The Forgotten Temple, still late afternoon of the third day after Hero's Day
Zelda was, by now, very much second guessing her decision to investigate the temple so late in the day. Most of this second chamber was in shadows, so much so that they could barely make out the giant statue of the Goddess Hylia. Adding to the atmosphere was an eerie silence where the only sounds were their breathing and footsteps.
Not helping her nerves was the fact that Link was still walking stiffly, his face a neutral mask so rigid she would have preferred it if he'd been scowling, even if she wished he wasn't still upset about his earlier mistake.
Assuming that was indeed what he was upset about. It really was merely a guess… and even if that guess was right, what could she do about it? There was no telling whether discussing it further would help Link at all. Perhaps a change of subject could help, and it was extremely unlikely to make things worse no matter what was bothering the Hero.
She couldn't deny that making conversation would also help her own mental state: the silence in here really was disquieting. Their steps did not even echo, there was no wind whistling in their ears, no birds in the distance, nothing. With the growing darkness, it was like the world around them was fading away altogether.
She cast her mind around for something to talk about until they reached the statue: it was still a few minutes' walk away.
"You mentioned that you visited this temple before," she said. "Might I ask what had brought you here?"
Link startled very slightly. "Of course, Princess. It was mostly greed, I'm afraid," he said, his voice measured and even, controlled to perfection. "I had found mention of an ancient artifact with the power of flight, a mechanical beetle that could be controlled from afar. It would have been extremely old, reportedly used by the very first hero. Although I didn't know just how ancient this temple is believed to be, I did know that it is the oldest in Hyrule, so I felt it was worth having a look to see if I could find that beetle, or anything else of value. I found nothing: if there was ever anything useful to be found here, it was claimed by someone else. Quite possibly a past hero."
Zelda hummed, thinking it over. She'd never heard of a mechanical beetle, and considering how many historical texts she'd read, that said something about how rarely it was mentioned.
"Do you read a lot of historical and archeological texts?" she asked.
The question drew a slight smile to Link's face. "That would be fair to say, yes. My mother is a teacher and yet even she feels that I study more than necessary."
Zelda smiled back: so far, the strategy was working well, and it was no small bonus that she was learning more about Link in the process.
"I can see how it could be useful to you," she said, "especially if you include history and research about your past selves."
Link appeared to hesitate for a moment. "I hope this will not sound self-centered, Princess, but I do focus on exactly that, in the hope of finding information on various enemies and clues as to the locations of potentially useful tools, weapons and items. My efforts have been rewarded on several occasions, which is how I came to learn the three Goddess Spells and how I acquired, among other things, the Megaton Hammer and the Magic Cape I used against that lynel."
Zelda's eyes widened slightly at the news that not only did Link know Nayru's Love, he also knew Farore's Wind and Din's Fire. She was reasonably certain he was the first hero to learn these spells since the doomed Hero of Time.
"Studying your past selves to increase your chances of successfully saving us all is not self-centered at all," she said. "Do you have an interest in history beyond that focus?"
Link made a so-so motion with his hand. "I'm not uninterested," he said, "But I prefer to focus on the strictly useful for now. I did learn what little history of my own people I could from the village's elders, but I can't afford the time and energy to seek more details."
"Is it true that for the most parts, the surviving refugees still do not like to expand upon their history?"
"Indeed they don't," Link said with a sigh. "They escaped a genocide, sailed until they were completely lost, and one fair morning, found themselves in view of Hyrule with both the current and the wind pushing them towards the coast. We believe the Three Golden Goddesses guided them to a new home. They generally have no wish to dwell on the horrors they escaped."
Zelda found herself incredibly sad at the idea. She could understand not wanting to dwell on a painful past, but having that past forgotten entirely still felt like an unbearable loss. Hyrule itself had lost so much of its history that the thought of erasing it on purpose was incomprehensible to her.
"Don't they wish for their history to be remembered at all?" she asked.
They stopped walking: they were in front of the Goddess, facing an opening to the inside of the gigantic statue. As they perhaps should have expected, the inside was completely dark.
"The intent is for the memories to be preserved, but not as living memories," Link said. "Several of the elders kept journals, or have been writing down information on their history, before and during the war, but the writings are locked away, not to be accessed until only those born in Hyrule are left. Shall we proceed, Princess? We can hopefully find some torches inside; I can't imagine this chamber is ever well lit by daylight."
