Book 1: The Rescue of the Saviour

By JoeMoron2000 (Gabriel B)

Chapter Eleven: The Embarkation of the Troupe

"Catch!" the girl shouted, and hurled the ball with all her might to her brother. He threw his arms out and ran backwards to catch it, tripping over a ledge and landing in a bush. The ball landed next to him, neatly in the dirt.

"Ow," he whimpered, rubbing his head. "You need to work on your aim," he said, and picked up the ball. Now he had to get her back, so he picked up the ball, closed his eyes and wound up his arm, and then flung it as hard as he could. When he opened them again, he saw his sister laughing at him. "Hey, what's so funny?" he said, looking around for the ball. "Where'd the ball go?" She pointed over his head, and his stomach sank. Of course it had to go there... "Alright, but you're helping me get it!"

They approached the fence surrounding the strange building, and groaned as they found the ball on the wrong side.

"Hey, there's a hole there!" said the girl, pointing off to the left. Indeed, part of the fence had been cleanly sliced away, leaving a hole easily big enough for a small adult to crawl through. "I think we can fit through there."

"I don't know about that," said her brother hesitantly. He looked at the ball, the fence, and at the building. "I mean, yeah, I could probably fit, but what about the rumours? They say people who get too close disappear and never come out…" The boy turned to his sister. "I don't think I want to."

"Are you too scared? Is that it?" his sister taunted, and he turned around again and rolled up his sleeves.

"It's just a stupid temple," he said, and got on his hands and knees. The hole was surprisingly large – either that or he was surprisingly small; either way, he climbed through with minimal difficulties, and had a triumphant look on his face. "Take that, stinkin' rumours!" he said, punching the air and flexing his muscles needlessly.

His sister waved at him, saying, "Hurry up and get it. What if someone finds us here?" Her previous air of carelessness vanished as she realized that her brother might actually be in danger.

The boy nodded, and ran over to the building, picked up the ball. "Ha-ha!" he shouted. "How many people do you know have actually touched the Temple of Time?" he said gleefully to his sister, and, just for good measure, gave the building a nice solid kick, resulting in a pain in his toes. But his glee and pain were short-lived, and were almost immediately replaced by a dreading sense of fear as he heard a noise coming from inside the Temple, followed by a deep, resounding boom.

The girl saw him freeze, and panicked. "Oh my – are you okay? Speak to me, Timmy, what happened?" She futilely reached a hand through the fence to try to grab her brother, but she was altogether much too far away to reach his arm.

"Shh, I think there's someone inside!" Timmy whispered at her, and her arms flailed even more at him.

"Then why are you waiting around for them to get you?" she said, squealing in far too loud of a voice for their own good. "That's how they get people, so come on!" And so Timmy ran back to the fence, crawled through the hole, and the two siblings ran screaming from the building, afraid for their lives.

"Did you hear that?" Nabooru asked, shouldering her bag and brandishing her sabre. When nobody responded, she said, "It was a dull thud that came from over there." She pointed at the far wall of the temple, next to the concrete door.

"It was probably just an echo from the doors," Ruto said dismissively, still gazing at the sapphire. Her answer, though, was met with a high-pitched shriek from outside, and Darunia pulled his hand, which suddenly started burning, from the ruby.

"Could you turn down the heat, D?" Saria asked, taking a step back. "You're going to catch us on fire, too, like that." There was another shriek, this time fading away as the source of the noise seemed to be retreating rather rapidly.

This time, Impa raised her hands offensively, but Hyre waved his hand, saying, "Never you mind them, Madam; it's just a few kids. There's a rumour that this place is haunted; there has been, for a few years. Supposedly, anyone who gets too close will vanish and never be seen or heard of again, so, naturally, youngsters dare each other to touch the Temple and live to tell the tale." He walked past the incredulous Sheikah and over to the far door, which was obscured in shadows. "I don't think our little reappearing act has done anything to assuage their fears," he said, and ran a hand slowly over the stone frame, as if he were reconnecting with an old friend.

