Lynk quietly followed Zelda back to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab; Zelda wanted to finish yesterday's conversation, Lynk, however, needed to ask a rather important question. Zelda opened the door to the lab and saw that Purah and Symin were up. The conversation resumed quickly and everyone but Lynk gathered at the table. Leaving Lynk to instead stand awkwardly near the door. She wanted to bring up her question but felt that now wouldn't be appropriate. She decided to occupy herself with something else and remembered that she still had the letter on her. Then again, the envelope was part of the reason why she wanted to ask the question. She figured she could save it for later and went outside.
Lynk unhooked the Sheikah Slate from her belt and opened the map. Maybe she could look for some of her undocumented memories. However, that led to the question of where she should go. Not knowing much about her past gave her little to work with. "Then again, there is that memory from earlier…" she muttered to herself. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to look for it," she mumbled before activating the Travel Gate to the Bosh Kala Shrine.
After appearing on the shrine's Travel Gate, she quickly observed her surroundings and noted a few monsters. They'd be easy to take care of but she didn't want to bother and maneuvered around them. She made her way to the far west side of the Outpost and opened the Sheikah Slate's album before looking over the photo of Fort Hateno. She felt a slightly familiar feeling and tried to focus on it. However, the more she focused on it, the more the feeling faded. With a sigh, she realized she couldn't force herself to remember and returned the Sheikah Slate as she let out a deeper sigh. A part of her felt like she had messed up big time and had ruined her only chance.
Shaking her head, she said, "Well, there's always another way. But what is it?" She leaned against the wall and took a moment to try to figure out any other possibilities. "Maybe I need something like Mipha's statue." Deciding it was worth trying out, she searched the other side of the Outpost, even making her way to the East Post and Proxim Bridge. However, her search proved to be in vain as she hadn't found anything to help her.
Lynk made her way back to the shrine and took a break, sitting on the Travel Gate. Maybe she should try another memory, or go back to the village and see if there was anyone who needed help. But before she could set up the Sheikah Slate, she was startled by a sudden voice.
"Hang on for a second, little lady!"
Lynk almost jumped and whipped her head to face Daruk. "Daruk, what are you doing here?!" she almost hissed.
Daruk rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry for scarin' ya, but have ya tried Eldin yet?"
Lynk shook her head. "No, should I?"
"Yeah! Trust me. If ya wanna remember anything, that's the place to go."
Lynk nodded and fast traveled to Eldin Tower. When Daruk reappeared by her side, she opened the map and asked, "Where to?"
Daruk pointed to a location in the road near Gorko Tunnel. "You should find it if you look there."
Lynk nodded and Daruk disappeared as she glided down to the road and began to make her way to the point. She almost immediately felt the heat of Death Mountain and was quick to retrieve an elixir. Hopefully this place would have better results. As she walked, she let her mind wander a bit. It was strange how the Champions' spirits seemed to be fused with hers. Though there was something about it that made her feel like it shouldn't be like this and something was wrong. But if something was wrong, the Champions would've told her, wouldn't they? Well, hang on, they could all still talk to her, couldn't they? Quickly going over it in her head, she realized Revali couldn't. Though did she really want to talk to him? The answer was no, but she figured it'd be worse if she didn't let him. Hesitantly, she re-enabled Revali's ability and found herself immediately regretting her decision.
Revali was quick to make an appearance. "Honestly, do you know how rude you are, messing with my ability in such a manner and treating it like it's some sort of off-on switch?"
Lynk looked at Revali for a few seconds before saying, "…You're welcome."
Revali scoffed, "I have nothing to thank you for."
"Right…" Lynk opened her map and realized she was getting close to her destination. However, what she hadn't realized was that Revali was ranting about her, such as her habit of talking to herself and how she was currently failing as Zelda's appointed knight. Looking at the over dramatic Rito, Lynk said, "Revali, if you're going to complain, you can feel free to leave. I'm not stopping you."
"Now you're not stopping me, but what about back in Kakariko, huh?"
Ignoring Revali, Lynk had made it to her destination and looked up the incline that led to the back of Gorko Tunnel. She could certainly feel something familiar about this place and was about to call for Daruk but remembered that Revali was there. "Revali…"
Revali hadn't heard her, as he was too caught up in his rant.
"Revali…"
He still didn't hear her.
"Revali!" Lynk finally exclaimed a bit louder than she would've liked.
Revali, though offended that he was interrupted, did look at Lynk and hissed, "What?"
"Do you mind? I need to talk to Daruk. Preferably alone."
Revali huffed and disappeared before Daruk appeared beside her. "You ready, little lady?"