Zelda pushed her remaining questions about the Sea Folk's history out of her mind: idle curiosity was not productive now that they had arrived at their destination and that the Hero seemed in better spirits.
The darkness within the chamber brought back to mind the growing darkness without, and the fact that everyone else than themselves had left relatively early in the day. She looked around.
"I do wonder what caused all the researchers to leave so early," she mused. "I haven't seen anything. Have you?"
"Nothing that will be a danger to us," Link replied.
Zelda's eyes widened and she turned to him fully. "Such a statement makes it sounds as though you have seen something but aren't concerned about it. Is that the case?" she asked.
Link nodded. "I apologize for not mentioning it, Princess. I assumed you saw them too and I can assure you that we are in no danger. For one thing, they will obviously not attack you and besides, I can freeze them in place with the Sun Song. Although I understand why the temple was deserted as soon as the shadows started lengthening. With your permission, I could dispose of them when we're done investigating the Goddess' inner chamber. The only reason I didn't immediately start hunting them down is to allow us to explore that chamber as soon as possible."
Zelda's eye's widened further and her heart started hammering. "Are you saying that there are Re-Deads in here?"
Link nodded again. "Yes, Princess."
"Link," Zelda said, now frowning slightly. "There absolutely should not be. This is not a royal tomb or any kind of royal property, and it has been inspected and deemed safe within my lifetime, while Re-Deads have not been deployed, or at least not by the Royal Family, in centuries."
Link's brow furrowed. From what the Princess was saying, the assumption that the Re-Deads would not attack her, due to her being of royal blood, was not safe to make after all because these particular Re-Deads might not be bound to the throne.
"In that case," he said, "I think the safest course of action is to play the Sun Song immediately and again as we enter the chamber, just in case there are any Re-Deads within that did not freeze when we played out here."
He held back a sigh as he realized that the option he was trying to avoid, the one that would result in delaying their exploring the Goddess' chamber and hopefully finding out how to save the Master Sword, was also very much a good one. "I could also destroy them now, but it would take me a little while to do so. They're quite resilient."
Zelda looked around intently, reluctantly looking for one of the shapes Link had clearly already spotted in the shadows – she loathed Re-Deads and the fact that their existence was her own ancestors' doing did little to ease her terror of them.
She found two almost immediately. She shuddered in spite of herself. "I can see two this way," she said, pointing with her chin. "Please go ahead and play the song, and hopefully they are close enough in nature to the royal Re-Deads to freeze."
Link's eyes widened slightly at the thought the song might not worth: if that happened, it would make disposing of the creatures much more difficult and time consuming. There was nothing for it but to try, however, so he took out his ocarina and played the short, cheerful tune. A wave of pure white light exploded away from him, briefly lighting the whole chamber.
When it dissipated, the two Re-Deads Zelda had seen already were floating off the ground in a foetal position, their bodies turned white and glowing faintly – the same state that the dark creatures would be in were they out in sunlight. A quick survey allowed her to see at least two dozen more of the animated corpses further back in the chamber, all in the same frozen state.
Link stepped in the opening to the chamber and played again. The brief wave of light revealed the chamber had several unlit torches set in the walls, more than enough to provide them with plenty of light to explore it. The light from the song did not, this time, catch any Re-Dead: the chamber was free of the monstruous servants.
Zelda sighed in relief. "Let's go on in," she said. "We cannot destroy them, they need to be investigated by the King's scientists to find out who summoned or created them, and how. It cannot be allowed to continue and although it seems likely, we can't even know for sure that this is The Enemy's doing. The researchers here clearly already know how to stay safe, so there's no emergency."
Link nodded. It didn't feel right to think they would leave here without destroying the Re-Deads, but for now, he needed to focus on finding the information or help that awaited them inside the Goddess. He was also glad to see the Princess somewhat relax again: she'd simultaneously gone rigid and pale as soon as he'd mentioned the Re-Deads, her voice had been shaky, and she'd even shuddered violently. He could hardly blame her, the things sent shiver down his spine too, and he'd been reminding himself on a loop in his head of every way he could handle them since he'd spotted the first few. He'd been grateful for the distraction when the Princess had started making conversation.
Inside the Statue of Goddess Hylia, early evening
Link was staring at the journal in front of him without seeing it, his jaw clenched.