Nabooru sheathed her sword, and turned back to look at the glittering gemstones longingly. She asked, "So these are the 'Spiritual Stones' you mentioned earlier, right? You're telling me that they haven't been stolen in what, ten years?" Ruto shot her a dirty look, and she said, "Don't look at me like that, I'm only asking a question."

Saria looked at the emerald, and thought of home. "Are people really like that?" she asked quietly, and tried to pick it up, but was startled to discover that it wouldn't budge, despite being suspended in the air. She grabbed it firmly with both hands and planted her feet on the platform, and pulled with all of her strength, yet all she accomplished was pulling a muscle by her shoulder.

"There you are," Hyre said to himself, knocking on part of the door, and turned around. A shiver tickled Impa's spine as the shadows were cast across most of his face, which seemed to amplify the mystery – and the frustration – about him. How could someone be 'not quite' a Sheikah? "I suspect Miss Saria's got the answer to that," Hyre said, interrupting her train of thought. He nodded in the direction of the emerald, and Impa turned to see Saria, both hands on the gemstone, with a guilty look on her face at the sudden attention.

Saria forced a chuckle, and tried to regain her composure. She said, "Yes, well, it appears that they are… stuck in place." She rather patted the stone and turned away, trying to find something else on which to focus until the awkwardness died down.

"Alright," said Hyre, mental focus shifting yet again; "upwards and onwards, or however the saying goes." There was a loud click from behind him, and Hyre stepped from the shadows with somewhat of a pleased look on his face, which promptly vanished, and was replaced with the expression of someone who was straining to hold on to a sense of business without bursting into laughter. "A bit of, well, fill-in story, I suppose: As you have probably figured out by now, this is the Temple of Time," Hyre said, holding his arms out wide. He paused, and turned around, saying, "I suppose once more it would be most advantageous to show you rather than to tell you," and walked back to the stone doors.

Impa frowned as another annoying inconsistency occurred to her, but it was shoved thoroughly out of her mind as she heard the creaking of aged hinges reluctantly opening, and sunlight poured into the remainder of the hall. She heard a collective gasp in awe at the initially blinding light, and a collective groan at the sight that followed.

"The last three years have seen a very slow recovery from the war, and certain… sacrifices had to be made to try and rebuild the kingdom. Unfortunately, the public access to the Temple of Time was one of them." Hyre sighed as he looked at the dead trees and bushes outside the temple, as well as the ivy-covered fence that surrounded it. Leading out from the door was a stone path, littered with sticks and leaves and overgrown grass. On either side of the path, there was a small pond, filled to the brim with murky water. Slowly, the Sages approached the exit and stared, half in shock and half in disgust, at the view – disgust at the state of their first sight of Hyrule, but shock at the fact that it was actually Hyrule. "Shortly after Ganondorf was… defeated, the royal court had this place quarantined. They claimed it was supposed to be preserved… they're doing a piss-poor job, if you ask me."

Saria kneeled by one of the withering shrubs, and ran a hand through its branches. Some of the colour returned to its leaves, but more of them fell to the ground, having been completely rotted through. Ruto wobbled over, laundry basket in hand, and grasped her friend's arm, pulling her up. "Come on, Newt, don't worry about it right now," she said comfortingly.

She felt an ache in her shoulders, and Impa shifted her grip on the box to her side, and looked past the fencing and forest to the city beyond. From what little she could see at the moment, the streets didn't exactly seem deserted per se, but they surely weren't as busy as she remembered them, over a decade before. Has it really been that long, Impa wondered sadly. Finally, she let her attention fall to the once glorious, but now decrepit, Temple of Time, dirtied windows and crumbling walls. It pained her to see it in its current state, but she shook it out of her mind. Somewhere behind her, Darunia shifted uncomfortably.

