Blustery wind heavy with salt cut inland from Malin Bay and across Akkala's eastern shores. The setting sun set rippling waves afire with liquid gold before they were spent on the sands their predecessors had produced. The scene would have been breathtaking had Link cared to take it in.
Instead, the Hylian Champion kept his gaze firmly fixed on the well-worn road. His thoughts ran the same fruitless circuit they had made since leaving the fairy's abode. They ended where they always did: with no alternative but to take Mija's offer. Every time he told himself as much, his stomach clenched in desperate denial.
Attempts to escape this line of thought only produced other frustrating rounds. What had spurred Zelda's renewed presence in his mind's eye? It should have been a comfort, but the voice he had heard atop the highlands had been one of fragmented despair, nothing like the cool guidance or heartfelt sorrow he remembered. The princess, held captive within Hyrule Castle for a century, had somehow reacted as though she could see what Link himself beheld. Did she see through him even now? If so, why did she not reach out to him as she had on the Great Plateau?
In that encounter, Zelda had instructed him in the most basic nature of the Sheikah Slate. Briefly consulting the ancient and marvelous artifact did nothing but emphasize Link's uncertainty. The beacons marking the remaining three Divine Beasts remained, glowing in their unrevealed portions of the map. The one nearest him, Vah Rudania somewhere among nearby Death Mountain's crags, might as well reside in the farthest reaches of Hyrule. Unless Link parted with Mipha's gift.
His eyes lit across the blue-glowing icons that marked the shrines and towers he had already activated. Link was sorely tempted to return to Impa in Kakariko or Purah in Hateno. Perhaps one of the Sheikah sisters possessed answers or options he did not. Yet with the Akkala tower surrounded by Guardians, Link's closest point of return would be Zora's Domain. He would waste days retracing his steps, with no guarantee of returning with a solution. No, better to press on and… what? Then his thoughts returned once more to the fairy and her piercing offer.
In Zora's Domain, Link had thought his confidence restored. Now it was in shambles, and it shamed him to know the root of his dilemma lay in a possession. Yet Mipha's pendant was proof of their love, a gesture of her desire to lay healing hands on him long after she had left this world. The thought of pawning such a gift to a being who wanted it only for the satisfaction of having it only renewed his helpless fury.
Thus did Link stay enveloped in silent despair. Indeed, he had said no more than a dozen words to his companion since emerging from the grove.
Kass' bright blue feathers ruffled this way and that as he walked in Link's introspective company. The Rito voiced no complaint at wasting such wonderful drafts on the ground, nor did he inquire as to what had transpired between Hylian and fairy. He seemed intent on respecting Link's silence as long as the Hylian preferred, all the while keeping a constant vigil against the threat of bandits. His beaked face swiveled every which way to ensure they were not taken by surprise.
Now, with the day nearing its end, Link forced himself to take part in the present.
"Where will we camp, Kass?"
The Rito showed no surprise at the breaking of silence. He simply pointed a blue wing further ahead, toward where the road further descended until it ran near the beach itself.
"It is a bit in the open, but we should be close enough to East Akkala Stable's patrols," Kass informed him. "I find the sound of the surf soothing. We should sleep well."
Link wordlessly accepted the Rito's casual offering of solace, and Kass did not attempt to further the discussion. Talk did not resume until camp was made on the sands and the companions had made a good, if silent, meal of porgy fished from the shallows.
"We will reach the stable before dusk tomorrow," Kass called out as he washed the cooking pan in the ebbing tide. "With haste, we could well reach Master Robbie's abode, though he and his wife would no doubt appreciate advance notice of our arrival. I could accomplish that easily enough by wing and wait for you to join us, if you wish it."
Little by little, Link felt alternating pangs of appreciation and guilt over Kass' carefully expressed desire to respect his feelings - and his purpose. The Rito knew who he was, yet suffered his melancholy with a patience Link knew he did not deserve. The mighty Hylian Champion, wallowing in his own indecision. Shame choked him. I will tell him, he resolved. He has earned that much, at least.
