To her surprise, Impa was the first of the trio to wake up.

When she pulled back the privacy curtains surrounding her bed, she quickly took note of the brightness outside. The stable hands were moving around, chatting and doing chores, the birds chirped and the horses neighed outside, accompanied by the sounds of hooves hitting the ground.

She had half expected to find Link awake first, he was the first one awake when they were back at the castle, usually keeping up with his morning training at the crack of dawn.

Walking around, she found it curious that the princess' sleeping area was wide open, bed empty, yet her boots still sat next to the frame, untouched from the night before.

Though the oddest thing she found wasn't the Princess' empty bed. It was Revali staring at Link's bed, curtain slightly ajar with a very soft snort emanating from the space.

Awe, Link snores. That's kind of cute. She tiptoed over curiously, wanting to know what had the rito archer so enthralled in the knight's slumber that he simply stood there watching creepily.

When she finally stood beside him, she peeked around the curtain and saw, sleeping peacefully in his arms, the Princess deep asleep. It was a cute scene, watching Princess Zelda nuzzle her face into him whenever his arms tightened around her form.

I don't think I've ever seen either of them sleep in this long. Impa shrugged and turned to leave, only stopping when Revali mumbled something.

"Why is he holding her like that?"

"You mean cuddling?" Impa raised a brow, confused at why Revali was asking such a question.

"Holding her like a fledgling. Why?"

Like a fledgling? Impa bit back a snicker. "A fledgling? Really?"

"What kind of knight holds a princess like their own child?" Revali shook his head, obviously very weirded out by something he knew little about.

"What? Hylian couples hold each other like this. Couples. " She emphasised to him when he turned to glare at her.

"You all have such bizarre customs. And those marks, what in the world caused this type of injury?" He motioned with a wing to the faint hickeys that still dotted the princess' skin from her week. All of the cosmetic products to hide them had been gradually wiped away by sweat, it seemed. "He's doing an absolutely terrible job of protecting the princess!"

"Shh, don't wake them." She shook her head. "Besides, those aren't injuries," She pointed out, not bothering to hide the smug look on her face. "He has them as well, he's just better at hiding them for the sake of professionalism."

With Revali's silence filling the stable, Impa proceeded to get a bit closer to the bed, pointing out a small bruise sitting at the junction of the knight's neck. She didn't dare touch his tunic, knowing that he'd likely wake up immediately and see them both just staring at them.

"That one looks painful," The Rito noted, eyes crinkling. "I stand by what I said, you hylians and your odd mating customs." Revali made his exit while Impa stayed rooted in her spot.

That does look painful. She got a bit closer, careful not to make any sudden movement. She did feel awkward studying her friends while they slept, but Revali's comment did make a valid assumption. That particular mark did seem different than the hickeys the princess seemed to sport so proudly. By the partial uncovering of the mark, she could see that she could practically identify teeth marks.

What kind of fangs are you hiding, Princess? Impa retreated away from the bed and pulled the curtains closed, allowing the two their privacy. Now to make sure no one spreads around any rumours about the princess and her knight… She exited the large stable tent and made a sharp turn to the horses, ready to take a look at her stallion before either of them got up.

No less than a half hour later, as she was brushing dried mud from Abraxas' dark coat, both knight and princess emerged from the stables together, tired as can be as if they hadn't slept a wink.

"Well good morning, sleepyheads. Hope that sleep was as good as it looked," She threw a wink their way and brought her attention back to the stallion.

"What time is it?" Link yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head until a distinct pop resounded, followed by a silent groan.

Impa checked her watch. "Almost 10:30."

"Ten?" He nearly choked out. "Half the day is already gone!" And that simply, Link vanished back into the stable, likely gone to grab his pack and any of their belongings they hadn't already grabbed.

"I'll never understand why he gets up so early…" Zelda deadpanned as her own yawns escaped her lips quietly.

The loud sound of a neigh came barreling around the back corner of the stable, the pristine white mare of the princess coming into view "Well, Storm says good morning as well." The horse pushed her way between Impa and Abraxas, obviously wanting attention despite the other creature's voiced displeasure of a hoof beating against the ground.

