Link stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder and the other over the hand that drew back the arrow on the bowstring. Her arms trembled under the tension of the bow and bowstring that wished to return to its resting state. When Link had stopped adjusting her posture and took a step back, she let the arrow fly.
It missed its target by a large margin and the arrow hit the side of the cliff, bouncing off harmlessly. She dropped her tired arms to her side and turned to Link.
"Why are we doing this, again? I understand your concern, but what use is archery going to really be for me?" she asked. A short sword would make more sense, she thought. If someone was to attack her, she doubted they'd let her know until they were close enough to make a bow obsolete.
Link looked thoughtful at her question, his hand on his chin. He looked tired again. It had been a little less than a week since he returned, and he seemed to grow more tired by the day. They finally got him an actual bed for him to use downstairs rather than sleeping on the bundles of cloth and clothes, but apparently it didn't help as much as she thought.
The first night he returned, they fell asleep on the floor by accident, her head on his shoulder, both of them sopping wet. But he ended up waking her by accident, barely even dawn, with a fit she didn't know how to help other than to wake him up. He looked disoriented and ashamed, similar to the look she saw when he collapsed in the village, but he wasn't grasping at his chest like he did before. She had come to the conclusion that being reminded of his final days before the Slumber of Restoration made him mentally and physically remember the trauma, but the fit he had waking from his sleep was different even if she couldn't quite place her finger on it.
She asked him about it the day after, but he only told her they were bad dreams, nothing she could help with. He said he was alright, but he stood before her now looking like he could sleep for a week.
Finally, he signed, "We should work on your core strength." And then he assigned to her several exercises to do every day. When she pouted in response, she saw a faint smile that stayed there longer than she was used to with him these days, and she found it hard to keep pouting and smiled instead.
Her arms were sore for the rest of the day, making drawing out research plans and blueprints with Purah a little tiresome. Ora stood outside Purah's lab as usual, rarely making an appearance inside. The furthest it ever reached was Ora's face through a crack in the door, and even that seemed like too much. Purah and Symin didn't act hostile when Ora was mentioned or when she was seen through that door, but they didn't need to be explicit about it for Zelda to pick up on the fact that they didn't like the newcomer.
Link was elsewhere. Somewhere in Hateno, that was for sure, but he didn't tell her. From the way the villagers regarded the both of them cautiously as they walked through the village, either visiting the people or the businesses, she figured that he was attempting to smooth over the incident in which he left on his own. She had offered to help, but he once again turned down her help, saying it was something he needed to do on his own.
"Should I be worried about Link?" she asked Purah suddenly.
"Hm? Oh, probably."
"Purah!" Zelda exclaimed, finding the blunt answer more than a little concerning.
"What? You think that boy's alright? Well, relatively speaking, he's probably okay, but that boy snooped in my diary after he first found me! He used to be so desperate for any tiny bit of information. Used to bug me all the time for information on who he was, who I was, who iyou/i were, the whole deal. Don't know where that curiosity died, but I think that's concerning if not worrying," Purah said, adjusting her glasses but never looking up from her work.
"Do you think he remembers more than he's letting on?" Zelda pried, and then instantly felt ashamed of. She should be asking Link these questions, not Purah, but it wasn't as if he was being completely forthcoming to her, even if he seemed a little better these days.
"Unlikely. I think if that was the case, he'd act more like the Link from before, but he's still the Link from now, through and through."
Zelda sighed and leaned back in her chair, feeling like she there was nothing she could do. She wanted to help Link, but he refused the help. If things were different, if he was a little more open or didn't look so tired all the time, she might have been accepting of her fate to just wait. It was hard to do nothing.
Some time passed, the noon sun falling to the wayside to be the afternoon sun that peered in through the windows and caused Zelda to change spots so the light wasn't in her eyes. Moving a little closer to Purah, she saw blueprints laid out on her desk of repurposed Guardians.
"Purah, I thought I said-"
Purah snapped her fingers, an odd way of getting Zelda's attention but one that worked.
"I think I've found a way to remove the offensive capabilities of the Guardians without disrupting their core processing. We can use them in the effort of rebuilding Hyrule since many of the villages don't have many hands to spare. If you're still set on dismantling them, we can do so after they've outlived their purpose."
Zelda had to agree with Purah's logic even if she was still concerned about the people who would have to work with the modified Guardians. The problem wasn't just that the machines had a history of cutting down Hyrule's people in the last century and that they had the power to do so still, but that their appearance would be a factor in morale or willingness to work with them.
