As a reminder, you can find MORE of this on my SubStar (dot adult slash KajaWilder), it's posted up past chapter 75 there... And if you guys haven't seen an update in at least a week, please let me know! I have a busy life, and I get distracted and forget things. This story (and PTaL) are supposed to be updated WEEKLY from now until they're both caught up with each other (like I was doing with FwB until this weekend).

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Chap. 44: Old Sheikah Flames

As Zelda enjoyed the relatively leisurely stroll down the hillside road back toward Hateno Village proper and out into the fields, the clouds darkened until a drizzle began. That in turn quickly became a solid, strangely warm rain carried in from off the nearby coast that made Zelda's skin prickle as it was struck. Fortunately, there wasn't much wind so she wasn't chilled. In fact, she found she rather enjoyed the warm droplets falling on her, so a fair portion of the walk was spent with her head turned skyward, enjoying the slow roil of heavy-laden clouds as they moved inexorably past.

She did not see many people despite walking through one of the more densely-populated parts of the town, presumably because of the rainy weather. A few people were working on various crafts underneath enclosed porches or awnings, and the dye-man was taking a turn from his wife as he called out for customers from just inside his open-walled workshop, while perhaps a half-dozen farmers were still out working their fields regardless of the weather.

Zelda was sure that most people, the ones inside, were missing out. After the last several horrendous days, or weeks, since she had first met that Yiga traveler that had drugged and raped her, the princess had not had much in the way of relaxation. She had pleasure, yes, time with Prima included. She had even enjoyed the bit of fun with Bubmin, and the sick, dark part of her that seemed to be encouraged by the Goddess Hylia had even somewhat enjoyed being mounted and used by the Bokoblins in such a brutal way, over hours or even days.

But not time to truly relax, and just exist in the world. She had been walking with purpose, headed to one destination or the next, or even just exploring. She had been fighting. She had been eating, sleeping... but always doing something. She supposed this was yet another thing to do, a task that must be accomplished to succeed at a larger goal, but in the end it was just a daytime walk through the rain.

And it was nice.

The rain had broken and faded back into mist, the low clouds had moved on to the Firly Valley and beyond, toward Mount Rozudo and the Cliffs of Quince when Zelda had finished following Purah's instructions to reach the Eternal Ancient Flame.

At first glance, the device looked much like the one outside Purah's home, only far larger. There were three cone- or bell-shaped objects on top instead of one, and they looked older, likely crafted by the truly Ancient Sheikah rather than the more modern ones of a century past. The three sections were somehow melded together with forces or techno-magic beyond Zelda's comprehension into a larger whole, and various pipes and shafts occasionally extended down into the earth. The whole thing was surrounded by a rock formation that, while it had settled considerably, could not possibly be natural. It was styled almost like the pointed, curved cones at the top of Impa's old hat, or some of them worn by the Sheikah Sages who had rested at the end of each Shrine Zelda had been inside. There, nestled in a nook half the size of the rock formation itself, was the furnace, which itself was twice Zelda's height or more.

At the front, guarded from wind and rain, a brazier held a wide, flickering, bright blue fire. It burned with intense heat, brighter than the blue glow of the furnace-lights itself, but as Zelda tentatively reached out with her loaned torch and touched the flames, she was not burned. The torch lit instantly, however, burning with the same brilliant azure-colored fire.

"Fascinating," she murmured. The torch itself had not been made with any special material as far as she could tell. It certainly smelled and looked like normal torch-oil, but with this flame it burned the same shade of blue.

Shaking her head at the wonder of it, Zelda turned and, with one last glance at the furnace, started planning her route back.

From here, she could see at least two distinct paths. One led out around the fields and ranches, taking a disused trail up toward the very ranch at the top of the hills where Koyin lived. The other went through town, where she could see in the distance people were starting to come out and go about their business once more now that the ground was drying.

A possible increase in danger from monsters... or people.

Zelda sighed, then turned left. She didn't mind people most of the time. She actually enjoyed company. But just then, she needed more time to process everything that had happened before being surrounded by crowds again.

Every few hundred yards, a stylized Sheikah lantern, crafted of stone and clay, stood along either path. Wisely, Zelda lit each as she moved, knowing that the remaining clouds could bring more rain yet again. The lanterns were not perfect, and a driving storm could douse them again, but they were well-shielded against a gentle rain like had been falling before. Her torch was less so, thus the need to light as many as she could. That and, as she looked back at her progress a mile later, seeing the line of blue lights shining even in daylight was a thing to behold.

