The Golden Fox, Castle Town, later that evening

Remiss was pacing the room he had rented in one of Castle Town's many Inns, an unremarkable establishment called The Golden Fox. It was clean enough, the cost was reasonable and most importantly, it wasn't too crowded.

The Sheikah that had been assigned to him as a compromise to just tossing him straight into a dungeon was sitting on one of the room's two beds and watching him. She was still in her dark blue and white uniform, but the white scarf meant to conceal her hair and most of her face was undone and just sitting loose on her shoulders. Its removal certainly allowed for a splash of color: her chin-length hair was such a vivid red that Remiss would have thought her of Gerudo blood if not for her blue eyes and a very light skin tone covered in a sea of freckles.

The Colonel, upon asking, had been allowed the knowledge that his shadow's name was literally Shade. Apparently, Sheikahs did have a sense of humor.

He stopped pacing and faced his guardian.

"What do you understand your orders to be?" he asked.

The Sheikah tilted her head and tapped her chin with one finger. She hummed a single long note denoting that she was considering her answer.

"The easy answer is that I am to keep you from bothering the Hero and arrest you should you attempt to do that," she said, "but that's rather vague, isn't it?"

"I wish to FIND the Hero, not bother him," Remiss couldn't resist correcting.

"I see we're going to need to agree on semantics," the Sheikah remarked. "To be clear, when I referred to The Hero just now, I meant the young man officially recognized by the King as the Hero. What would you like us to call this individual?"

The Colonel raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected the Sheikah to be accommodating on this.

"Do... you doubt too?" he asked.

"Not even a little," Shade replied with a shrug. "I saw him fight right after he claimed the Master Sword. He was eleven then, and he put several of the King's guards, myself included, to shame. I'd pay a lot of rupees to watch him fight now."

Remiss sighed. Everyone seemed to think that supernatural fighting abilities had to mean that Link was the Hero. It was a comfortable illusion, he supposed, and he didn't know yet how to argue against it. He picked up on a less controversial part of the story. "King's guard?" he asked. "But... aren't you Sheikah?"

"Sheikah is a title," Shade replied, wagging her finger at him disapprovingly. "The Lady Impa, Sage of Shadow, was the last of the actual bloodlines. It's not unusual for people to assume this part of history is a misconception of some sort, but it's not: the Sheikah race is extinct and we are simply maintaining the memory of them. Eight years ago, I was a Sheikah in training and a King's Guard in the meantime. I've since completed my training."

Remiss knew of some evidence that there were in fact some blood Sheikahs still around, but he preferred to bring the conversation back on subject rather than pointlessly argue with his guardian.

"Can we simply call him Link?" he proposed. "Rather than by the title of Hero?"

"Very well," Shade agreed. "It's a relatively common name, but by default, we'll assume 'Link' is always this one specific person."

"All right. So then, would you let me approach Link at all?"

"No."

"Not even to simply talk to him?"

"If there comes a time when I think it is essential for his mission that you do, I'll allow it. Otherwise, no."

"What about his family? Friends?"

Shade frowned and hummed again, considering. After a moment, she shook her head. "I'm not sure if this qualifies as my orders," she admitted, "but they don't need the aggravation, and Link would probably hear of it. It would at best be perturbing, and he has enough worries at the moment. So, no."

Remiss crossed his arms, thinking. Being unable to confront Link or his people any further meant he had no chance of talking them into admitting to the deception or of making them betray themselves through their words. This reduced his chances of successfully denouncing Link to near zero. Therefore...

"Will you prevent me from looking for the real Hero?" he asked.

Shade hummed thoughtfully again for a moment, then shrugged. "As long as it doesn't interfere with Link, you are free to roam the land looking for another hero," she said. "Although we can't have you telling anyone that's what you're doing… increasing the number of people who think Link is a fraud would qualify as impeding him."

Remiss nodded. "Okay. There is an archery competition coming up in Tabantha. I was planning on going anyway."

Shade's eyes widened slightly. "Were you? Goddess, you do have a fondness for supposed secrets, don't you?"

"If you're referring to the rumor that Rito archers are going to be in attendance..."

"I most definitely am."

