As always, thank you all for your reviews and for sticking with me! It's always great to hear your enjoyment! I continue to try and include more realistic feelings for everyone, so it's nice to hear that's still coming across great, too.

Particularly glad you like the work on Peatrice, Birdie and Mimi! It bewilders me how so many people seem to like Groose more than Peatrice and won't even give her the time of day. She's at least not a (murderous?) bully and doesn't treat anyone in the game like an inanimate object, she's just bored and soppy. I'm by no means her biggest fan – in-game, her quest and the interactions it requires really annoy me – but she's at least a vaguely sympathetic character, even if she is a bit of a caricature like all the islanders!

Chapter 57: A Ray of Light

After his brief conversation with Peatrice, Link headed back across the marketplace to Luv and Bertie's potion shop. The odd mixture of smells that wafted from it usually kept a small space in front of the counter clear, and today was no exception. Link tried hard not to sneeze as he approached: whatever Bertie was working on with the various burners and tubes in the far corner had an acrid overlay that seemed to make everything else just a little bit worse.

"Ah, Link! Welcome back! And still in one piece, I see, dearie – I hope our elixirs helped with that!"

"They did, thank you," Link replied politely. Luv's voice and personality matched her figure: forthright and almost larger than life. Even if she wasn't, she always gave the impression of being the tallest person in any room, or in this case in the market.

"And what will you be needing today, dear? We've just brewed a new batch of our Second Wind potion: no matter how tired you feel, one drink and you'll feel ready to take on the sky just like you did when you woke up in the morning! Or there's the old Doctor's Friend, of course: a staple if you'll be getting into more danger."

"Ahh…" Bertie spoke up from the back of the shop, shy and uncertain voice the polar opposite of his wife's booming confidence. "Do be careful, though… not to drink too many too close together… you know…"

Link nodded. "I know. Thank you." Not that I have much choice. I just have to hope I won't get that badly hurt.

"And then there's our more speciality potions," Luv went on cheerfully. "If you're looking for something a bit more specific. And if you know what you might want in advance, don't forget you can always ask us if we can make it! My husband is the best in the sky at synthesising new potions!"

"Oh… ah… I wouldn't go that far…" Bertie murmured. Their baby, strapped to his chest, chose that moment to let out an indignant wail, and he hastily bent to fussing over her.

"I'll ask if I think of anything," Link agreed politely. There wasn't much he could think of: what he needed to do was stay alive through all the dangers the surface could throw at him, and unless they could invent an elixir which made him a better fighter – which seemed ridiculous – then there were only really one or two things worth buying. "This time, I'll just have the same as before, please." He hesitated. "And… I'll take one of the Second Wind ones, as well." The ability to keep on going when he should have been exhausted might prove very useful indeed.

Luv nodded, taking the bottles from him as he handed them to her one by one, deftly filling them, and setting them on the counter. Link counted out his money and held it out to her just as she stoppered the last one.

"Thank you, dear." Luv's practised eye flicked across the rupees, and she tucked them away, handing him back a pair of blues. "There! I'm sure our elixirs will take care of you. Come back whenever you need anything!"

Link nodded again, pocketing his precious purchases. "I will. Thank you."

He raised a hand briefly in farewell as he set off again, circling around the market to the shoemakers' shop. Ostrin greeted him cheerfully enough, recognising the Academy uniform rather than his face, and had already started suggesting a pair of boots for Link when he held up the cloth bag containing his damaged ones.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you to repair these?"

Ostrin took them out of the bag, eyes widening in shock as he turned them upside-down and saw the damage.

"What happened here, then, lad?"

"Er… electric shock."

"You what, now?" Ostrin frowned, dredging up half-remembered lessons, stories, and possibly – Link suspected – complaints from Beedle. "Looks like you stepped on a coal. That bad, huh? Did it happen on the Airshop? That old thing is one good storm away from coming apart, I tell you. Well, I'll get those resoled for you. Can't say it won't cost, can't say it won't, but we'll do you a fair price, lad. You in a hurry? We'll have it in the next two, three days if you're not."

"That's fine, thanks."

Ostrin quickly wrote a pair of notes, tying one to the boots and handing the other to Link. "Give that in in three days, that's the ticket. Half now and half when you pick them up."

Link read the price on the ticket and paid without complaint, conscious that he was spending the Knight Academy's money; knowing that he needed to, knowing that both Headmaster and Knight Commander had signed the order instructing him to with nothing but encouragement. As he said his farewells and turned away, his eye caught on the small stall that was the interior face of Gondo's smithy.

