Dorephan, Sidon, Muzu and the council listen carefully to his plan, if he can use the word to describe such a loose collection of vague goals. Consult Robbie, free the Beasts, recover the sealing sword - and then, somehow, defeat Ganon. The King declares it a sound idea, which the Zora will support in any way they can; Link has only to ask, and it will be done. Link's keenly aware of what a challenge still lies ahead, but he feels more positive than he has at any point since waking. Less than a month into this insane quest and he's broken one of the divine beasts free of the Malice. He has the vaguest semblance of a plan, and allies who will help him achieve it. Things are looking up.
Sidon is needed to head up efforts to repair the damage Vah Ruta caused, and fight the Lizalfos back to the Goponga wetland again. Link also suspects he wants to go speak to Mipha while that's still a possibility, and can't really begrudge him that. Sidon does promise to send his "very best guard" in his stead, to see Link all the way up to the northern edge of lake Akkala. This turns out to be Gaddison, who's waiting outside the inn as he returns for his belongings. She waves and grins widely when she sees him.
"Link! It's so great you're back. The Big Bad Bazz Brigade wasn't the same without you. We're going to miss you while you're off saving the world again," she teases.
"I'm sure there's enough pig demon to go around for everyone," Link grins back. "I wouldn't deprive you of an opportunity to hit something that big with your spear."
They swim beneath the plaza and under the waterfall, through large, echoing caverns to a dead end. Gaddison tells him to climb onto her back and wrap his arms tight around her shoulders. "You ready? Deep breath, then exhale and hold, we'll be through before you know it!" she instructs.
Link complies, and they dive into the deep, chill water. He lets himself be pulled swiftly through narrow twisting tunnels lit faintly by bioluminescent algae, and fights the increasingly urgent order from his lungs to inhale. They break the surface on the north side of the cliffs which shield the domain, where Link draws a huge, shuddering breath. The magic of the armor held, but the swim was nerve-wracking. He vows never to take that particular shortcut again if he can help it.
From there, the journey is easier. Gaddison lets him ride on her back, a gentle breeze ruffling his hair as they make their way downriver through the Ukuku Plains. Birds trill in the trees, which are still largely green - there's just a hint of the autumnal colours for which Akkala is famous. Around midday they're about halfway across Lake Akkala when Link spots a familiar figure on the shore and instructs Gaddison to pull over.
"Hey Bolson!" Link calls, waving to get the attention of the men lounging around their campfire as he wades ashore.
"Hey yourself, hot stuff!" Bolson calls back, eyes roving over Link's tight-fitting Zora armour. "Who's your friend? Fabulous scale colour, darling, I love it."
"This is Gaddison," Link says. "Gaddison, this is Bolson, Karson and Hudson. They're from Hateno and they're building a new settlement here in Akkala." Gaddison bows with a dramatic Zora fin-sweep, which makes Bolson squeal delightedly.
"We are indeed! This is the place," Bolson gestures towards a large rock promontory jutting out into the lake a little further up the shore. "Right over there is the future site of Tarrey Town. Hmm, did you say Gaddison?"
"That's right," Gaddison confirms, looking a little puzzled.
"Oh, well this is just perfect!" exclaims Bolson. "You see, my associates and I have a rather unique company tradition," he says.
"We only hire people whose names end in -son," Karson elaborates.
"And we need more pairs of hands," Hudson finishes.
"Would I be right in assuming you're a guard?" Bolson asks, eyeing Gaddison's spear. "Would you be interested in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?"
"You're really building a new town?" she asks. "I haven't heard of anything like that since the Calamity." She falls quiet a moment, lost in thought. "I'd have to think about it. I can't just drop my post in the Domain all of a sudden, I'd need to talk to Prince Sidon first."
"Of course dear," Bolson reassures her. "You make whatever arrangements you need to, and get back to us. You know where we are!"
A thought occurs to Link. "Hold on. How did you all get here before me?" he asks.
"By boat," Hudson replies.
"Boat?" Link repeats weakly. "There's a boat to Akkala from Hateno? Why did no one tell me?"
"You never asked, darling." Bolson replies breezily.
Link groans into his hands, remembering his extremely wet ride through the marsh. "I'm such an idiot," he moans.
Karson slaps him on the back. "Don't need smarts when you look like that, though, right?" he laughs.
"Well I'm glad you came the way you did. We'd never have got your help with Vah Ruta in time otherwise," Gaddison points out.
The others perk up at this. "Oooh. Story time!" Bolson insists. Link squirms a little but starts to tell them about his trip to the Domain, with Gaddison interjecting regularly to make everything sound much more dramatic and heroic. They're an appreciative audience, gasping and cheering at all the right bits. Under his embarrassment Link is also buoyed by their admiration. He might feel like he's stumbled his way to victory though sheer luck, but Bolson and his crew clearly believe in him.
"I just knew you were the hero type," Bolson gushes when they finish recounting the tale. "You ooze courage."