Link was on the verge of doing so when a different, yet familiar, voice rang out over the camp.
"Fortunes favor me, but we meet again!"
Link stood and turned in one swift motion, his sword drawn even as he cursed himself ten kinds of fool. Kass' washing and his own brooding had allowed their visitors to sneak up on them unawares, their leader for the second time in as many nights.
Kilton sauntered at the head of a small band. His appearance was as unsettling as ever, though now he did not bother partially concealing it with the hood of his dirty cloak. The campfire's light played on his round eyes and red-painted lips, which were curved upwards in a sickeningly satisfied smile. As unsavory as Kilton's presence was, it was his company that kept Link's hand gripped tightly on the hilt of his blade.
Half a score of woebegone characters accompanied their leader. Like him, all seemed to fall short of appearing as normal Hylians. One man's eyes glowed red in the gathering nightfall, contrasting greatly with the dead and flaking skin of his bald head and exposed forearms. A woman's eyes contained unnatural slits for pupils, and Link was not altogether surprised to see that claw-like nails accompanied her feline features. Another man was of the same size and girth as a small Goron, though he boasted none of the friendly countenance Link knew was synonymous with the mountain race. His face was lopsided, as though one half was wax melting under a candle's heat. Others' flaws were less pronounced, but still enough to betray their abnormality.
"Why don't yeh come outta the shallows and sit yer good self down in our modest company, Sir Rito? I would not want you to catch your death, fortune favor me I wouldn't!"
Kass had remained in the shallows, perhaps in some thin hope of remaining unseen with the darkening eastern sky and sea behind him. That hope was now flown. Cat-eyes and a few others already had bows nocked and drawn should the Rito attempt an aerial escape. He took measured steps back to the beach with his wings raised high.
"I assure you, such measures will not be necessary," Kass politely assured them as he resumed his seat by the fire.
"There's a good birdie," Kilton said in mock approval before shifting his too-round eyes to Link. "And what about yourself, my lord? Or do my friends need to ease the burden of your blade?"
Link's eyes were blue chips of ice boring into the casual intruder. Some wild part of him was tempted to ignore the four shafts pointed at him and simply charge the lot.
Only ten of them? You would engage twenty without a care and emerge victorious.
Link's vision swam. Zelda's casual observation, heard as clearly as though she were standing next to him, left his head ringing and stunned. Forgetting the threat before him, Link's grip on the sword hilt momentarily tightened in an effort to steady himself.
Then Kilton raised a hand. Those with bows exhausted the limits of their strings, ready to loose at their leader's signal. Yet it was not arrows that concerned Link as much as the flaring of dead-skin's eyes. Claws extended from the fingers of others. The Goron that was not a Goron took a meaningful step forward. Whatever instinct or Zelda told him, he could not assume this a normal foe. Until he knew more or came up with a better solution, Link had no choice but to let this play out. Link abruptly returned the sword to the scabbard on his back.
"A wise choice, my lord," Kilton crooned. "Magda here has never missed, leastwise not since good Kilton did bless her with her gifts."
"The wine." It was not a question.
"Just so," Kilton nodded agreeably as he shuffled forward to sit in front of the fire opposite of his two hosts. Others joined him, though Link noted that the archers remained standing with their bows trained on him and Kass. "I was an alchemist, you see. Some of the finest tonics did Kilton brew for the good people of Faron. My experiments healed many, but I wanted to do more than make people well. I wanted to make them… better. Better than what they had been born to be."
Link could almost feel Kass stiffen beside him as Kilton drew forth the now familiar flask and swirled the purple liquid within.
'Twas an accident, making this particular vintage," Kilton said softly. "But a fortuitous one. It… helped me."
Kilton flexed his fingers, his own curved claws slowly extending from and retracting back into his fingertips. Link stood stock-still, part of him paying rapt attention even as he sought a means of escape.
