As the Rising Sun Company made their way across the Irch Plain, Petra sighted something. "There is being a Lynel ahead. And it is blue."
Link nodded. Taking a large piece of meat from one of the Korok pouches, he placed it on the ground. "Lynels can't speak our language, but they are intelligent. As long as we pay our respects, don't get too close to it, don't try to hunt in its territory, and don't stay any longer in its territory than we have to, then...I can't say for certain that it won't attack us, but it might not."
"Hopefully it doesn't," Ignatz said. "We didn't provide the best showing against the Lynel at Shatterback Point."
"We've gotten better since then," Raphael said.
"True, but this is a Blue-Maned Lynel. They're stronger than Black Lynels," Link said.
"Great," Leonie said sarcastically.
"Guys?" Ashe said. "We have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" Claude asked.
Ashe's response was forestalled by the sound of footsteps coming toward them. A Blue Hinox was approaching.
The Company collectively decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and they decided to run. Luckily, when they caught the attention of the Lynel, it decided to attack the Hinox rather than them. They didn't wait to see which one came out on top.
Once they reached the nearby Serenne Stable, Link stared out into the Tanagar Canyon.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?" Linhardt asked from behind him.
Link nodded. "It is."
"That's the Forgotten Temple, isn't it?" Linhardt pointed out a ruined structure carved into the canyon. Someone with sharp eyes probably could have seen the Guardians skulking near the entrance. Or, like Linhardt and Link, they could have used their Sheikah Slate's camera to get a better view of the temple.
"If only there weren't so many Guardians there," Linhardt mused. "I'm more a scientist than an archaeologist, but I find the idea of investigating a 10,000-year-old structure quite invigorating. Who knows what secrets could be buried there?"
"If you're interested in historical sites, the Forgotten Temple is not the oldest structure in Hyrule," Link said. "The Temple of Time is actually far older. No one knows exactly how old, because it actually predates the Kingdom of Hyrule."
"Interesting," Linhardt said. "There's so much history here in Hyrule. Not that Fodlan lacks history, but Hyrule was an old kingdom when the Adrestian Empire was in its infancy. In fact, it's entirely possible that the Kingdom of Hyrule was here when our Goddess first came to this world."
A sad look crossed Link's face. "You're right. The Kingdom of Hyrule stood strong for thousands of years. It stood strong as empires rose and fell and were forgotten." He sighed. "And I'm the one who let it fall."
"Link," Linhardt said sharply. "All this? This is not your fault, it's Astor's. And this is hardly the only time Hyrule has been menaced by evil. Didn't Hyrule spend seven years under Ganon's rule? If it could recover from that, it can recover from this."
Link took a deep breath, and exhaled. "You're right. Hyrule has never fallen so far that it couldn't rise again."
Link and Linhardt both understood that failure was not an option.
Flayn, meanwhile, was trying to make an omelet. She didn't think it was nearly done, but when Dedue approached, he insisted she turn it over immediately. He was right, of course; the omelet was done on that side.
"I used to be good at this," Flayn sulked.
The two of them sat in silence for a while. "I found potatoes for sale," Dedue said.
"There are potatoes in Hyrule?" Flayn asked. Potatoes were native to Fodlan. Hyrule was on the opposite side of the world. How did Hyrule also have potatoes?
"I was surprised as well," Dedue admitted.
After another pause, during which Flayn removed the omelet from the cooking pan, Flayn finally decided to acknowledge the leviathan in the room. "Should we talk about Kronya?"
"We do not have to if you do not want to," Dedue said. "But I cannot think of anything else to talk about."
"What does everyone else think?" Flayn asked.
"About half of the Company thinks, should we encounter Kronya again, we should give her a chance to explain her side of things. The other half thinks we should make it clear to her that she is no longer welcome in the Company."
Flayn shifted uncomfortably. "What about you?"
Dedue frowned. "His Highness thinks that if we meet Kronya again, we should make it clear to her that she is not welcome."
"That doesn't answer my question," Flayn said.
"No, it does not," Dedue agreed.
"Are you saying you disagree with Dimitri?" Flayn asked.
"Yes. I think we should hear Kronya out if we meet her again," Dedue admitted. "But I wanted to hear your perspective on the situation."
Flayn hesitated. "I'm not sure. On one hand, we don't really have a lot of reasons to trust Kronya."
"But?"
"But she did save my life, even at the cost of revealing her secret," Flayn said. "I don't think that necessarily means she's not the enemy. I can think of several reasons she might have protected me, some of which are purely self-interested. But I think it might be worth it to hear her out."
"And that's where we're going to stop for now," Flayn said. "And would it be too much to ask to take the afternoon off from recounting our adventures? I really want to spend some time at the fishing pond."
The rest of the returned students concurred that there were other things they wanted to be doing as well, except for Kronya. "You guys go on and take a break. I'll tell them about what I was doing at the time. After lunch, of course."