Link had escorted Flayn to the Spring of Power so she could receive Din's blessing. And he had a feeling he remembered this place.
He couldn't place exactly why, though, so he focused on what was at hand. Flayn was here at the spring to offer Dinraal's scale. She was wearing a Zora-made set of Silversteel scale armor, which the Zora smiths had offered to create for her when they had seen Edelgard's Goron-made armor. Speaking of Edelgard, she was also here, as was Hubert, naturally. Lysithea had also come with them. According to them, Edelgard and Lysithea were cursed in some way, and Dinraal had suggested visiting the Spring of Power with Flayn. Edelgard wore her armor, while Lysithea wore a ceremonial dress. They hadn't been able to agree on whether the Goddess who represented power would respect strength or penitence more. Flayn's armor was, according to the Zora, made with both battle and religious ceremonies in mind, so she had worn it to avoid taking a side.
Damn, he was sure he had been here before. But when?
Suddenly, his vision started to shift, as it had when remembering before.
Zelda had needed to visit the Spring of Power. Having already visited the Spring of Courage and not unlocked her sealing power, she had to visit the two other springs. Since she hadn't turned seventeen yet, she was forbidden from visiting the Spring of Wisdom. Hopefully she would unlock her powers tonight, so she wouldn't have to.
Naturally, Link was with her, as he almost always was. He had prepared them both some beef stew for dinner. Fortunately, Zelda seemed to like it.
"You're an excellent cook, Link," she commended.
"I guess so," Link said. "I'm not nearly as good at it as my father, though. And I had to make do with ingredients that made easy trail fare. Maybe when this is over, you can visit my home, and I can get my father to make you a celebratory feast."
"I'm looking forward to it," Zelda said, smiling. Her smile faded quickly, though. "I'm going to go change."
"Shout if there's danger," Link told her, respectfully giving her privacy as she did so. When she returned, she was wearing that damn ceremonial dress.
Oh, by any objective standard, it was a beautiful dress. But it didn't look natural on her the way her trail clothes did. When she wore the dress, she wasn't the Zelda he had come to know. She was trying to be the holy woman everyone expected her to be. Link had known holy women, and Zelda wasn't one of them. Zelda was in her element in her study or Purah and Robbie's lab. Here, she was out of place.
He hated seeing her in that damn dress.
"I'm sure you'll get that blessing this time," he assured her.
As he had done before when they visited the Spring, he turned to wait outside, but Zelda caught his arm. "No, please, stay."
Link nodded and watched as she entered the Spring to begin her prayers.
Hours passed, "I come seeking help regarding this power that has been handed down over time." He heard Zelda beginning her prayer anew behind him and winced. "Prayer will awaken my power to seal Ganon away… or so I've been told all my life."
That was new.
Frowning, Link glanced over his shoulder at Zelda. She still stood in the water before the statue of Din, hands clasped in front of her chest. Though the water only reached her hips, her hair was long enough that it just barely brushed the pool. As he watched, she slowly unfolded her arms.
"Yet Grandmother heard them—the voices from the spirit realm." Zelda's shoulders slumped, and she looked down. "And Mother said that her own power would develop within me. But I don't hear or feel anything!" She looked back up at the stone visage of the Goddess, raising her hands in supplication.
"Father has told me time and time again—he always says, 'Quit wasting your time playing at being a scholar!'" She paused, and Link held his breath. "Curse you." Zelda slapped her fists down into the water, bowing her head. "I've spent every day of my life dedicated to prayer. I've pleaded to the spirits tied to the ancient gods, and still the holy powers have proven deaf to my devotion."
"Please, just tell me. What is it?" Zelda only hugged herself tighter, curling up while still standing. Her hair slipped around her shoulders to hang loosely over her face, golden locks dipping into the water. "What's wrong with me?"
Link couldn't let this continue. Releasing the Master Sword and allowing it to clatter to the ground, he turned, stepping into the pool.
It was like ice. They may as well have been in the Hebra Mountains for how cold it was. And she had stayed in there for hours.
Startled out of her misery, Zelda whirled to face him. Her skin was pale; her lips a shade of blue. "Link, what are you—"
"You've been in here long enough. Come on, let's go start the fire up again and get you warm."
"No, I must keep praying," Zelda said, shaking her head.
Link approached through the water, breaking the silence of the night with his loud sloshing.
Zelda's eyes were wide, and her voice lacked any real conviction. "Link, if I have any hope of awakening my powers, I must continue to entreat the Goddesses. Surely they simply await proof of my devotion."
"If the Goddesses can't see your devotion, then they are blind," he said bitterly. His voice contained a surprising amount of bite, even to him. Zelda looked taken aback, glancing towards the statue in horror. Link took a deep breath, moderating his tone. "I'm sorry, what I meant is that I'm sure the Goddess values both your devotion and your sense of self-preservation.
"You're going to freeze if you stay in here any longer. You need some rest, too. You're exhausted." Link held out a hand to her. "Come on. You've done all you can tonight. You can try again tomorrow, if you want."
Zelda looked at him and then at his hand, biting her lip. She glanced once more back towards the statue of Hylia and sighed. Bowing her head, she reached out and took Link's hand, allowing him to lead her out of the spring.
When his mind returned to the present, he noticed his hands were clenched into fists and his vision was blurred. "Why? Why make her experience that?" He stared at the statue. "The fault clearly didn't lie in her. Why did you and your sisters refuse to grant her the power she needed?"
He glared at the statue. Had Flayn, Edelgard, and Lysithea not been there, he didn't know what he might have done."You had damn well better not make the same mistake with those three. Or I swear, I don't care if you're a Goddess. I will knock your teeth right out of your head."
Flayn and Lysithea were praying like religious people. Edelgard felt self-conscious.
She had been religious once. But that was a long time ago. Nowadays, she doubted there was anyone less religious than her who wasn't an Agarthan.
Still, she had seen plenty of evidence in Hyrule that, whether she worshipped them or not, the Goddesses of Hyrule existed.
There was no chance she would be able to pretend to be faithful. So in her prayer, she decided to lay out exactly what she wanted and why Din should give it to her. "Look, I know I'm not the most religious person. But without the Crests slowly killing us, Lysithea and I will be able to do more for Hyrule in the long term even if it does reduce our short-term effectiveness."
"You know, it might not have to do even that," a voice said. "I can help you. For both of you, we can combine your doubled Crests into single, better Crests that won't harm you. There is a cost, though."
"Great! What do we have to do?" Edelgard asked.
"Find the last key in the ruins in the Forest of Night," Din told her. "Open the hidden door in the place where your journey began. There we will grant you your new lease on life—if you survive."
"What do you mean, 'if we survive'?" Edelgard asked. But she got no reply.
When she snapped back to reality, she noticed Flayn was gone. After looking around, she noticed a cave had appeared in the mountain behind the spring, with a Shrine within the cave, and Link was standing next to it. It didn't take a genius to figure out where she had gone.
Of more interest was Din's message. That, she had to share with Lysithea.
In any case, unless Lysithea had gotten the same message, it seemed Edelgard had won the argument.