"'Twould have been selfish to keep such a gift to myself," Kilton continued, spreading his arms in confessed innocence. "I did want to share it, fortune favor me I did. But my friends… they weren't so apt to accept."
Clawed fingers clenched flask until Link thought it must shatter beneath Kilton's furious grip.
"I gave 'em the chance to change their lives, and they treated me like some diseased dog!"
Just as it had the night before, Kilton's cadence abruptly changed to crude, angry tones. His companions also grew agitated. Dead-skin's eyes flared once more, and the Goron that was not a Goron cracked overlarge knuckles.
Kilton took a deep, shaking breath. When he spoke again, it was with his usual wheedling. "I found others willin' to take a chance on poor ol' Kilton. Magda and Gotter and the others. Why, fortune smiled on me again just today."
Kilton whistled through his pointed teeth. Two more disturbing individuals emerged from the darkness. Between them they held a gangly youth, whom they shoved roughly to his knees. His hands were bound, his mouth gagged, and one eye was heavily bruised below a mop of shaggy blonde hair. What alarmed Link, however, was the boy's clothing. Loose-fitting trousers of cream and red and a form-fitting shirt of dark blue all but proclaimed the youth a Sheikah. A glance to Kass showed the Rito appeared even more surprised - and angry. Kass rose to his claws, his pinion feathers curled into fists shaking with fury.
"Like your fine self, this lad wasn't too keen on acceptin' our hospitality. But we'll change the dirty little Shiekah's mind, won't we?"
Scattered sniggers and guffaws issued from the motley band. Link's sword hand itched to re-draw his blade and cleave it through Kilton's repulsive face. He made the conscious effort to let his hands drop to his sides… and felt the smooth surface of the Sheikah Slate hanging from his belt.
"Perhaps," Kilton continued to muse, "when our gracious hosts see for themselves the wonders my work does for this boy, they'll be a touch more willing than they were last night? Gotter, make sure the lad stays still for the good doctor. Wouldn't do to spill my medicinals, fortunes favor me it would not."
The Goron that was not a Goron lumbered forward and forced the young man's face skyward. Another of Kilton's followers held his nose, leaving the bound youth no choice but to open his mouth. Kilton unstoppered the flask and approached his victim, the same hungry look from the night before now viciously blooming on his painted face.
"Let us go, or we all die here and now!"
Link's harsh words snapped everyone's attention from the boy, who still trembled in fear of what may yet transpire. All eyes were drawn to the perfectly round, blue-glowing orb that rested in Link's outstretched hand. Some unknown energy seemed to pulse from it, and a faint wisp of blue light could be seen slowly seeping upward, like a faulty lantern's gas just escaping its confines.
Just once before had Link needed to use the Sheikah Slate's destructive bomb rune. That had been against a small army of Ganonspawn. This situation was far more delicate, yet just as desperate. His life and that of two others rested on his ability to wrest even a false sense of control from this madman.
Magda's feline eyes narrowed to vertical slits. "I'll stick an' arrow in yore gizzard afore you work whatever sorcery yon ball can summon."
Link tried not to betray his relief as Kilton hissed furiously at his lackey. "Shaddap, yew cat-eyed shrew! I'll not let your stupid tongue bet my life for me!"
Seizing upon the fear behind Kilton's command, Link took an unmistakable step forward, holding the bomb aloft for all to see.
"Leave the boy and go east," he issued in tones of iron. "Find us again, and I'll gladly see Hylia's gates if it means bringing you with me."
Dead-skin look sorely tempted to test Link's threat, but Kilton made a swift cutting motion with his hand. The two lackeys closest to the boy removed the bonds and gag. The Sheikah youth scrabbled toward his rescuers even as Kilton signaled for his band to leave. The disfigured alchemist glared balefully at his escaped prey.
"You'll regret this, whelp," Kilton rasped. "Few's them that get away, and none fer good. You've only bought time. Enjoy it, 'cause twon't be long afore yore screams'll be bubblin' through my brew. You've only bought yoreself time before I force it down yore damned throat myself!"
