Chapter 36 - Ancient Sheikah Technology
Summary: Robbie discusses with Zelda his translation of the documents found beneath Hyrule Castle. Mipha is still coping with her feelings over Link's time with Kodah yesterday.
"Ah, yes, the oral tradition. One of the least reliable methods of information retention and transmission."
-Fi, Skyward Sword
It was midday at Hyrule Castle as Queen Zelda, Purah, and Robbie met in the first-floor private dining room.
"Maybe you can tell me over lunch about what you discovered in your research, Dr. Robbie," suggested Zelda. "I'm also quite partial to history."
"With pleasure, Your Majesty," said Robbie, rubbing his hands after giving Purah a look.
"And I think Her Majesty would rather hear about the contents of the documents than how hard you worked on them," said Purah with a smirk.
"I don't mind hearing both," said Zelda with a small chuckle.
Purah and Robbie had an excellent professional relationship and could work together like clockwork on many projects, masterfully complementing each other's knowledge. However, there was always some friendly competition between the two of them, especially for Zelda's recognition. Robbie had started as Purah's assistant but eventually grew into a top-tier researcher in his own right, thanks to his intelligence and dedication to work.
"Without delving too deeply into the arduous nature of this task," Robbie began, casting another glance at Purah, "allow me to convey that these documents date back nearly ten thousand years and are penned in an ancient Hylian dialect, occasionally peppered with terms from an extinct culture that employed its own entirely distinct language. Moreover, the pages were not always arranged in the correct order, which rendered deciphering them akin to solving a complex puzzle."
"I can only imagine the challenges you faced," Zelda acknowledged warmly. "The fact that you've made any progress at all is truly commendable."
"Thank you," Robbie responded appreciatively. "Your suggestion of seeking aid from the castle library was a wise one. However, before Dr. Purah becomes further vexed by my self-congratulation, let's delve right into what I've managed to learn thus far. Perhaps the easiest approach is to read directly from my translation of the source material itself. The initial section serves as a preamble in which the author describes the purpose behind this document. And though I've been the one working on the translation effort, Dr. Purah, please feel free to interject with your insights at any point."
"Of course," Purah agreed with a grin. "You know me well."
Robbie gathered up his notes and, between pauses to eat and drink, began to read.
My name is unimportant and best left unknown, for my life would be forfeit should I be discovered. Suffice it to say I am a Sheikah who has devoted their life to studying technology. I rose to hold a position of importance as one of the assistants to my Master, who served as an advisor to the king of Hyrule. What I am doing now violates both the new laws of the kingdom and my own tribe's oath. For we Sheikah have always feared knowledge of the workings of our technology might fall into the wrong hands. And so we have guarded our secrets by insisting they not be written down but passed on only by word of mouth, from Master to pupil. And so it has always been done.
Recent events, however, have forced my hand, and I must defy these edicts lest all be lost. Since I do not know when my writings will be found, let me explain the need for such drastic measures.
It is a tragedy that our most glorious moment, the defeat of Calamity Ganon, has ended in such a shameful manner! Our Guardians and Divine Beasts played key roles in our victory. The hero was fearless, a testament to his mixed ancestry, and wielded the Goddess's sword as the most capable swordsman in all of Hyrule. And the Princess, with the divine blood of Goddess Hylia flowing in her veins as her birthright, sealed away that great evil.
But we were barely done celebrating when there came whispers of fear and treachery. Kohlim, the King's closest advisor, began to speak poison into the king's ears. I still vividly remember a meeting that I attended along with my Master.
"This is a momentous occasion, a time of great celebration," said the king, "but you seem concerned, Kohlim?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Kohlim with bowed head. "But you should know that amidst all their rejoicing, your subjects are fearful. And perhaps we should all be as well."
"What do you mean?" asked the perplexed king.
"Did you not witness the awesome power of Sheikah technology, Your Majesty? We have relied on it for years to protect our people from all manner of threats. Monsters dared not attack us. But the Divine Beasts are on a completely new level, powerful behind measure. They are fearful weapons of terrible destruction. And the Guardians, too, are extremely dangerous. What if another power got its hands on this technology? Or what if our current allies, the Sheikah, decided to betray us? They would hold us at their mercy and crush us all with ease!"
