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).

And if you're just interested in discussing things with other readers, of course, you can go to my DISCORD here: h- t_ t_ p-s -: -/ -/ -discord . g-g / N9yDA8t6Cw (taking out hyphens, underscores, and spaces of course).

Finally, you can also read my ORIGINAL FICTION on Kindle. If you've got Kindle Unlimited, they're all free. Here's my author page, h-t_t_p-s -:- /-/ tinyurl _._ com /- 4ffb7wph with links to everything published. (Remove all Hyphens, Spaces, and Underscores, of course... 'cause Ffnet.)


Chap. 43:

A Little Direct(or)

"My- My sheep! You found my sheep!" Zelda looked up from the placid, even happy-seeming expressions of the animals she was leading up the hill with a wane smile.

"Sure did," Zelda murmured, more to keep from spooking the sheep that now trusted her completely than to express any tiredness or weariness. She was tired, and she was weary from the emotionally and mentally devastating effects of the last several days.

But seeing the delighted, overjoyed look on Koyin's square-jawed face as one after another of the wooly animals trotted over the ridge behind Zelda was worth it. Almost worth it, anyway. She could probably have gone without the hours or maybe days of brutally being used by the black Bokoblins that had lead the rustler's band, but the powers she had gained access to did a lot to make up for that. The perspective she had gained did even more, and, while it had been horrifying at the time, even just a few days later Zelda looked back on it now as a time of trauma that had taught her valuable lessons.

At the very least, she now had a better understanding of her place in the world.

How did one adjust to knowing they were a descendent of a literal Goddess made flesh and blood? Zelda imagined that, in her past life, she had grown up with that information as background to her entire existence. That she had simply known it, as fact, like that her parents were her parents. Would that have made it easier to understand, an easier burden to carry? Did it really matter, now? She could not suddenly regain seventeen and more years of memories. She was a different person now, different than she could ever have been then.

Or was she? Was Zelda now, the one who had spared a Bokoblin that had surrendered, but brutally slaughtered dozens and dozens of others, different from the Zelda who had come before? What about the other Zeldas, the ones who apparently shared her soul? Would they, could they, have brought themselves to spare a monster? To... to become almost its friend?

The earliest Zelda, the one that had come to her in that strange not-dream-space inside her head, who had spoken at length to her in an instant, had seemed so kind and understanding, but had all other incarnations of herself been so?

These were the thoughts that plagued Zelda's mind as the young woman guided the princess and her sheep toward the corrals, then let them into the paddock to inspect each one for injuries or things that required immediate treatment and care. The lack of food and water could come later, though Koyin was happy to see that Zelda had been feeding them for the last few hours.

"Seriously, it's a huge help," the girl told her quietly as the last, youngest sheep was let loose into the larger corral with the other animals. "I don't know how you did it. Ten big men, armored and all, went down there a couple weeks ago and couldn't bring a single sheep back. Then just you all by your lonesome go down and a few days later I've all but three of my babies back?"

"It- it was nothing," Zelda replied with a blush, trying to ignore how the younger girl's bountiful chest heaved inside her rancher's clothing from the industrious work they had just finished. "Anyone would've-"

"It's a Goddess-given miracle, is what it is," Koyin interrupted with a stern look over her shoulder before her body turned to follow her face, "And don't say 'anyone would've done the same,' either. People tried, but then they stopped without succeeding. Not anyone would've and fewer could've. I... I owe you something fierce. Not that I've got much, but... well, come on. Let me show you what I was gonna give to the guards. It's yours now, Zelda."

The princess started for a moment before remembering that she had told Koyin, had in fact told most of the people in Hateno, what her actual name was. No one had really batted an eye, but she supposed that was to be expected. Once, her name might have been common... or it might have been reserved only for the princesses of the land. She had no way of knowing, not really. Without reliable census records, it just wasn't feasible to expect she would ever learn.

