy, and she realised too late she'd been herded up against a sheer rock wall. Nowhere left to dodge, as the Yiga and bokoblins came closer and closer.

Where the idea came from, she didn't know. One moment she was backed up against the wall, the next she'd pushed off it, and raised her arm, pushing her middle finger against the pad of her thumb. Summoning every bit of will she had left, willing the gods themselves to punish her enemies, she snapped her fingers. The force was incredible, and she could have sworn she felt and saw a spark between the digits.

...but nothing happened. The enemies paused in surprise at her sudden action, but continued their advance with howling laughter and jeers.

That was it. Her last trump card...and it didn't even work. Guess she wasn't a Champion after all, despite Link's kind words. And this was where she was going to end.

At least she'd get to see her mother again...

Now, now, little one, there is no need for such despair yet, a voice spoke in her head, and suddenly it was like her body was not her own. Her arm was raised, its hand extended, fingers poised.

You have the determination; you have the technique. All you lack is that one final, magic touch.

And I am more than happy to lend it to you.

Now...snap them again. Unleash my fury and burn your enemies to a crisp!

Show them why the Gerudo are a foe to be feared!

It was like the lightning had struck her, Riju's entire body almost vibrating as she snapped her fingers again...and this time the friction was incredible. The sound was that of roaring thunder that completely deafened her, the light as the bolts of lightning struck the ground in front of her so blinding she saw them even with closed eyes, the heat like the desert sun times a thousand.

The ground shook, and Riju was nearly knocked off her feet. Her ears rang worse than ever, and she was suddenly aware she was on the ground again. Cracking her eyes open took a lot of effort, her energy completely gone...but what she saw nearly made her laugh.

One crisp bokoblin, burnt beyond recognition, the other completely gone, and the pair of Yiga running with their tails tucked between their legs. One didn't look too closely at where they were running and took the flat of Buliara's sword to the face, while the other tripped over a dead comrade and was skewered by another Gerudo's glaive.

Everywhere she looked, the enemy was on the run, clambering over the piles of broken rock, surprised and terrified by the sudden lightning strike.

"I...did it?" she asked herself.

You did, the voice said, filled with warmth and pride. Urbosa. So clear, just like it had been on Vah Naboris. Execution needs work...but we will have plenty of time to work on it, Riju.

"My lady!"

Buliara was standing above her, looking terrified.

"Buliara..." Riju said, feeling her eyes drift shut, too exhausted to remain awake any longer. "Did you...see that...?"

Oblivion took her.