It was good to be back, Beedle thought. As a wandering merchant, Beedle wouldn't exactly say he had a home. Nonetheless, Beedle suspected that Hateno Village often felt homely for travelers like him. He would have to catch up with Pruce and Ivee before he set off again. Even though they were technically competitors running the East Wind General Store, Beedle loved talking with other vendors. Plus, it was good practice to know which goods were in high demand in each region of Hyrule.
"Beedle! Good to see you!" greeted Seldon just past the village entrance.
Beedle waved and shouted back, feeling the weight of his pack shift behind him. He could really use a quick rest before trekking further up the hill to the inn. He figured he could chat with the talkative Seldon while he gave his legs a moment. After a moment of relaxation, Beedle saw a flash of blond hair and a vaguely familiar set of blue eyes down the road.
"...Linky?" he asked himself.
"Are you talking about the blond kid with the bright blue tunic?" Seldon asked. "That's the newest resident of Hateno Village! An odd fellow, if you ask me. He bought some clothes from my daughter's store—never said a word. And I heard from Amira that he visits the dye shop and that freaky tech lab at the top of the hill."
"Newest resident?" Beedle questioned. "The last time I saw him I was at Dueling Peaks stable about a month ago. He had come from Central Hyrule."
To that, Seldon raised an eyebrow.
"That is… quite far from here," he admitted. "But he bought that old house off of Bolson before it was set to be demolished."
That was a surprise to Beedle! How was the boy with the tattered clothes able to raise enough rupees to buy a home? Well, Beedle supposed, it mattered little. The kid clearly had funds, and would likely be a great customer.
"Linky!" Beedle called out.
The boy said a few more words to the child he was talking with, and then strode over toward Beedle. Seldon just looked on, amused. As Link approached, Beedle found more surprises in his appearance.
"Is that a Zora longsword on your back? You must get around," Beedle observed.
Link's reply was a sheepish smile.
"I'll tell you what Linky. You remember me, no? I'm a traveling merchant, so if you have any exotic goods like the sword on your back, I'd love to buy them. I can give you rupees, or maybe some of these!"
Beedle reached into his pack and extracted a bundle of arrows which seemed to grab Link's attention. Booyah.
"I pick up stuff from all across Hyrule and I'm always ready to trade," Beedle continued. "I have a feeling we will be great partners."
Beedle beamed. He gave a typical marketing spiel, but he was genuinely excited to see what this Link fellow had to offer. If the boy could go from ripped clothes to homeowner in a month, Beedle wondered what else the kid could pull off.
Link shrugged and grabbed his own pack. After digging around for a moment, he pulled out a glistening white object and held it up to Beedle as if to say how much? It was a scale...a scale of the dragon Naydra.
Beedle's jaw hit the floor.
…
Sayge possessed many nicknames given to him by the residents of Hateno Village. He was once The Mad Scientist, but that moniker quickly fell out of favor after the ancient tech lab was built up the hill. He would love to be called something like The Dye Master, The Color King, or frankly anything that referred to his line of work. But instead, he was currently known as Mr. Toothy. Sayge was not a fan of that.
He wasn't a fool—Sayge knew that he was an oddball who stuck out like a red bokoblin in the green, conventional fields of Hateno. Still, he felt he deserved some modicum of respect from his neighbors for running Hyrule's only dye shop, novel and prestigious enough to draw visitors from as far as Gerudo.
That was why Sayge liked the new guy. This Link bloke never gave Sayge the same stares he was used to from the villagers. Link was quiet, but he paid attention when Sayge explained the ins and outs of the shop and his signature dyeing technique. Sayge doubly liked him when Link showed up with multiple Octo Balloons and wanted to dye his bandana purple.
Sayge knew that Link was an experimenter just like himself. He saw the rare and foriegn ingredients Link would throw in the communal cooking pot just to see what would come out, and he saw those same ingredients in Link's arms the next day at the dye shop. Link understood that it didn't matter if the latest combination of ingredients and materials was a dud. What mattered was making the next combination even wilder. It was an urge and instinct that the two men shared.
Whenever Link would pause his travels and come back to his Hateno home, he brought Sayge all sorts of ingredients, from keese wings to frogs, Sheikah pumpkins and lustrous minerals, and even the guts of a Lynel (where Link got those Sayge could only guess). It was awesome.
There was one item of clothing that Link wouldn't dye. It was the vivid blue tunic that the boy was wearing the first time he entered the dye shop. When Sayge asked him about it one day, Link frowned and shook his head. It wasn't necessarily a big deal—Link rarely if ever talked, and Sayge doubted he could do a better job than the original color, anyways. The only things that worried the dye-master were whatever memories that tunic conjured up for the young boy.
In that moment, Link was not the wide-eyed experimenter that Sayge had grown close to. Link looked more like a rigid soldier who followed orders and did nothing that wasn't up to code. The sword that never left his back looked shinier and heavier on his shoulders. The colorful slate that adorned Link's hip glowed brighter and his stature was stiff and imposing.
Admittedly, Sayge did not know much about the blue tunic or the boy who wore it. But he saw what the blood moons did to the boy. And he knew that no monsters had camped near the town since Link showed up. There were times where the clothes Link dyed held stains from dirt and blood. Sayge hoped, for Link's sake, that the boy would overcome the challenges he undoubtedly faced.
Sayge also hoped Link would bring some Goron spice to the shop tomorrow. And perhaps he'd like to cook dinner with it too?
…
Link truly never failed to impress. Ever since Bolson offered him a bargain for that old cottage, the youngster seemed to ceaselessly work to improve his new home. Soon enough, Bolson was completely out of furniture and amenities to sell him, and Bolson Construction's finances were firmly in the green.
It was time to move on to greater things. Specifically, it was time to expand to Akkala~! Like a good businessman, Bolson was careful not to become complacent, and his recent successes in Hateno Village would be a perfect stepping stone to entering a fresh and undeveloped region.
Hudson, Bolson had decided, would be the perfect person to lead this new venture. A burly and strong man, Hudson could easily lay the foundations of a new project while Bolson and Karson wrapped things up in Hateno. Of course, Hudson could use some help from a Bolson Construction Company contractor…
"Oh Link!" Bolson called out, catching the young man exiting his home. "You know… with Hudson all alone in Akkala he is bound to need some assistance. Unfortunately, Karson and I are tied up selling these last few houses in Hateno. Do you think you could help him out for us?"
Link didn't seem uninterested, but it was clear that he would need more convincing. Very well—Bolson did not want to trick or swindle the boy. He would be upfront.
"I know you're an adventurer. I know you have weapon racks and maps in your kitchen; I built them myself. And Hudson is going to need someone to gather raw materials, fight off territorial monsters, and recruit townspeople from across Hyrule. I want this new Akkala settlement to be Hyrule's first large, multispecies town since the times before the Calamity. You, my friend, are the keystone to my vision."
Mentioning the times before Ganon had an effect on Link. Bolson could see a flame of determination in the boy's eyes.
"Of course, you will be compensated handsomely for your labor," Bolson finished and winked.
Bolson stuck out a hand, and Link shook it. It was a deal, and Bolson couldn't help but dance a little. He was eager to see what Hudson would name the new town, and what residents Link would find for him. It was Bolson Construction's time to shine!