They parade Aloy into Kakariko Village. With it now daytime, she is able to get a clearer look at the village. It is made up of a dozen or so buildings, all of which are white with arched W-shaped wooden beams on their rooftops. Their doors have frosted glass in them with what looks to be a crude eye with a teardrop painted onto them. There are gardens with produce growing in them, and one of them has strange thickset birds in them.
This place is kinda like Mother's Heart. Aloy thought.
The people stare, with some calling out to others, causing doors to slide open and emit more people. They are all dressed in basically the same type of clothing as her captors and also have white hair, save for one woman with black hair. They speak in hushed though excited tones.
" . . . Look! Look! Cado and Dorian captured a girl . . . !"
" . . . Who is she . . . ?!"
" . . . Where did they catch her . . . ?!"
" . . . Is she a Yiga spy . . . ?!"
The two guards force Aloy to walk up to that large house they were standing guard at last night. Off to one side are five statues with what look to be dishes placed before them with someone facing those statues as they kneel and pray.
"Hey, Paya," the first guard called, compelling that person praying to stand and face them, revealing their self to be a pretty and shapely girl.
"Wha-What is going on?!" Paya next gasped fretfully. "I-Is that a dangerous prisoner you just captured?!"
"Go and tell your grandmother that we just captured this girl sleeping on the Sheikah platform up in the forest," the second guard said.
"R-Right away!"
Paya hurries up the stairs and opens the doors to that house.
"G-Grandmother!" She was heard yelling. "Cado and Dorian just captured somebody sleeping on the Sheikah platform up in the forest!"
Another person is heard talking from within, but their voice is too low for Aloy to hear.
"R-Right away!" Aloy had heard Paya exclaim. Paya is soon at the doorway. "Grandmother said to bring the captive inside."
"Move it."As Aloy gets a poke, forcing her to walk up the flight of stairs and through the double doors of the building with her captors.
The interior of the building is very spacious with little in the way of furnishings, of which are along the walls. In the back of the room up ahead of Aloy are two stairs that lead upward so that they meet up above out of view. Between those stairs sits a small old woman on three pillows that get progressively smaller going up. She is wearing the same type of clothes, which includes a strange conical hat with a very high and narrow dark peak and a very wide brim with an eye painted on it. Four metal cresents dangle from chains on the brim of the hat.
She must be their High Matriarch. Aloy thought.
Alongside the old woman is a strange black sphere covered with glyphs that pulsate with an orange glow. It reminds Aloy of that platform up in the woods. Paya is standing near that strange ball.
"On your knees." As one of the guards forcibly stops Aloy and forces her to kneel.
Aloy looks up at their High Matriarch. Her heavily wrinkled face reveals a long life and a hard one at that. Her eyes bear a deep wisdom, but are kind. She stares silently down at Aloy. Contemplating. Judging.
"So," the old woman begins in a voice to match her appearance. "I was told that you were discovered sleeping up in the forest on the Sheikah platform."
"Y-Yes," Aloy said. "Yes I was."
"What is your name, child?"
"A-Aloy."
"Greetings Aloy. I am Impa, the leader of Kakariko Village, and this is my granddaughter, Paya. Now then . . . why did you sleep in the forest like somebody up to no good when we have an inn nearby?"
"I didn't know about the inn," Aloy answered earnestly. "And besides, I tend to sleep outside on my journeys."
Impa frowns slightly at Aloy as she leans forward slightly.
"Turn your head, Aloy," she said suspiciously.
Aloy complies, if hesitantly.
"In all of my long life and of my travels," Impa said with wonder, "I have never met anyone with ears such as yours . . . You're not from Hyrule, are you?"
"Ah . . . N-No," Aloy admitted sheepishly as she looks at Impa once again.
"Then where are you from?" Impa asked.
Aloy sighs with uncertainty as she glances around for a moment. "How to explain? How to explain . . . ? The only way I can think of explaining is . . . is that I appeared on a hill above a stable called Outskirt Stable."
"You came from the Rota Ooh Shrine?!" Paya gasped.
"The what now?" Aloy asked.
"It's a Sheikah Shrine," Paya explained.
"Oh, so those shrines have names then, do they?" Aloy mused. "But to answer your question. No, I didn't come from that shrine. But I did appear next to it."