"We can try. One or two as a test trial. You'll be required to supervise them at all times while they're in use, and they should be shut down when they're not."
Purah smiled. "Works for me. But it'll cost you."
Zelda rolled her eyes at the now-young woman. She hadn't even set up an adequate tax system yet. Link had funds, she knew that, but they couldn't well rebuild all of Hyrule on Link's adventuring gains. Even if he had that much money, it wouldn't be right.
"You'll get all access rights to the two Guardians you'll be testing and monitoring. I'm assuming you're going to want Link to bring them in, which I know he'll do for free, so then you'll owe us in that regard. Once we have the system in place that pays for the workers, you'll be included in the same level of pay as them," Zelda concluded.
"Well, I'll also need operational funding to keep my lab running while Symin stays here," Purah pushed, eyeing Zelda carefully. She truly was as… detail oriented as she used to be.
"Symin is welcome to continue to be your assistant in the field and receive the same pay, but I assume that this lab stays clean and functioning not to your contribution but to his. Unless he's providing a service to rebuilding Hyrule, I need to limit expenses only to what is necessary," Zelda countered.
Purah pouted, and it took Zelda a moment to realize that Purah was not just responding to Zelda's counter argument but pouting as her own counter argument. When that didn't work, she huffed and said, "Fine! But only as long as Link provides me two functioning Guardians. Goddesses, you're just like your father. So stingy."
Zelda doubted that Purah meant it as a put down or a reminder of her failure to save her people, her father included, but she was even more surprised how the thought of her late father didn't sadden her. Before the Ganon's return, their relationship hadn't been the best as he pushed and pushed her to harness her powers, but he hadn't been a poor father or King. In fact, the comparison made her a little happy. She hadn't realized that Purah had dealt with her father on matters of payment for their work on the Guardians, and the fact he kept Purah's expenses in check despite her tendency to exaggerate actually made her smile.
They continued their work until Link returned at sunset to escort Zelda back home, and Ora followed at a distance. Whether it was to give them their privacy or to scout out the larger area for dangers, she didn't know.
"How was today?" he asked her as they traversed down the hill.
"The same. Purah tried to pry more money from the future coffers, but- oh! I, well, may have promised that you would provide her a service," she said, feeling her cheeks redden. In her negotiations, she had forgotten that it included promising Link's service without his knowing. "She wishes for two Guardians to experiment on."
He gave her a look that said, ireally?/i
"Yes. I apologize that I spoke on your behalf, but she's a tough negotiator and I may have been swept up in the process."
Link shrugged. "Should be easy. When I was… away, I saw some Guardians, and they didn't seem hostile."
Zelda thought on that. That was a good sign at least, but she couldn't help but wonder if they had been returned to the state they were in before Ganon's influence or if it meant most would be non-functional.
"Well, if that's the case, I will go with you."
Link stopped walking. It took Zelda a few steps before she realized he was no longer at her side and so she stopped and turned, looking up at him, the steep hill causing him to have the higher ground.
"I could probably do it faster on my own," he signed. "I can travel by Sheikah Slate and…"
Zelda couldn't resist the urge to smirk. "And what? What's your plan for moving the Guardians? You probably can't provoke them and lead them away if they aren't acting hostile."
Her reasoning started to dawn on Link's face before she even hit her key point.
"You remember how to control them," he signed, looking defeated. A moment passed and then he added, "I'll scout out possible Guardians and then we'll leave in the morning."
He disappeared in the strands of blue light with the use of the Sheikah Slate, and the moment he vanished completely, Ora was at her side once more. Link reappeared at the Shrine next to his house by the time they arrived on foot, and he approached them in such a swift stride, it looked like he had simply walked out a door, not rematerialized before their eyes.
Zelda still couldn't quite get used to the threads he broke into when he traveled in such a manner. It didn't seem to faze him, so it must not feel wholly unpleasant at the least, but he could also be used to it. She filed away the thought to ask him some other time.
"I remembered two used to stalk the area outside Kakariko village, and it seems they're still there," Link signed, looking pleased and, upon closer inspection, a little breathless with a few dots of sweat on his brow. He must have done his checks rather fast. "So the good news is that they're still there."
It didn't escape her that Ora seemed to stand just a little straighter at the mention of the remaining Sheikah village, but Zelda didn't need to ask the older woman to know what she was worried about.
"It'll be fine," Zelda said, looking to Ora. "I said I would speak on your behalf, and I intend to do so."
Ora nodded and then motioned Zelda back to Link, who still had his hands up and still, physically pausing his conversation.