"You are the Hylian Champion."
It was not a question. Kass had not meant it to be. The Rito had waited until the Sheikah boy was well asleep - it had not taken long, the poor lad - to sit next to his reserved companion and state the truth he had only half-believed until that night's events.
Link - it is him, Kass thought to himself incredulously for the umpteenth time - returned the pronouncement with a steady gaze.
"I am, but you have known as much since not long after we met."
Kass thanked Hylia for the feathers that hid his blush of embarrassment. "I thought I knew," he admitted truthfully, "but until tonight I was not certain. Your name, your dealings with the Zora, your desire to see the Divine Beasts… all aligned with what I learned of Hyrule's master swordsman."
"Learned from your elders?"
Kass thought he detected a hint of unease. Thinking of where the Hylian had just come from, he thought he understood why. "My people do not concern themselves with the weight of the past. To them, the battle is either won or lost. 'None ride the same wind twice,' we say. No, what I know of you comes from my mentor, a Sheikah master of word and song who served within the royal household."
Link glanced at their sleeping third party. "Is your mentor with those in Kakariko? I might know him."
"Alas, he has walked with Hylia for many years," Kass said with a respectful incline of his beaked face. Even now, the loss still grieved him. "Before he passed, he told me much of Princess Zelda and the Champions. He even knew of your internment in the Shrine of Resurrection, though by the time he told me I believe he doubted you would ever return."
"I do not blame him," Link admitted ruefully. "I have yet to meet anyone who thought otherwise."
Kass let that sobering truth hang in the air a moment before pressing with his next question.
"So you truly remember nothing? I admit, that alone nearly convinced me I was wrong."
The Rito's heart nearly broke at the Hylian's response, which was steeled toward whatever emotion his words should have spurred.
"What the shrine gave my body, it took from my memory as recompense. I have only just begun recovering what I lost."
"I am sorry." Kass meant it. Each of his daughters was singularly beautiful to him. To think of beholding one of them without a flicker of recognition… then again, those Link would have known would all be long gone. Save some of the Zora and…
"You heard Zelda near the tower, didn't you?"
Link looked up this, clearly impressed at the Rito's deducement. "It was the first time since I awoke. I heard her again tonight. It is not speaking such as you and I. I can only listen, and what she says makes little sense to one who remembers almost nothing."
Kass listened, completely enthralled by the tale told by the living legend before him. Of waking in the shrine and hearing a voice familiar yet foreign at the same time. Of meeting the late King Rhoam of Hyrule and setting out alone and blind as a newborn babe. Of Kakariko and Impa, and the clash with Ganonspawn at Hateno. Of encounters with Sheikah and Yiga and dragons and Zora, and Link's bittersweet victory within the bowels of the great Divine Beast, Vah Ruta.
Link did not include the details of his personal encounter with Mija. Hylia's feathers, I do not want them. Until now, Kass had not known whether Link had decided great fairy's price was too steep - or paid it to his sorrow. Now, as he concluded his tale, Hyrule's fallen Champion revealed the remaining impasse.
"I have no way of reaching Death Mountain, at least none that I know. Whatever I accomplish with this Robbie or at the Spring of Power merely delays the problem, and every day lost is one that Ganon gains."
"And yet the Calamity stirs itself all the same," Kass kindly observed. "Despite your lack of knowledge, your fallen comrades, and the threadbare state in which you find Hyrule, the enemy fears you, Sir Link. You have already earned victory at Zora's Domain. Ganon will move - indeed, is moving - evil and earth to stop you. I do not believe these to be the actions of one who thinks you trapped by circumstance."
Link nodded slowly at this. "The fairy's offer still stands. I need only muster the courage to accept it."