"So how was your cuddle with Sir Link?" she teased, not needing to look at Zelda's face to know she was blushing.

"You saw that?" she cried, embarrassed.

"So did Revali."

"Revali?! Why did Revali see?"

"He seemed quite curious to know why Link was holding you like a fledgling."

"Like a fledgling? " Impa nodded and shrugged her shoulders.

Shoving the brushes into a nearby bucket designated for them, she turned back to the Princess after dusting her hands from the sand. "We should get going soon. Tanagar Canyon is pretty long and it'll take a while to figure out what's going on."

"Speaking of, do we have a precise location for the origins of the tremors?"

"Supposed to be the Forgotten Temple apparently." Link announced his presence once more, his bag slung over his shoulder. "Had I known this before we left, I would have brought us to Serenne Stables instead." He kicked a small pebble in displeasure. "I'm all packed and ready to go."

"Already?" Impa was surprised.

"I only unpacked the bare necessities." It was obvious to him, clearly.

"Well now that all of you are awake, let's get moving. I'm a busy individual," Revali told them, perched a rock not too far away, likely having listened to most of their conversation in silence.


"We've been walking for hours, are we almost there?" Impa asked loudly, listening to her voice echo through the deep canyon.

For most of the day, the four travellers found themselves wandering the mostly barren Tanagar Canyon, having initially jumped off the Tabantha bridge, Link and Impa using paragliders and Revali having ever so kindly brought the princess down himself.

Zelda was more than happy to note that Link was in a far better mood that day.

The odd silent treatment from the day before had dissipated and he was now having small talks with Impa ahead of the group while she remained back with Revali for a bit as they walked through the dusty ground, small tumble weeds and the numerous boulders that littered their path.

She hadn't remembered the canyon being so deep, with every time she looked up, it was just tall rocky walls surrounding them. Even Revali himself admitted that the walls themselves might have been too tall for him to fly over from their depth, his gust not quite strong enough to carry him over such a steep area without additional winds to assist.

That she found quite peculiar, she hadn't been told of such a limitation in his abilities.

Of course, she didn't pry for more information. She was quite aware of Revali's disinterest in speaking about so-called weaknesses, especially when it was his that were the subject at hand.

Rather, she opted to stay quiet and enjoy the calm walk, void of any strange people staring at them. She doubted there would be spies down here, it was a pain to get into the canyon, and it would be a pain to get out, that much she knew already. Link had mumbled something about that before taking his leap off the bridge, glider in hand.

It made her think back to their conversation from the night before, he'd told her of the suspicions of one of his colleagues, about a mysterious poison found on one of the accompanying knights, and his own suspicions regarding both of their safety.

"I feel almost silly now. I'm almost hyper-fixated on my own safety," he confessed after almost an hour of talking. "I'm not used to thinking of my own safety on top of yours. I'm sorry if I worried you."

I'm sorry if I worried you.

It baffled her. Why would anyone ever feel the need to apologise for having to think of their own safety?

It made her think. Where could potential assassins hide? She knew behind boulders and tall broken pillars could be one, she noticed the increasing number of crumbling pillars as they moved along. She instinctively looked up.

Nothing but tall rocks. Very, very tall rocks.

She sighed quietly and pulled out her Sheikah slate, flicking through the pages. Perhaps I can take more pictures . She looked around, searching for anything that might be interesting enough for her to study later.

Once a suitable pillar was found —not too disintegrated nor too crumbled— she approached, camera function at the ready.

The architecture was unlike most of the ruins in Hyrule, age-wise, she wasn't sure if it was the oldest building on her continent. She'd seen the Zonai ruins and they were clearly old, but they were in places easily accessible, but this was clearly not Zonaian in origin.

This was hard to reach, most of it crumbled by age and weather.

Her fingers ran over the carvings in the stone, unclear if it was lettering or cultural design. "Fascinating," she let slip as she took a picture.

Dusting off some of the dirt that clung to the particular pillar in front of her, she began uncovering what seemed to be a glyph of a bird standing on its hind legs, wings spread. I wonder what species it is… the design screamed familiarity to her, yet she couldn't place it.