"My Lord, I must protest!" interjected my Master gravely. "The great power of the Divine Beasts was every bit necessary against an enemy as formidable as Calamity Ganon. Any lesser power and your daughter, Her Highness Princess Zelda, and the hero might well have been lost forever. As for our loyalty, you know our people's history. Since time immemorial, we Sheikah have always been strong supporters of the Hyrule Royal Family. My ancestors spilled and shed blood countless times for them. Why should there be any reason to doubt our loyalty now?"
"But even if your loyalty is not in question, the Calamity is defeated, is it not? Do we really need to keep all this power at the ready? Is not peace truly achievable now after what we have endured?" Kohlim responsed.
"We all know the evil will return someday, though may that day be long in coming. Do you wish to condemn our ancestors to utter destruction by our real enemy?" my Master replied.
"Past heroes of legend did not rely on Sheikah technology such as this to defeat our enemies. Why must a future one?" said Kohlim.
The debate raged on until, finally, the king grew weary.
"There is some truth in what both of you say," said the king. "Let me take my time to consider this matter and not act too hastily. For it is a momentous decision."
It was after this meeting that we Sheikah met, and my Master, fearing the worst, developed a plan to aid in Hyrule's future survival no matter what happened. Some monks, the most devout among us, agreed to create shrines that would help train and test a future hero's abilities should that be necessary. They would then be placed in stasis within their shrine and pass onto the hero their spirit's life force upon completion of the shrine's challenge. These shrines would stay dormant and impenetrable until activated by the towers already positioned around Hyrule, which in turn would be activated by the early detection of Ganon's presence. A device was also created to be used by the hero to enter the shrines and perform other useful functions, such as access to travel gates.
In the end, as my Master feared, the King bowed to his people's fears and made a proclamation - Sheikah technology was to be outlawed under penalty of death. The Guardians and Divine Beasts were to be buried, and my people were offered a bitter choice: either renounce our technology and live a simple life or be hunted down by the king's soldiers. However, the king made one concession at my master's strong urging. The shrines were to be left untouched and standing, as my master convinced him they could not be used as a weapon and were purely defensive in nature.
Needless to say, we felt utterly betrayed. The king was like the dog who bites the hand that feeds it, ungrateful for all that we had done for him and his people. Ultimately, some of us accepted exile and chose a simple life in our homeland of Kakariko Village. Others refused and fled to the west, swearing revenge against the kingdom of Hyrule.
It was after our meeting in which we discussed our plan to create the shrines that I made the decision to begin recording what I knew for fear of losing our knowledge forever. This was my last hope to ensure that our legacy lives on.
Robbie paused to take a drink.
"That was indeed a shameful time in my family's history. My ancestor let fear cloud his thinking," said Zelda. "But I can also understand his people's fear of the unknown. And to be fair, as we all know, our enemy did seize control of this technology. So, there was indeed some truth on both sides. In the end, though, it came down to trust."
"That concludes the preamble," Robbie informed them. "Subsequent pages contain diagrams and instructions for constructing devices like the Sheikah Slate, Sheikah Towers, Travel Gates, and even the Divine Beasts. The author evidently prioritized documenting this information initially, fearing an inability to complete the task. Naturally, I won't read these detailed technical sections aloud, but they constitute an invaluable addition to our knowledge. Until now, our capabilities have been limited to imitating or adapting existing Sheikah artifacts; we lacked the know-how to craft them from scratch. For instance, the additional Sheikah Slate we assembled was a direct replica of the one we discovered. Without a functional model to replicate, we wouldn't have been able to create it."
"I understand," Zelda responded.
"Moving on," Robbie continued, "the author proceeds to describe some of their early breakthroughs. I won't delve into all the specifics, as some are already known. However, they commence with an overview of the marvel of ancient energy, which then leads into a particularly intriguing section."
All our technology is powered by what we have named ancient energy, a blue liquid substance whose origin is unknown to us. This liquid has several remarkable abilities. It can draw and absorb energy from its surroundings to indefinitely power a device or mechanism. It can retain information at a detailed level and recover or reconstruct it when accessed appropriately. And it can recreate physical objects from the information it stores, converting between energy and matter. It took some time, but we eventually realized many of the implications of these ancient energy attributes.