"Are you going to take the job?" he asks Gaddison as he changes back into his travelling gear on the north lake shore, glad to finally be wearing something less restrictive.
"I might," she replies thoughtfully. "It would be nice to do something new for a while." Then she wishes him luck and disappears below the surface to head home. Link gets his bearings, and starts his trek to the nearest stable, where with any luck, his horse will be waiting for him.
Compared to the Duelling Peaks and Wetlands stables, which are minor settlements in their own right, Ridgeview stable is small and homely. There's a single open-plan yurt to share between guests and owners, and a sheltered area for the horses near a small windswept vegetable garden overlooking Malin bay. His shaggy mare is among them, looking just as unimpressed as ever.
The only other guests that night are a pair of truffle hunters. Proprietors and guests eat together - a large hotpot and an array of vegetable sides. After dinner the owners' daughter plays the lute for everyone, smiling shyly at Link throughout the performance. He lets himself soak in the music and the attention as he lounges on the large floor cushions, sated and comfortable. Thoughts about the situation with Mipha (and Zelda) try to nag at him, but he pushes them away.
He leaves at dawn, and from the ridge leading down into central Akkala the view of the sunrise is incredible. The rays peek over the cliffs first, sending fingers of light racing out across the wide grass plains and painting the leaves of the trees in delicate gold. He goads his horse into a gallop down the wide, gentle slopes, her mane and tail streaming out behind her as she eats up the distance.
Around midday he runs into another traveller stopped for lunch at the roadside where the two main routes through Akkala meet. The young man is clad in Sheikah garb, stirring a pot of rice and vegetables. When he meets Link's gaze his eyes are a blue that suggests Hylian blood somewhere in his lineage. He glances at Link's bow, tucked along his horse's flank.
"You don't see many Hylians carrying Sheikah gear," he observes. His tone is lightly curious, but Link knows there's a more pointed question in the statement. The Sheikah were mistrusted even before the Calamity - there's a reason they live separately, tucked high in the mountains. He can't imagine the situation has improved much since their technology was hijacked by Calamity Ganon to destroy the country. What he's really asking is whether Link is an ally.
"It was a gift, from a friend in Kakariko," Link replies to put him at ease, still seated in the saddle.
"Would you like to join me for a bite to eat?" the man asks, gesturing to the bare grass on the other side of his campfire.
Link slides off his horse and sits, gratefully accepting a bowl. "I'm Link. Nice to meet you."
"Granté," the man replies, and shakes Link's offered hand. "Likewise."
As Link eats, he ponders the itching feeling of familiarity the man is causing him. Something in the tilt of his head; the sweeping gestures of his hands as he speaks. "You aren't related to Doctor Robbie, are you?" he asks.
The man's pale eyebrows rise to his hairline. "I'm his son. Do you know my father? I don't recall meeting you, but I've been away travelling for two years."
His son? That seems... so unlikely. Link hedges with his answer, unsure how much to divulge to this stranger. "... We go a long way back, you could say. Were you sightseeing?"
"I was studying, with armor masters from all the regions," Granté says proudly. "I hope to be a researcher specialising in armor techniques, like my mother. What do you do?"
Link's about to say he's a soldier when he remembers there aren't any soldiers any more. "I'm... an adventurer, I suppose."
"That must be an interesting life. What brings you to Akkala?" Granté asks.
"I'm on my way to see your father, actually," Link replies. "I'm in need of his expertise with ancient technology."
"Really? I'm heading home myself. We can go together, if you like."
It's nice to have someone else along for once, for conversation if nothing else. But Granté is also familiar with the area, taking them on paths Link wouldn't have known about, and helpful in setting up camp, and appreciative of Link's cooking even as limited by ingredients as it is. Plus, he holds his own with a bow when they're attacked by mounted bokoblins halfway across the East Akkala Plains. As they laugh and pant from their attempts at rounding up the feral horses to remove their crude bridles, Link decides he could consider Granté a friend. The first new friend in his new life, assuming that Sidon is a carry-over.
Snatches of memory come to him occasionally as their horses plod along side by side. Of riding behind a white horse in grim silence, choking down feelings of frustration and resentment. Of the Princess yelling at him to stay away, leave her alone, get a mind of his own. Of her sneering at him, asking if he can hear the voice in the sword. He has no idea what his past self did to piss her off so badly.
Robbie is peering at a whirring, beeping contraption through a pair of ridiculous goggles as they enter the lab. He remains obliviously absorbed in his work until Granté coughs to get his attention.
"Granté, you're back! ... Is that Link with you? Ha! Purah owes me a hundred rupees. Let's have a look at you then, shirt off!"
"Pardon?" Link responds dumbly. Whatever welcome he was expecting, this wasn't it.
"I want to see how good of a job the shrine did. Given the state you were in that day, it's amazing it healed you at all," Robbie explains.