It was nearing sunset when Zelda pressed the torch into the waiting receptacle of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab's Sheikah Furnace. Like the torch had before, and the two sticks she'd had to use since that had burned out hours earlier, the blue fire spread quickly, igniting the small amount of fuel in the bowl instantly. Over several seconds, Zelda watched blue lines of light trace themselves up and out of the bowl, spreading over the balloon-shaped top of the furnace, and a faint line just beneath the surface of the earth under her feet. Two of them, in fact.

One went through a small crack in the foundations of the building, she could see, and the other fed directly to the rune-carved circle outside the Lab's small porch step. "A Travel Gate for certain then," Zelda murmured as the disc lit up with a shimmering cerulean glow. "That will make things more convenient."

From inside the lab, Zelda could hear Purah's child-like cry, "She did it, Symin, she did it! Look, the Guidance Stone is booting up!"

Zelda stepped over the Travel Gate carefully, but knocked loudly over Purah's continued sounds of joy. "Come in, come in, Princess," the old woman-turned-girl shouted, "Don't just stand out there! You're welcome to just come in!"

Inside, the adventurer found the Lab much as she'd left it earlier in the day: a chaotic mess. There was one very key difference, however: the Guidance Stone, as Purah called it, was now glowing with a familiar combination of orange and blue, much like she had been seeing in them since waking up in the Shrine of Resurrection. "No time to waste," Purah shouted, hopping off her stool and dashing on tiny legs up onto the dais, beckoning and calling for Zelda to join her. "Come on, come on, put in your Slate. I've got the commands loaded and ready to go..."

Zelda watched, fascinated once more, as the little researcher snatched the Slate from her hands with a quick cry, "Snap!" She hopped up to slide it into the waiting hole, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that Zelda could have reached it easily herself, and was already familiar with how the strange pedestals worked.

She wasn't sure she should complain though, because as Purah scrambled to get the Slate aligned just so, her short skirt flipped up to reveal a shockingly adorable set of white and pink striped underwear.

It was... cute.

A little horrifying, considering how old she knew Purah to be, but the little posterior and the bit of soft flesh she could see between them was...

Zelda shuddered. Eww. No.

She was a century and then some old, but also a child, at least physically! There was no way. That was just... disgusting. Worse than a monster, in some ways. She did her best to put it from her mind as Purah let go and landed on the ground again, then reached up to almost-blindly press several unseen buttons on the surface of the Stone. "Here... we go... Snaaaap!"

Words flowed down the Stone's surface, and spoke with the same cool, soft voice the Slate had on occasion, or that she had heard from other Guidance Stones in the past. "Sheikah Slate authenticated. Update in progress. Scanning... Scan complete. Camera, Hyrule Compendium, and Album functions are missing files or have files corrupted. Repairing."

The drop this time, the almost liquid light that flowed down from the obelisk above the control panel, was so bright and large it hurt Zelda's eyes as it condensed and then fell into her Slate, where it was quickly absorbed. Once her eyes adjusted, the voice was already speaking again.

"Camera Rune functionality restored. Scan information on local flora, fauna, and enemies to add them to the Hyrule Compendium record."

Zelda gasped as a sample of images was displayed from the Stone, no doubt projected from the Slate's currently hidden screen. They were a series of images, twelve in all with three rows of four, and each one as she gave it a quick scan caused strange stirrings in the princess' mind. Before she could process what they meant, however, the scene moved on.
Another page of the Slate was displayed, this one with both Hylian and Common lettering displayed, "Hyrule Compendium."
Below that, five icons showed a horse, a skull, an apple, a sword, and a chest, with various numbers of small dots or circles above them. Below that, similar windows like the last image had shown appeared, but these were each blank, showing only a number beginning at one, eight per row, and three rows per 'page', while the Sheikah Eye symbol played in blue, softly wavering, hidden inside each pane.

"Repair complete."

Then, with an almost anticlimactic beep, the Slate flipped over and was pushed half-way out for retrieval. Zelda beat Purah to it, this time, literally reaching over the girl-scientist's head to pluck it out of her reach. "Aww..."

Zelda only smiled, "Sorry, it is mine, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but... Anyway, it's done! Is it all fixed up? Check it!"

Purah smiled as Zelda showed her the Slate's screen, which still had text mirroring the last spoken message. "Snap! Alright, Princess, one last test! Which Rune, which symbol... ah, here it is! This green one, press it for me!"

"Oh, okay," Zelda murmured, pressing the strange symbol. She did not know what a "Camera" was, but it wouldn't hurt to humor the researcher, would it? Unless it was something dangerous, like a Bomb. That wouldn't be good.