A great pool of ancient energy lies beneath Hyrule Castle and at two other locations to the east. It was in the process of tapping into this underground ancient energy beneath the castle to power our expanded construction that we discovered the remains of an ancient civilization. Little was visible beside carvings and statues, but such inscriptions as we could find I have transcribed here in their strange language along with my best guess at possible meanings. One mural depicted a scene in what could only be the Temple of Hylia in the Tabantha region, so discoveries likely remain to be found there as well. There is also some indication our distant ancestors may have had some contact with this civilization, but that is uncertain. Any record of that is lost, no doubt a victim to our custom of relying solely on oral tradition.
In any case, much as we would have liked to research all of this further, we could not do so. We needed to complete our plan while we still had time. And then, after being banished, our research into these mysterious discoveries ended. Our Master swore us to secrecy about what we had found.
"Perhaps someday our ancestors can more thoroughly explore this and learn its mysteries," said my Master. "Let us leave it a secret to everybody for now lest the king destroy it too in his zeal."
"That's as far as I've gotten in my translation. But it indicates secrets are waiting to be discovered beneath Hyrule Castle and at what has come to be known as the Forgotten Temple."
"A fascinating story," said Zelda. "We know some of it is true, but I wonder if all of it is?"
"Without investigating, we cannot say," said Robbie. "The question is what to do next."
"You mean, should we investigate this? Or should we not kick the Octorok, let sleeping dogs lie?" Zelda asked.
"Precisely, Your Majesty," said Robbie.
"Naturally, the scientist and historian in me would love to research this matter further," said Zelda. "But as Hyrule's ruler, I must also maintain caution. Could it be that this person is leading us to uncover something better left undisturbed? They state they only want to avoid the loss of knowledge. But they also admit they are willing to defy law and a Sheikah oath of secrecy, so how trustworthy should we assume them to be? Perhaps this person knows more than they say and joined those who swore revenge on our kingdom. This might be their way of trying to achieve it."
"From a limited review of the device plans they included, that part of their writing seems accurate," said Robbie. "But of course, if their intent was ill, then they might be seeking to pass that knowledge on to those of like mind, like the Yiga Clan."
"And let's not forget that the Yiga Clan has not been destroyed yet," added Zelda. "I need to consider this carefully. To help me reach an informed decision, we should call a meeting of key people such as Link and Mipha, along with you two and Impa."
"If my overly cautious sister Impa attends, you can guess where she stands on the issue," Purah said with a slight smile. "She will say no to any exploration."
"Sometimes no is the right answer," laughed Zelda in agreement. "But now that lunch is finished and everyone's appetites are in no danger of being spoiled, perhaps Dr. Purah, you can tell us about your insect and lizard anti-aging experiments?"
"Gladly!" beamed Purah. "I'm making great progress on the calculations for the proper dosage based on age, metabolism, mass, and growth rate. For instance, a butterfly of mass…,"
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, may I grab some more tea?" Robbie cut in. "My eyes suddenly feel quite heavy."
"Of course. Please help yourself," Zelda chuckled as Purah sent him a nasty look.
Meanwhile, earlier that morning in Zora's Domain, Mipha was finishing breakfast with Raypha and Tidon while Link remained asleep. Mipha had to admit her mood was not the best. She thought she had gotten over things last night. Certainly, Link was extra loving and contrite enough about what happened. But she couldn't help it. When she awoke this morning, a wave of memories crashed over her, including her old insecurities, and they dredged up the pain of Link being with Kodah the day before. So, Mipha had been quieter than usual that morning, and Raypha couldn't help but notice her mother's mood.
"You okay, Mom?" said Raypha. "You seem to have something on your mind."
Mipha sighed, her face drawn into a frown. "Oh, it's something that happened yesterday with your father," she began. "I shouldn't really let it bother me as much as it does because I know we both love each other. It just surfaced some unpleasant sunken memories, is all."
"What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" Raypha asked as she reached across the table and held her mother's hand gently.
Mipha shook her head. "Maybe some other time," she replied softly. "You both should get ready to go soon. You don't want to be late for class."
"Very well, Mom," said Raypha. "Come on, Ti. I hope you did the reading assignment."
"I hope you did the math homework, Ray," replied Tidon.
Mipha embraced and kissed both children goodbye, and they left for the day.
About an hour later, Link stirred from his sleep, his extended rest due to the taxing physical exertion of the previous day and his evening with Mipha. He shuffled out of the bedroom, still groggy, and discovered Mipha seated alone at the table.