"Oh, sorry." Zelda felt her face warm up, grateful for the cover of night to hide a blush if one appeared on her cheeks. "Please, continue."
"The bad news is that they seemed dormant. They didn't even light up when I approached."
"Well, that could be good news as well. At least we won't have to worry about their more… destructive capabilities," Zelda said. She raised her hand to her chin, trying to remember the time they first activated one of the Guardians. At first, it was a mechanical issue, but these Guardians are in well enough shape to have been fighting Link under Ganon's influence. That could mean they just lack orders or a guide, if she had to hazard a guess. "Link, do you have any spare parts of the Guardians in that bag of yours?"
He smiled and reached into his bag.
The ride to Kakariko village felt short, but the goodbyes to Hateno had felt they'd last a lifetime. People were asking them to promise to return soon, giving them food and other gifts for the road, and ended it all with a hearty send-off, including a wagon. Link had fetched some horses from a nearby stable to pull it. Not that Zelda disliked riding, but sitting in the wagon gave her a little more time to tinker with her contraption on the way. Ora sat up front with Link, though neither of them talked.
The closer they approached the Sheikah village, the more the silence weighed down on her, and Zelda found her thoughts consumed with worry and anxiety for both Ora's case and Zelda's own reunion with Impa that she ended up not being able to concentrate on her work. And the silence didn't end when they entered the village. It was as if even the birds knew to hold their breath.
The people still out and about watched them pass in silence, and Zelda could take a good guess as to why: Ora certainly looked Sheikah and, from what Link had told her last night in their planning for today, Kakariko village wasn't flushed with people. They probably already knew that the Sheikah stranger was Yiga, but none of them seemed to reach for any weapons, just watching in silence as they finally approached Impa's house.
Link helped her down from the wagon, holding out his hand for her to take and using the other at her elbow as she descended to guide her down. With her feet on the ground, she lingered in extricating herself from him for just a moment longer, looking at him for a sign of what he was feeling. But she didn't have to look hard to find his smile and realize he hadn't instantly pulled away from her once she was steady. She smiled back.
"I-" she began but was cut off by one of the guards at the steps of Impa's house and the suddenness of it caused her to pull back.
"Identify yourself," he said, his hand on the hilt of his sword, though still sheathed.
Ora stood tall on the bench of the wagon, looking down at the man. "I am Ora of the Yiga clan, and I am here at the mercy of the Princess to throw myself before the clan in judgement."
It was now that Zelda realized that Ora carried no weapons, but she knew that didn't limit the woman's prowess or potential to do damage. She looked back to the guard who had his hand on his weapon and then to the other guard who was still stationed at the steps. He looked not at the stranger but at Link. Link, who had turned to face him, seemed to give a small nod from what Zelda could tell, only being able to see the back of his head.
"Why do you return to us?" the second guard asked.
"I wish I could say it was a change of heart, something of my own volition, but it was the Princess's doing," Ora said, gesturing to Zelda. The first guard drew his sword halfway at the movement, probably just to show that sudden movements were not to be advised, Zelda guessed. "I attacked both her and Link while they were on the road when she used some kind of magic."
Zelda finally piped up. "Yes! The sealing power I used on Ganon and some Guardians. I haven't had another chance to test my theory, but I believe it was Ganon's influence that caused some Sheikah to turn. Perhaps not all of them, but I felt Ganon's presence in her when I used my power."
The first guard seemed to waver in his strong stance but picked it back up quickly.
"Princess Zelda. You have returned."
The voice was not either of the guards, nor Ora, and it most certainly was not Link. It was older, wispier, and still somehow familiar. Zelda looked away from the guards and Ora to the top of the steps they were guarding to find a small, older woman.
"Impa!" Zelda's response did not match the older woman's formal tone or the serious tone of the entire situation. Though she was older now, Zelda was so happy to see her friend. She raced up the stairs, neither guard moving as she passed them, and kneeled to wrap her arms around Impa. The woman didn't return the embrace, but she had always been more serious in all matters before. But she knew her old friend was pleased at her return, even if she didn't show it.
"It is good to see you again. I had hoped to see you sooner, but I see you have been… busy," Impa said to her. Then to the crowd, she said, "If Princess Zelda's claims are true, then we have hope for the future as well as a lot of work ahead of us. But until we are able to confirm the Princess's claims, this woman will be confined."
Zelda looked to Ora and saw her look more relaxed than she had before, though not by much. For as much as Zelda knew about the Sheikah, it was probably momentous that Ora hadn't been killed on sight. On top of that, the ability of the Sheikah and Yiga were enough that confinement was more of a show of cooperation on Ora's behalf.