She followed Koyin into the house, past a kitchen where an older gentleman with ruddy-tan skin was stirring some kind of mutton stew on a cooking stove, while he guided a young boy in learning his letters. At the back of the ranch-house, down a short hall, Koyin opened the last door in the hallway and gestured for Zelda to enter.

It was clearly her bedroom, and a surprisingly feminine space considering the practical clothing and demeanor Koyin projected otherwise. Flowers in small clay pots and urns lined the base of two walls, broken only by rustic but well-made furniture that appeared to have lasted for decades or centuries judging by the stains and wear on them. A large bed, too big for the one young woman, dominated the far end of the room, and a vanity seemed a little out of place among the more traditional wardrobes and dressers one might expect in the master bedroom of a decently well-off farmer's home.

Koyin followed Zelda in and shut the door, then took a long, deep breath before letting it out slowly. "I... Well, I'm a bit nervous. I was gonna offer the guards- well, if any of 'em had actually taken me up on it- um... a monetary reward, and... and something else."

Zelda turned to the younger girl, who was red-faced with her arms crossed under her bountiful chest. She was looking anywhere but at Zelda herself. "I'm sorry?"

She watched Koyin swallow hard, then square her shoulders and force herself to look at the princess. "I... I know what men're like. I was gonna... offer myself to- to the one who brought my sheep back. Like..."

"You were going to sleep with one of them?"

Koyin nodded, but she also uncrossed her arms to wave a hand vaguely, "Er, m- Maybe a bit more... lots of unattached menfolk in the village. I can't stay a single girl forever."

Zelda frowned, but nodded. It made sense, at least sort of. Even if it rubbed her the wrong way, it wasn't her place to dictate the other girl's life and choices. It was hardly like she was an expert on the social customs and norms of a farming and ranching village like Hateno, anyway. Maybe it was perfectly normal here? She already knew that some people, like Sagessa, regularly had sex as a transaction, or even to make their way in the world. Was Koyin doing it to thank a guard or man who had gone above and beyond any different, really?

"I... I could do that for you too, if you've a mind," Koyin murmured softly, "I ain't never been with a woman- nor a man, for that matter- but I know some folks are of a mind to it. I'm not tryin' to push or anything', and I don't mean't assume nothin', if that's not your thing. I just... I don't rightly know what else I can offer except a bit o' coin and our thanks."

More to stop her rambling than anything else, Zelda reached out to pull the younger girl into a hug. Koyin stiffened at first, then relaxed after several seconds as she realized she was being embraced, not groped. Slowly, her arms came up around Zelda's waist. "You don't have to give me anything," Zelda told her, "I didn't do it for the reward, Koyin. I did it because you needed help."

"I do appreciate that," the girl whispered into Zelda's chest, "but I don't... I don't think it's right to let you go with nothin'."

"If you want to give me a reward, I won't refuse," Zelda told her, pulling away a little to look down into Koyin's soft brown eyes, which were a little watery. "I wouldn't impinge on your honor like that, either. I want you to do what you feel is right. But I don't need a reward. I'll accept one if you want me to, but I don't need one. Whatever- whatever kind of reward you want to give."

Koyin swallowed, then shocked Zelda by rising up on her toes and pressing a quick, chaste kiss to her lips. She was scarlet again when she came down onto her heels and pulled herself out of the princess' surprised grasp. "I... I got more. Hold on."

Zelda found herself watching, enraptured, as the young woman moved to a footlocker tucked away in the furthest corner from the door and bent to unlock and open it. Koyin was a stocky girl, several inches shorter than Zelda herself, but she was curvy in a way that the princess found herself both envious of and quite allured by. In particular, the way her breasts swayed in the thick, multi-layered rancher's clothing she wore, and the way her ass filled the light green dress as she bent over had the princess licking her lips in anticipation of... something.

