Small white clouds scudded across the clear blue autumn sky. The wind hastening them to the northwest carried a chill, which allowed the early morning dew to remain well past dawn. Autumn was coming, its presence heralded by the gold and scarlet beginning to pepper Hyrule in eye-pleasing arrangements.

Brigo hated all of it. The scenic beauty was wasted on the impatient patrolman, for to him it was merely a symbol of time's inexorable passing. The sky was an especially bitter point of observation, for he could only behold a small portion of it from within the hilled confines of Kakariko Village. Indeed, Brigo was beginning to detest the sheer rock walls, gentle tussocks and oval-shaped huts that had become his prison wall, ground and cell.

Ne'er again, he angrily thought to himself for the umpteenth time. Ne'er again I'll wonder what the bloody Sheikah do where none else can bloody see!

The Sheikah's ancestral home had held little, if any, interest for him since his ill-fated return from Zora's Domain. The village was mostly empty with all but a scant few sent to reinforce the Wetlands Stable - where Brigo should be. The thought of being held here against his will while his fellow stablemen fought all manner of Ganonspawn made the tall Hebran grit his teeth and clench his fists in frustration.

Those shaking hands were not held by any bonds. Brigo's stork-like legs, which strode angrily through Kakariko without truly going anywhere, were not tied down to prevent him from setting out northwest with the wind. The only shackles keeping the itching patrolman in place were the piercing brown eyes of a woman a third his size.

Hylia take the wee crone! Brigo thought savagely.

There was little chance of that. Impa was the Sheikah elder, all but the goddess's mortal right hand in Hyrule. At least, that's what the legends said. To Brigo, she was a pint-sized halter that kept him from where he was needed most.

And for what? To whittle away precious time under the casually unrelenting watch of the few Sheikah guards that remained? They did not shadow him. They didn't have to. If Brigo so much as approached one of the two canyon-enclosed gateposts that were both entrance and exit to the village, a pair of well armed Sheikah merely made their presence… felt. They never said a word, but as sure as his mammy when he was five years old, Brigo knew they were not letting him leave.

Such conditions would be sufferable if the patrolman knew the why behind them. True to her people's way, Impa's explanation had been maddeningly vague.

"We must make certain your way is safe before you proceed," the wrinkled old bag had told him. "Until then, please enjoy Kakariko's hospitality."

"I've made meh own way safe since I was as tall as yerself, meh lady," Brigo had replied in a perfectly good-natured tone. "I'll be just fine makin' meh way to Wetlands."

"I insist," Impa had replied just as sweetly before her clawed and bony hand snatched the Sheikah slate - the means by which he had traveled from Zora's Domain to Kakariko in the blink of an eye - from his unprepared grasp. "Oh, and I must also insist on safeguarding this until you leave. I'm sure you understand."

With that the old crone had smoothly dismounted her throne of cushions and retreated to her quarters upstairs without another word!

That was two sunrises ago. Brigo had not seen Impa since, nor had he received any word regarding his no longer imminent departure. A hut and cot in which to sleep. Food and drink. And silence. Deafening, maddening silence.

Not that the Sheikah were a noisy lot to begin with. They were great ones for keeping to themselves. Still, Brigo knew from past experience that Kakariko usually hummed with activity if it did not necessarily shout it. Now, with more Sheikah disbursed than at any time since the Great Calamity, the ancient village seemed all but abandoned.

Brigo hoped Link was faring far better than he. Why shouldn't the lad? he thought resentfully. Man of action, ain't 'e? Link says jump an' everyone else salutes an' says 'right yeh are, our great sword-swingin' Champion o' Hyrule!'

The patrolman had been heartened to see his young friend during his brief visit to Zora's Domain. Link had seemed far less forlorn than when they had first met, though still as dead-set on deed-doing as ever. Brigo couldn't imagine what the lad's body and mind must have endured in life and Sheikah-induced sleep, but he appeared to be handling his absurd burden well.

Then there were the Zora whose company Brigo had just quitted. Impressive types. The Ganonspawn at the wetlands were in for a nasty shock when Dorephan's people reinforced the stable. Each Zora was twice the height of a Hylian and armed to the teeth, while their king looked as though he could crush a fully grown lizalfo in one hand.

The satisfying image only emphasized Brigo's own inaction. In a fit of restless rage, the patrolman kicked a wooden post that formed part of a swine enclosure. Unlike Brigo's booted toes, the stout pole did not yield. Hebran-accented curses shattered Kakariko's normally undisturbed tranquility.

"Yours could very well be the first profanity to grace Kakariko's otherwise unsullied air."

Brigo whirled about to behold the object of his frustration. From her Sheikah sigil straw hat to the loose white-and-red robes clothing her person, Impa appeared unchanged from their previous encounter. The same held true for her wrinkled face and tired eyes, though the latter still boasted a sharpness that would have put Brigo's mammy to shame. They cooled some of the anger he had stoked to fiery life within him. Some of it.

"Weel I'm glad yeh've deigned to notice the lowly stableman in yer midst!" Brigo added a mocking bow to match his introduction. He tried to ignore the imaginary cuff his father would have given him for his cheek. "Fer a moment there I thought yeh'd gone an' meditated yerself into fergettin' why yeh kept me in yer ruddy town in the first place!"

"I forget nothing, Master Brigo," Impa returned coolly, "least of all one of the few friends left to the Champion of Hyrule. You will forgive me if I value your life enough to resist discarding it mere moments after you miraculously return to us."

