[Words: 988]
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Impa:
The 100 Year Long Wait, Over
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It would a lie if Impa said she wasn't aware of the effect the Shrine of Resurrection could have on Lynk's mind. She has had one hundred years to accept this and yet, a part of her wants to deny the inevitable. Wants to deny that the woman she had known would likely no longer exist.
Most of all, Impa doesn't want Lynk to feel afraid and go into this blindfolded, doesn't want to dump everything that has happened upon her no doubt fragile shoulders.
When Impa closes her eyes, the Calamity seems to always have just happened. The stench of death that clung to the air for months, the darkening of the sky and reddening of the moon. The Monsters and mass death.
Impa remembers like it had been yesterday; the way Princess Zelda had walked into Kakariko Village, muddied and bruised, no Lynk insight and carrying the Master Sword, the sacred blade chipped and dull.
Leona agonised cries had filled the air before the Princess could even make it down the hill. She had collapsed to the ground and sobbed her eyes out with no end in sight.
Impa remembers her knees trembling, her body exhausted from racing all the way to her home village. The cup of water that had been in her hands spilling to the floor with realisation.
Princess Zelda had fallen to her knees before Leona and just…cried with her. Apologising for not being strong enough, for not being able to harness her powers sooner.
Yet, Leona didn't care for Zelda's apologises, just bringing the traumatised teen into her arms and held her close.
Zelda explains quietly. Explains how it happened, explains the Shrine of Resurrection and that Purah, who she'd seen rushing for the Great Plateau, was there helping. Explains the possible consequences of the Shrine. Explained what Zelda must do.
Impa felt unbridle relief to know her sister was safe and doing what she could for Lynk.
She wants to protest Zelda's decision, however, Impa meets the Princess's eyes and sees a determination she'd never seen before. A fierce promise.
A look Impa knew anywhere, one she had seen on Lynk's face many times before; strive, intensity, focus.
Impa knew there would be no changing Zelda's mind.
The Princess would be going to face Ganon, for what could be up to a hundred years, all by herself while she waited for Lynk to return.
Zelda intrusts Impa with information, with the knowledge to help guide Lynk, and she would do so.
Then she leaves Kakariko behind to return the Master Sword.
It would be the last time Impa saw the Princess.
Life is nothing like it was once, so much destroyed, Guardians killing any they see, the earth retakes what had been stolen. Buildings are left to ruin.
Still, Impa lives her life. Falls in love. Has a child. Watches as her son grows up and marries. Witness and helps with the birth of her grandchildren. Learns of the death of her son by the hands of the Yiga Clan. Her daughter-in-law succumbing to heartbreak, leaving Impa to raise her grandchildren.
Impa is forty-five when Leona passes away from old age.
She mourns that Lynk would not get the chance to see her second mother again.
Her grandson decides he wants to become a warrior, wants to hunt down the Yiga who continue to terrorize Sheikah.
She watches as he comes and goes, each time looking older and more mature, hair longer or shorter, outfit adjusting or changing.
Her granddaughter is shy, not fit to be a warrior but she shows great intelligence and strive to help in other ways. Perhaps a fitting Elder one day.
While this happens, every day, every morning and every evening, Impa would look to the entrance of Kakariko Village, hoping that she would see a familiar face, familiar blond hair. Nothing. But she doesn't give up hope.
Impa is one hundred and twenty when that familiar face pushed open the doors to her home but—Lynk stares at her with no spark of familiarity anywhere in sight.
Her chest aches deeply, knowing this is just the beginning of a long journey Lynk has ahead of her.
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Impa wants to cry, perhaps had she been younger, she would have. But Impa is older now and knows crying will not solve anything for Lynk. Lynk who is struggling.
Like a moth to a flame, Lynk takes to Paya's teachings in ways so familiar—
Perhaps not all is lost, Impa wonders, hopes. Despite the take of leave her voice has chosen, Lynk retains her intelligence and strive, only subdued in her uncertainty.
She knows Lynk could not stay in Kakariko Village for as long as Impa wished, this young woman before her—she's new; like a child exploring the outside world for the first time. So much different to before, to the old Lynk. Like this Lynk is someone new, but, Impa supposed, that is not far from the truth.
This Lynk doesn't not have the memories to sway decisions or desires. This Lynk is as free as a bird from past pressure, and while Impa loathes to put upon Lynk the weight of Calamity, the only struggles Lynk faces is relearning what she likes, dislikes.
She knows she hates shoes, prefers bare feet; the softness of a bed is uncomfortable; the soft ambient noises of the wildness soothes her. She dislikes speaking, is relieved that she can sign now, that she doesn't have to force herself to speak when her throat clenches at even the thought.
Impa wonders, not for the first, nor the last, who this Lynk will become.
But what is a first, is the lack of heartache that thrums through her at the thought of the loss of the woman she used to be.