The next morning, Aloy and Link are leaving the inn as they discuss their next destination.
"Impa did say that we should check out one of those places in the photos and return to her," Aloy said. "So which one should we check out? That is if you remember any of those places."
Link begrudgingly tells Aloy that he does not remember any of them.
"I'm sure somebody around here must've been to one of these places," Aloy said while looking around the village, then starts walking toward the guards, Cado and Dorian, as she gestures for Link to follow.
"Hey, do any of you guys happen to know where these places on Link's Slate are?" Aloy asked, and Link shows them.
The two guards stare intently at the pictures that Link shows them.
"Nope, never been to any of those," Cado said.
"Neither have I," Dorian said. "Sorry."
"Now," as Cado ponders, "you could go and see if Pikango knows about them. He has traveled to a lot of places."
"That's him over there," Dorian answered as he gestures up ahead. "That man painting a picture."
Aloy and Link go over to Pikango, who is about to paint a picture. He is an old man with a black-tipped topknot that resembles an artist's paintbrush, and carries a sack bulging with art supplies on his back.
"Oh, it's you! Great timing!" Pikango exclaimed happily at them, especially Link. "I have some news. I did more research regarding the Great Fairy Fountain . . . and I have a lead!"
Aloy gives Link an amused expression that reads, we already beat this guy to Cotera.
"However," Pikango continued with concern, "although I know of the spot where it's likely located, it's really hard to get there. I'm not sure I can do it." He then sighs. "Even if it's just a picture, I'm dying to see it."
Link tells Pikango that he and Aloy will help him out.
"Oh! I knew it!" Pikango exclaimed happily. "I just knew there was someone like me nearby who appreciates true beauty. Sadly, I can't pin down the exact location of the Great Fairy Fountain. I haven't put it all together yet, but there's a suspicious place I have my eye on . . . In fact, I was about to head there now. Would you like to come along?"
"Sounds great," Aloy answered with a jab of sarcasm as she glances at Link.
"Great answer!" Pikango stated. "Just what I expected from fellow beauty connoisseurs like you two. All right then" as he puts his brush away. "Follow me."
They follow after Pikango, even though they know where he is going. As they crest the hill up pass the Ta'Loh Naeg Shrine, Pikango begins getting winded and stops to double over.
"So . . . tired," he gasped. "Hills aren't easy for old fogies like me. Sorry . . . but I don't think I can go on . . . The Great Fairy Fountain should be . . . Yeesh, I'm completely out of breath! That always happens right about here . . . I think I'd better rest for a bit. You go on ahead. And hey, if you find it . . . don't forget to get a picture!"
"We won't," Aloy said as she and Link continue onward.
They arrive at the Great Fairy Fountain and Link takes out the Sheikah Slate to snap a picture.
"Are you up to visiting Cotera again?" Aloy asked him.
Link answers yes and puts away the Sheikah Slate, then walks up to the edge of the fountain. Cotera comes bursting up out of the pool and leans over them with a smile.
"Ah, welcome back, boy, girl," she said. "Do you want me to enhance your clothing?"
Link agrees and has various clothing enhanced by Cotera, who this time kisses her finger and taps him with it.
"How about you, girl?" Cotera next asked.
"Um, sure," Aloy answered, then rummages around in one of her satchels. "Will these do?" And takes out the needed materials.
"Yes, it will," Cotera said, who also kisses her finger and plants it on Aloy as well.
Cotera then slids back down into her pool.
"Now let's go show Pikango that picture," Aloy said. "I hope it was worth our while."
They return to Pikango.
"Someday I hope to see that place spoken of in whispers," he said, "veiled in mystery . . . the Great Fairy Fountain."
Link tells him that he and Aloy found it.
"Ahhh!" Pikango exclaimed as he jumps onto his feet. "You . . . you both found it?! Really?! Are you serious right now?! And if you are, then where's the picture?! You remember to bring the picture, right?!"
Link takes out the Sheikah Slate and shows him the picture.
"This . . . This is the Great Fairy Fountain?" Pikango said with a undertone of disappointment. "It's certainly beautiful, but . . ."
"But?" Aloy asked whimsically.
"I thought it would be more," Pikango answered as he tries to find the proper words, "sacred and elegant."
"That's because the Great Fairy is more gaudy than elegant," Aloy said dryly, then notices Link giving her a comical leer. "Well, it's true."
"Well, I'm impressed you found it," Pikango sighed with hollow satisfaction. "I want to give you something to show my appreciation, but I don't think I have anything on me . . . I know!" As he perked. "Is there a place you've been seeking? I've traveled all over Hyrule, so I might be able to help you find it."
Link and Aloy exchange hopeful looks as Link takes out the Sheikah Slate once again, then shows Pikango a picture.
"A large gate with a snowy mountain beyond it," he mused, then perked. "Oh, I know that place. There is a big mountain east of this village . . . It's called Mount Lanayru. At the base of Mount Lanayru, on the west side of Naydra Snowfield, lies that gate. I'm almost certain!"
Link puts the Sheikah Slate away.