"The girl is obviously lying!" Dorian snapped incredulously as he firmly clasps Aloy's shoulder to give her a slight shake.
"She spins a fable to deceive us!" Cado stated just as intently.
"I will decide that," Impa interrupted them with a firm tone. "Now then Aloy. What did you mean that you appeared next to the Rota Ooh Shrine?"
Aloy takes a deep breath and sighs intently, knowing that she has to keep this simple. She tells them about how she had sat for a rest after burying her mother, then had a vision. She explains her vision and then how she was next aware that she was in this world. And finally about how she saw that castle off in the distance with that sinister mist. Once down at the stable, she was able to learn about Hyrule Castle, the Calamity Ganon, and the hero who was said to have fought and got killed.
"But then I was told that he was rumored to have been saved by the Sheikah," Aloy began to conclude. "So I figured that you people might know something, then asked for directions to Kakariko Village. But it was night by the time I arrived and I wanted to wait until morning before I could speak to someone in charge. And you pretty much know the rest." As she looks over first one shoulder then the other at her two guards.
The silence weighs heavy in the room. Aloy takes notice of the intensity in Impa's gaze.
"This man and this girl you saw in your vision," Impa finally said in a careful tone. "Describe them."
"The man had blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a blue tunic with white embroidery," Aloy answered simply. "The girl also had blonde hair, but green eyes and wore a white dress."
Impa's eyes widens as she inhales long and sharply, then exhales just the same way.
"Did you . . . know them?" Aloy ventured.
"Indeed I did," Impa answered in a soft though fervent tone. "The man's name was Link and the girl, Zelda. She was a princess, daughter of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the King of Hyrule. Link was her bodyguard. He was terribly wounded when he did battle with the Calamity Ganon, then was bought to the Shrine of Resurrection to be healed from those wounds. His sword, the Master Sword, was taken elsewhere to recover as well. Surely you must have seen the Sheikah Towers rising yesterday."
"Oh, so that's what those things were," Aloy answered. "Are they connected to those shrines?"
"That they are," Impa answered. "And the fact that they rose means that Link is awake. Because they can only be activated by what he now has in his possession: a Sheikah Slate."
"Ah, I see," Aloy mused, only to remember something crucial. "Wait. I also learned that this Ganon arose one hundred years ago."
"That he did, Aloy," Impa answered.
"But then that would mean this Link fella's been sleeping for a hundred years."
"The Shrine of Resurrection preserved his life and healed him while keeping him in a timeless sleep," Impa answered.
"I wonder if the Old Ones had something like that?" Aloy mused aloud.
"The . . . Old Ones?" Paya inquired.
"Ah, that's another story. Anyway, since this Link is awake then it must mean that I will have to go out there and find him."
"You won't need to," Impa answered. "Because I know he will be coming here to see me."
"So when can you expect him?" Aloy asked.
"He should be here soon," Impa answered. "Since I do expect that he will learn of me."
"Maybe I should go and meet up with him then," Aloy suggested. "I ran into some freaky monsters on my way over and had to kill them. He might need help in killing them."
"Patience, Aloy," Impa chided. "He will come."
Aloy sighs. "If you say so."
"In the meantime, why not have some breakfast with us," Impa said.
"Ah, okay," Aloy said. "I haven't eaten anything since noon yesterday."
"Release her." Impa ordered.
"Lady Impa, are you sure that's wise?" Cado asked with concern.
"She came to seek out the hero because the princess communed with her for help," Impa said. "Now release her."
With a sigh of concern, they release Aloy from her bonds, who sighs with relief as she rubs her hands, then her throat. She still remains sitting, however, so as not to give the guards any undue concern.
"Tell us about your world, Aloy," Paya said.
"It is a world populated by tribes of people, and machines roaming about in the form of beasts. It had been that way for as long as they could remember. One time, the machines would avoid people, but for the past twenty years, the Derangement had taken ahold of them so now they attack people on sight. Worse, newer machines appeared, machines designed with the purpose of killing people."
"Kinda like the Guardians are now doing," Impa said. "You also mentioned Old Ones. Who were they?"
"They were the people who used to live in my world. They created a civilization that we call the Metal World, because they used so much metal."