"Fi," he murmured, softly enough that no-one in the busy market would notice, "did you want to take a look at the robot Gondo has?"

A closer inspection would serve to provide further information, Master.

It was as close as Link expected Fi would ever get to saying that she wanted – or didn't want – something, and if nothing else, he was curious, and a little sad.

"Okay."

Slipping through the market crowd, Link made his way across to the smith's stall. Gondo was up at the stall itself, chatting to a pair of customers, and Link paused to wait for a good moment. It came soon enough, as Gondo noticed him and shot him a quizzical look.

"Hey, kid. What's up? Something you need?"

"Hi, Gondo. I actually just wanted to look at your robot. Is that all right?"

Gondo sighed. "You're not just gonna make fun of the crazy old junk guy, are you? Just because it's a heap of junk now, doesn't mean it might not have been able to move and talk like in the stories once! Everything wears down eventually. I know what you're going to say, I've heard it all before, but my grandpa said-"

"That's not it!" Link protested. "I believe you! I've seen one – I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help the one here!"

Gondo stared at him for a moment, nonplussed. "You… you actually believe the stories too? You've seen one?! You've really seen one?!"

Link nodded, slightly wishing he hadn't blurted that out. "It's a long story, but I have. They really are people… just like the stories say. I just thought, if I could look at the one you have here…"

"Well, go right ahead! You're welcome any time!" Gondo pronounced, gesturing expansively into the smithy. "I tell you, though… he's a bit of a mess. I've tried all I know how to do, and still nothing. So if you can help him…"

"I'll do what I can. Thanks, Gondo."

"Hey, thanks for believing me about the little guy. And you'll tell me about what you saw, right?"

"All right," Link said. "But later, okay?"

"Yeah, it's nearly evening. But listen, you're welcome any time! Any time at all, makes no difference to me!"

Link nodded with a quick smile, and Gondo opened the flap to let him past the counter, pointing him into the back room, where Link could see a set of parts that, since his time in the desert, he recognised instinctively as another robot much like Bead. He approached slowly, the back room – a storeroom between the smithy proper and the market stall – feeling dark and ominous.

"Here he is, Fi." Link found himself whispering as he knelt beside the body, not sandblasted as the ones in the desert had been, but patched instead with metal plates that clearly had nothing to do with the original materials it had been made of. "What do you think?"

Analysing now, Fi replied silently. Master, I detect that this individual's power core no longer functions. Extensive modifications have been made to the individual over multiple centuries. A significant degree of ingenuity has been utilised in compensating for the lower-technology materials available in later centuries. I estimate that this individual finally ceased functioning between one and two hundred years ago. Significant wear to multiple components indicates that the individual's mobility was reduced for some time prior to cessation of function. She paused, only fractionally, but Link recognised it nonetheless. There is minimal degradation to the memory banks. It is possible to restore this individual to functionality, provided that the correct tools and components can be acquired.

"We could really do it? We could bring him back?"

That is correct. However, the only sites currently known to contain the requisite parts are in the Lanayru Desert. Should you return to the region, I will provide you with a list and descriptions of the necessary items.

"I'll do it, then," Link said firmly. His heart went out to the broken robot, something dead that – unlike so much; unlike their cities; unlike Bead the Gardener – didn't have to be. "Will it matter if it… if we take a few days?"

No, Master Link. The current rate of deterioration is minimal, and will remain so for as long as this individual is kept in this sheltered location. The repairs could be conducted at any time within the next four decades without appreciable alteration in its condition.

"Good."

He couldn't reach Zelda until he spoke to the Sheikah. He couldn't save Davar, or change the Sheikah's dangerous lives, at least not in any way he knew. He couldn't fix whatever was wrong with the mogmas, or bring back the dusty cities from the desert, or restore the tumbled ruins in the forest, or somehow save Fi's long-dead former master. Though he knew he had to fight the demons… eradicate Fi's terrible 'shadow of apocalypse'… there seemed so little he could do to help rather than to harm. Perhaps, at least, whoever this robot was, he could bring them back, something purely positive in the midst of all the evil he faced.

Sorry it's late, I'd written half the chapter in time, but despite my perennial optimism, in practice the week starting inevitably meant that, yet again, actually writing enough to finish it didn't happen until late enough that I just waited for next Sunday after all.

As far as I know, the potion shop baby is always just "the baby", and is never given a name or sex. If anyone knows anything more about this baby, I will cheerfully correct the bits I make up to match.

Patch Notes
- Potion types limited to the 'realistic'; shield repair combined with healing removed.
- Plant squeezings replaced with actual components.