"I'm glad I knew about that location," Pikango said with satisfaction. "I suppose my help was useful, then?"
Link tells him that it was.
"So you intend to go to this Mount Lanayru?" Aloy asked Link.
Link nods while verifing it so, then checks out the Sheikah Slate's map to find it. He pins a light to it, something of which becomes visible when the Sheikah Slate is held up toward the spot through camera mode. Link holds up the Sheikah Slate and points it around until he and Aloy see a pillar of light through its screen off in the distance over the forest.
"That's in the direction where Cotera lives," Aloy mused. "I thought I noticed a road nearby going in that direction."
Link agrees and they return. Sure enough, they see just such a road alongside the Great Fairy Fountain's left as it leads onward. The duo go down that road, passing through sheer cliffs on either side. Up ahead, they see a fork in the road as one part goes left and the other continues forward. Off in the distance up ahead is a squarish arch crafted from stone bricks and showing decay. They also see a man up ahead who waves to them with an eager expression. Aloy cannot help but feel a bit uneasy about that man.
They meet up with the man in question, a traveler judging by his garb and packsack. He is wearing glasses and has bowl cut black hair parted in the middle.
"I can tell you two have trained your bodies well," the man said respectfully. "I'd say . . . you two are familiar with both sword and bow, correct?"
"Spear for me," Aloy said dryly as she tenses for action, knowing that she had heard that same line used on them once before.
"Anyway, that's a good skill set," the man continued, almost echoed. "Why don't you two join the Yiga Clan?"
"Link! Another Yiga!" Aloy exclaimed as she jumps back while taking out her spear.
"I will take your lives!" The man proclaimed hotly as he takes on a battle stance.
As it was with the previous Yiga, this one reveals itself to be such. Link and Aloy at first had to go more on the defensive than offensive, until the Yiga tries the typical vanish and drop from above once again, and this time Aloy points upward furiously. Sure enough, the Yiga appears to drop down upon her to get skewered through the throat, slashing a gaping wound that spurts hot blood. The Yiga lands and wobbles from the rapid loss of blood. Like the previous Yiga they had fought, this one also vanishes in a puff of smoke and flurry of red notes to leave behind its spoils, of which they take.
"Let this be a lesson, Link," Aloy sighed. "Beware of strangers who are happy to see you."
They continue onward. Once past the arch, the road had been laid with stone bricks and continues onward at a downward incline to pass alongside and over a narrow lake. Past another arch, they see barrels and metal crates scattered about on the road. They also see two blue Bokoblins sleeping on the road.
"Remember what I did to that Moblin up by that tower overlooking Hateno Village?" Aloy asked Link with a wicked grin. Link rolls his eyes as he grins slyly.
Aloy takes out a corruption arrow and takes careful aim. She releases it and it lands upon one of the sleeping Bokoblins, causing it to awaken with that sinister yellow mist about him. He picks up a spiked club and starts beating the other Bokoblin in its sleep. Between sleeping and the sudden attack of its comrade, the Bokoblin is unable to react and is beaten to death. The corrupted Bokoblin stops and the duo approach it, which continues standing there as if awaiting further orders.
Link walks up to it and shoves the blade of his Edge of Duality up through its chin, into its brain so that he ends up feeling the tip hit the inside of its skull. The Bokoblin immediately drops dead with a breathy groan. Link harvests its parts along with its comrade's.
"I do hope that the rest of the enemies we encounter are this lazy," Aloy said.
They walk past another arch, this one with a piece missing from it, and encounter barrels, more crates, both wooden and metal alike, and a single blue Bokoblin armed with a spiked spear. Link and Aloy are quick to pull out their melee weapons and engage the Bokoblin, with Aloy knocking its spear downward and Link stabbing it through the chest. The Bokoblin screeches in pain and staggers, but does not fall down so readily as it is a blue Bokoblin, making it tougher than the regular reddish brown skin ones. Aloy slashes it across the throat, opening its throat and causing it to fall. Link harvests its parts and they continue onward once again.
Pass another arch, the road is submerged in the lake. A raft with a sail is nearby. Across the lake is more of the structure of road that they are on. Closer examination reveals that the water is but ankle deep, showing that the lake had risen somewhat. Link stops Aloy and takes out the Sheikah Slate to hold up ahead of himself. On the screen, distance is brought closer, and it shows a section of the road further up that spans across the lake to join up with the rest of the structure. Unfortunately, a section of the road had collapsed to effective cut the other side off. Also unfortunate are two Bokoblins, one regular and the other blue, watching through a broken off edge of that road in their direction.
"So how are we," Aloy began. "Watch out!"
Three Lizalfos slink out of the water on all fours toward them, then stand up on their hind legs to attack, each wearing metal helms with two carrying a spiked Boko spear respectively and the other a spiked Boko club. Aloy busies herself with one of the spear adversaries as the other two go after Link.
The Lizalfos leap around, making it difficult for Aloy to stab it. The Lizalfos stops and flicks its tongue at her. The telltale metallic twang of her Shield Weaver letting her know that its tongue could not touch her. The Lizalfos next tries to stab her and she jumps aside. She tries to hit its spear in order to knock it off balance, but it is quicker and pulls its spear back before she could attempt to do so.
