There was a hole in her life with him missing. She dove into the work with Impa to try and fill it, but unlike Impa, the machines only ever felt cold. Her parents had deferred to her brother to make the decision of whether to allow her plan to proceed. They worried for her safety, but it was a good test for her brother.
After some more questioning, he'd agreed that it was a worthy endeavor, even if it was putting powerful weapons in the hands of groups that hadn't always been allies.
The Gerudo. It was the Gerudo that were the issue. The Gorons and Zora were an easy yes. They'd all felt Ganon's fist throughout history and there was a camaraderie in that. The Rito were a more recent ally, though not novel by any means, but they had never been enemies.
The Gerudo had followed Ganon when he'd been incarnated as Ganondorf, their king. And though in the end they'd done the proper thing, it was a still point of contention. So much so that at one point they'd been exiled from Hyrule. Those days too were long ago, but there was still some distrust.
The rate of work was break neck, and it was only through the automation of the Guardian building process that creatures of the scale of Divine Beasts could even be dreamt of. The transportation technology also had to be implemented into the other territories so the Divine Beast parts could be sent there to be assembled. Zelda had helped as much as she could with the design of the beam, but her knowledge of magic was of only minimal aid. Impa was such a genius that she probably could figure out the magic aspects as well given time.
They were lucky Impa's genius only went so far as technology and she had no interest in military strategy or politics, as if she had they all might have a run for their money.
"If we could just mechanize the light arrows…" Arwana lamented, "Then we could have as many super goddess sealing powers as we would need. Ganon would be the one on the defensive."
Dago, a Sheikah on the research team laughed loudly. "If only," he said, "Though perhaps that could be seen as heretical." he glanced at Zelda, their resident goddess expert.
"More just impossible," Zelda input.
"Ep ep ep," Impa tutted without looking up from the terminal, checking her coding. "What is the rule about that word."
Zelda smiled.
"My apologies, I only meant it's because of my blood. Robots don't exactly have blood."
"What is blood even, but water and fats even, bah, I don't understand it," Arwana said.
"My parents thought I was going to be a medical doctor for a bit," Pearle said, the only Zora on the team. "I almost got into the Zora school for medicine until I found out I grow faint at the sight of blood."
The research team talked as they did their more menial tasks at the moment, sanding down parts from the printing machine. This process too was slowly becoming automated, but for now people were needed to pay attention to the special details.
A ring ran through the room as the terminal received a message.
"The Hero has a shipment of about 3 tons," Impa announced. "The loading deck is clear for that, right?" Once she got confirmation that was the case she tapped him the go ahead. Zelda tried to not show any special interest in Link's messages, but she suspected she had a bad poker face. Luckily her interest wasn't noticed due to the research team's even deeper interest in the material and where it was. They were usually equally disappointed in the Hero's succinct answers.
It wasn't until a late night where she found herself unable to fall asleep, and made her way to the research lab to see if she couldn't manifest a few more light arrows to help calibrate the prototype laser, that she got a longer answer from the hero.
She had nearly managed to create one when the main terminal rang out. Though it was probably not her best idea to open the message, Zelda felt her curiosity pique. When she saw who the message was from, it was without thinking that she replied.
Of course what you're doing is important! Do you think I would ask this of you if it were a waste of your time?
Princess Zelda?
Do you often talk to Impa about these sorts of things?
He waited a few minutes to respond, and Zelda feared she had scared him into silence.
I don't. It's been a year and I feel like I'm no closer to the end.
Because of you the number of Guardians has tripled! It's honestly quite amazing. But I can't act like I'm too surprised.
Again there was a break in communication, but not as long as the first.
You wanna see something cool?
Yes
Another few minutes and a picture loaded. It overlooked a valley covered in snow, lit by the moon. It looked peaceful, but lonely.
That's beautiful. You should take more pictures, that way you can share them when you come back.
Pictures can't really do it justice.
Maybe you'll need to take me on a tour then.
She yawned and realized she was close enough to tired to try and sleep again. Still, she hadn't spoken with Link in a year, and didn't want to stop even if it was just through a screen.
Once Ganon is defeated.
Right. Once Ganon was defeated.
Right, that's when we'll get free time again.
I have to go, talk later.
Is everything alright?
When there wasn't a reply, Zelda became worried. She refrained from sending additional messages, but a good ten minutes later she got the response:
Some stray keese. I should stay vigilant. I'm alright. It was good talking to you.
Stay safe, I keep you in my prayers. Good night.
Good night.
She exhaled and slouched into the chair. He had to be vigilant to fight keese this late at night? Zelda frowned. She had to work harder in order to not feel like she was doing less.