Something Koyin seemed willing to give, but something Zelda herself wasn't sure she wanted. Oh, she wanted Koyin, there was little doubt in her mind anymore about that. But what she wanted her for was still up for debate. A quick fling? A passing bit of pleasure? To teach the girl a bit about the wonders of sex, especially with another woman? It wasn't as if Zelda herself was an expert, she could only remember being with two: Sagessa and Prima. One time, she had been more passive, and the second more aggressive. What did Koyin need? What did she prefer?
Did she want sex at all, or was she merely offering it because it was something she thought was expected?

She was startled from her thoughts when Koyin stood up quickly and bounced back to her with a happy grin, a small pouch in her hands. "Like I said, it ain't much, but it's what I was able to scrape together. But it's somethin'. Maybe not a lot to you, but..."

As the princess opened the small pouch, her eyes widened along with the aperture. "K- Koyin, there's... there's got to be more than two hundred Rupees in here."

"I- It was either that, or- or a few bottles of milk from the cows," the girl blushed, "And Pa said it'd be easier to carry the Rupees. For a traveler like you, I mean."

"He isn't wrong, though some fresh milk would be nice too. I could maybe fit a few bottles in my satchel- it's enchanted- but I have more goods than rupees right now, so he's right even if he only guessed," Zelda admitted. She took the pouch thoughtfully, but then started counting out fifty before handing them back. "But this is too much. I know you're struggling because of the lost sheep. So how about I take this now, and you keep the other hundred and fifty. And, when you get back on your feet, I come back for the rest in milk? Or milk and wool, come next shearing?"

"Y- You'd do that?" Koyin asked, her eyes wide, "'Cause that'd be right great for us, but I don't see as how a pretty lady like yourself has much need for raw milk and wool."

With a smile, Zelda lifted her hand to cup the younger girl's jaw and leaned in, "And maybe, when I do come back, I'll want a little more than a kiss, too." Then it was her turn, and she was pleased to see Koyin turn crimson again as their mouths separated after a longer, tender kiss.

"I... I think I'd like that, m- miss," the herder-girl mumbled, sounding more than a little, well, sheep-ish.

"Good, it's a promise then," Zelda told her, then stood up once more and set the fifty rupees into her larger money pouch. "I've got to go, Koyin. But it was good to meet you, and I'm glad I could help."

"W- Will I see you again?" the girl asked, strangely plaintive, as Zelda reached her bedroom door. "Be- Before you leave town, I mean?"

"Count on it," Zelda told her, and she smiled back as the normally stern, even sour-faced girl broke into a wide, happy grin.

Then she was gone, headed out of the house, back to the road, and this time past the fork that lead down to Hateno Beach. She did, after all, come to Hateno Village with one specific goal in mind. Sidetracked by a potential home, a Shrine, Goddess-dreams, horniness, pleasant rendezvous, and less-pleasant run-ins with Bokoblins, Moblins, and even a Stone Talus, the princess felt it was high time she got to the actual task at hand.


Hateno Ancient Tech Lab -
Mind the lanterns!

It was a well-made sign, though the craftsmanship was simple, the carving on the face was elegant and scorched in with nary a missed spot Zelda could see. It was written in Hylian and, she saw with some amusement, the same blocky, overly-complicated script the Sheikah Slate used. Someone, it appeared, had gone to great lengths to make it clear exactly what 'ancient tech' referred to.

As if the giant telescope crafted from the shells of untold numbers of Guardians, as long as the tower of the lab was tall, sprouting out from the second floor wasn't a large enough clue.

A second lab, a mile closer to the large building, had a similar message, this time only carved in Hylian:

Hateno Ancient Tech Lab -
Enter at your own risk!

Up close, most of the building was a single-story ranch home, similar to Koyin's in layout from what she could see. But where there had been a second floor loft for, Zelda guessed, additional sleeping spaces, the Tech Lab's upper section was a large, four-story tower capped with the husk of an ancient Guardian. Its legs were half gone, but what remained draped over the shingled roof like the limbs of an old willow, and a rickety-looking wooden staircase spiraled up around the outside of the tower rather than the inside. Smoke billowed from a chimney in the lower section, and a strange, balloon-shaped device resembling a cooking stove loomed below the tower, higher than the first story roof. The door was painted blue unlike the rest of the wooden wals that were unstained, and that was just a small part of the decoration. While the building itself was mostly unadorned, even unpainted, around the entrance were several strange things that caught Zelda's eye, totally aside from the massive telescope.