"Hey, Dar," Saria said, poking his elbow with her right hand and pointing behind him with her left, "is that Death Mountain?" she asked with a half-smile on her face, recalling both her dreams and the feelings they caused. It seemed strange that a mere hour and a half prior, her biggest concern was a map and what she was going to have for breakfast, and now she was preparing to find, and perhaps save, her childhood sweetheart. The stomp, stomp, stomp of the Goron's footsteps broke her out of her reverie, however.

Darunia hoisted his stone basin up in his arm and followed Saria's gaze. Sure enough, in the distance above the barren trees and through the fencing, the unmistakeable ring of smoke surrounding Death Mountain, home of the Gorons, was clearly visible, and it brought a smile to Darunia's face.

Impa shifted the weight of the box again, as it was now starting to push through her leather uniform into her hip, and then realized that perhaps bringing all of her belongings in a box wasn't quite the smartest thing she's done all week. Looking around, it occurred to her that only Saria and Nabooru had brought anything actually conducive to long-term trekking. Her box, Darunia's hollowed rock, and Ruto's laundry basket were hardly the most comfortable things to carry for long periods of time, and it seems that it was dawning on them, as well. But Nabooru, with her self-proclaimed rucksack dangling beside her, was oblivious – and bored.

"So where are we going first?" she asked, agitated, and Impa realized that she didn't know where Hyre was at the moment. The familiar, oddly deep voice off to her left answered that question.

"Actually, we have to make a quick detour," he said, and then glanced at Ruto, who, too, had attempted to find a comfortable stance with the basket. "Or two," added Hyre. "But to answer your question, I thought we'd first visit Kakariko Village, the hometown of the Sheikah – if that's okay with you, Madam." He looked curiously at Impa, who simply nodded and frowned at her choice of luggage.

Nabooru spoke again, saying, "Aren't we sort of pressed for time? Shouldn't we try and get a move on, like, immediately?"

Hyre turned around completely, and looked mildly confused for a moment that nobody had moved, but shook his head and answered. "I said we have two stops to make, and both of them are more or less as important in some fashion. Firstly, we have to stop at one of the shops in the Market and get some bags for you." Impa nodded appreciatively, and noted that for once, she completely agreed with something he said. "Secondly, I would like to collect the rest of my belongings before we depart, and they are between our first stop and our first destination, so I do hope you don't mind. I was… rushed this morning, and didn't bring my things, of which I have grown rather fond."

There was a small silence before Saria pointed out the obvious, "How exactly do we get out?" She looked up. The fence didn't just stretch around them; it stretched over them, as well, trapping them in like animals in cages.

"Like this," Ruto said with a slight smile, and calmly began glowing with a bright blue aura, which grew brighter and brighter until it enveloped her completely, at which point the fair-sized Zora was replaced by the light itself, hovering in place where she had stood, just moments before. The glowing blue orb stayed put for a moment, pulsating, before it glided forward and easily passed through the iron lattice of the fence.

Saria smiled at the equally obvious solution, and followed suit. One by one, a green, a red, and an orange sphere joined their companion, now completely freed from all barriers between themselves and home. Impa looked at Hyre, who wore an expression that seemed to say, "I guess so," and with a shrug, her violet light met the others.

As they reformed on the outside, Impa heard a small pop to the left where Hyre had been. She glanced over, and saw that he was now sitting on a stone on the outside of the fence, rubbing his knee.

"What was that sound?" Nabooru asked, looking around for the source. "And how did you get out?" She walked over to where Hyre sat, and the others followed.

Hyre slid off the rock, and kicked out his leg, stretching his knee, to which he pointed. "That sound was my leg; it's not used to this kind of stress anymore. And I was standing by a hole in the fence that I was kind enough to create for you when I arrived this morning, but I'll admit: your solution had slightly more… finesse."

"Hey, Impa," Ruto said, motioning her elbow at the now-vacated rock. "Those things have got your 'Watching Eye' emblem on it."

