Getting back to Kakariko Village took longer than getting to Hateno had, but not that much longer. Shortly after nightfall of the seventh day of travel, the party reached their destination. On the way to Impa's house, Link noticed Petra covered in Cucco scratches, handing a Cucco to Cado. "That is being the last one."

"You look a little worse for wear," Cado said.

"These Cuccos are unlike chickens, dangerous prey to hunt," Petra said. Her grammar was technically correct, but her diction was way off. "I am thanking you for the experience."

"No, thank you for finding my Cuccos," Cado said. "I was worried about them. Though I guess my fears were irrational, considering that Cuccos can take care of themselves. Here," he handed Petra a purple rupee.

Petra took the rupee. "Hmm. It is not being enough to buy stealth armor, but I will be working on getting more."

"Good news: you don't have to," Caspar told her, surprising her. "We're getting paid to escort some builders to Zora's Domain. A suit of stealth armor just might be in the budget."

"Would two suits?" Monica asked.

"Has Monica been trying to be able to afford stealth armor?" Petra asked.

Monica held up a purple rupee of her own. "Yeah, but this is all I've got. One of the locals wanted me to catch fireflies for her. I can't exactly blame her, the fireflies are beautiful. We don't have them where I'm from."

"We'll have you two fitted for armor tomorrow," Link told them. "Right now, I have to speak to Lady Impa."

Monica sighed. "And I was hoping to stargaze tonight."

"Then stargaze," Link said. "I meant I wanted to speak to Lady Impa alone."

Monica frowned at that, but Link ignored her to talk to Impa.

Hubert watched as Link entered Impa's house. He looked at "Monica", who also seemed interested in what Link was going to talk with her about.

"We're spying on them, right?" Claude quietly asked the two of them.

"You know it," "Monica" agreed.

Hubert nodded. After all, he couldn't afford to let the two of them know something that he didn't.

Link glared at Hubert, Kronya, and Claude. "That was supposed to be a private meeting."

The three of them had the grace to at least look embarrassed.

"We were all kind of morally stunted at the time," Claude admitted. "You know that."

Link sighed and continued with the story.

Link showed Lady Impa the pictures on the Sheikah Slate. "And they haven't jogged your memory yet?" Impa asked.

"Just fragments." He grimaced slightly and looked away. "Nothing of substance or use."

"Link." Her voice was firm. "I did not send you to Purah in hopes that you would recover memories that would be useful in defeating Ganon. I doubt there will be much at all useful in the memories locked away in your mind—after all, you did not know how to defeat Ganon one hundred years ago. Yes, you failed. The princess failed. We all failed. And the kingdom has paid a terrible price for that failure. But you have been given another chance—another opportunity to right the wrong that has befallen Hyrule. Do not be so focused on your failure that you cannot see the hope before you."

Link didn't meet her eyes.

Impa continued. "I want you to regain your memories for you, as I am sure the princess wished as well. There is much pain in your history, and remembering it will not all be pleasant, but there is also much joy and laughter. You deserve to have those memories back as well."

"I recalled a fragment of a memory," Link admitted. "But not from the pictures. I visited my old house, and I remembered that I had a sister."

"That's good," Impa said. "Anything else?"

"Mipha, Daruk, Urbosa, and Revali," Link added. "I remember their names, and that I knew them. But I still don't remember them."

"Keep trying," Impa told him. "Is that all you remember?"

Link decided not to tell Impa about the strange emotions he had felt when he looked at the pictures of Zelda. It was...too personal. He nodded.

"Given time, I believe that you will recover more of your memories. Already, these images have helped you, and I would imagine that visiting the places that these were taken at might have an even stronger effect," Impa theorized.

Link felt a stab of worry at this. Was she suggesting that he go to the locations in each of those photos? He expressed these concerns to her, which only made Impa laugh.

"No, fool boy, I do not suggest you try to find each of these places! However, the journey that you must take to free the Divine Beasts is not so different than the one you and Princess Zelda took one hundred years ago. You visited each of the different races in Hyrule to see the Divine Beasts, and that is reflected in these photographs." She turned the Sheikah Slate around to show him an image of a beautiful white stone city held aloft by stone pillars over a large body of water. He could see some of the strange fish-men and women on the walkways of the city.

"Zora's Domain," Impa explained. "That is where I recommend you go first. It is closest and easiest to reach from here, and I have heard some… troubling news from that region recently. I am not sure of its validity, but the Divine Beast appears to be acting in a strange manner. It is possible that it is related to your awakening, but I am not sure."

