She looked out over an endless sea of darkness. The surface of the sea was smooth as glass, a sleek, uniform black so deep that her eyes couldn't properly comprehend it. Whatever was contained in its depths, she did not know, as the light was simply sucked in. On further inspection, she noticed that she was the one giving off light, and that everything that was illuminated was because of her.

The rest of the dream she found herself in was equally as strange. Great shells lined the walls, stone carvings in a language she didn't know. Strange, blackened moss and vines grew in places, ripe with thorns and nothing else. And then there were the ghosts.

Little black wisps floated through the air, hundreds of them. Their eyes were white, and their heads were crowned with horns, different for each one.

Four of them approached her. They spoke, one after the other, in soft whispery 'voices' that had no sound.

[Curiosity]

[Light, Pretty!]

[Playtime?]

[Name?]

She giggled. What strange and inquisitive spirits. They almost seemed like children.

"My name is Zelda. What are your names?"

[Sibling.]

[Sibling!]

[Sibling is Sibling.]

[Sibling is also Sibling.]

Zelda smiled.

"I am pleased to meet you, Sibling, Sibling, Sibling, and Sibling. You wished to play?" asked Zelda. This dream was strange, but it didn't seem frightening.

The Siblings all nodded in excitement, then paused.

[Question: Play?]
Zelda paused as well.

"You...don't know how to play?"

The Siblings all shook their heads. Zelda wondered how they even knew the word, but chalked that up to the strangeness of the dream.

"Alright. How about we play Hide and Seek? I'll explain the rules…"

As Zelda and the Siblings began to play games together, Zelda failed to notice that she was being watched. From the surface of the lake, eight massive white eyes stared at the Hylian as she taught the Void Vessels how to play.

. . .

Zelda was awoken by the sound of cooking.

After her bath and meal, the two of them had ridden on Link's Horse (who looked strangely similar to her own steed from before the Calamity, even down to the bridle and saddle) several hours across Central Hyrule. They'd reached the Wetlands Stable as night fell, and Link had paid for two beds.

Speaking of Link, where was he?

Zelda arose from the stable bed and looked around. Link wasn't inside of the stable tent, he must be outside. A few of the stable workers were still asleep, the rest must have awoken with the sun like Link.

She stepped outside while yawning. Link was cooking, as usual, and there were two small children sitting nearby on stumps.

Zelda sat down by Link's wok, and smiled at him as he passed her a bowlful. The children looked at her with big eyes before they scampered off, someone calling for them in the distance.

"Thank you Link."

Link smiled back and flicked his fingers in a pattern that she had become long familiar with.

{You're welcome.}

They ate in silence, not that Link was ever vocal beyond the occasional grunt or warcry. The air was filled with the sounds of the stablehands starting their days. After she was done, Zelda sighed in contentment, then turned to her stalwart bodyguard.

"Alright then, Link. I think it's high time we begin planning for the future. Do you have a current map?"

Link nodded, and unhooked his Sheikah Slate from his hip. Zelda tried not to blush as he sat next to her, his leg touching hers.

Any thoughts of their closeness vanished as the Sheikah Slate powered on, and Zelda caught a glance of the map.

"So...empty."

It was hard not to fall to despair upon seeing the map. Link handed the Slate to her, and she began looking around.

So many cities and villages were just gone. Central Hyrule in particular was almost completely abandoned, what had once been the breadbasket and center of civilization for Hyrule turned into wild country. Only the nomadic horse tribes who owned the stables still resided in the area.

The situation was better the further she moved out from Central Hyrule, though. The Zora, Rito, Gorons, and Gerudo still had their major cities intact, and she recognized many of the smaller villages. Kakariko still stood, as did Hateno Village, which made her smile. She'd always liked Hateno Village, the few times she'd visited Link's hometown.

There were also a few new settlements, though one in particular caught her eye.

"Link, what is this...Tarrey Town? That must be new."

Zelda turned to see Link begin speaking, his hands quickly flashing through Sheikah Sign Language.

{Very new. I helped build it. Mostly just found residents for them. Small town, but it's grown quickly. We can stop there if you want.}

Zelda hummed and zoomed in on Zora's Domain.

"Hmmm."

Where did she want to go first?

"I think...that we should ride for Kakariko Village first. We should reach it at midday." Zelda traced her finger to Kakariko Village. "From there, whomever is leading the village can send out messengers to all of the other surviving settlements to give them the good news, and inform them of my freedom. We can spend a few days there as well, to rest and plan more in depth. If all goes well, after we leave Kakariko, we'll head for Zora's Domain. We can spend the night here again at the stable on the first leg of the return, then at Inogo Bridge, then we'll reach the Domain itself. From there we can have a look over Vah Ruta."

Zelda paused, then nodded to herself.

"The ability to use the Divine Beasts in the reconstruction efforts will be invaluable. Vah Medoh in particular will have a major role in transporting large volumes of goods across the kingdom. But I am getting ahead of myself."

Zelda handed Link back his Sheikah Slate, then sat back to think.

"I'll need a horse and some riding clothes. Do you have enough rupees to pay for those, Link?"

{Don't need to. I already have them.} Link signed. Zelda blinked twice.

"You have women's riding clothes in my size?"

Zelda stared at Link, who had developed a slight red tinge to his cheeks. Wordlessly, he activated the Sheikah Slate, and flicked through the menus to the dimensional storage menu. Blue lines flowed out of the device and coalesced in mid-air. When Zelda caught them as they fell, she saw that they were indeed women's riding clothes. Good quality Hylian sheep's wool, with a dark blue cloak, red shirt, and thick cream colored trousers.