Next to the fence, there sat four gray stones. Each of them was identically shaped, but time had worn down the features to an almost indistinguishable level. However, they appeared to have been carved and sanded such that the outline of an eye was visibly protruding, as was a ring within it. Three triangles, probably representing eyelashes, had been etched above the eye, and two light lashes were below the eye. Between them, as thought it was as an afterthought, the stones had a further indentation around a small teardrop.

Impa and Hyre turned to the stones, and they both frowned. "That's a Gossip Stone," Impa said with a sigh. The other sages turned to examine the stone, each with varying degrees of interest. "They were used as informants by my people…" she broke off, saddened.

"The Sheikah," Ruto offered helpfully, and tried to pat Impa's arm comfortingly, but both failed and dropped her basket.

"Yes, the Sheikah used them as watchers of the lands for information that we would otherwise have a difficult time acquiring," Impa said, ignoring the mishap. She approached one of the stones, and crouched. To the surprise of everyone, save Impa, it sprang to life, and a red colour filled the protruding portions of the rock. A light seemed to shine from it as the worn-away portions seemed to fill themselves in. Impa stared at it for a moment before standing up, and the colour faded, the light died away, and the stone withered.

"What… what just happened?" Saria asked in awe, breaking the silence that ensued. Even Nabooru, who had been eyeing Hyre's sword jealously for a moment, turned to the source of the interest.

Instead of answering the question, however, Impa turned to Hyre and smugly asked him, "What did you hear?"

Even more surprisingly, Hyre raised his eyebrows, and said rather innocently, "I didn't hear anything, Madam. As far as I am aware, they tell you the time of day, though just over ten years ago, I recall them counting down to something from at least 60 hours, but that's not the point. Gossip Stone, you say?" he added, and crouched in front of another one, which remained wholly unresponsive.

"Then you aren't a Sheikah," Impa said, crossing her arms, as though she had won an argument. "But only the Sheikah have red –"

"Now is not the time to have this argument," Hyre said, looking at Nabooru, who had returned to glancing at Hyre and his possessions, and she turned away embarrassed when he caught her eye.

He's avoiding the subject again, Impa thought, agitated, and returned to the subject of the Stones. "Though, if you claim to know about us, why don't you know about the Gossip Stones?"

"Madam Impa," Hyre said quickly, with a bow, "I may be thorough, but I am hardly capable of knowing everything – and even if I so wished, without resorting to time travel – which I can't do, by the way; believe me, I considered the option – I simply do not have the resources to discover every interesting fact about your cultures' pasts." He spoke sternly, but his face merely showed a trace of sadness mixed with pride. For what that pride was, however, was anyone's guess. Impa was about to protest, but –

"Will you two quit fighting?" Darunia roared, and everything went silent; even the wind seemed to stop blowing in shock. "You've known each other for a whole damn hour, and yet you're fighting like Nabooru and Ruto have for the last three years!" At the mentioning of her name, Nabooru turned away with a 'humph'. Ruto fidgeted with her basket.

Impa looked at Darunia, and she suddenly gained a new appreciation for just how big he was, and decided that perhaps he was right. She saw Hyre turn around and look out towards the marketplace, presumably to check if anybody heard them. I'm not done with you, she thought to herself, and took a deep breath. "This Gossip Stone doesn't know anything about Link," she said slowly. "And I expect neither do the other three. But they're isolated from the main part of the city, and wouldn't know much about the goings-on of anything outside of their corner. There are dozens of others, though, scattered throughout Hyrule; I'm sure that one of them might have more luck."

"Thank you for that," Hyre said, and walked towards a few steps leading to the main part of town. "Now, our first order of business is getting to each… establishment with as little difficulty as possible. That ball-of-light trick, can you keep doing that?

"Yeah," Saria answered, "but I don't think we should float around inside the town. We don't want people getting suspicious, right? I mean, I don't know the Hyrule people very well, but I imagine that not everyone's used to fairies floating around, right? Oh!" she said, having reminded herself, and looked around her, but didn't find her own fairy. Her face fell from disappointment.

