Link eventually woke up and immediately did his morning check:

1. That he was wearing more than just underwear

2. That there wasn't a King trying to guide him onwards

He exhaled in relief, even though traditional gerudo vai clothes showed too many scars than he would prefer, the embellishments and embroidery covering the garment never left him feeling too comfortable: they made sure that he was never so relaxed that he would be unable to keep his guard up. Assured that he was not to be sent on some new adventure, he looked around to find himself in a room at Hotel Oasis, a Gerudo inn that was known for its particularly special spa plans. Only then did he notice Chief Riju, sat at the opposite end of the room with her arms crossed and with one leg over the other as if she had been patiently waiting there the entire time but Link could tell from the sweat on her brow that in reality someone else had probably notified her that he was waking up and she had rushed over.

"It's rude to stare at a chieftain, you know." She said light-heartedly with a small smile before becoming more serious, "Now, what were you doing in the freezing highlands wearing clothes made for typical Hylian weather?"

Link didn't answer, instead choosing to volley his own question, 'How did you know where I was?' he signed back with suspicion, ignoring how his hands continued to shake.

For a moment, Riju was caught off guard by this question, she could feel her nerves rise but knew that he mustn't find out the truth. Luckily, she regained composure and spoke with a confident façade, "We were surveying the yiga from above their hideout, and one of the guards found you collapsed nearby."

In response, he glared, scouring for cracks in her reason but when he could find none, Link simply nodded to show that he believed her. Questions answered, he got up and started to clamber out the nearby window.

"Link, we have doors." Riju put a hand on his shoulder to pull him back before he could escape, "And we'll be going through them together, come now."

With no more fight left, Link sighed and allowed her to pull him out into the town. She explained to him that she thought he wouldn't want rumours to spring up, hence the clothing disguise. Typically, most adult gerudo were always looking for something to arrest him for when he came as a voe and he often suspected that the ones who pretended to be fond of him must have some ulterior motive. Riju though, had always ignored his suspicions that these people were truly yiga and insisted that all was fine. Even now, she didn't seem to pay much attention to anything peculiar happening around them like how much the inn owner smiled at the two of them when they checked out.

'Why am I still here?', Link asked once more whilst he constantly checked that his veil properly covered his face. He didn't care much about how blunt he was being, he was jittery and constantly looking to the sky to try and work out where Zelda should be.

Not even noticing that Riju had ignored him, he kept on looking up until instead of sky there was ceiling, and he was being shoved down onto a bar stool. His head turned to Riju in confusion but before he had the chance to sign how they were both supposedly too young to be served, Riju cut into his thoughts,

"You're definitely older than twenty so don't even try that and I'm only a year off, given I helped save the world I'm sure an exception can be made for me." She said all this while staring at the bartender eagerly, Link assumed that this was probably her first time trying to drink here.

He felt a weight lift off his chest, his fears that Buliara would behead him for getting the chief drunk dissipated as Riju begrudgingly sipped her milk and the bartender chuckled that she'd have to wait another year. Link, however, was indeed old enough and had gulped down his first glass, and his second, and his third. He hadn't believed Riju at first, but she was right, noble pursuit truly did take the edge off. His joints no longer seemed disgusted by how weak they were, his mind could barely keep itself focused on one topic for long, and by his fifth drink, he found himself unable to name all twelve geoglyph locations that Zelda circled. His hands had stopped shaking but now any signs he made were clumsy and only right half of the time.

'My sister would be your age now' he recalled, downing another glass, 'Except for the whole hundred years thing, really she's probably buried in some random field with no marking.'

Riju glanced at him in surprise, never having heard anything about Link's family, knowing how volatile alcohol could make someone, she decided to try and skirt around more serious topics, "I thought the only thing you really remembered from back then was your life as a royal knight?"

At this, Link shook his head, 'At first, yeah, but sometimes I get these flashes when I stare at a campfire for long enough. I remember she was always smiling and loved to fix up my armour but-' he paused until the bartender handed him another round, 'I don't even know what her name was now'.

"I'm… So sorry, Link," Was the only thing that Riju could bring herself to murmur back, it had quickly dawned on her that he'd clearly never been this drunk before: he was ignoring his limits. She signalled to the bartender to stop serving him, "Alright, that's enough, let's get you to bed." She said it calmly, gently helping Link to his feet.

Instead of going with her though, he pushed her away and for the first time in months, she heard his rough voice that sounded as though it had been dragged and scarred at with every battle he had won, "No- no- back then she was staying in castle town- it was the best place for a would-be-tailor to find work- the guardians would've-" He held his head in pain, as if this was the first time he'd pieced it together, "The guardians that I was meant to protect them all from-"

Tears had started to form in the heroes' eyes, he'd long since removed the veil in order to have an easier time drinking and now the other customers were all staring at the two as Link continued to break down. Riju felt herself stiffen and suddenly became far more self-conscious, this time, she removed Link from his seat with a bit more force, yet he continued to refuse to sleep, he kept murmuring how he'd already slept enough, how if he didn't sleep then he'd still have a sister.

Unable to understand what these words meant, the only thing that Riju was sure of was that even if she locked him in a room, he would leave the moment the effects of the alcohol started to waver, he'd feel too ashamed to face her after she'd seen such vulnerability. She considered her options, rito and gorons often struggled to understand Hylian sign language as their hands couldn't properly speak it in the first place. This was especially true for Yunobo who always needed someone to tell him what Link said, Tulin was quite proficient, but Link was clearly in no state for a child to handle him. Zora with their long lifespan though were all well-educated, Sidon probably knew even more than she did as she'd only learned the language due to Buliara insisting a leader be able to understand all her people. At this, Riju noted to herself to thank Buliara and tapped the blue ring on Link's finger,

"Meet us at Outskirt stable- don't rush into the desert and overheat, I can take care of him until we reach you." She said firmly with the voice of a leader, knowing that anything less would lead to him rushing in and falling victim to one of the desert's many electrical enemies.

And with that, she lugged Link over her shoulders and set out, shield surfing with her beloved Patricia.