She traced the line work, ending on the small triangle sitting atop the head of the bird, wondering if she might have seen it before.

"Link! Impa!" She called out, halting their advance through the gorge. She kept her eyes on the stone, clearing out the dust and dirt, even going as far as unearthing buried parts of the pillar.

"Did you find something?" She heard Link ask from the other side.

Impa came to crouch beside her, looking over the fine weathered lines. "Do you recognise any of these, Impa?"

"No I don't, but it does share a striking resemblance to the royal crest, does it not?"

"It does… but we lack a few of the elements of this particular drawing," she pointed to the legs and the head of the bird drawing.

It was her knight's turn to take a look at the pillar's drawings.

"Wait, that's on my shield." The way he said it so simply had Zelda rewinding what Link had stated so plainly, unsure of if he had really said what she thought.

Something so old, something possibly older than her kingdom itself, decorating the prized Hylian Shield passed down in her family for the hero of legend.

"Is it really?" She nearly jumped around to him in surprise. "Show me!" He took a step back before taking the Hylian shield and presenting it to her. All decorum had flown out the window as she hounded him about it.

Jumping back from the sudden closeness, he happily unequipped the shield from his back and presented it before the Princess, more than happy not to be attacked for withholding precious information.

There it was, the same drawing. The same bird, depicted in red against the blue metal of the shield. The same Triforce insignia sparkled in gold above the designs.

"I always thought it was just my family crest…" Zelda mumbled, fingering the engravings. "I've never paid it much thought until now."

"Princess, how long has the Hero's Shield been a part of the Royal Family? If I recall, it has always been a symbol, no?"

She nodded "It supposedly dates back to the first Calamity, perhaps further."

"That's one sturdy shield." Revali commented.

"Legends state it's indestructible," He mumbled, turning it over to glance at the glittering red, blue and gold decorative elements. "Not something I personally believe, really." Link mumbled, knocking it with his hand. "Everything breaks at one point, right?"

"Right… but it has endured a suspiciously long time. Forging techniques long forgotten to us were used on it and no one has been able to replicate it since."

"That it has." He agreed with them.

"Princess, if I may," Impa began, "do you think perhaps the Forgotten Temple has something to do with the shield? Or maybe Sir Link himself?"

Did she not know? Zelda cocked her head to the question, looking between Link and her sheikah friend.

"Impa, the Forgotten Temple was once a place of worship for the Heroes of Legend. Each was said to have been immortalised into its halls so that we would not forget their deeds."

"Huh…" Was all Impa seemed to say.

"That sounds asinine," Revali ruffled his feathers. "Inflate his ego, why don't you?" He snarkily said, gesturing to Link, who'd grown quiet again. "Just tell him now that he'll be painted into a mural for worship."

"Revali, it's called the Forgotten Temple for a reason," she deadpanned. "Almost no one remembers this place, nor has it been visited in decades." she thought the rather obvious decay and lack of care was obvious, but maybe it wasn't.

Maybe I can come to fix it up sometime… she wondered if she might be able to come clean it up or at least restore the parts she could.

"A fitting name then-"

"Let's just get a move on, shall we? Let's reach before sundown." Impa cut between Revali and his rambling, hoping for them to continue.

A bit late… It's almost dark already. Zelda looked up to the sky, darkened already by the telltale sign of the setting sun.

"Come, it shouldn't be too far now." Zelda stood up, dusting the dirt and sand from her pants before continuing. She wasn't in the mood to listen to Revali's words anymore, it was suddenly apparent why Link preferred silence when they met him. It was dreadfully apparent.

True to her word, they continued for another hour in the dark before the temple came into view, its large imposing presence shone through the moonlight directly above, its shadow stretching far.

To Zelda, it was an architectural marvel despite the walls falling apart, the large boulders and mountains of sand obstructing her view . It was gorgeous, crumbled statues till littered the outside, carvings of a divine bird repeated over the walls and the high arches of the blocked entrances.

She could only imagine its grandeur at the peak of its time. She could see it in her mind; the small birds and the lush greenery that would have surrounded the great temple. Perhaps worshippers of the goddess came here to pray? She wondered if perhaps the blessings of the goddess could be found here if it truly did still hold the memories of heroes passed on.