Where most buildings would have some sort of porch, there was a simple stone step. Below that, embedded in the earth of the hilltop itself, a round platform caught her attention completely: A Travel Gate. It was inactive from the look of it, dark and cold, but it was of a design she was familiar enough with to recognize it at once. The door was painted blue with a stylized white Sheikah Eye emblazoned on both halves, while a smaller eye symbol hung on a sign overhead. Above that, the word Laboratory was painted in blue on a sign. Higher still, over the door, two small piles of stones flanked a larger stone statue of a frog, similar to the ones she had seen in Kakariko Village.
Only this frog was a little... more. The Sheikah Eye was painted crudely on its chest, and it wore large, red, spiked frames of glasses over its face. A rope around the fat belly held a worn, weather-beaten leather parasol far too large for a normal person to carry against the statue.

Finally, one more sign stood next to the door itself.

-Hateno Ancient Tech Lab-
If the flame is blue, the furnace is hot!
DO NOT TOUCH!

She could see no blue flames anywhere, but it took little effort for Zelda, steeled and hardened by the events of the last few days, to march up to the door itself and give it a knock.

Then a second, and a third.

None of them got any response, possibly because of the shouting going on inside. Eventually, she grew tired of waiting, and the sight of an afternoon squall blowing in from over the sea to the east urged Zelda to get on with it. She pushed her way inside, and was greeted by chaos.

The building was larger than she had thought, and the lower floor seemed to be a single large chamber separated only by what bits of it were used for.

The sound grew louder as she stepped inside, and Zelda made out what she thought were a child and a grown man arguing vociferously. The child would have been the victim, she thought, or at least more put-upon, if she wasn't using words like 'conflagration' and 'bamboozlement' in the course of their rather heated discussion.

But as fascinating as the people were (and they were, indeed, fascinating), the room itself held even greater wonders. To her left was a simple pile of crates, but over her head, hanging from the ceiling by ropes, were what looked like two wings of a giant insect. Against the far wall, straight ahead of the entrance, two more leaned. On her right, bookshelves, cupboards, and a wardrobe were over-laden with books, clothes, and stacks of papers that were scrawled on in terrible handwriting with even worse drawings and sketches.

More parchment, actual paper, and even fine vellum was strewn about most of the space's surfaces, everything from a dozen tables, two dozen desks, and the floor itself. Books covered the rest, in stacks as short as three high to some that towered a half-dozen feet over Zelda's head in twisting spires that rose to the ceiling. A couple, she noted with wry amusement, even had tomes smashed into the angled space between tower and ceiling, either in attempt to use just a bit more space, or perhaps to add enough pressure to keep the stack stable.
The left side of the room was dominated by a raised dais that held the same sort of Guidance Stone one might find atop a Sheikah Tower, the control system at the bottom for the Slate to be inserted, and the obelisk-like crystal stone hanging from the ceiling overhead. Another strange contraption, almost like a winged, flying Guardian with all the important parts like weapons, sensors, or engines removed, was suspended over the back left corner by a mish-mash network of ropes.
As she stepped further into the large workshop, Zelda's eyes widened further: The two people arguing were indeed a Sheikah man and a Sheikah child. The man was in the back corner beneath the winged contraption, surrounded by crowded but almost obsessively neatly-stacked shelves of books, and wore some variant of the traditional Sheikah garb that seemed oddly familiar to Zelda, but also more appropriate to a scholar's profession.

