"You can see me?" yelled an oversized Korok.

Hestu's enormous frame trembled in anticipation. After the children took his seeds and those rotten, smelly monsters stole his maracas, Hestu had thought that his day could not possibly get worse. What had started as a practical joke turned into a grade A poopy-fest! This was the longest he'd been away from the Lost Woods in ages.

But! This cute Hylian boy could see him! And that fact made the bark of Hestu's back stand just a bit taller. Well, that was when he wasn't bending down to talk to the little guy.

"You'll help Hestu? But you're so small, shoko," Hestu said worriedly. After all, Hestu was a big boy now, and even he didn't want to fight the red, maraca-stealing piggies.

Again, the boy didn't speak. Instead, he smiled and placed a hand on the green wood of Hestu's chest. Hestu couldn't remember the last time he'd felt the touch of a Hylian. It was warm, like the Korok children he was so used to, but softer than their wooden shells. Hestu could feel the calluses that made up the boy's hands, and he leaned into the touch to see—

Oh. Blondie boy wasn't a baby like Hestu thought. Those hands were over a century old. Hestu felt the palm leave his chest and watched as the boy unsheathed a sword. He seemed to know what he was doing. Perhaps this wasn't the first time he's recovered a pair of magical maracas for someone?

No Hestu, he laughed to himself. Don't be silly. The other maracas probably weren't magical.

…

On some days the grown ups in Kakariko Village got really serious. Cottla could tell it was one of those days when her Papa paced around the kitchen and her big sister Koko told her to shush. Cottla hated the quiet days. When she was younger, she would spend the time playing hide and seek and searching for her mother in the woods around the village. She never found anything, and later learned from her father that Mama wouldn't ever be back, but Cottla still preferred the soft sounds of the forest to the stern, Seikah silence in town.

This serious day was different from the others. Even Big Sis didn't seem to know what was going on with the adults. Cottla peered out a window of her small house to oversee the village. There were many people about but no familiar whispers of Yiga, and she thought the grown ups looked almost excited. That was weird. Grown ups never got excited. Cottla just had to know what could have caused this.

Tiptoeing her way to the door, Cottla felt a hand seize her shoulder.

"Cottla, you know Dad told us to stay inside until he got back from Master Impa's."

"But Sis!" Cottla cried.

Koko must have shared her little sister's curiosity, because she relented.

"Fine. But you have to stay with me, okay? No running off."

Cottla just nodded rapidly and her toes wiggled in excitement. She couldn't believe her luck—Koko always listened to Papa.

The two girls shuffled out the door and descended the front steps.

"If Dad sees us, we were hungry and looking for lunch, okay?" Koko looked toward her sister.

"Mm-hmm," Cottla replied. Koko was very smart. There was no way Papa would see through that excuse!

Cottla grabbed her big sister's hand and took off toward the herd of Sheikah in the town square. Just before they reached the edges of the group, Cottla dove into a bush, and gestured for Koko to do the same. She held her finger up to her mouth—they had to be quiet to stay hidden. Now, it was time to listen.

As if on cue, the double doors to Impa's house squeaked open. Cottla wobbled in the bush to get a better look. Her Papa and his fellow guard Cado stood at the top of the steps leading to Impa's home. In a brief moment, a young woman stepped out of the doorway and whispered something to the guardsmen.

"It's Paya," Koko murmured.

Paya was Master Impa's last living relative—she was her granddaughter. Cottla had faint memories of playing with the older girl years prior, but after Paya grew toward adulthood, she took on the important duty of tending to her aging grandmother. That's what Papa had said, at least. Cottla didn't know much about Paya, but she knew that like herself and Koko, Paya didn't have a mother in her life. Cottla could understand what that was like.

"A-Attention everyone," Paya's nervous voice stopped the chatter in the crowd. "I… I'm sure you are all anxious to know if the rumors are true… if the boy who entered our town yesterday is the Hero of Legend."

The Hero of Legend? Cottla thought. That would explain why the grown ups were acting so strange. Cottla had heard of the princess's knight in school, and regretted that she did not pay better attention in her Sheikah history lessons. Was the supposed hero here in Kakariko?

"Yes," Paya seemed to answer Cottla's silent question. "The Hylian Champion Link has returned."

Suddenly, the crowd of Sheikah grew loud again. Paya flushed, unsure of how to take back control of the masses.

"SILENCE!" boomed Cado. The Sheikah quickly fell back in line.

"The Ch-Champion does not remember much of his life before the Calamity," Paya spoke up again. "Please be supportive, but give him space if he needs it. For now, we ask that you disperse and continue with your day."