Link was concerned. Ganon knew that he had awakened. He knew that much. Was Ganon trying to make its big push now, in hopes of destroying Hyrule before he could save it?

Could Zelda hold the floodgates shut for long enough?

"So those are Zora?" he said, finally. Impa gave him a flat look before launching into an explanation that, yes, those were Zora—a race of aquatic people that lived at the mouth of the Zora River. She also showed him the Gorons—the large, rock-like creatures that lived at the base of Death Mountain. The Rito were the avian people that lived to the west, in the Tabantha Frontier. The Gerudo were a race of almost exclusively women, and Impa informed him of where they lived as well—in the large desert, southwest of Hyrule.

After explaining these things to him, Impa handed him a package.

"I had this made after you left. I apologize that I had to call you back here, but I felt that you should have this."

He took the package, curious. He untied the twine and carefully unwrapped it. When it was unwrapped, he was shocked to see that it was a sky-blue tunic, matching the tunic he'd worn in the photographs perfectly. White trim formed simple symbols around the waist and sleeves, which he thought might have represented the royal family and the different races of Hyrule, and the trim, likewise, formed what appeared to be a sword that framed the V of the collar. Beneath the tunic was a simple white shirt with bands of red and green color at the collar and around the wrists.

"It is the Champion's tunic," she said, looking at him intently. "Each of you had an article of clothing or ornamentation cut to mark you specifically as Hyrule's Champions. Anyone who would look upon you while wearing that would have known who you were and your purpose."

His mouth went dry. He was no Champion, was he? In fact, from what he had been able to ascertain, he no longer even had the one thing that set him apart in the first place—he had apparently lost the legendary blade in his battle.

And yet, beneath the fear, he felt a strange sense of excitement. And truth be told, that scared him even more than the expectations associated with the tunic.

"You hold within you the power to defeat Ganon," Impa assured him. "Just as Princess Zelda did all along, so too do you. You are the one chosen by the Goddess, as you were in ages past."

Link stared at the graphic of the sword. "Impa. What of the sword?"

She hesitated for several moments. Link considered that to be a bad sign. "The Legendary Blade has had many names over the years. The Blade of Evil's Bane. The Sword that Seals the Darkness. The Master Sword." Her voice was carefully controlled, but he could tell that his question concerned her. "You were chosen by it—and it did choose you. No one else could have pulled it from its resting place."

"But where is it? Won't I need it?"

Again, she hesitated. "I… do not know, Link." His heart sank. "It was damaged in your fight against the Guardians before you fell. I never saw it with my own eyes; that information was relayed to me by the princess.

"She assured me that it would be repaired in time, and that it would be revealed to you when it again deemed you worthy of wielding it."

"We may not have time to wait!" Link shouted. "That sword is the key to victory against Ganon. And no one alive knows where it is!"

"The Princess—"

"We can't guarantee she'll be able to tell me where to find it!" Link protested. "We might not have time to wait!"

Impa slapped him. He stared at her, shocked.

"Our princess was seventeen when the Calamity befell Hyrule. And for seventeen years, she worked—every day—to awaken her sealing powers that would enable her to combat Ganon. You traveled with her for a short time but make no mistake. She had been told since she was a little child that she needed to learn to use her powers. She was made to pray to the Goddess every day—every day—for her powers to wake. And they did not."

"But she—"

"They did not, Link!" Her voice raised, cutting him off. "Not until Ganon had risen and destroyed everything and everyone she had ever loved. Not until her closest friends were killed. Not until you fell in battle. Only after all of that, only then did her power awaken.

"So before you speak of feeling unworthy, before you complain that you do not have the necessary tools, know that Princess Zelda faced that every day for her entire life. And yet, unworthy, untested, having failed her nation, Zelda—our princess—has kept Ganon at bay for one hundred years." She shoved a finger into his face, causing him to lean back. "In order to give you time to awaken. Because our princess still needs her knight at her side."

"And if I'm not enough?" Link asked.

"Perhaps that is why the children of Fódlan were sent to you," Impa theorized. "I am told that Flayn has divine power of her own. Perhaps she and her friends were sent to aid you in your quest. Still, I believe it is ultimately your quest. Not Flayn's, not Edelgard's or Dimitri's or Claude's, or any of theirs. Yours. So will you turn away?"

Link gripped the tunic. "No."

Impa smiled. "Good."