The duo found themselves in the heart of Kakariko. Zelda seemed to admire the livelihood of the entire village much more now considering she was not bogged down by negative thoughts and wishes she thought could not be fulfilled, last time she did not take time to enjoy the village, but now she felt very joyous to be back in the settlement. It seemed smaller than it used to be, the village used to extend out onto the hills outside of it, however she guessed that those homes had been destroyed or torn down from either Ganon or the Sheikah's own fear of safety. Her first wish was to visit Impa yet again, and properly converse this time. She led the way up the stairs towards the hut which belonged to her old friend.
She knocked lightly on the door as Link stood beside her. She heard shuffling inside before the door was opened by Impa's granddaughter, Paya. "Master Link.. Princess Zelda.. it is good to see you both so soon.." Her shy demeanour radiated off of her so casually, it seemed as though she was not only shy because of her obvious feelings for Link. "It's our pleasure, may we come in?" The Sheikah woman nodded softly before stepping out of the way, allowing them inside. Zelda gave her a soft smile which seemed to reassure Paya in some sense. "I'll be up in my room if I'm needed." Zelda gave a nod before watching Paya head for the stairs. The two stepped forward and towards Impa, her eyes were closed but they opened soon after.
"You two seem much happier, is there a reason for that?" Impa seemed to have a knowing smile as she gazed at the two. "I believe that we have just become accustomed to the luxuries of freedom." Zelda lied, she was unsure of why she was keeping their relationship from Impa, but she felt as though they should keep it on the down low for now. "Or the luxury of each other?" Zelda blushed before looking away, puzzled as to how Impa had figured it all out. "Your father told me about your relationship a century ago, I reckoned it was simply a matter of time before you two came together again." Zelda glanced at Link, who was staring at the ground and smiling shyly. She reckoned the same giddy grin was painted all over her own face. "Perhaps that may have some reason for it.." She admitted before looking up at Impa again.
"How have you been over all these years?" Impa frowned slightly, as though she hadn't expected such a question. "It's been eventful, dear. During the beginning, the village was attacked many times by Guardians and Yiga. We struggled to keep the village intact most of the time, but we pushed through. I found a husband in my youth and we bore children. My daughter then went on to give birth to Paya." She noticed Impa look down, seemingly overcome with a wave of sadness. "We were attacked by surprise.. the Yiga stormed the village and waged a small war with our army. We significantly reduced the clan, however my family was targeted. They killed my husband and my two daughters. Me and Paya managed to survive by hiding in a cabinet during the attack.. that was about thirty years ago now.." Zelda frowned softly, so much had happened whilst she was gone, her friend had gone through so much without her, she had a life which Zelda had no idea about.
"Impa, I'm so sorry." She stepped forward and hugged her dear friend. "Oh please, there is no need to apologise. It's all in the past." Zelda nodded softly and pulled away from the old Sheikah woman and gave her a pitiful glance. "Zelda, I assure you that it is all fine now. Paya helped me get through it as well as my people, besides, many of them have gone through much worse. Us Sheikah are strong, I will be okay, Zelda." With a defeated sigh, Zelda nodded and clasped her hands together. "I'm proud of you, Zelda." The girl looked up curiously. "We all are." Zelda felt somewhat comforted by that, a deep part of her felt as though she had let the kingdom down, so hearing that the people were glad of her assistance went a long way. "Thank you, Impa, that's kind of you."
Eventually, the dim conversation seemed to give way to lighter topics as Link listened to Zelda and Impa talking about memories they shared in the past, he rather enjoyed learning more about Zelda, he hadn't had the chance to learn much about her before the Calamity so it was refreshing to hear stories of times long ago. Night fell a few hours later when they left the settlement, Zelda seemed rather relaxed as they left the building. "Where to now?" He asked quietly as they descended the steps. "I'm not sure, I'm not that tired at the moment, though I'm rather hungry." He smiled softly as he glanced at her. "Then why don't I make something?" He saw a smile creep onto her face before she silently nodded. "I would appreciate that." She took hold of his hand as they made their way over towards the only cooking pot which the town allowed everyone to use. Zelda seated herself on the log next to the fire as Link made his way over to grab a pot full of water.
He screwed the lid on tightly before heaving it up onto his shoulder, from there he made his way off the small wooden platform and back over to the pot. "Could you help me with this?" He glanced at Zelda who nodded quickly before standing up. "Just hold the top of it and make sure it hangs over the edge of the pot." He instructed before watching her place her hands on the top of the pot. "Alright, I'm ready." He placed his hands under the pot and carefully lifted it up. "Okay, can you screw the lid off?" She hummed in response before turning the lid and discarding it gently on the ground. "Should I tell you when it's filled?" He continued to raise the pot. "I'd appreciate that." He responded, a few seconds passed before Zelda spoke. "That's enough." Link lowered the bottom of the pot back down onto the ground before grabbing the lid and placing it on the top again.