Maybe… Just maybe, this might be my chance. She squeezed her hands into fists, praying to every deity that this trip would not be fruitless.

It took them a few minutes to climb to the entrance way above, the lower archways blocked by many layers of stone and debris. Revali assisted in flying up Zelda while Link and Impa expertly scaled the wall, almost competing with each other —Impa won.

Upon taking their first steps into the old crumbling temple, the four froze.

Guardians everywhere. A long drop to the ground, and many tall pockets of wind.

They remained quiet, taking in the scene before them.

The many rooms had crumbled, giving easy access from the air and ground alike, a large tree sprouted from one of the walls, Zelda made sure to investigate that peculiar thing later, but oh, the guardians. They were everywhere and she didn't recall anyone ever coming down here, even less one of the researchers.

"Princess?" Impa was the first to break the silence. "The guardians?"

"Inactive it seems," she answered back, cautioning a step closer before she suddenly gagged, clamping a hand over her nose and mouth.

The scent was putrid, among some of the worst she'd ever had the displeasure of smelling.

She turned to look at Link, who seemed to be in a similar state. He was awfully pale, his hand also clamped over his nose as he forced coughs down, but it didn't seem to work.

Revali and Impa both took steps back from the two, surprised at the sudden coughing and gagging as if to protect themselves.

"Perhaps this is a sign we shouldn't enter?" Impa asked, suddenly unsure of the temple.

"Nonsense," Link muttered through his blocked mouth.

"We came all this way." Zelda finished in similar fashion.

"We're fine."

If Zelda had to describe the smell, she'd probably have said it was the nightmarish version of the milk and cheese incident involving her father and a bowl of baked beans along with something more.

"Link? What do you think?" she asked, raising a brow and pointing to her nose.

"Death."

Death described it well, very well indeed. Death would have likely been more pleasant.

"Well, shall we carry on then?" Impa hesitated, motioning to the inside of the temple.

"You all can go in, I must return to Rito Village as soon as possible."

Before any of them could respond, Revali left as quickly as he'd said goodbye, the rest of them left speechless.

"What was the point of coming if he was just going to leave us?" Impa asked, completely incredulous at the Rito.

The only thing she and Link could do was shrug and make their way into the temple.

Getting down was easy enough once they'd gotten used to the putrid air inside. Both knight and princess envied Impa for her basic sense of smell, she kept openly talking about barely smelling anything and both kept sharing glances of quiet seething as they tried to ignore the stench.

Walking through the halls, it became quite apparent to Zelda that the stench came from the guardians, and it brought to her a reminder of a conversation from two weeks before when Purah had suggested using Link as a bloodhound to hunt for parts.

Way to torture the poor man if this is what those parts reeked of. Zelda vowed to never trick him into doing that ever again, the nausea settling in her stomach every time she stepped closer to one of her favourite contraptions.

That was something Zelda found interesting since she'd been allowed an exit from the castle following her presentation.

All of the smells, all of the different scents. It was dizzying, confusing, everything all at once, some good and some bad. Some delicious and some absolutely horrifying.

Like the stables, Great Goddesses, the stables at the castle may have been one of the worst. Never had she imagined horse dung to smell so… revolting. Stomach churning. All of it.

She couldn't imagine the cheese incident now that she had a heightened sense of smell. No wonder the captain of her father's guard had excused himself that day. She couldn't imagine what that man had smelled if she had found it so foul.

"What's that?" She shook away the memories of disgust and listened to Link speak, his hand pointing to a golden glow emanating from the far room.

Not many things glow like that… She hoped it was magical in origin. What if it was connected to her abilities? What if it was something that could hint her in the right direction to unsealing her magic.

The trio shrugged. After noting nothing else of interest among the guardians scattered around the rooms, the three made their way to the end room where they stopped to gawk at the tallest Goddess statue any of them had ever seen.

Safe for Link.

Through the dark, she could see his eyes become unfocused, almost as if he was zoning out.

"Link?" She tried, putting a hand on his shoulder. His eyes seemed to lack the recognition of her voice.

He didn't respond to her, his expression shifting down to the ground where there was a shining gold light beneath the dirt before the Goddess statue.