"I'm curious, yes," Remiss admitted.

Shade barked a laugh. "Good luck with that. Ritos are not real. Bird People, bigger than Hylians, that nobody has ever actually seen..." she snorted.

"You make fun of me, but all your wise knowledge so far is just whatever most people around the castle believe," Remiss grunted. "Anyway, Rito or not, the Heroes were all excellent archers. It's quite possible we'll find ours there."

Shade shrugged. "Can't fault that logic," she said. "But do consider… giving the benefit of the doubt to every wild theory you hear is not having an open mind, it's just a childish desire to be part of…" the Sheikah waved her hand vaguely as she searched for the right word, "…some elite knowledgeable group," she settled for saying.

She continued. "Average greying brown hair, average face and height, average everything… you probably never experienced the consequences of that sort of longing for secrets. Well. As someone who has been accused more than once of being some sort of Gerudo spy, I can assure you that willingness to believe any wild rumors just MIGHT be true is not a particularly positive character trait."

Remiss didn't get a chance to formulate an answer: Shade clapped her hands and stood up, clearly moving on from the subject. "Anyway! Assuming you'll be a typical soldier and insist we leave at the crack of dawn, I suggest we go to sleep soon. I'm going downstairs for some milk. Come along."

She followed up on the words by walking right out of their room.

Remiss stared at the door, taken aback. What kind of guarding was that? He could literally walk away right now if he wanted to. He would never, that'd be high treason, but he COULD.

"By the way, I'm an EXCELLENT tracker," called Shade's voice from hallway, gradually fading.

Remiss rolled his eyes at the boast but followed the Sheikah.

The Inn's dining room was slightly busier than when Remiss and Shade had gone up to their room, but thankfully still not crowded. With a Sheikah guard on his heels, Remiss didn't much care for being seen by the whole town. He was therefore quite happy to find that nobody paid them the slightest attention.

There were three groups in the room, all three engaged in lively conversations. The attack on the Sea Folks the previous night was one of the topics going around, as well as the unrelated capture of some cult members in Faron.

Shade quickly settled at a table near the center of the room and proceeded to be very still and very quiet, obviously listening in on the various conversations. Remiss signaled the first Inn Maid he saw and requested two mugs of milk, and then started listening in too – it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

"Wait," he whispered after a few moments, addressing his companion. "Am I hearing this right? They captured some of the Children of Hylia? The cult in Faron, it was those gold demons?"

Shade nodded. "That's what I'm hearing too. Glad tidings."

Someone suddenly laughed loudly. Remiss heard Prince Hylrick's name and frowned, his attention piqued.

"They were trying to picture how Prince Hylrick might have reacted to finding out the Children of Hylia had attempted murder on Holy Grounds," Shade said. "One of them did an impression, that's what the other laughed at. To be fair," she added in a barely audible whisper, "the impression was not that far off. His Highness was enraged."

Remiss shrugged. "Can you blame him?" he asked. "I guess that's at least nicer than the usual jokes about him. I had to discipline one of my men the other week for implying His Highness would probably refuse to abandon his name, or at least the first half of it, when he ascended."

Shade huffed. "Yeah, heard that one before too," she said. "His Royal Highness WILL leave his name behind when he is King, there's no doubt about that at all: the Prince is the opposite of self centered."

Remiss nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! He would never decide that being named after Hylia is significant enough to refuse to give it up, especially considering those gold monsters also name themselves after her!"

Shade's eyes widened slightly. She leaned on her wrist, staring Remiss in the eyes. "You know, it occurs to me that someone who is aware of how terrible the Children of Hylia are should be very wary of sharing their opinions on anything."

Remiss's eyes widened before narrowing into a scowl. "They don't believe Link is the Hero because he's Sea Folk," he whispered in a hiss. "I don't believe he's the Hero because the sword is dying."

"Ah," Shade said. "So..."

She was interrupted by a loud grunt.

"Five golds!" Someone loudly exclaimed. "Fifteen hundred and he made off with over three thousand's worth! Thieving scum, the lot of them!"

Shade and Remiss turned towards the voice, as curious as anyone else. The speaker was in a small group of merchants and was dressed like a witch's apprentice.

