The following mid-morning, the party arrived at Kakariko Village. Naturally, as soon as they arrived at the village, they were confronted by armed guards. "They all have white hair," Lysithea whispered, surprised.

"Who are you and where do you hail from?" one of them demanded.

"Cado, look at his hip," another pointed out, indicating the Sheikah Slate on Link's belt.

"Wait, that means you're...Lady Impa told us to expect you," Cado said. "But she didn't tell us to expect the others with you."

"Cado, they're with Sir Link," the second guard said. "Surely they wouldn't be traveling with him if they had ill intent."

"You don't know that, Dorian," Cado said. "The Yiga Clan are deceptive, and three of them are carrying Yiga knives." He indicated Petra, Ignatz, and Monica.

"The knives were being claimed in battle," Petra protested. "We were tried to be killed by assassins, but the assassins were the ones being killed. The knives were taken by us."

"I can vouch for them," Link said.

"Very well, Sir Link. If you say they aren't the enemy, we'll believe you," Cado said. "Welcome to Kakariko Village."

"Hey, Felix. Tell them about Paya," Sylvain said.

"Paya?" Seteth asked.

"Impa's granddaughter," Felix said. "Very sweet girl."

"Come on, you're not going to tell them about what she thought when we first arrived at Kakariko Village?" Sylvain asked.

"I don't think it's necessary," Felix said.

"Well, if you're not going to tell them, I will," Sylvain said.

"You're going to have to wait," Dorian told the visitors.

Paya was too nervous to introduce herself just yet. Sir Link, the Hero of Hyrule, and his traveling companions had arrived at Kakariko Village.

She tried to pick out the Hero from the group. Her first thought was that he might be the one with the Sheikah Slate.

But then Cottla ran up to him and offered to play tag, and he happily accepted. A kind gesture, to be sure. Cottla was often bored and lonely since her mother was killed, as her father was often busy and her sister Koko rarely left the cooking pot. But it didn't really track with Grandmother's stories of the Hero. According to her, he was too quiet and stoic to indulge in children's games.

Eventually, Paya thought she had identified Link. He had to be the one with dark blue hair. While the others had been caught up in conversations with the villagers or each other, he was standing resolute, waiting for Grandmother to be ready to see him.

She privately thought he cut quite a dashing figure.

"Stop it," Felix insisted.

"What?" Sylvain asked.

"Stop making fun of Paya," Felix insisted.

"I'm not making fun of your girlfriend, Felix. That's what she said she thought. Or are you embarrassed?"

"I will beat you senseless, Sylvain. Don't think I won't," Felix threatened.

While the two of them argued, Flayn cut in. "Perhaps I should talk about Koko instead."

Flayn noticed a small girl by a cooking pot. That didn't seem safe. "What are you doing?"

"Koko is cooking!" the little girl said. "Mother taught Koko how to cook, so Koko is cooking."

"Shouldn't your mother be cooking with you, then?" Flayn asked.

Koko deflated at that. "Mother is gone now. Koko has no one to cook with."

"I'm sorry. My mother is gone too," Flayn told Koko. Then she made an exaggerated motion as if she had an idea. "I know! I'll cook with you. And we can make something that will make both of our mothers proud."

"Okay!" Koko agreed. "Now, what should Koko make?"

Flayn tried to suggest something, but Koko cut her off. "OH! Hot buttered apple sounds good! Mother used to make it all the time! Cottla loves it too! Let's see, the ingredients are apples and...goat butter?"

She gasped. "Oh no! Koko is out of goat butter! Koko is a bad daughter who can't do anything right. Koko will never be like Mother..."

Flayn was about to offer sympathy when she remembered something. Link had bought food ingredients from a man at the stable. Maybe goat butter had been one of those ingredients. "Koko, I think I know where to find goat butter."

"You mean it?" Koko asked.

"Yes, just wait right here for a moment, and don't do anything," Flayn assured her. She went to find Dedue. Claude had given him the Korok pouch before entering the village because, in his words, "any pickpocket would think twice before trying to steal from you."

"Dedue! You have the Korok pouch. I need goat butter if you have any."

Dedue thought for a moment. "No."

"No? Why not?" Flayn asked.

"We do not have enough supplies to be wasteful," Dedue insisted.

"I know, it's just...the little girl at the cooking pot feels like a worthless daughter because she can't make hot buttered apples like her dead mother," Flayn said.

Dedue looked Koko's sad expression and sighed. "Very well. But I insist on being allowed to help."

"Sure," Flayn agreed. The two walked over to Koko and Dedue fetched the goat butter from the pouch. "I heard you needed goat butter?"

Koko looked at the offering. "Are you sure about this? Really? Thank you so much! Koko means it!"

As it turned out, Koko was a pretty good cook, and she only needed Dedue's help once or twice within the cooking process. "You know a lot about cooking, mister," she said. "Did your mother teach you to cook too?"

Dedue didn't change expressions, but a deep sadness was visible in his eyes. "My sister did."

Koko caught the change in Dedue's emotions. "Koko is sorry. She shouldn't have asked."

"You did not know," Dedue assured her.

"Koko thinks she would have been proud of these hot buttered apples," Koko said, holding up a plate of five hot buttered apples. She gave one to Dedue and one to Flayn. "Koko will work hard to get better and better at cooking!" She then ran off to give a hot buttered apple to Dorian.

Dorian approached the two of them. "That was a very kind thing you did for my daughter. Thank you."

"It was no trouble," Dedue assured him. And Flayn saw Dedue in an entirely new light.

On the surface, he had seemed to be just a hardened bodyguard. One who was a bit intimidating, if she was being honest. But beneath the surface, it seemed he was a very warm-hearted, sweet person.

Not unlike the delicious hot buttered apple Koko had given her.

That was when a young lady with white hair stepped out of the house with the stairs. "Lady Impa will see you now."

90% of the reason I have never played Crimson Flower is because of Dedue. I love Dimitri and Rhea, but I could potentially bring myself to kill them. I can't bring myself to kill Dedue. It would make me too sad.

Next time, the meeting with Impa.