The child herself was striking, but mostly because of the sheer volume with which she shrieked at the adult man so passionately while she finished marking off a line of chalk to match an earlier one on the floor. They separated the back corner where he was from the larger workshop, with a few uneven feet between them. On his side was marked, in unsteady chalk, "Symin." In the middle between the two, three iteractions of "Shared", and the line she had just finished was labelled, "Director Purah."

Her eyes widened.

The child was the one she had been sent to see? Impa's sister was this... this girl?

Her appearance was odd too, but not so much that it necessarily seemed out of place in general. Just out of place one someone who looked so young. It was almost like someone older had their clothes taken away and scaled down, more or less well depending on the individual garment, to fit someone a third their size. Despite only coming to just above Zelda's waist, the still-yelling girl had thick white hair tied up in a double-bun at he top of her head with a golden, frog-like mask at the front held on with a ribbon, from which two blue lights shone in the place of pupils. A red backpack adorned her too, with a wooden recorded stuck into a holster on its side. She wore black sandles with a golden strap, and knee-high stockings of dark blue with a red stripe up either side, and a black skirt beneath a cream-white petticoat lined with Sheikah runes in red. But the most recognizeable feature were the glasses. A mirror of the frog statue's, only smaller to fit the round, cherubic face.

Well, cherubic if it wasn't currently twisted in fury. "And stay over there! You cross this line one more time, Symin, and you won't be my assistant anymore! I don't need you coddling me! I can take care of myself!"
"Fine!" the Sheikah man shouted right back, seeming just as unaware of Zelda's presence as the girl was, "I can't handle the mess over there anyway! I'm sick of cleaning up after you! What woman your age leaves such a disorganized mess in their own research lab, anyway?"

The two spun apart with a mutual huff, arms crossed in front of their chests.

Of course, that was when the girl noticed Zelda. "Princess?!"

She nodded, "I- I am... I was sent by Impa to speak to the Director of the Lab. Her sister, Purah...?"

"That's me," the girl cheered, then flashed a strange sign with both of her hands, framing her glasses, "Check it! Are you surprised? The Director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, that's me! Madame Purah! Snappity snap!"

"I... I'm a little confused," Zelda mumbled, worried the girl would start shouting again. Instead, she hopped up onto a stool with surprising grace so that she stood as tall as Zelda herself and put her hands on her hips, with her legs spread wide.

"Don't worry about it, Zelda! Do you remember any dreams from your time in the Slumber of Restoration?"

"Er, N- Not really, no," the princess replied.

Purah leaned in, and she leaned back in response. "You don't look like you've changed a bit in the last hundred years, but something must have happened in all that time."

Unconsciously, Zelda's fingers went to the starburst scar around her eye. Purah's gaze, a piercing red color that seemed to run in their family line judging by Impa's eyes, followed along. "Eh, I remember that one. I was the one who took you to the Shrine of Resurrection and started the healing sleep, after all. It's healed up pretty good, if you ask me! But no dreams at all? Oh well... I suppose I'm just happy you're still in one piece. You were pretty touch and go for a while, there."

Zelda gave a noncommittal sound, one which seemed to disturb the girl who was still chattering away a mile a minute.

Something about her demeanor seemed to bring the girl up short, however, because she stopped mid-word. Then, slower, more quietly, "Zelda? What's with that look? You do still remember me, right?"

"I'm afraid not," Zelda replied quietly, "I barely remember anything from... before. Near total memory loss, in fact. Just snippets and fragments."

"I see," Purah said with a sigh, and seemed to deflate even smaller for a moment. "We knew it was a possibility, especially with where the Guardian's beam struck you, but I hoped..."
The princess watched, nonplussed, as the tiny figure whipped a notebook out of one of the pockets on the side of her pack and scrawled rapidly in its pages with a quill pen, mumbling as she did, "After one hundred years in the Slumber of Restoration, subject... has... lost... all... memories. Noted!" Then she turned back to Zelda, "Sorry, sorry, I have a bad habit of taking notes rather abruptly like that. It's a charming quirk, I've been told, but I think it's a bit rude personally."