Zelda looked at Link, who was still blushing slightly, and asked "Is there a particular reason you're carrying around women's clothing in the Sheikah slate?"

Link looked at her and sighed. His eyes shifted to the side, then flicked back to her.

{They didn't have men's clothing in my size.}

Zelda considered that, then shrugged. It honestly wasn't any business of hers how Link dressed, and he was on the small side. It sounded plausible that he would have some women's clothing that he wore, especially now that Hyrule had so many fewer tailors.

And if there was something more to Link's reasoning...well, again. It wasn't any of her business.

"Alright. While I find somewhere to change into these, why don't you get my horse? Or your horse, if we're switching, as I couldn't help but notice that the horse we were riding looks remarkably similar to my old steed, Aryll."

{We can switch, Princess. I have another horse stabled here.}

Zelda nodded primly and turned on her heel. They had a long day of riding ahead of them. The sooner they started, the sooner they would reach Kakariko Village.

. . .

Hornet awoke to a great cacophony of noise, and hissed in displeasure. She hated being woken up early.

As she extricated herself from the silken hammock she had slept in, Hornet looked around the room. Elderbug had given Hornet and Hollow an empty house in Dirtmouth to stay in for however long they wanted to, and while Hornet was grateful, it didn't change the fact that the home was...somewhat dilapidated. She'd made her own sleeping arrangements after seeing the mildewed bed, and she'd done the same for Hollow.

She didn't see Hollow though, his hammock was empty. Perhaps he was outside investigating the loud noises.

After a few moments to make sure that her cloak was in order and that all of her possessions and weapons were in their proper places, Hornet opened the door of the small house, and winced in the harsh glow of the burning orb.

Once her eyes adjusted, Hornet nearly dropped her needle in shock at seeing Dirtmouth. Before she had gone to sleep, Dirtmouth had been a ghost town, with more corpses than living bugs.

Now though, the streets were practically full to bursting.

Hornet saw bugs of all shapes and sizes. Pillbugs, stickbugs, and mosskin. Bees, ants, and a huge variety of beetles. Hornet even saw a few spiders lurking in the shadows. Upon seeing her, the spiders began whispering among themselves.

Hornet took it all in, mind whirling. Where had these bugs all come from? Why were they here? Had someone brought them to Dirtmouth?

"Ahaha! Thank you, kind sir! The foraging party is no doubt in good claws!"

She knew that voice. It couldn't be. She had been sure that he was dead.

Hornet dashed through the crowd, ignoring their protestations. It didn't take her long at all to see her quarry.

His armour was red now, rusted and dented with the passage of time, but it was undeniably him.

"Ogrim?!"

The old dung beetle turned, then jumped when he saw who had spoken.

"My goodness. Princess Hornet! You are alive!"

The next thing Hornet knew, she was being swept up in the overenthusiastic dung beetle's grasp, and she gagged slightly from the scent. She'd very seldom delved into the Royal Waterways. It made sense now that she'd never been able to find him.

"Ogrim, put me down, I'm not a child anymore!"

"Haha! Indeed not! You've grown up quite well, your highness! Why, I can remember when you were a tiny little spiderling, strutting around the palace trying to stab all the nobles in the back! Adorable!"

Hornet hissed in anger and embarrassment.

"If you don't put me down right now you're going to be stabbed in the front, Ogrim!"

"Aha...haha...ha...hmm. Ha. Ah. Yes, your highness."

Off to the side of the street, Hollow watched as Hornet gave the old knight a dressing down with...well, they supposed this feeling was amusement. They weren't used to being allowed to name their feelings, or even being able to acknowledge that they had feelings at all.

Things were very different now. Sibling Hornet had told them that they were allowed to not be hollow anymore, now that hated enemy was gone. But if Hollow wasn't hollow, then...what were they?

Hollow didn't know.

But...Hollow did want to find out.

Author's Note:

I spent entirely too long over the past few days doing travel time calculations for this fic (by which I mean, I hopped into BotW and rode my horse around a lot). Here are some things that I found out.

First of all, it takes 5 hours of in-game time to reach the Wetlands Stable from the Sacred Ground Ruins, and 6 hours to reach Kakariko Village from the Wetlands Stables. This is on horseback, following the roads, and traveling at a constant trot (horse speed 2). Now, using this wonderful website ( #/map/z2,0,8) which can calculate exact travel distances in-game, we get the distance, which we run through the distance calcs, and we find that Wetlands stable to Kakariko village is about 60 miles by road. What this means is that horses in BotW travel significantly farther and faster than Earth horses do.

Now, I could just dial down the time dilation factor, but that gives me a whole other set of issues, so I'm just handwaving this away. Hyrule has a horse god and all sorts of magic, alright. Hylian horses are magical organisms that somehow have several times the endurance of Earth horses and can travel at a constant 10 mph (16 kph) trot for up to 8 hours at a time without seriously straining themselves. They can travel at a constant 20 mph (32 kph) canter for up to 8 hours, but at the end of that they'll be nearly dead. And they can gallop for short distances at speeds of 40-50 mph (64-80 kph).

Rito can travel at far faster speeds though. I did some reading on bird flight speeds, and decided that Rito can hold a 20 mph flightspeed for long periods comfortably, 40 mph for long periods in dire need, and that they can pull off 80 mph bursts of horizontal speed for short amounts of time. Or, in other words, Rito have twice the speed of a horse, and even more than twice the range, because they can catch thermals and updrafts that allow them to rest their wings.