"Good morning," Link greeted her with a kiss on her forehead.
Mipha managed a faint smile and indicated the counter, where a Hyrule Bass lay atop a bed of ice.
"Good morning. Tidon left a Hyrule Bass on ice for you before he and Raypha left for class."
"Excellent! I'll get it cooking right away," Link responded as he began to prepare the fish. "Do you have any appointments this morning?"
"No," Mipha replied softly, her eyes fixed on him from her seat at the table. "I hope that won't interfere with any plans you have with Kodah."
Link let out a sigh as he reached for some Goron spice from a nearby cupboard and sprinkled a pinch over the sizzling fish in the pan. He turned back to Mipha, their eyes locking as he spoke reassuringly.
"Absolutely not, of course," he murmured. "Are you ever going to forgive and forget about that?"
Mipha took a deep breath before responding.
"I have forgiven you… but you cannot truly understand how reopening that old wound of you being with her affects me."
Pausing briefly, Mipha continued as the aroma of the frying fish filled the room.
"There was a time when I feared losing you to Kodah, which drove me crazy. I knew losing you to Zelda would have been easier for me to bear. At least I wouldn't have to see you with her all the time. But the thought of you living here with Kodah instead of me… Well, can you fathom why this affects me more than you might expect?"
"Yes, and I'm so sorry that happened," said Link as he finished cooking his meal. "But you needn't have worried. My heart has always belonged to you. Now, if you haven't any other plans, we could spend the morning together doing something. Any ideas?"
Mipha nodded in response. "Yes," she replied. "I'd like us to revisit the same locations you were at with Kodah yesterday. This way, when we return to those spots later, it will be my memory that lingers in your mind, not hers. It's a bit of a Zora territoriality thing."
"Alright, let's do it!" Link agreed eagerly as he settled down to enjoy his breakfast. "Although I must admit, it will be quite challenging for me to tackle the strong current and waterfalls two days in a row."
"In that case, you'd better eat up," Mipha advised. "You'll need all your strength for our adventure today. And I might even add some extra exercise to keep things interesting."
After their meal, Mipha and Link embarked on their mission to recreate the previous day's activities. As expected, Link again needed a brief respite before attempting the ascent up the second waterfall below Toto Lake.
"This part was particularly tough last time," Link remarked.
"Did she assist you by holding your hand, or did you conquer it on your own?" inquired Mipha.
"I did it entirely on my own," Link affirmed with conviction. "Our hands never came into contact, of course."
Taking a moment to recover his strength, Link swam up the final waterfall alongside Mipha. Upon reaching the top, he paused to catch his breath and reflected on the events of the prior day. If he had known how much Kodah's presence would trouble Mipha and awaken her jealousy, he would have adhered to his original plan of hiking alone. He hoped that Mipha could move past her feelings soon, and he was determined to do whatever it took to make that happen.
"I'm ready," Link declared once his breathing had returned to its regular rhythm. "Next up is a hike around Upland Zorana, and I'd like to hold your hand, sweetheart."
They interlocked their fingers as they strolled through the area and then past the spot where Link had chipped the Luminous Stone for her, a detail he made sure to point out.
"At least you remembered something about me then," Mipha remarked.
"I remembered everything about you," Link assured her. "And trust me, my thoughts are only of you and our family."
"I do trust you," Mipha replied. "However, I don't trust her. And sometimes, you're just too kind-hearted and vulnerable to being taken advantage of because you desire so much to please others."
"It's not as often as you might think," Link responded. "I love you, and the idea of being unfaithful to you has never crossed my mind. I'm your husband, and I never lose sight of that."
"Are you fully recovered now? Is your breathing alright?"
"Yes, I'm perfectly fine," Link assured her.
"Great! Come with me. It's time for you to make up with me again and heal my wound for a change," Mipha said as she tugged on his hand and led him back toward Toto Lake.
"Wait, are you still genuinely upset with me? Or is this your way of ensuring I continue trying to please you as much as possible?" Link inquired, gazing into her eyes.
"Perhaps a bit of both, dearest," Mipha replied with a squeeze of his hand. "I've got you right where I want you!"
Link laughed as they reached Toto Lake, where they both dove in and spent the rest of the morning wrapped in each other's arms, letting their love rekindle and heal the wounds of the past.