"Perhaps," Kass mused. "Courage has ever been a requirement of the hero of legend. Yet Hylia has never made him pay more than he must. I see no harm in tending to that which also merits your attention. Robbie is a wise, if eccentric, Sheikah. And the Spring of Power waits for you as surely as the Spring of Wisdom did at Lanayru. Both can only help illuminate the path you must take - or those you mustn't."
"You are a credit to your people, Kass," Link said intently. "And that is why I cannot believe you would leave them for the pleasure of wind and song. You said the Rito are under siege from Vah Medoh. Why leave family and friends to the danger besetting them?"
Kass understood. Link had revealed himself completely. The Hylian, still vulnerable in his forgotten world, deserved nothing less in return.
"I hoped to find you," Kass answered honestly. "My mentor knew you would one day wake, and that the ancient Sheikah structures would do likewise to herald your return. Before Hylia's breath left him, I promised I would carry on his vigil. When one of the towers south of my village rose to the sky, I set out to find and help you in whatever way I could, to do whatever would help ensure your success."
Kass was surprised to feel his amber eyes sting with tears. "Such tales I have heard of the Hyrule of old. I thought that if I could play even the smallest part in seeing it restored, I would consider my life well spent."
"What was your mentor to Hyrule to shoulder a burden Impa already carried?"
Kass nodded approvingly at the Hylian's unerring logic. "You see much, Link of Hyrule. My mentor served the royal family within the castle itself. He played the bard, though with a skill that was anything but feigned. His true vocation was to safeguard the princess, a calling he performed in secret until you were chosen as her appointed night."
The Rito paused, searching Link's expression for a spark of recognition. The Hylian shook his head in unspoken understanding.
"As Zelda grew to womanhood," Kass continued haltingly, "my mentor's feelings for her became something more than that of a caretaker." Hylia forgive me, but he must know. "He grew to love her, and he yearned to reveal that love to the princess. To his credit, he did not, though his heart withered as your company and her duties drove him away."
"My company?" Link interrupted, confused.
"You had, in essence, replaced my mentor," Kass said. "It twisted his soul to see how unneeded he had become. Yet after you fell and Impa surmised Zelda had not perished, my mentor made it his mission to watch for your return. By doing so, he felt he was still serving the girl he had sworn to protect. As the years waned, he tutored me in the ways of the bard and Hyrule's history. Only later did he entrust me with his secret and mission."
The Rito gestured with a blue wing to the glowing Sheikah tower atop the crumbling citadel to the west. "I have flown to the four corners of Hyrule and back many times, listening for any whisper of your coming. None came, until those towers all but shouted it. Impa had not entrusted me to know where you slept - a wise decision - so I swept far and wide to find you. Not until I saw Zora's Domain freed from rain did I have any idea of where you might be. Only luck or fate saw to our chance meeting at Upland Zorana, for after paying my historical respects I fully planned on seeking you out in the Domain that same day."
Taking a deep breath, Kass rose to his claws, approached Link, and knelt before the Hylian Champion.
"Link of Hyrule, I beseech you to suffer my company in the days ahead. Allow me to serve as your guide whenever you should have need of such a service. Let me fulfill this duty, that I might fulfill a promise made and a hope long held in my heart."
That was too much, Kass thought immediately. His wife always scolded him for being overly dramatic, though she often did so affectionately. To his immense relief, however, there was no sense of mockery or awkwardness from the Hylian before him. Instead, Link rose to his feet and gave a short, curt incline of his head.
"I would have you fly with me, Kass, as long as Hylia's winds bear us aloft."
The gesture and words were simple, but known only among the Rito - or those precious few to have earned their hard-won trust. Kass was once again moved to tears, which he tried furiously to blink away as Link helped him to his feet.
"You have spoken of your family more than once," Link respectfully observed. "I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to leave them."
"My dear Amali understood," Kass said with renewed gratitude. "She, too, would love to see our daughters raised in a land of peace and unity, one where we can fly without fear of Ganonspawn and death."
Then the Rito's face took on a remembered sadness. "My brethren, on the other hand…"