Lynk nodded. "So, it's supposed to be around here, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"What can you tell me about it?"
"Uh, well… You know my, um, training journal?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, well, then ya know when I was writing about meetin' you. This is about that."
"Oh," Lynk said and gave a light chuckle.
"I know, it's embarrassing," Daruk mumbled and rubbed the back of his head.
Lynk pretended not to hear that for Daruk's sake and they began to investigate the area. As they did, Daruk would tell Lynk a bit about the memory, giving Lynk a good idea of how things went down—at least, from Daruk's perspective. However, despite their efforts, Lynk didn't remember anything. She had an idea but that was all it was, an idea. She had decided that she spent enough time memory hunting and that it'd be best to go back to Hateno Village.
"Sorry, about not bein' able to help you get your memory back, little lady."
"No, it's fine. There's always next time."
"If ya say so," Daruk muttered before disappearing.
Lynk fast traveled back to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. She dusted herself off before opening the door and saw that Zelda and Purah were still talking.
Zelda noticed her and said, "Lynk, there you are. Care to join us?"
Lynk sat down at the table and quietly listened to the conversation.
"Well, now that Lynk's here, I suppose now would be a good time to bring up a new topic. Purah, tell me, what do you know about the blood moon."
"The blood moon, huh?" Purah said and put a hand under her chin. "Well, I know it's been around almost as long as Hyrule has, but there's not too much I know about. Chances are, Impa knows more than me, but probably not by much."
"Oh, I see."
"But why do you need to know, Your Highness? You weren't interested in the blood moon before the Calamity, so what changed?"
"Well, a few days ago, Lynk and I were attacked by some Yiga—"
Purah started fuming. "Those Yiga! Not knowing what's good for them! I bet you gave them the what for, didn't you, Lynk?" Purah pointed at Lynk, suddenly putting her in the spotlight, much to her dismay.
"Yes, Lynk proved to be more than helpful in this situation, but I was going to ask about the blood moon's effect on magic."
"On magic, huh? Well, I'm not experienced with magic, but those who are usually say they feel stronger around the time of the blood moon. However…despite this, it seems to come at a cost. Though they're stronger, their own magic seems to hurt them."
"Hurt them?"
"The spells are stronger but it kinda bites them in the butt. Those who use magic can only do so many spells before they're exhausted and they have to wait for their magic energy, as they call it, to refill. Well, during the blood moon, the amount of magic energy increases drastically. Making casting even basic spells risky."
"I see."
"Anything else you want to know?"
Zelda shook her head. "No, thank you." She looked at the window. "Lynk and I should get going, it's getting late."
Purah nodded and waved to them as they left. "You two come back now."
"You know what I should have asked?" Zelda said halfway back to Lynk's house. "What was responsible for the blood moon."
"I don't think Purah would know that."
"Probably not, but if she had a clue, then that could give us a good place to start."
"Given that it's something we can actually stop."
"Fair enough."
When they made it to the house, Lynk opened the door for Zelda before going to the - to cook dinner. Zelda joined her shortly after and sat on the other side of the pot. They stayed quiet as Lynk cooked and for the better portion of eating before Zelda spoke up.
"Lynk?"
Lynk looked up from her bowl.
"What were you doing while I was talking to Purah?"
"Traveling and seeing if I could remember anything."
"Oh. Did you remember anything?"
With a shake of her head, Lynk said, "No."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
"It's fine. There are other ways to remember something."
"True."
They finished eating and were about to go inside but stopped when they heard a loud chime come from the Sheikah Slate. Zelda went over to Lynk's side.
"Is something wrong?"
Lynk shrugged and tapped the exclamation mark on the Sheikah Slate's screen. A picture of what Lynk believed was Lanayru appeared. "Did you take this?"
Zelda shook her head. "I only took a few photos of Lanayru and that's not one of them." She then noticed the pained look on Lynk's face. "Lynk, are you okay?"
Lynk managed a nod before putting a hand to her head. "Just a small headache."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Zelda shook her head. "I think you should lay down. Come on." She led Lynk to her bed and managed to get her to lay down. "Are you okay? Do you need me to get you anything? Water, maybe."
Lynk shook her head. "I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. You don't sound fine either."
"I just need to rest. I'll be fine by morning," Lynk mumbled before turning onto her side, her back to Zelda.
Zelda nodded, though she felt a bit doubtful and went downstairs. She started looking through her old notes on the Sheikah Slate and hoped she marked if anything was good for headaches, just in case Lynk needed it in the morning.