"Used to?" Paya inquired. "Does that mean they're no longer around?"
"That's right," Aloy answered. "And the ruins of their world dot the landscape."
"What happened to them?" Paya asked.
"They were exterminated by machines that they had created to wage war. Machines that had the ability to consume biomass and replicate. Another words they ate lifeforms and made more of themselves."
"That's horrible," Paya gasped. "Why would they create such machines?"
"Because their creator Ted Faro was too arrogant to conceive that such a thing could happen," Aloy answered.
"So your people know what caused their extinction," Impa said.
"Actually," Aloy began. "They don't. They have their own beliefs as to why the Old Ones disappeared and the Metal World was destroyed . . . They believe that once upon a time machines and people lived side-by-side. Then the people started to become more dependant upon those machines, but not all of the people did. Once such group are suppose to have been the ancestors of my people, the Nora, and they kept their faith with the All-Mother. Eventually, a king arose amongst the machines called the Metal Devil. It tried to convince their ancestors to serve it with the other people, but they refused. So the Metal Devil declared war upon the ancestors of the Nora and All-Mother. But All-Mother struck down the Metal Devil and laid waste to the Metal World, then robbed the machines of their will to render them like beasts . . . The truth was lost, but not forever because I and another man were able to learn about it."
"And what is the truth?" Paya asked.
Cooks enter, delivering their breakfast.
"Paya, Aloy will reveal that to us after we have breakfast," Impa said.
The trio have their breakfast. Although Paya and Aloy are kneeling on the floor before their small tables, Impa has a taller one placed before her. Their breakfast consists of a ball of rice wrapped in a black leaf, a piece of uncarved fish, and a bowl of soup. They also have tea to drink. Aloy finds the breakfast odd, especially since she is trying to eat it with sticks.
"How do you use these?" Aloy flustered as she tries to position the sticks between her fingers.
"You don't eat with chopsticks?" Paya said.
"Is it that obvious?" Aloy asked dryly.
"Hold them like this?" Paya instructed as she holds her hand out with the chopsticks clasped in them. Aloy does so, or attempts to do so as she seems to get it right, only to fumble with the sticks.
"Finally!" Aloy groaned as she manages to pull off a piece of the fish and eat it without dropping the piece. Though her holding the chopsticks are still sloppy at best. "This is pretty good. This fish is so tender, it almost melts in my mouth."
"I'm glad to hear it," Paya said.
After finishing the fish off, she next eats the rice ball and comments that it is good, happy not to have to use those chopsticks on it. Next, the soup of which has a spoon to eat it with, having a salty pungent taste, but not overbearingly so. Next is the tea.
"This has an odd taste," Aloy mused after taking a drink.
"One must drink tea slowly," Paya instructed, then takes a casual sip, of which Aloy repeats.
They drink their tea slowly for a time.
"Before I continue about my world," Aloy said. "What happened for this one to become as it now is? I learned about this Calamity Ganon, but maybe you could provide me with more information, Impa."
"Ten thousand years ago," Impa began, "we the Sheikah created technological wonders. The Sheikah Towers and the Sheikah Shrines. Machines of war to oppose the coming of the Calamity Ganon, the Guardians and the Divine Beasts. Two Hylians would be born down through the ages whenever it seemed that Ganon was nearing his return, they were a hero and a princess who had the blood of the Goddess Hylia flowing through her veins. Every time the Calmity Ganon was successfully defeated, peace would return to the land. But the Hylians came to fear us and drove us out of the land. I helped to recover the Guardians and Divine Beasts to fight the coming of the Calamity Ganon . . . But we underestimated its cunning and it possessed the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, using them against us and destroyed our civilization."
"Wow, it's almost like what had happened to the Metal World," Aloy marveled.
"So what was the truth about what had happened to your world, Aloy?" Paya asked.
"I'm not sure on how to tell that," Aloy said as she looks upward in thought. "Because it was a part of having to get rid of Hades, a machine that wanted to destroy my world."
"Then tell it in the manner of how everything came to pass," Impa suggested.
"Yes, that should work," Aloy said intently, then drinks down the rest of her tea and sets the cup down with a thunk and a sigh. "It all started after I was born . . . "