Hyre shook his head. "No, they aren't," he said, and faced the Sages, looking remarkably overjoyed by something. "Thus, we must make our way to the first of our detours; the Castle Town Market. Madam Impa," said Hyre, with increasing gusto, "would you care to go shopping with me?"

Ruto almost dropped her basket in shock.

Ring, ring, ring came a sound from above them as Hyre pushed the door open, followed by a ring, ring, slam as the door closed behind them. Hyre looked slightly awkward, and said, "Perhaps I should have had my second thoughts before leaving them without you…"

"Oh, customers!" came a shout from behind some shelves, and a lanky man wearing glasses which were altogether too big for him hobbled into view. "What can I do you for today, my good friends?" he said, rubbing his hands together. He walked over to the desk and tried to draw their attention to the large showcase behind him, filled with cups, mugs, and other various trinkets, each with the same image drawn onto them. "Good thing you showed up early! These once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity goodies won't be around for much longer once the crowds really start to roll in! And don't forget about this!" He pulled out a pictobox, with a tag announcing the "ORACLES SPECIAL" with its not-so-affordable price of "JUST 1,250 RUPEES!"

Before he could continue his well-rehearsed sales pitch, Hyre broke in, saying, "No, we haven't come for the paraphernalia," and the smile vanished from the salesman's face; he'd clearly forgotten to rehearse this outcome.

"Ah, I-I see, sir," he stuttered, and returned the pictobox to its shelf. "Then w-what goods may I offer you?" The salesman nervously spread his arms wide to display the wide variety of merchandise he sold, and Impa looked around. The store had seemed small on the outside, but inside, it was packed with a plethora of various tools, clothes, supplies, and goodies that would make any camper squeal with delight. And that was only one section; in another, she found equipment she had seen Link carry with him on display – potions, shields, arrows, and the like. And of course, behind the counter, there was the extensive display of memorabilia for whatever this event was. But Hyre was focusing on something else.

He had made his way over to one of the shelves in the outdoors section, and Impa realized why they were here – or at least, why he was there. She couldn't figure out why Hyre brought her along with him, as all she's done was silently follow him.

"What is a 'Bag of Holding'?" he said, and pulled one of the backpacks off the shelf and examined it with interest. The bag had a lot of straps and zippers and pockets, each probably designed for some important purpose, and the end result was that it looked fairly ridiculous, rather than particularly useful. The sales clerk adjusted his spectacles and seemed to calm down, and approached Hyre with excited eyes.

"That, sir, is a marvellously useful object with the incredible property that it can hold whatever is placed inside of it. It is, in a way, the universal solution to the Knapsack Problem," he added, and chuckled at his own joke. However, Impa's blank stare and Hyre's raised eyebrow indicated that he was the only one who found his comment amusing, and he coughed. "Yes, the Bag of Holding," said the clerk, and a business look returned to his face. "Unfortunately after the initial craze, not everyone can see its usefulness, and we have been rather desperate to get rid of the ones that we have. The discount price is 60 rupees." Impa's stomach dropped. Money, she thought, and realized that she had none anymore. Hyre, however, didn't seem to share her concern.

"Fantastic, I'll take three," Hyre said, and the clerk nearly dropped his glasses in surprise. He handed the one he was holding to the baffled salesman, and pulled two more off the shelf.

There was a low rumbling from outside, and Hyre said, "Maybe a few umbrellas, too."

"Oh, no," the salesman said, as he found some on the shelf. "What if it rains tomorrow night, and the concert gets cancelled?"

Hyre reached into one of his front pockets, and paused for a moment. Then he fumbled around a bit more, and with a small pop, pulled out a jingling wallet. He paid for the Bags of Holding, as well as five umbrellas and answered, "It won't rain tomorrow evening; you have my word on that."

The salesman, confused, simply nodded, thanked them for their business, and wished them to come again. The door rang as they opened it to leave the shop, and once they were outside, Impa leaned over and said with a slight smile on her face, "you can't seriously control the weather, can you?'

