Link left Lookout landing and set off towards Rito Village, even though his heart ached to go east, to check on Zora's domain. However, the storm around Rito Village was too large to ignore. He knew that the Rito would be susceptible to those winds. Death Mountain also looked pretty bad, but Link suspected Yunobo and Bludo would be able to hold the Gorons together until Link got there.
He traveled on foot to the New Serene stable and picked up Epona, idly wondering about the different colors of the grass when he saw a familiar large hat in the middle of the field. He urged Epona forward and found that it was in fact Impa standing with another Sheikah man Link vaguely recognized from Kakariko Village.
'If Impa is here, who is running Kakriko?' Link thought. He hadn't been to Kakariko village in a little over a year, but it didn't seem like Impa would leave her home without their chief.
Impa turned as Epona trotted up and Link slid off her back.
"Oh Link." Impa said, a smile on her wrinkled face, "What a surprise to see you here after all this time. I heard you had gone missing. It is a relief to see you back, and in one piece, more or less."
"More or less." Link said smiling, even when his memories of their younger days were gone, he had found great comfort in her. That hadn't changed. She chuckled as well and her face brightened.
"And Princess Zelda! Where is she?" Impa asked, looking around a bit. Of course Zelda was her best friend for many years, and she and Link had always been attached at the hip. At the mention of Zelda, however, Link lost his voice, so he recounted the story in sign.
"She appeared at Hyrule Castle and then disappeared into the air." Link finished. Impa simply nodded.
"It is wonderful to hear that Zelda is well, if not by your side. But we must use all available resources to look for her." the old Sheikah woman still hadn't lost her unshakable nature, it seemed she took everything in stride.
"Link, when Princess Zelda went missing, something else happened all over Hyrule. During the upheaval, huge pictures appeared out of nowhere. Images that sprawled across the fields and hills. We are calling them geoglyphs. I understand they have been found in locations across the kingdom. Cado and I are traveling from region to region in hopes of seeing them all. I noticed this one while standing on high ground. I'd wished to examine it closer, but I cannot tell from down here." Impa gestured down at a disassembled air balloon, "I took the air balloon Purah gave me but alas… a strong wind struck from the side and broke the balloon off the base. Without a word he walked over and Ultrahanded the pieces together.
"What have you done there?" Impa asked, apparently she had followed him over to the balloon.
"This Zonai arm gives me the power to interact with Zonai technology, among other things. One of these powers is called Ultrahand. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it can stick things together, and if Zonai devices are stuck together and then struck they turn on." Link signed. Impa nodded, as if this was expected.
"Well won't you help an old lady up?" she asked, and she held out her hand. Link smiled, while Impa was extremely old, she still packed a punch and could move with the agility of someone, well.. 100 years younger. Still Link helped her up, and smacked the balloon. They rose up into the air.
"You know, I read something in the village's old literature- a passage about what the ancients called Dragon's Tears. "Where the Tears rest upon the earth, we marked down the images that gave them birth." I believe this geoglyph is one such "image" but even from this vantage, its meaning is no clearer to me." With that Link joined Impa and looked down. Link was shocked.
The Geoglyph was of Rauru.
"Nor can I figure out what "Dragon's Tears" might be. But it is obvious that this is a Zoani individual." Impa commented.
Link brought them down, and Impa sat to think about what she'd seen.
"But you know… if the literature is correct, one of them should be quite close-near the geoglyph, or even within its borders."
Link knew the Tear was within its borders as thought he'd seen something glittering near Rauru's head. Once they'd landed, he went that direction and discovered a small pool of clear water. As he stepped closer to examine it, the Recall rune on the back of his hand flashed. Link stared as the pool of water itself seemed to rewind and he was forced into a memory.
Princess Zelda of Hyrule landed on what felt like grass with an undignified thud. She didn't move for a moment. Her heart was pounding and her brain felt numb and fuzzy, and a loud ringing pulsed in her ears. She didn't really comprehend anything except bright light.
Then a voice broke through the ringing.
"What?" a woman's voice, smooth and kind. Zelda still saw only blackness, but she felt the ground shift as someone walked over to her. "Oh, oh dear." the same voice spoke again. Zelda felt a hand on her shoulder and she managed to blink the black spots out of her eyes. What she saw above her broke her brain. There were two beings above her, a Hylian woman with dark skin, green eyes, and long blond hair. She had strange tear-drop-like tattoos on her face and neck, and she wore a necklace with a gold glowing tear-drop charm in the center. The being she was with was what broke Zelda. She couldn't discern their gender, but they had long ears, a long pointed snout like the- the statues of the Zonai Zelda had been admiring below Hrule castle! The Zonai had long white hair and wore strange designs on their clothing.
Whomever they were, they surprised Zelda enough that she sat up and crawled back a bit.
"Where am I?" Zelda asked, her fear in her voice. Hylia, she shouldn't be showing fear. But the words were out and the Hylian woman and the Zonai didn't seem like they were going to hurt her quite yet.
"We didn't mean to startle you." said the Hylian woman gently, "I'm sorry. It's okay, my name is Sonia."
Zelda's brain moved at a mile a minute. This woman- Sonia, was with a Zonai, the Zonai were said to have vanished… perhaps Zelda was now in their land above the clouds? But what would a Hylian be doing here? The Zonai moved a hand to their chin and spoke.
"And could we ask what your name is?" they spoke with a deep smooth voice, that seemed to indicate that the Zonai was male… oh! He'd asked Zelda's name!
Zelda straightened her back as she spoke. "I-I am the daughter of King Rhoam of Hyrule. Princess Zelda." She lifted her chin.
"What an unexpected answer." The Zonai said, "We are the King and Queen who founded Hyrule, after all. Or at least we were the last time I checked."
Zelda's mind managed to move faster and still didn't comprehend this new information.
"You two founded Hyrule? And you're the King?"
"My name is Rauru. King Rauru of Hyrule." Rauru did not raise his chin as a spoke, he projected authority anyway.
"King Rauru and… Queen Sonia." Zelda's mind flipped through the royal histories of Hyrule, searching for those names. But her memory refused to cooperate, and the only Rauru she remembered was the one the corpse had mentioned. The one who had placed his faith in Link and Zelda. Still if these two were the founders of Hyrule…
"But that must mean-" Zelda couldn't believe it.
Link opened his eyes and gasped. He was back in the meadow with the Geoglyph and Impa was walking slowly over. He'd witnessed where Zelda was, but he didn't know where in Hyrule she was. And she seemed to have figured it out before Link could.