"I assumed it must have been bad, if it took a hundred years to fix..."
"What? Oh, no - that was just because the shrine was running on such low power. It was designed to draw energy from the ancient Sheikah network, you see - but that wasn't running until just recently. I assume you're the one who restored it? We spliced the slate in as a temporary power source, which was a bit like cooking a stew with a candle. Effective, but slow."
"... Right." That explains why the slate had been in such a poor state to begin with, Link supposes. And possibly why the shrine had been so dark. His experience with Purah has taught him it's easier to submit and save the effort of arguing, so he lifts his shirt to show Robbie the scars on his torso and turns around when instructed. A short round of poking and close examination later, Robbie leans back and pushes the goggles onto the top of his head.
"A superb job given the circumstances," he declares. "Well! Glad to have you back, better late than never as they say. Oh, where are my manners? This is my wife, Jerrin. She's a researcher of ancient technology too. I see you've already met my son Granté. I think this is as good a time as any for a tea break, and you can fill me in."
"So you've already freed Vah Ruta from the Calamity. And you're going to attempt the same for the other Beasts," Robbie summarises once Link finishes describing events thus far.
"That's right. I was hoping you'd have some suggestions. I got very lucky with Ruta. I doubt I'll get that lucky again."
"Especially not now Ganon is likely aware you're back in action," Robbie agrees. "He'll have felt the connection to Ruta sever. We'll need to be cleverer next time." Link feels a tingle of warmth in his chest at Robbie's use of "we".
"Perhaps we could modify the slate to jam his communication with the Beasts while you're within them," Jerrin suggests. "We believe the Guardians are semi-autonomous, but it's likely Ganon can take direct control of the Divine Beasts if he feels it necessary. Detecting you inside one would certainly draw his focus."
"An excellent idea, dearest. If only we could confer with Purah," Robbie sighs. "This would be right up her street."
"It's a shame the slate can only transport one person at a time," Link says. "Otherwise I could go get her for you." All three Sheikah turn to focus intently on him at that.
"Explain that sentence please," Robbie demands at the same time Jerrin asks "What do you mean by 'transport'?"
"I mean the way you can use it to jump to Sheikah shrines and towers you've visited before," Link explains. "I tried using it while I was on my horse but I ended up on the tower alone."
That prompts an intense flurry of questioning and investigation of the slate. Apparently the teleport function of the slate is a new development, "likely enabled by the Sheikah network's activation," according to Robbie. That sounds plausible to Link. His limited testing of the slate certainly indicates that you need to have activated a region's tower first in order to go to a shrine there.
"I think we should test your theory about it only taking one person," Jerrin proposes. "Your horse wouldn't have been touching the slate directly. Perhaps another person holding the slate at the same time would also be transported."
A plan is quickly formed: While Robbie and Jerrin start working on ideas for the Beasts, Link and Granté will ride out to activate the Akkala tower and test whether two people can use the slate at once. If so, Link will go collect Purah and bring her back. If not, Granté will take the slate to her and she will return alone while he travels back the long way. He can stop off at Kakariko to bring Impa up to speed that way too, as Robbie points out.
Jerrin suggests they take the west road to the citadel, going via the shadow pass. That will take them past Ordorac, which in Link's day had been an insignificant place housing less than a hundred quarry workers, lumberjacks and their families. It's now the largest town in Akkala, and Granté assures him it's also the best place to buy a horse. The stables outside its walls are stocked from the semi-wild herds of the rolling hills, descendants of the military horses housed in the encampment below the citadel.
Link has grown somewhat attached to his bad-tempered rescue, but can't deny a smoother-gaited mount would make long journeys a lot easier, and he's going to need one made of much sterner stuff for chasing down monsters.
The paddock holds a dozen horses, all of which look in excellent health. Sabin, the horse master, looks over at Link, who's leaning on the fence with his forearms. "Any of them take your fancy?" he asks.
"Let me try something," Link says. He bangs his sword on his shield as loudly as he can. Most of the horses scatter, whinnying in panic, to the far end of the paddock. One, a sleek bay palfrey with a white blaze and socks, wheels round looking for the source of the noise. She side-eyes Link, ears back and nostrils flared in annoyance, but holds her ground.
"That one," he indicates to Sabin, who brings her over and saddles her. Link strokes her face and she whickers gently. Always take the time to soothe your mount, his memory offers up. He swings up into the saddle and nudges her into a walk, then an amble, a canter, and a gallop. She responds to his every gesture like a dream.
Sabin nods in approval. "We've got a jump course set up, if you want to take her round," he says. Link and the mare complete the course with ease, well under the average time, and he knows he's found the one. She's everything he could ever want in a horse; sweet-natured, sure-footed and fearless. "What you gonna call her?" Sabin asks.
He hadn't thought about that yet, but the answer is already there as he opens his mouth to reply. Epona butts her head into his chest affectionately, and as he strokes her velvety ears it feels like coming home, somehow.