"Come, Zelda. Let us talk," Impa said, taking small steps to return to her home.
Zelda spared a glance to Link. When she saw him looking at her, she signed a quick, "Come with?" to which he nodded and followed.
The home felt both small and spacious considering the lack of furniture and, well, people. Inside was only one young woman. She looked like a younger Impa in appearance but almost nothing like her in the way she held herself. While Impa, even in her younger years, had never been much of a talker, she always exerted a confidence that gave her an air of leadership, which obviously has not left her even after all this time. For the younger woman, she seemed timid, almost nervous, though likely no less deadly. Zelda herself never met many shy Sheikah, but there was always the possibility, she supposed.
With the help of the younger woman, Impa sat on a cushioned platform with her legs tucked under her. Once settled, she waved to Link and Zelda to come closer, and the younger woman left up the stairs, though Zelda doubted that gave them any real privacy. Zelda took a seat on the floor in the same position that Impa sat in, and from the corner of her eye, she spotted Link's surprise and then his scramble to copy her.
Impa smiled. "Worry not, Link. I wasn't going to bother you with customs while you had much more important tasks at hand." She looked between Zelda and Link expectantly. "Tell me everything."
Zelda settled in for the long story: what happened after she left Impa with her final message for Link, how she held back Ganon for a century, what she was able to see through Link once he awoke, and what they have done since. Though she gave Link a few opportunities to join in, he seemed reluctant to add anything so she didn't venture into topics such as his memory or his momentary disappearance in Hateno. Finally, she got down to business.
"I need to take the two Guardians near here back to Purah for… a partial disassembly," Zelda explained. "I was in favor of a more thorough disassembly, but Purah convinced me that they could be used to help rebuild. That being said, I wished for its destructive capabilities to be absolved if it's to work next to people that have only known then to be a force for evil the last hundred years.
"I started to make my own relay on our way here just in case, but you wouldn't happen to have kept yours, would you?" Zelda asked hopefully.
Impa shook her head. "Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight when I was younger to take mine with me from the castle before Calamity struck." When she saw Link reach for his Sheikah Slate, she held up a hand for him to stop. "It likely did not survive. It was a fragile construction, despite the parts we used."
Zelda was disappointed, but not entirely so. It had been a long shot to hope for a surviving relay. Not even Purah had hers, which had been unsurprising considering the woman's prior focus in the Shrine of Resurrection and Sheikah Slate. Robbie would have been the second best bet, but she was under the impression, from what Purah and Link told her of the man's current research, that it was based in more practical constructions of the ancient technology, such as arrows and armor. He probably didn't continue the work on the relays when it held no hope of fruition against Ganon's influence.
"If I was able to craft my own, would I have permission to walk the Guardians through the village? It would be the fastest route back to Purah."
After a long silence, Impa said, "You have my permission, but you'll need to prove you can control them before you bring them through."
Zelda nodded, happy at the answer. It wouldn't be until much later, holed up in the village inn with her mess of supplies around her that she realized that it might be a taller order than she originally thought. At one point, Link left and returned with old, familiar books and fragile notes, worn away by time and lack of care. After more fruitless hours of work, he came to her with fresh notes signed by Robbie, to which felt so impossible she began to laugh.
She felt Link's touch on her shoulder to get her attention as she laughed and laughed, her eyes cinched shut, though that did nothing to keep tears of laughter from spotting her eyes and cheeks. Once she was able to calm down enough to open her eyes, she caught the tail end of his sentence, asking her what was funny.
"We never figured out the Sheikah Slate before Ganon returned, and now you're just… you're just using it for running errands and notes!" Her stomach hurt from the laughing, but more painful was the guilty look she saw on Link's face. "No, it's alright. It just feels like this impossible thing. Before, we had to wait for a courier if we wanted information from someone halfway across Hyrule, and that could take idays/i. There were times that we went to those people or places simply because several letter correspondences would take too long.
"And now you're just hoping across the country. This is probably the most mundane use of a Sheikah Slate I can think of- not that that's a bad thing. It's just… everything feels so different this time around, and I can't stop comparing it to the past." She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hands and then felt the brush of Link's knuckle at her jaw, catching a tear she hadn't caught.
"You should rest," he told her. She couldn't take her eyes of the hand that touched her face as he used them to sign. "Come back to it with fresh eyes."
She nodded and began to clear her bed from her project materials with Link's help. In this communal inn, she slid into bed with the clothes she had worn that day. When she woke the next morning, as usual, Link had already left.
But he had left her a note saying: iBe back with blue flame soon./i