"Mind you," the speaker added with a smirk, "I'm still in money with him. I usually charge him double or triple and he just pays it."

Someone from the third group in the room piped in. "What? WHY? Look, even if he wasn't the Hero, and I mean… but whatever. Even if he's not, why do you keep ripping him off?"

Shade raised her glass at the stranger but nobody else than Remiss seemed to notice.

"Where's he getting the money, is the question," one of the potion salesman's friends asked, completely ignoring the interruption.

Remiss glanced at the person who had spoken out against overcharging Link. They were shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, clearly disgusted. Their group seemed to share their distaste.

"No big mystery," the potion salesman replied to his friend. "He just steals it. Him or his folks. They're even worse than the Gerudo."

"Excuse me," Shade asked, her voice suddenly carrying into the whole room. "Was this gentleman right? DO you mean the Hero? Presumed Hero if you want? He bought a bunch of potions, did he?"

"I want the whole story," she whispered to Remiss.

"He does!" someone else from what Remiss was now thinking of as the "nice" group said, "but does it matter? He's straight up stealing just because the person buying is Sea Folk!"

The witch's apprentice scoffed. "Supposed hero, more like. Barged into my shop half naked except for a bunch of weapons... oh, and since I didn't want to know but now I do anyway, I'm going to share and make YOU all know that he's got a bit of chest hair but not a whole lot and his nipples are even darker than the rest of his skin. You're welcome. Anyway, he just DEMANDS all my stock. Talked him into just taking half in the end but still. And he LIED to my face too! He basically just assumed I'd let them die if I knew it was Sea Folks who needed the potions!"

"The thieving scum, worse than the Gerudo Sea Folk?" Shade asked with a smirk. "And after years of overcharging him each time he needed potion? Where COULD he have gotten that impression," she added, her voice positively dripping with sarcasm. "Truly a mystery."

Mentioning the Gerudo proved to be a tactical mistake. The witch's apprentice immediately looked up at Shade's hair and smirked. "I do apologize for bringing the Gerudo into this. I didn't mean to insult YOU. Please don't arrange for me to find myself on the business end of a scimitar."

Shade rolled her eyes and gave Remiss a significant look.

The conversations in the other groups had stopped, effectively unifying every patron around the witch's apprentice and Shade.

"What goes around comes around," someone said from the kitchen's entrance. "They stole land, everyone knows they steal other stuff too, why would it be that bad to charge them a bit extra when they're actually stuck paying for something?"

Shade's eyes narrowed, and Remiss had to agree with the sentiment: there was no reason at all to believe that the Sea Folk were prone to stealing anything. He knew that for a fact because he'd looked into it before. He'd thought at the time that if the Sea Folks did steal, it would signal they needed more assistance than they were getting, but what he'd found was that their reputation as thieves was completely baseless. And they had most definitely not stolen any land: the land they lived on had been given freely by the then Queen, the current King's mother.

"They were GIVEN land!" Someone protested. Not, Shade looked happy to see, from the first group who had defended the potion salesman's mistreated client, but from the group that had been doing impressions of Prince Hylrick.

They were ignored.

"There's a rumor they stole the sword and the pendant too," someone else said – the same person who'd accused the Sea Folks of stealing land.

Remiss's eyes went to the speaker: it was a maid, standing near the kitchen's door and apparently unconcerned with her work. She had just stated Remiss' own theory, but he hadn't shared it with anyone but the King and the Princess. And accidentally with Shade, who had been hiding in the walls or ceiling at the time.

His weren't the only eyes on her: she'd managed to capture pretty much everyone's attention.

"Oh?" Shade asked. "Haven't heard that one," she lied. "Well, not in so many words, anyway. I mean, it goes with the idea that the Hero isn't the real deal, I guess?"

"They say the sword is dying," the maid said. "Some people figure he somehow managed to claim it but he shouldn't have, and that it's probably been getting sick ever since."

"Uh," Shade said, and then turned to Remiss, seemingly completely uninterested in hearing more.

"I'm tired," she said. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

Remiss nodded and followed. They hadn't gotten their milk yet, but he'd heard enough to lose sleep over and didn't care for more.