I forgot, these guys are quicker and more clever. Aloy thought.
This time, she swipes low and the Lizalfos leaps backward. Aloy had anticipated this and rushes it, slamming her shoulder into it just as its feet touches the ground. The Lizalfos staggers backward and Aloy swings her spear, catching it across the head, gashing its face and causing it to fall backward. Aloy follows through by stabbing it just beneath its sternum at an upward angle. She viciously pulls her spear back out, causing its blood to flow.
Aloy turns to help Link, seeing that he had managed to kill one of them leaving the club wielding one alive, but weary. She is about to rush to Link's aid when she notices a rush to one side of her from the water. She looks just in time to get slam tackled by another Lizalfos. It attempts to straddle her, only to get hit by the Edge of Duality that Link threw at it. The sword shatters, but the Lizalfos goes flying off Aloy, who is quick to get up and stab the Lizalfos before it can recover.
"Okay," Aloy gasped as she pulls her spear out of the now dead Lizalfos. "Now to deal with those Bokoblins up ahead."
They sneak around the corner to see if those Bokoblins are still there. They are as they have not budged.
"Either we were hidden from them or they have poor eyesight," Aloy mused.
Link takes out a soldier's bow then a bomb arrow, takes careful aim, and lets it loose to go flying. The arrow lands in their midst of the two Bokoblins and explodes, sending a shriek through the air and those Bokoblins flying.
Link urges Aloy to run as he runs. They run up to that overpass and underneath it, smack into two more Bokoblins, a regular reddish brown one armed with a spiked Boko bow and a black one with white streaks painted over its body and armed with a Moblin spear. Link shoots the regular one with an arrow, causing it to stagger, and next the black one. The black one proves tougher as it shrugs off the arrow sticking in it.
Aloy attacks the regular one before it could load another arrow as she stabs it through the heart and kicks the Bokoblin away while pulling her spear out. They gang up on the tougher black one.
The black Bokoblin swings its spear around in the attempt to hit them, but it bounces off Aloy's Shield Weaver and she lunges at it, stabbing it with her spear. It proves to have tougher flesh as it is more difficult to penetrate. Link follows through with the swing of another sword, this time an ancient short sword with the thin glowing blue blade. Link continues slashing it, making the black stagger. Yet it does not seem to feel any pain as it shoves Link away while bearing cuts and gashes. The black attempts to stab Link, but Aloy slashes its spear at a downward angle to knock its spear off course. It works as the black loses its balance and Link speeds in to hack at it some more, wounding it more. The black Bokoblin falls back and Aloy rushes it to viciously thrust her speartip into its chest, through its heart so that it falls down to convulse in its death throes and finally go still.
Aloy pulls her spear out of its chest. "Phew! That one was tough! I hope there aren't any more of them."
Link harvests the Bokoblins, with the black one yielding guts. They walk on and pass another arch and this time they begin going upward. They encounter yet another black Bokoblin, this one armed with a large club like those Moblins carry and a wooden shield with large tusks on it.
"I've really got to stop saying stuff like that," Aloy groaned as she takes out her bow and a fire arrow. She lets it loose and the Bokoblin puts its shield up. The arrow hits its shield, but catches it on fire. The Bokoblin squalls angrily as it waves its shield about in the attempt to put the fire out.
Aloy and Link are upon it as they battle the creature, as they take turns hacking and stabbing the black Bokoblin, finding this one to be every bit as tough as the previous one. Finally, Link slashes the creature's throat spilling its blood, just as the ancient short sword shatters, and it collapses. He harvests its body parts and they continue on their way.
They see the same sort of arch they had back when they first entered this area. Link stops and takes out the Sheikah Slate to look for the picture. He finds it as he holds it up to verify.
"Yup, it's the same picture," Aloy said. "So now-Link?"
As she notices that he has gone as still as a statue with a faraway look. He suddenly gasps with a shudder and expression of shock.
"What's wrong?" Aloy asked with concern.
Link tells Aloy that he is fine and that he remembers being here one hundred years ago with Zelda and four other beings when the Calamity Ganon had finally made its appearance over Hyrule Castle.
"Okay then. So should we return to Impa now?"
Link answers that they should, but that he first wants to collect some stuff from around the gate. They go over to it and Link collects red spicy peppers from around it. They look through to see a snowy mountain loom overhead, only to quickly duck back upon seeing something beyond it. Link takes out his Sheikah Slate and carefully puts it into position so that they could see what it was that they saw. Once he gets it into focus, Link takes a picture and pulls it away so that they could look at it.
It is a picture of an equine being with the upper body of a large muscled man with curled horns on its head and red mane. It carries a large bow on its back and a large sword that looks to only bash instead of cut, and a shield that resembles the head of a battleaxe. They read that the creature is a Lynel, very powerful creatures considered the favorite servants of the Calamity Ganon. Aloy also hazards a look to read it with her focus, then ducks back in before it could see her.
"I think we should leave now," she whispered to Link, who agrees.