"Oh, goodness no," said Hyre, who shook his head and laughed. "That would be preposterous." Impa looked at him, slightly relieved. That would be going a bit too far; she figured, concerning the crazy, outlandish things he apparently can do... "However, I do know someone who might…" Impa smacked a hand to her forehead in frustration.

"So, now," Hyre said, as they began walking back to the Temple of Time, "the reason I asked you to come along with me was because now is a fine time to discuss your… concerns about me, away from the others."

"Oh, where to start?" Impa said sarcastically, and stopped. "Let's see; how about at the beginning? How did you get inside the Sacred Realm? It's been sealed off for three years."

Hyre answered, "Walk and talk, Madam Impa, walk and talk. I got in the same way I got out – the use of a Key, something that was, long ago, tied to that place."

"The onyx stone," Impa said, and resumed walking. Hyre pulled out the stone and Impa took it. There was nothing particularly special about it; it was chiselled out of a whole crystal the same way the others had been, and inset into a wooden platform. But his story didn't quite fit. She shook it at him, and asked, "But if you had this when you entered, why did you borrow mine? It would have saved a lot of trouble, and wouldn't have raised so many questions."

This time, it was Hyre who stopped, and Impa thought she saw a flicker of fear across his face. They stood there for a few moments, with Impa growing increasingly pleased that she was making him uncomfortable. Something was amiss about Hyre, and Impa intended to find out what. She decided to drive the point harder.

"You know, now that I think about it, there was something else odd about this," she said, continuing to walk. Hyre reluctantly followed, his face stony, trying to gauge just how much she knew. "When you opened the Doors of Time to leave, the doors, and you, started glowing, right?" She smiled as Hyre closed his eyes, and finished. "The problem is that they had a purple aura, but this had a black aura. This had nothing to do with the doors opening for us, did it?"

Hyre's formerly cheery demeanour had completely disappeared by now, and had been replaced by a man struggling between two choices: digging a deeper hole for himself or seeing just how much trouble he was in now. After a few minutes in silence, he finally spoke, just a single word: "No." Impa stopped, and so did Hyre.

"Who are you?"

"I am a wanderer–"

"Where are you from?"

"I have no home–"

"Why are you here?!"

"I am here because I am lost!" Hyre shouted, and turned away from Impa. "This… I can't go home because I don't know how to get there. But believe me, if I could, I would."

If at all possible, this made even less sense to Impa than his previous comments. "But… but you know so much about us! Why can't you look at a map or something?"

Hyre looked up, and oriented himself. He pointed a finger to his left and said, "That's north, give or take about that much," and waved his arm to give a general sense of where north happened to be. "The… band, I guess you could call them, that's playing tonight are the Oracles, and they hail from the kingdom of Holodrum. Can you point in the general direction of Holodrum?"

Impa raised an eyebrow, and wondered what that had to do with anything, but she supposed that if he had a point, she would let him make it. She thought back to when she pored over every book in the Royal Library all those years ago, and cautiously pointed the southeast. Then she realized that was a complete guess, and mimicked Hyre's hand-wobble to give a general direction.

"Actually, it's about east-northeast," Hyre responded, pointing at Death Mountain. "It's about a week's walk that way, not counting the two days needed to cross the Mountain. It goes a lot quicker by horse or caravan, though, but I digress, and rather effectively, too – damn," he added as he realized he went on a tangent to his tangent of a tangent.

"Anyway, I am willing to bet that the reason you said that was because of what you read in the Castle as a guardian of the Royal Family. I can assure you that very few others know where it is at all; in fact, were it not for the concert and their rather startling popularity, most people would have never heard of it, either. People here tend to have a rather… lax… sense of geography." He sighed, and Impa saw a hint of sadness fall across his face. "The reason I cannot consult a map is that, much like the city of the Leviathans, my home isn't on any map; at least, not ones we'll find here."

"So how did you end up here, then?" Impa asked, trying to judge whether or not she should believe him. It was nice finally to get something resembling an answer out of the stranger, but she would prefer direct "I'm a god" or "You're dreaming, and I'm not really here" explanation. Dancing around the truth was beginning to irk her.