"Of course, yer ladyship!" False sincerity positively dripped from Brigo's voice. He now understood why Link's patience had run so short with the woman. "'Tis out o' the goodness o' yer heart I'm kept here aginst meh will while meh countrymen are dyin'! 'Ow could I not 'ave seen as much? Now that yeh've had meh swaddled tight and tied to yer apron strings fer a stretch, do I git to toddle outta here, then?"

A small smile played on the Sheikah elder's wrinkled features.

"Would that I could ask your equerry to see you swaddled and tied so," Impa said in something dangerously close to a chuckle. "It might teach you the manners you have so clearly abandoned."

"Rensa might just try if yeh ask 'im," Brigo admitted. "He's keen on respectin' yer people, e'en if he's got his own reasons to mistrust yeh."

"Rensa is no longer in a position to consider my requests," Impa replied with a surprising note of heaviness. "I received word more than a fortnight ago that your equerry was slain."

Brigo's breath hissed inward sharply. He was no stranger to death even among friends, but Rensa had been one of the most solid and capable equerries he had known since joining Hyrule's last remaining shred of law and order.

"Hylia rest his soul," the stableman muttered before asking aloud, "I suppose 'is brother took it hard. Near attached at the hip as men as they were, an' since birth at that."

"Now they are joined in death," Impa added smoothly. "Tassaren met the same fate on the same day - as they returned from Hateno to the Dueling Peaks Stable."

"An' yeh thought to sit on the news until now?" Brigo angrily asked. He actually took a step toward the Sheikah elder, only to notice the sudden and extremely close appearance of two armed women. Neither had drawn her weapon, but their eyes were narrowed slits of suspicion aimed at the man accosting their leader. The patrolman drew no closer, but neither did he blunt the severity of his expression. I do be done be playin' Sheikah games an' riddles!

Impa, however, did not appear troubled by the patrolman's words or tone.

"Any death is a waste, but I found theirs especially troublesome," the old woman graciously admitted. "I had been led to believe that those few Ganonspawn that survived Hateno had fled the area entirely. Clearly, that was not the case."

"Dorian said they'd scarpered," Brigo recalled suddenly. "The lad could no find hide nor hair o' the beasts."

"All the more surprising then," Impa said as she removed a well-creased and folded parchment from within her robes, "to hear the opposite from Dueling Peaks's new equerry."

Brigo snatched the note from the Sheikah's venerable and wrinkled hand, then quickly unfolded and read its contents.

Sheikah,

We regret to inform you our forces are needed to cleanse the Bubinga and Hickaly forests of the Ganonspawn infesting those regions. Until then, we will be unable to provide aid or assistance to your village or its people.

Equerry
Dueling Peaks Stable

"Any wally with a quill an' parchment could've written this rubbish!" Brigo snorted in disbelief.

"Which is why I sent one of my people to ascertain the truth of it," Impa returned, and this time she sounded truly troubled. "He did not return."

Brigo's considerable eyebrows contracted sharply. Sheikah went unseen by choice. They did not go missing. What the bloody hell is goin' on?

"So yeh've no idea who this barmy new equerry is?" Brigo asked aloud. "It can no be a stranger. I've been there over ten years an' I know near everyone in the Necluda."

"For once, I know less than most," Impa ruefully admitted as she refolded the letter. "We received this missive after requesting the stable join us in aiding the Wetlands. No patrolmen — or tradesmen for that matter — have frequented Kakariko since.

"So yeh weren't stringin' me along like some ruddy carp," Brigo muttered while somewhat abashedly rubbing the back of his neck. The Sheikah elder smiled at his humble show of understanding.

"As much as you yearn to join your countrymen at Wetlands, I find myself in need of your services at your home stable," Impa explained while motioning for Brigo to follow her toward the eastern edge of the village. "What few Sheikah remain have ascertained that no immediate danger awaits on the path to Dueling Peaks. They will ensure your safety — from a distance — when you return today."

"Got it all planned beforehand, haven't yeh?" Brigo wryly observed as they drew near a small stable. A horse well-laden with his own overlarge pack of supplies and spear stood ready and waiting.

"It is usually more efficient this way, yes," Impa replied even more dryly. Then the ancient woman withdrew something else from within her robes — the Sheikah slate Brigo had reluctantly inherited from Purah in Hateno. Impa held onto it just as the patrolman began to receive it, her ages eyes locking into Brigo's.

"I do not know what awaits you at Dueling Peaks," Impa warned, "but its portent is not good. Take care that you do not risk your life needlessly. I fear Link may yet need you before the end. Inform me of what ails the stable, then return to his side."

"Dunno why yer frettin' for the lad," Brigo said offhandedly as he swung up onto the piebald mare. "Link's a ruddy living legend, after all."

Impa smiled at the remark, but Brigo could not miss the sincerity behind her reply.

"Even legends — be they swordsmen or Sheikah — need the help of others."

The old bag's got a point, Brigo reflected. I've already pulled Link's fat out o' the fire. Can't be all bad havin' a ruddy Champion owin' me - or a Sheikah fer that matter.

"I'll see what's got the equerry's hat in a twist," Brigo said aloud with a small bow of respect. The old crone's concerns hadn't proven completely addled, after all. He could almost forgive her for leaving him to twiddle his thumbs. "'Til then, may Hylia guard yer bonny wee steps!"

"And yours, Master Brigo," Impa answered with a hand raised in blessing.

With two days of pent-up energy clamoring to be spent, Brigo whirled his mount and departed through Kakariko's southern canyon at a gallop.