"Thank you." He said softly before bringing the pot back to where it was positioned. He made his way back over to the cooking pot before glancing at the shop. "I'll see what ingredients I can get." He explained before making his way into the shop. He approached the front door and slid it open before stepping inside. The room smelt rather nice with the smell of carrots and freshly made butter, however the stench of bokoblin guts lingered in the air, a rather repulsive smell it was. "You're cutting it close boy, I was just about ready to close up." Link felt somewhat guilty for arriving at such a late hour, but Trissa didn't seem to mind that much.
"Here to rob me of my stock again?" She laughed softly as he shook his head. "I'm only here to buy a few items, not everything this time." She gave him a nod and allowed him to look around. "You imported some things I see." He commented, she approached him and looked at her various items. "More merchants have risen and travelled through here since the Calamity was vanquished, I made my husband, Steen, go fetch some products." Link smiled at that, though they were both old in age, they were still determined to produce for the village by any means necessary. "In that case I shall buy two bundles of hylian rice and two eggs, as well as two bundles of cane sugar." She raised an eyebrow. "Cooking for two now, eh?" He cleared his throat before nodding. "Who's the lucky girl?" Link could feel a heat in his cheeks as the conversation continued. "Her name is Zelda." He was unsure if Trissa knew of the Princess, most of the Kingdom either didn't know about Zelda, or assumed she was deceased. "Ah, I figured you and the Princess would get together.." Her tone was soft, as though she was thinking for a moment. "Anyways, that will amount to 27 rupees." Link pulled out his pouch and looked inside before removing a red rupee, a blue rupee as well as two green rupees. "There you go." He responded before handing her the shining gemstones. "I'll get you a bag." She walked over to the cabinets at the back of the store before pulling one shelf open and emerging with a large sheet of fabric. She opened it up before placing the items inside and handing it over to Link. "Thank you, Trissa. Take care." He called out as he left the store.
He walked back with the bag in his hand, Zelda was warming herself up against the fire, the night was rather cold after all. "What have you got in there?" She looked over at him as he approached her. He seated himself down next to her on the log before opening the bag and allowing her to look inside. "I never was much of a chef.. but hylian rice suggests that you will be making some sort of dish involving rice." He smiled at her words, it was rather obvious that rice would involve rice, but at least she was trying to appear more wise than she was. "Fried eggs and rice to be exact." He quipped before taking out the bundles of rice and placing them in the pot along. He chopped up the cane sugar before sprinkling it all around the pot. He allowed the two ingredients to simmer before taking the first egg and cracking it against the side of the pot, he then spilled the contents into the pot carefully before repeating that process with the second egg.
"How did you learn all of this?" He glanced at her before focusing on the pot once more. "My father first introduced me to cooking, in youth I would read multiple cook books. Since father was busy with being a knight, it was left up to me to organise meals until I became a knight, from there Saria took over." Zelda nodded softly, Link felt a twinge of sadness over the deaths of his family, up until recently he hadn't even been aware of their existence, it was hard to accept that they were truly gone at the moment as it felt as though he had only just experienced all those memories. Zelda appeared to sense his distress as he took a hold of his hand. "They were good people, Link." He nodded silently before changing the subject. "So, the sword spoke to you?" He inquired, taking note of her words from earlier where she stated she could no longer hear it.
He watched her nod, the memory seemed to be painful. "It first spoke to me when you fell in battle, it informed me that you could be saved still which was when the idea struck me to take you to the Shrine of Resurrection. Then it commanded me to return it to the forest so that it could wait for your return and regenerate after becoming rusted and battered. I heard it occasionally over the years, but its voice became more frequent after you reclaimed it, it told me of your struggles as well as your victories, but recently the voice has faded, whether that is a result of my powers fading or the voice disappearing considering its purpose is fulfilled." Link frowned momentarily, finding it odd that her powers could have dwindled. "How strong are your powers currently?" Zelda shook her head before looking down. "They have evaded me completely, though considering they will not be of use anymore, I can deal with that." Link nodded slowly, perhaps considering they had both fulfilled their purposes, the goddess was saving the voice and her powers for the next Princess and Hero which would face evil.
"This whole ordeal, its just going to continue over and over, isn't it?" Zelda looked up at him before she shrugged. "I suppose so. Supposedly there is a curse which keeps Ganon alive, allows him to replenish his power. I don't know if he will ever be truly stopped though, this version we faced, it is not a physical form, therefore it cannot be killed." Link tilted his head, he wasn't that aware of the history of Hyrule as much as Zelda seemed to be. "Ganon seems to stem from a Gerudo King of long ago, most of his history has been lost to time, but I believe I read somewhere that his name was Ganondorf Dragmire. He must have figured out to secret to immortality, though I would not trade evading death for becoming a mindless being, bent on destruction." Link nodded at her knowledge, there was so much they would never know, it saddened him that their experience would likely be relived over and over for all of time, but at least they had succeeded in keeping evil at bay for now.
"I think the food is ready now.." He hummed lightly before grabbing two leaves from the tree above to serve as plates. He formed two small bowls using the shrubbery before placing rice into each one, he then placed one egg in each and handed Zelda one of the bowls. "Hopefully this doesn't kill me.." She teased, Link rolled his eyes before beginning to eat, he looked forward to a week of relaxation such as this.