"It's a long story, the details of which would bore you. But it was also quite some time ago, so it hardly matters anymore, anyway. What does matter is that, more than anything, I want to go back."

"Can't you just go the way you came?" Impa asked, attempting to sound helpful rather than obvious, but failing. "Or is it not that simple?"

Hyre looked at her, and it occurred to her why his expression had always seemed so distant, even when he was joyful; he was not where he was suppose to be. He spoke slowly, saying, "It is in no way that simple. I have had many, many years to think about it, and if that were possible, I would have done so without any fuss. But it was not, so I could not. I was… put here, more or less against my will, and I have no way to get back, but oh, how I long to return…"

Impa closed her eyes in concentration, and desperately tried to recall the scene from just an hour ago. She was surprised as a jolt ran through her body, with the memory flowing into her mind, clear as ever, and opened her eyes. A black light was shining from the onyx still in her hand, and the crystalline ornaments from earlier surrounded them. A long, gorgeous wooden table ran next to her, and at its end sat a familiar-looking man. However, they were short-lived, and before she could get a good look at him, Hyre grabbed the ball from her hand, and the objects faded.

"I don't want anybody else getting… curious," he said, and put it back in his pocket. "But yes, that was one of the Great Halls in my kingdom's castle."

"You haven't answered my question yet," said Impa, and she resumed walking to the Temple of Time, and Hyre reluctantly followed.

"You seem to have many questions; I'm not sure to which ones you want an answer, nor which ones I already have answered. And I have one of my own – do I really need to be the one to carry all three bags? I'm no expert, but I think I look fairly silly like this," he said, raising his left shoulder to indicate the three bags slung over it. It seemed that he was trying to regain some of his usual upbeat attitude. Impa lifted one of them from him, and he thanked her.

"Here you go. Now, you haven't told me – honestly, mind you – how you got inside the Sacred Realm. I want to know the truth this time."

Hyre scrunched his face in thought, and then said, "I guess 'it's an inherent part of who I am' is the best way to explain it. Tell me, do you remember actively becoming linked to the Sacred Realm, right? Of course not," he said before Impa got a chance to answer. "It happened years, decades, centuries, even, ago, and surely you aren't that old!" Impa didn't even bother pointing out that neither was he, but from where he seemed to be heading, it wasn't that important. "However, I don't think you can claim that you don't actually have a link to it – you are a Key just as much as I am, because you were born that way – it's part of the benefits of being a Sheikah, I suppose."

"Which, if I recall correctly, you are apparently 'not quite'," Impa said, having already suspected for herself most of what he was saying. "You still haven't told me how you are connected to it, without yourself being a Sheikah. You didn't hear the Gossip Stone, and we all can – could" she corrected herself, "hear them without the Mask of Truth. But you have a Sheikah's eyes…"

Hyre tilted his head and thought for a moment, but was spared answering as the Temple of Time came into view, and, relieved, he said, "Looks like we're back. And I suppose I should have trusted you when you said that they wouldn't kill each other – though Misses Ruto and Nabooru don't seem to be getting along very well." Impa begrudgingly looked at the two of them, each with an arm around the others' neck.

Darunia was next to Nabooru, pleading with her to let go of the Zora's neck, and Saria was sitting on the ground poking Ruto's leg to try to get her to focus on something other than murder. Neither of them seemed especially successful. "You can kill each other later, Iketh" Saria said, spotting the returning duo, and attempting to stand up without taking off her bag, failing, and knocking into the two arguing ladies.

Before they walked up the steps, Impa pulled Hyre over, and whispered, "You know, I haven't asked what I believe to be the biggest question of all – why now? Of all the days you could have picked to come to us for help, of all the time you've known that Link was missing, you chose today to seek our help; you chose today to come to us to help. What changed? Can you at least tell me that?"

Hyre looked at her, and said, "What difference does it make what changed?" It felt like a smack on her face.