"Link? Hey!" Impa shouted as the man began stepping closer to it. "What in the world has gotten into him?" They watched quietly as he moved soundlessly.

It was in front of the glowing spot when he finally knelt, dropping rather hard against the stone floor, when his hands began smoothing the sand and dirt out of the way, revealing a spot in the slabs where she could see a weathered symbol of two crossed swords.

When she glanced at Link's face, she saw only a dazed expression, his eyes glossed over as he slowly dug around the slab with his hands where the light came. Somehow, he managed to lift the slab from its tight spot.

"Link?" No answer came from her knight as the hole gradually got deeper. "Link? What are you doing?" She knelt beside him, waving her hand in front of his face. "Impa, he's not responding!" She began shaking his shoulders, begging for any response until a sound of scraping pulled her attention away, his body stilling.

She looked down to the earth to see a piece of wood, somehow still in good condition, sitting beneath his fingers. But it wasn't that that pulled her attention the most.

It was the faint glow upon the back of his hand, identical to the glow coming from the box, as if they were two magnets amplifying each other's power.

How did I miss this? Her eyes were glued to the faint glow of the triangle on the back of his hand, identical to the one she bore, yet hers remained dim.

"It's a box." It was a rather obvious statement, Zelda found.

Link had lifted a small wooden box out of the dirt with ease, the deep fog in his eyes gone.

A trance? She had never seen anything like it, but she was sure that's what that had been. A bizarre trance-like state.

"Open it!" Impa squealed, plopping herself down beside the duo.

Zelda's personal rules of artefact collection and preservation be damned, she wanted him to open it as well. She couldn't care less about the use of gloves and proper tools, she really didn't give a damn whether she had a bag for sample collection on her.

The glowing box was too intriguing.

Zelda shifted the box out of Link's hands, creaking it open. Inside, revealed a small leather-bound notebook, what seemed to be a small statuette, and a piece of ember-coloured crystal.

Something about the fragment of gemstone felt almost alive in the box, its dim light beating like a heart. Link was the first to caution an attempt at touching the contents, his first instinct going to the small bird statuette and picking it into his hands.

Before she could have the opportunity to investigate the contents of said-mystery box any further, her curiosities were interrupted by an unexpected surprise that came in the form of her knight collapsing face first into the dirt in front of her, unresponsive as if someone had turned him off.

"Link? Link!" She haphazardly placed the box away from them and hurriedly turned him over with the help of Impa, who lifted his face out of the dirt.

"Link seems to like keeping us on our toes, that's for sure," Impa grumbled before shifting the unconscious man into a sitting position. She was thankful he was small, moving his body around like a ragdoll was easy enough.


Link wasn't exactly sure what happened exactly.

One moment, he remembered touching the glowing box and opening it. He remembered touching the bird carving and he remembered hearing both Zelda and Impa shout his name.

Now he felt as if he was swimming in nothing. Stuck in his mind with no way out. There was no one here to help nor was he in a room of some kind. He felt he had no physical form. Simply just a being floating in nothing, basking in absolute darkness.

"You certainly took your time, didn't you, Link?" A male voice rang out around him from no particular direction. It came from nowhere and everywhere at once. Each time he attempted a glance, he saw nothing but black until a small flicker appeared, a small green spark erupting into a small floating flame.

Nothing but fire. A green talking fire in his subconscious.

"Show yourself." The flame remained in its form as if to taunt him, ignoring the words.

"This is the form your mind has conjured for me, this is something out of my control, Link."

He chose the form the fire took? Was it because he couldn't identify the person to whom it belonged? To give an identity to a faceless being in his imagination?

"Take the form you choose," he tried.

The flame took the shape of a boy before him, sitting cross-legged. It reassembled him in age, but not for clothes. A garb he didn't recognise, yet had seen in the numerous story books he'd read growing up about heroes garbed in green.

The man taking form before him was dressed in a simple green tunic and chainmail, and his expression was soft, very relaxed, serene even. Link thought it complimented the way his brown hair fluffed out very nicely.

"Well, well, it's been a while since I've had the pleasure to meet one of my successors."