Shade didn't say a word until they were back in their room. She then rounded on Remiss, grabbing his collar and bringing his face uncomfortably close.

"Did you share your theory with anyone but the King and the Princess?" she asked.

"No. I guess someone else put two and two together... listen, the facts do point..."

"Too specific," Shade cut him off. "The facts that made YOU think this are not known to others. Did anyone else see the Master Sword?"

"Not that I know," Remiss admitted. "All I can figure out is that the villagers might have told my troops, and one of them ran their mouth. Whoever it was is in for some trouble, I can promise you that. We can't be going around revealing we were sent to Link's home. Even though he's not actually the Hero, some enemies could still..."

"Hush," Shade interrupted. "Here's the deal. You want to find the Hero, correct? Well, from this moment on, I want to find who's out there going out of their way to convince people Link is a fraud. Humor me, I'll humor you. The King didn't order your movements restricted, so technically I just have to follow you wherever you decide to go, unless I think, in my own personal judgement, that doing so would allow you to impede the Hero's mission."

Remiss frowned. "Are you saying you're going to be difficult on purpose if I don't let you decide our next steps when you feel like it?"

Shade nodded, her eyes fixed on Remiss. "I'd honestly rather not, but this could be very important."

"Why not just report it and let someone else look into it?" Remiss asked.

Shade scowled. "I'm going to, don't be silly. But you and I are going to be traipsing all over the place anyway, aren't we? If I'm in the field anyway, I refuse not to put the time and mileage to good use."

"You want to personally help Link," Remiss guessed.

Shade flushed but didn't deny it. She kept staring down Remiss, still waiting for an answer to her offer.

"Just what does humoring me look like?" Remiss asked. "Aside from not going out of your way to be difficult?"

Shade finally let go of his collar and took a step back.

"I will help you investigate in any way you request. Within the limits I specified for you earlier, which also apply to anything you might ask me. Also, and please do consider this is not a negligeable benefit, I will treat any conversation on the topic seriously. I won't pretend to agree with anything you say when I don't, but I will share information and opinions in good faith. At the very least you can use me a sounding wall."

Remiss nodded. "And what is my end of the deal?" he asked.

"The exact same. You will help me investigate leads I find on who's working hard on convincing everyone that Link is not the true Hero and you'll treat conversations on the subject seriously. Colonel, there is a very decent chance that whoever it is spreading these rumors, is in fact The Enemy."

Remiss considered for a moment. He thought her theory and concerns were ridiculous, but then, she felt the same way about what he was trying to do. It was a fair exchange. "Roughly equal time spent on both subjects?"

"Roughly. I think flexibility will be in order, we might find more leads for you than for me on some days, and the other way around on others… we're both adults, I think we can both be trusted to be reasonable and honor an agreement even if it's defined more on intentions and effort than specifics."

Remiss extended his hand towards the Sheikah. "Agreed."

Shade took it and shook it, smiling.

Zora's Domain, the same evening

Link bowed deeply without saying a word, waiting to be addressed as was the proper form when meeting with Queen Mira of the Zora.

He had just been to the Spring of Wisdom, after being at the Spring of Power earlier in the day. Travelling to the Spring of Wisdom had taken most of the afternoon because he'd never been able to set a travel point any closer to it than the base of the mountain: Mount Lanayru had layers of magically enforced rules, and it seemed like one of those rules was that ocarina travel was not allowed.

The trip had been frustratingly long, and it had all been for nothing: the Spring of Wisdom, just like the Spring of Power and the defiled Spring of Courage, had had absolutely no effect on the Master Sword. Neither had Link's prayers, be they addressed to Din, Nayru or Hylia. To add insult to injury, Link had not spotted a single monster on the mountain, unless you counted a few keeses, so he hadn't even been able to at least start on curbing the outbreak.

With his thoughts on the danger presented by the monsters and with the spring bringing water to mind, he had decided to check on the Zora to find out whether they already knew about the outbreak and to warn them if they didn't, as well as offer any help they might need.

"Do straighten up, young Sea Folk," came the Queen's voice. "I much prefer eye contact when talking to people."

Link did as told and held the Queen's gaze.