"I don't mind," Zelda admitted, finding herself smiling at the energetic child's mannerisms.

"Good, 'cause I'm too set in my ways to change now," Purah chirped, then put a hand to her brow, "So, tell me, if you have lost most of your memories... what pressing questions can I answer for you?"

Only one came to mind, and Zelda felt her face heat as she asked it, "Aren't... aren't you a little young to be Impa's sister?"

"How rude!" Purah cried, and stomped her tiny feet, "Though... perhaps it isn't rude at all. I suppose it's actually a logical conclusion given the evidence... Look, the truth is, I tried an experiment, and it went wrong. An Anti-Aging Rune I developed. Or rather, it worked, but too well, and I haven't figured out how to reverse the process yet. I wrote it all down in my diary, but frankly, I don't want just anyone reading it. There'd be chaos if others figured out how to make themselves young again!"

Privately, Zelda agreed. "I... I think I'll be fine without reading your private diary, thank you, Ms. Purah," she replied.

"Good. Frankly, the whole thing was embarrassing- I just forgot to carry one zero! Anyway, enough about that. Back to the topic at hand: Here you are, after a century! Here to help drive off and seal away Calamity Ganon, who grows in strength with every passing day. And to rescue our beloved Hero, Linky! That is, if you've got the guts and the wisdom to pull it off."

"I... I don't know if I do," Zelda admitted, "but I can only promise I'll do everything I can. I'll help in every way possible."

"That's my line, Check it!" Purah cheered, grinning madly, "To help the one true Princess of Hyrule, I, the one and only Purah, will restore the missing functions of your Sheikah Slate! What do you say to that, huh?"

"S- Sure," Zelda nodded, "I've already found some new things, but if you can give the Slate more abilities that would be amazing."

"I knew you'd say that!" Purah cheered, jumping up and down to land, wobbling and off-balance for a moment, on the stool. "But to do that, to fix your Slate up, I'll need you to run an errand for me. Normally I'd do it myself, since Symin's so old, but I... I kind of don't want to go outside and be seen like this."

"I- I'm sorry?"

Purah's eyes rolled behind her glasses, "Look, Princess, it's simple. I'd like to help you, but I can't do it for nothing. Not won't, but can't. I need my Guidance Stone to fix your Slate, but it's out of power because the Ancient Furnace outside has gone out. There's an Eternal Ancient Flame a couple miles off, on the other side of Hateno, but you'd have to bring the flame all the way here. Not that hard. I have a torch you can use, even. But I can't go outside, and let people see me like this. I'd lose all respect! And Symin's a book-worm. He can't be trusted not to drop the torch at the first sign of a Chu. So it's got to be you!"

"Alright, alright," Zelda chuckled, "I can carry a torch for a few miles, I suppose."

"Good. Once you've lit the Ancient Furnace with the Blue Flame, the Guidance Stone will power up automatically, and we can get to work on your Slate's repair. Should only take a couple hours after that. And you can tell me all about the new abilities you've found afterward."

"Alright," Zelda nodded, following Purah's eyes to the cold stone equipment. "I'll... be right back then, I suppose."
"Alright! Symin, you're forgiven for now. Start working on dinner for us and our guest- and quit trying to clean my shit up! I like it where it is!"
"Ugh, you're impossible, Director!" the old man grumbled as he stood up from where he had just sat down to work on something at the cleanest desk in the building.

Purah leaned in a little to Zelda, close enough the princess detected just a faint bit of perfume, "I gotta keep him on his toes, or he gets complacent. Alright, get to it, Princess! The sooner we have that Blue Flame, the sooner we can get the Guidance Stone working on your Slate, and have dinner!"

"A- Alright... I'll be back soon, then." With a nod at the assistant and Purah both, Zelda turned and headed for the door. She stopped to pick up the torch on the way from where it leaned conveniently next to the door.

Would it be that simple? She supposed only time would tell.