There was nothing here. Or, more precisely, nothing useful. And, worse still, the Princess had not yet resigned herself to that conclusion and was still examining every note and journal she could find. They had come all the way here for nothing, and he could not even leave until Princess Zelda said so.
Things had looked promising when they'd first lit all the lamps: there were several work stations inside the statue's chamber, covered in notes and journals, and around the middle of the room, surrounded by notes asking people not to damage the site, was a small, low platform with a slot that seemed just the right size to fit the Master Sword.
The Master Sword had grown unbearably hot, miraculously not burning right through its sheath, as soon as Link had been within a step of said platform. He'd been forced to step back, and although the incident made him think this place must indeed be related to the Sacred Blade, the fact was not actually useful on its own.
That had been over an hour ago. Both he and the Princess had started going through the notes and journals, looking for useful information. They had found nothing.
The Princess put another journal down and walked over to the last table they hadn't yet examined. Link kept his eyes on the table in front of him: he couldn't look her way right now, he couldn't let her see how frustrated and angry he was with her refusal to give up on this false lead. Whatever the Goddesses had had in mind by sending them Syreene, it was not in this room.
His head whipped towards her and his heart skipped a beat when he heard Princess Zelda take a sharp intake of breath.
"Princess...?" he started.
"This is it!" Zelda exclaimed. "Listen!" she cleared her throat and started reading. "The tests came back positive! The Master Sword was here precisely when I thought!"
She trailed off, reading in her head, her eyes quickly scanning one page, then the next, then the next. Her expression evolved from excitement to irritation as she went. Eventually, she closed the journal with a groan.
"I have NEVER seen such terrible note taking!" she exclaimed.
Link tilted his head. "But they're studying the sword?" he asked.
Zelda sighed. "Yes. And specifically, its origins. Unfortunately, instead of actually writing down their findings, they're constantly just speaking in tongues. Listen to this:" she cleared her throat and read. "This confirm what I've been saying for 10 years! At long last my favorite theory is confirmed through what I just found!" She groaned. "It's all like that!" she exclaimed angrily, throwing her arms wide. "Even the author will never be able to know what they were going on about a mere few years from now!"
"Is there no name on the journal?" Link asked.
Zelda's eyes widened. She flipped back to the first page of the book and immediately palmed her forehead before dragging her hand down her face. "There is," she admitted. "And an address." She sighed. "I'm sorry. That outburst was completely unnecessary."
Link couldn't stop his lips from quirking up. "I'm not sure I agree, Princess. For a researcher, how bad these notes were seems in fact noteworthy." He slammed his hand on his mouth and felt heat rush to his cheeks. Had he actually just said that out loud? To PRINCESS ZELDA?
Zelda blinked at him and then, much to his shock, snorted. "Yes," she said with a slight chuckle. "Research notes really should not require one to endlessly… search… for their meaning."
Link's shock made way to a nervous chuckle as the nonsensical thought that perhaps terrible puns were contagious floated to the surface of his mind. He squashed it down.
Zelda thankfully moved on from the topic. "Thank you, Link," she said. "Both for the reminder that even bad notes are written by people who can be found and talked to, and for your patience. Now. Our Master Sword expert is named Cellan, and lives in Frontier Town."
Link winced slightly: Frontier Town, so named because it was nestled between high mountains and the southern end of Tanagar Canyon, was consistently described as unfriendly by everyone Link knew who had been there.
Zelda didn't notice his reaction, busy having a glance at the other notes on the table where she'd found the book. She quickly gave up, stepping away with a sigh and an eyeroll. "Same hand, same quality," she said.
"Shall we go recover Butter and Poe, and decide where to spend the night, Princess?" Link asked. He wasn't going to literally ask her if they could get going already.
She took one last look around the room, and nodded.
Link took out his ocarina and looked out to the main chamber: it was completely dark by now, and he could not see any white floating foetal Re-Deads. Considering how long the Princess and himself had been in here, it wasn't surprising that the creatures were all awake again. He played the Sun Song again, and the burst of light caught a few dozen of the undead servants again, once more freezing them in a floating foetal position and giving them a faint glow.
"Does playing sap your magic?" the Princess asked.
"Not at all, Princess," Link replied. "Binding the songs for fast travel does, but playing them is effortless, magically speaking. It will not be a problem to play as often as we need to on our way back outside. Destroying all of the Re-Deads but one for your Father's scientists to examine would be no trouble either," he added. "It would merely take a bit of time."