"Master Impa's orders," reinforced Dorian. Cottla noted her father spoke in the voice he used when scolding her and Koko.

Without warning, the crowd started to break up, individual Sheikah splitting off and returning to their respective routines. Cottla and Koko realized all too late that the moving mass of people had the consequence of trapping the two in their bush. The sisters held their breath tightly, and Cottla found herself wishing for the camouflage skills of a lizalfos. She didn't want to know what would happen if her father caught them outside of the house.

The sisters remained tense until the last Shiekah left the square, but they thankfully stayed undetected throughout the entire affair. Now with a little more confidence, Koko shifted in the shrubbery to again get a view of the steps.

"Dad and Cado just brought Paya back inside," she whispered to Cottla. "We can get back home if we go now."

"But sis!" Cottla hissed.

She pointed to the stone sculpture of Hylia at the back of the square. It sat in the center of a small pond, surrounded by flowery lily pads and bathed in torchlight. In front of the Goddess statue kneeled a boy in a blue tunic. He had blond hair—definitely not Sheikah. Was he… praying?

"Just be quiet and he won't notice us," Koko said reassuringly.

Now, Cottla had every intention of being quiet. But Koko should have known by now that her little sister was the clumsiest Sheikah in Kakariko. While untangling herself from the bush, Cottla's left foot snagged on a root, and the girl let out a sharp yelp during her tumble to the ground.

The sound of metal rang through the air as the boy leapt to his feet and unsheathed a sword. Cottla's eyes widened and it took all of her power not to cry out in fright. When the blond found the source of the noise, his face shifted rapidly. He had looked so fierce and ready to fight. And now, Cottla thought, he looked almost ashamed. The boy's eyes left hers and his knees returned to the grass. His sword covered once again, he resumed his prayers. The expression he wore made it clear to Cottla that he had lost something, or someone. It was the same face Cottla saw in her father and sister; it was the same face Cottla saw in the mirror.

Cottla was shaken out of her stupor by her sister's arms helping her off the ground. But when the younger girl was back on her feet, she didn't feel ready to go home. She felt the glare of warning from Koko, but swallowed her fear and approached the boy with the sword. What could she offer that would cheer him up?

"Do you… wanna play hide and seek?" she asked.

…

"Okay, okay, fine!" Rola relented. "But you have to be perfectly still, and quiet like a Shiekah!"

Link had been in Kakariko for less than a week, but Rola thought he must have played a hundred games of hide and seek with Dorian's little one. Who knew the Hero was so good with kids? In the recent games Rola would watch, Link was almost exclusively playing as the seeker. When Link would hide previously, Cottla would spend an afternoon scouring the village and coming up dry, only to see Link return from his mystery hiding spot completely soaked and smelling of fish. Rola suspected the boy sent Cottla to tire herself out while he trudged about the rainy Zora's Domain.

This time around, Cottla asked to hide under the counter of Rola's general store, The Curious Quiver. Cottla was lucky that Rola couldn't say no to the girl. With Dorian never leaving the steps in front of Impa's house, Rola figured that his daughters must get especially bored during the day, and she really didn't mind entertaining the cute Cottla.

The bell above the shop door rang out, and Rola looked up to see Link himself walk through.

"Welcome back Link!" Rola greeted him warmly.

She wasn't sure if the Champion was here to seek or shop, but Rola figured she would try to cover for Cottla anyways. Link, like his usual self, smiled and stayed quiet, only approaching the counter once he had gotten his hands on a bundle of fire arrows. He dropped a sack of rupees on the table, already familiar with the store's prices. Nowadays, he was Rola's best customer. She wondered what he could possibly be doing with the amount of arrows he buys, but she didn't mind the extra work. It just meant she was earning more, and thus spending more on feathers from Cado and lumber from Trissa and Steen. Now that she thought about it, Link's hero status might have also extended to the local economy.

Link had turned around in preparation to leave the store when a muffled, girlish giggle emanated from below the counter. Rola truly did her best not to betray Cottla, but she was sure that a smirk made its way onto her face. Link's eyebrow raised slightly, and he began to step silently toward's the counter. The boy was impossibly quiet—it was like he'd been trained by Master Impa herself! There was nothing Rola could do to stop him now.

As soon as he was close enough, Link jumped around the counter and shouted to scare Cottla. The girl shrieked in surprise and delight, and ducked under Link's legs as she ran out of the store. Link merely slapped his palm on the table and shook in laughter. It was the happiest Rola had seen him since his first day in Kakariko. It was also the happiest she'd seen Cottla in a long while, she realized.

The next time he came in to resupply, Rola decided, she would throw in an extra dozen arrows free of charge. Hylia knows the kid deserves it.