"Alright, now that that's done... take a picture of me! And don't forget to let me see it!"

"Um... a what?"

Purah's girlish face broke into a smile, "A picture! You know, like a portrait? Aim it like you do with the Scope, and point it at me. Then hit the same green icon again, and snap, you've got a photo! You'll figure it out, come on, just try it!"
"Alright, alright," Zelda chuckled, caught up in Purah's enthusiasm. A little further off, Symin, who was still hunched over his own desk reading through a tome, feigned disinterest but glanced up as Zelda lifted the device to do as she was asked.

She was licking her lips in an almost sensual way when Zelda showed her the Slate once more, but... but no, Zelda couldn't think about her like that. She might have had the experience of a hundred year old woman, but the child's body was... was not suitable. No.

"How'd it come out? Did you get a cute pic of me? I wanna see! Lemme see, lemme see!"

Acting like a child in that moment, thankfully, helped quell Zelda's rampant appetites, so she was able to focus and quickly bring up the picture from the records without Purah's help. The Slate's functions, once one had a bit of familiarity with them, seemed quite intuitive to the princess.

"Oh my," Purah exhaled, "Who is this beautiful young creature? Oh- Oh! I forgot, Impa mentioned... anyway, Princess, there's far more to this Camera than meets the eye. Yes, you can take pictures of cuties like me. But you can take pictures of all sorts of things! Landscapes, architecture, books, monsters, mushrooms, weapons, shields, you name it! There's actually some old Landscape photos in the album already, did you notice when it was doing the repair? I know you used to make frequent use of the Album and Camera. It was really all we could get to work back then, so it makes sense. You personally took every one of those pictures, I'm sure."

"I- I did?"

Purah nodded, "I was even there for one or two of them, I think. That first one, at least, and I've been to the location of a couple of others. This one's near your suite at the Castle. Uh... maybe don't go there any time soon. It's pretty dangerous."

Zelda shuddered, "Yes, I haven't planned on going anywhere near a Guardian Stalker for some time. Scouts are trouble enough."

"Exactly," Purah nodded excitedly, "Maybe Impa in her prime could've handled one or two Stalkers, but she's so old now, and I'm so young... but I was never the fighter she was. I'm a book-girl, you know? That's why I have these cute glasses, snap!"

"I see," Zelda chuckled, caught up by Purah's adorable mannerisms once more. She certainly didn't act like a century-old lady, no matter what information hid in her skull.

"Anyway, since you were there, you took all of these, there's a good chance they mean something to you. Like, emotionally and stuff. So since you've lost most of your memories, I think this might help recover some."

Zelda blinked, then her eyes widened, "That... that makes some sense. I have noticed that I get flickers and brief images here and there, but in particularly emotionally-charged moments, I get much more back. More detail, longer memories, and a little less fragmentation."

"See? It's genius! You always were a smart girl. If you hadn't been the Princess, I would've asked you to be on my research team instead of Robbie."

"R- Robbie?"

Purah waved her hand, "He was my assistant back then. Loved his 'tech, maybe a bit too much. He's still around, the old fart. Almost as old as Impa, you know? He lives up in Akkala. The three of us- Impa, Robbie, and myself- split up so that if one of us died or was killed by Ganon's forces, the others could help you out, you know? Tell you what you needed."

"Oh, I see," Zelda replied, "That's... thoughtful."
"Yeah," Purah chirped, "Even if it meant I haven't seen my sister in a hundred years, it was worth it, snap! So, here's what I think you should do next. Go see Impa again! We were friends back then, at least I thought so, but Impa knew you almost better than anyone, since she was one of your bodyguards. She can probably direct you how to get to some of those places. Oh, and talk to Symin again. He wants your help with some fool project of his."

"Alright, I can do that," Zelda agreed.

"Oh, and one more thing! You don't have to make this a priority. In fact, you should see Impa first. But I want you to bring me some ancient materials."

"Ancient... Materials? Do you mean...?"

"Screws, shafts, gears, cores... whatever you can find. See, our Lab uses all of it. Fuel sources, we build things... it's a way of funding our research. Can't feed ourselves on just books, after all, and since the funding from the Castle dried up a hundred years ago..."

Zelda frowned, "Wait... are you just helping me to get money?"

"What? No!" Purah scowled. Or at least, she tried. It was too adorable to be effective. "I mean, don't get me wrong, we do need money, but I'm helping you because I want to help Hyrule, and because we're friends! I just... can't do anything more without the right materials and funding, that's all."