Zelda shook her hand. "Wasted effort. That sole survivor would multiply to fill the space quicker than anyone can ride here from Castle Town."
"Very well, Princess," Link said, resigned. He knew she was right but just the same, it still felt wrong to be aware of Re-Deads infesting a research site and to not do anything about them.
Tabantha, the same evening
Remiss leaned back in his chair, tapping his chin thoughtfully. He looked up at Shade, who was sitting across the table huddled under the winter cloak she'd purchased, warming her hands on a steaming mug of hot tea.
They were in a temporary Inn set up for the contest, an impressively large tent big enough to hold a kitchen, a dining room, and ten "bedrooms" separated from each other and the main room by curtains. The dining room was warmed by a fire, but the chill from outside had not quite left Shade and Remiss' bones yet.
"It will likely be just as cold tomorrow morning," Remiss said. He was wearing his cloak as well, and leather gloves.
Shade shuddered. "It wasn't very cold at all when we crossed," she said. "I had heard of the cold line, but I never realized just how abrupt the temperature drop was."
Remiss nodded. "This was my second time experiencing it," he said. "Within ten steps, you walk from Hyrule's Fall into Tabantha's Winter. It was just as shocking this time as my first time."
"Is there any useful information in the contest's pamphlet?" Shade asked. Unwilling to move her hands from her mug, she pointed at the pamphlet Remiss had been reading with her chin.
"Something you will likely interpret in a wildly different manner than me," Remiss said. "There is a note letting people know that contrary to certain rumors, the Hero is not expected to attend."
Shade hummed. "How would a rumor spread that the hero, who has never attended any contest of skill, who in particular has never attended this particular yearly contest of skill, would suddenly participate now?"
"Because of the prize," Remiss said. "Nobody knows what it is this year, but rumor has it that it's an ancient artifact, possibly a magical one, worth a fortune. Link collects stuff like that."
Shade rolled her eyes. "So the source of the rumor was another rumor. Astonishingly convincing."
Remiss tutted at her. "If I'd told you that the mystery prize had been discussed in the Royal Newsletter, you would not even dream of questioning it. If you want to learn something useful to the King, you're going to have to accept other sources of information than the King himself."
Shade snorted. "Indeed. Namely, my own eyes and ears and to a lesser degree, yours."
Remiss tilted his head at that. "Oh? You would trust crazy old me? Even a little?"
Shade rolled her eyes. "Are you fishing for praise? Yes, I would. You're prone to falling for rumors and gossip, but you are honest. If you told me that you had confirmation that the bird people are real, and I asked you how you came to that conclusion, you wouldn't pretend that you saw one: you would explain in all seriousness that it must be true because you read it in a book, or a pamphlet, or heard it from a stranger. Your military record also makes it clear that your command is not affected. I imagine you spend a fair bit of time investigating miscellaneous nonsense, but your current mania appears to be the first time you allow unverified beliefs to dictate your actions and still, the way you chose to act was to inform the King. Crazy old you, as you say, is in fact trustworthy."
Remiss swallowed and felt his cheeks flare.
Shade did not give him time to formulate an answer. She leaned over the table and whispered. "Back on topic if you don't mind? My guess would be that the rumor that Link would attend came with a very negative opinion towards the idea: how dare the Hero deprive everyone else of any chance of victory, doesn't he have better things to do… something to that effect. What is your take on it?"
Remiss was glad for the change of subject: this was a much more comfortable topic, not to mention more productive to discuss. "Like I said, Link collects powerful artifacts," he whispered back. "I think that if not for recent events, he may very well have found his way here. Whether or not the prize truly is something like that is irrelevant so long as he thought it likely enough to be tempted. My hope is that the true Hero will be similarly tempted."
Shade hummed, pondering the answer.
Around them, the other tables in the dining room were starting to fill up, including the ones closest to them: their conversation was no longer private.
"All right," Shade said with a glance at the neighboring tables. "It seems that there are two topics of interest for us here: what some candidates think the prize might be and whether that's why they're here, and whether people thought that rumored prize may attract Link. Agreed?"
Remiss nodded, excited in spite of himself: it would be quite a stroke of luck to find the true hero so quickly, but there really was a chance that he would, even if he divided his time between looking for them and indulging Shade's interest in the source of the rumors surrounding Link.