"It is good to see you well, Hero," the Queen said. "I am sorry for the attacks your people recently suffered. Is there anything the Zora can do to help?"

"Thank you, Queen Mira," Link said, doing his best to keep his speech relatively slow so as not to appear to be in a hurry to end the conversation and to make it easy for the Queen to interrupt whenever she pleased. "Please forgive me: I am not aware of what assistance, if any, is needed. With your Majesty's permission, may I let my people know of the Zora Queen's kind offer?"

"Yes, please do," the Queen said. "What brings you here, then, if not a need for us?"

"I've recently learned that monsters on the roads have been making travel dangerous," Link said. "I beg you not to be insulted by my presumption, but I came to reassure myself that the Zora were aware of the outbreak and to offer any assistance I might."

He just managed not to blurt out a pun on things being hairier than the naturally hairless Fish Folks should have to put up with. It had been a long frustrating day and his nerves were shot. As usual, his brains were responding to stress with terrible jokes.

The Queen scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I suppose you would," she said. "It would be an insult from anyone but you, Hero, but I dare say you are compelled to want to protect all of Hyrule, including those who have absolutely no need of such concern. We are aware of the increase in the number of monsters, and we are taking the necessary protective measures. Your assistance is not needed at all."

Link wasn't surprised by the response. The Zora were extremely self sufficient and weren't usually willing to accept help from anyone.

He bowed again. "Thank you, your Majesty, for your indulgence and for reassuring me."

"So then, Hero… am I right in guessing that you are trying to track and defeat the Incarnation of the Curse? It would be quite a natural conclusion that the attacks on your people were the work of the Enemy."

"Your Majesty is entirely correct," Link said.

"In that case, please accept this."

She plucked a scale from her tail and one of her attendants hurried to take it and present it to Link.

Link's eyes widened slightly. The scale was absolutely a precious gift, but he'd already received a full Zora armor from the Queen, which also allowed him to swim like a Zora and breathe under water, so as stunning a gift as it was, the scale was redundant. Much like his own people, the Zora Queen was being far too generous with him: he didn't NEED people to put themselves out like that for him. Unfortunately, where the Queen was absolutely within her rights to refuse his help, he could definitely not refuse hers.

"Thank you, your Majesty," he said. "I am honored beyond words. Do you wish me to return the Zora armor you previously loaned me?"

"Loaned?" the Queen said. "Oh no, Hero. The armor was a gift. Are you confused because both the scale and the armor would serve you in roughly the same way?"

Link opted for honesty. "Yes, your Majesty. I wouldn't want to dishonor you by not using both fully."

The Queen smirked. "The Hylian King will also conclude that the attack on your people is the work of the Enemy of this age," she said. "As such, I would be very surprised if you didn't soon find yourself with a royal companion. The Zora armor is for you: it is tailored, after all. The scale is for Princess Zelda."

Link's eyebrows shot up and he found himself completely lost for words. Even the Zora Queen had no doubt at all that Princess Zelda would join him? He supposed he had better get used to the idea.

"Thank you, Queen Mira," he finally said. "I'm certain Her Royal Highness will be very grateful." He swallowed back the nonsensical thought that the scale from the Queen's tail was certain to come in 'tail-y' instead of in handy.

The Queen nodded and with a gesture, dismissed him.

Link held back any sign of irritation with the Zora Queen's stubborn refusal to allow him to help HER while forcing him to accept priceless gifts. He bowed again and walked out of the audience room. He took his ocarina out then, and clenched his jaw: visiting the Three Springs had yielded no result at all, but there was a slight chance that they were simply not active anymore as worship grounds. They might have been defiled too, for all Link knew.

In the absence of any other lead at all, that left him with only one possible next move: trying to reach the Goddesses again, this time in their temples on the Great Plateau. If that didn't work… he'd hopefully think of something else.

It was now night, so the sword had been cursed for close to a full day, and he'd made no progress at all trying to fix it. And meanwhile, there was a monster outbreak he hadn't known about. His hands clenched on his ocarina, and he played a very stiff rendering of the modified prelude of light that would bring him just outside the recreation of the old Temple of Time, on the Great Plateau. Zora's Domain dissolved around him in a shower of pale yellow light.