Zelda sighed next, "Alright, fine... what should I do with them?"

Purah perked up quickly as she agreed, "Bring them here, or to Robbie at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. As if my undying loyalty and overwhelming joy weren't enough, I have some special rewards I can give you. See, one of my projects is doing a little more with my Guidance Stone, but I need some materials to build an... addition. An add-on. A bit of extra content. You said you mentioned extra abilities the Slate had, right?"

"Yes, it can make more kinds of bombs. Little ones, big ones..."

She spent ten minutes demonstrating each with a bit of explanation to the completely engrossed Sheikah girl, and then another hour while Symin got up and started cooking dinner for the three of them explaining in more detail and answering Purah's questions. When they were finished, the scientist seemed more excited than ever. "See, that's what I'm talking about! The Slate already had these functions, it just got them fixed, right? But I'm talking about new things. I can make, well, basically everything there even better with my new device! I just need the parts to build it."

"You've convinced me," Zelda chuckled, "I'll bring them. In fact, I have several of them here..."
"R- Really? You're doing well, then! Alright, Princess, let's see what we can do!"

It wasn't much. But for the next six hours, while Zelda and Symin ate dinner, then fell asleep either in their beds or on the once-cluttered couch she had been directed to use, Purah tinkered with the parts she had delivered and what looked like a hundred more that were laying haphazardly around the Lab.
When she woke up, Zelda did so to an almost scary, evil-sounding giggle coming out of the little Sheikah's mouth. "I did it... I did it, heh, heh... success! I've upgraded even our ancient ancestor's technology. Truly, I am the greatest mind on the planet!"

"P- Purah?"

"Ah! Oh, Princess, you- you scared me, hee... Look, I did it!"

"Did what?"
Purah lifted the Slate over her head, and turned dark-rimmed eyes in Zelda's direction as she stood up from the dusty couch. "I upgraded the Sheikah Sensor!"
'Oh? So I can find Shrines from further off?" she asked, distracted by a need to relieve herself, but also go back to bed. Six hours was just not enough if she could get more sleep.

"No, though that's not a bad idea," Purah said with a smile that belied how tired she looked, "But it can find... well, anything. Almost anything. Anything you've scanned into the Hyrule Compendium, anyway. So some things. A few things. But it's still more than it could do before! And all it took was making... this!"

She pointed at a black square that Zelda was reasonably sure was not part of the Guidance Stone the previous night. Then Purah handed the Slate in her direction, "See? Go take a look. In fact, Symin has some requests, too, he's been helping with this for a while, so... maybe take a picture of the patch of Sunshrooms growing out by the back porch and surprise him with them when he wakes up?"

"S- Sun shrooms?"

"No, Sunshrooms," the researcher corrected, then yawned, not bothering to close her mouth or cover it. "Anyway, I'm going to bed. Try not to be too loud, and if you get the three Ancient Shafts or Cores I need to fix it up more, I've also got some add-on designs I can make to upgrade the Slate's powers further. Um, to strengthen the Stasis and Bomb Runes, specifically."

"I'll do that, then," Zelda assured her, "Is- is that back porch just through that door?"

Purah nodded sleepily as she hopped off her stool, "Yep. Anyway, make yourself at home if you want, Princess, but like I said, I'm going to bed. See you later, snap!"

Then she was gone, tottering off.

Zelda could only smile. She'd worked tirelessly through the night, and all it had cost the princess was a few Screws. She still had over two dozen of the things, not counting the one that she'd used to pleasure herself. Speaking of which...

Her smile widened. The morning was still early, the sun not quite up after a relatively restless night, the air cool and crisp. The world was silent... and the patch of orange mushrooms just to the right of the small back porch was the first entry into Zelda's Hyrule Compendium. Then a pitchfork, a ladle, and a sleeping Hightail Lizard.
Then, taunted by naughty dreams and too-small girls kissing too much of her too feverishly, Zelda moved around to a secluded nook behind the house overlooking the distant ocean below, and lowered her trousers. That same Ancient Screw slipped into her body accompanied with a soft moan, and began to slide in and out easily, smoothly...

Release. Again... again...

After three orgasms and a full hour, Zelda finally felt herself sated enough to get on with her day. Which was good, because as she was tying her clothing shut once more, Zelda heard the first signs of someone stirring inside the house. Had he seen? Heard? No, she had been quiet.

But even if Symin had... did she care?

Zelda couldn't find a definite answer, but she was starting to suspect she didn't.