Lynk groaned and put a hand on her forehead. This headache was just getting worse. She begrudgingly opened her eyes and peeked through her fingers and was surprised by what she saw. Where she woke up was not where she fell asleep. Carefully, she got to her feet, making note of her surroundings. Though there wasn't much to see. On all sides there was nothing but white. A mist rolled around her ankles and she could sense the same magic on it that was in the Lost Woods.
However, she could also sense a presence. Whether it was watching her or the reason for this mist, she couldn't tell, but she knew someone was there. Her initial response was to confront the person responsible for this, and possibly watching her, but something kept telling her against it. And that feeling kept growing with each passing second. So she decided to leave as quickly as possible. The farther she got from the presence, the more the area changed. Soon, mountains with soft blues and grass with brightly colored flora took over what was once a never ending white expanse.
Lynk could still feel the presence, and though she was sure she had gotten away from it, it only felt stronger. She looked behind her and saw that the area also turned into the blue mountains. Looking around, she recognized that she was in Lanayru. She was about to question how she went from a white abyss to the brightly colored Lanayru but stopped herself when she suddenly felt the presence grow much stronger. She steeled herself and turned around, ready to face the potential threat, but instead found herself looking at the backside of a particularly tall Gerudo. The Gerudo was standing in front of an entrance to what Lynk believed was a temple and seemed to be in deep concentration, as she hadn't noticed Lynk's presence yet.
Lynk was about to say something but found her voice caught in her throat as fog began to roll around her. The Gerudo, seemingly now aware that she wasn't alone, turned around. Though Lynk couldn't see the Gerudo's face and the Gerudo probably couldn't see hers, she reached out to Lynk, prompting Lynk to do the same. However, before she could grab the Gerudo's hand, the fog had completely surrounded her.
Lynk hit the floor with a thud and groaned as she rubbed her back. She pulled herself back onto the bed and rubbed her temples. Why her? She heard the sound of the door opening and hesitantly decided to go downstairs. She saw Zelda heading upstairs and Zelda seemed surprised to see her.
"Lynk, you're awake! Are you feeling better?"
Slowly, Lynk nodded.
Zelda let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad. I was beginning to worry when you slept in so late."
Lynk nodded again. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to worry you." She noticed that an envelope was in Zelda's hand. "What's with the letter?"
"Oh, this! Well, it's actually the envelope Dr. Purah gave you. It kind of fell out of your pouch when I was removing your belts, I saw the picture and I got curious. So I figured there would be no harm in asking and talked to Purah and…"
"And?"
"And it turned out that Purah knew who she was," Zelda said slowly.
"Who is she?"
"Your mother."
Lynk's eyes widened before narrowing slightly as her brow furrowed. "My-my mother? How? Is that even…possible?"
Zelda carefully chose her words as she explained what Purah told her, "Well, Purah said that your mother sometimes helped her with her research, and she believes that the photo was taken around the time she was testing the Sheikah Slate's camera function."
"So my mother was a Sheikah scientist?" Lynk asked as Zelda handed the envelope to her.
"Not quite, but she may have been a friend of Purah, and, to an extent, Impa. Her name was Kagami."
Lynk stayed quiet as she looked over the photo. The features of her mother's face had some similarities to her own, the most noticeable to her being the shape of their faces. Both of their jaws had a softness to them that was quickly betrayed by their sharp eyes. And her hair reminded Lynk of the one she was trying to do yesterday. Lynk wanted to keep looking at the photo but forced herself to put it back in the envelope. She looked back up at Zelda and asked, "What are your plans for today?"
Zelda was taken aback by Lynk's question. "I-I initially planned to go back to Kakariko Village today to talk to Impa about the blood moon, but I decided not to."
"I think we should go."
"Why? Don't you wish to ask Purah about your mother."
"Well, yes, but Impa may know more."
"I didn't think of that, but are you sure you want to go now? I don't mind waiting."
"No, it's fine, but we can talk about it on the way, if you don't mind," Lynk mumbled.
"Yes, I wouldn't mind, but you don't have to ask me, she's your mother after all."
Lynk nodded, "So was there anything else Purah told you?"
Zelda started heading to their horses and Lynk followed her. "Well, there was this one time Purah told me about."
"What happened?" Lynk asked as she mounted Blayre.
Zelda explained the events to Lynk as they left Hateno Village and headed to Kakariko.
James Birdsong (Guest): Thank you!
(The new ending feels a bit eh but what can you do.) I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Once in a Blood Moon. And now's the part where I semi-promote myself. Feel free to leave a review, ask a question, or something. I don't know. You do you. Until next time. Bye~
