To The Princess - Tale_Smith (2024)

Chapter 1: The Great Sky Islands

Chapter Text

Dear Princess Zelda

When I told Rauru that my new hand didn't have most of the dexterity I was used to, he suggested I try doing some writing as practice. I don't think he quite meant I should start using the Purah Pad's note system, but it should do for now.

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

After we got separated, I found myself in the sky atop an island of robots and ghosts. Well, one ghost, to be more specific. But I suppose you've already met him.

I know it's stupid, but I keep thinking I'll find you around the next tree. Even a handprint, or a bit of overturned stone- really any sign I’m really following your footsteps beyond this pad you sent back to me and a few vague "oh she's a friend of mine" statements would be great.

I just… need to know you're ok, is all.

The more rational part of me is starting to think this search might take a while, and I’ve never had the best memory. So, while I look, I’ll make letters. Things I notice, things I want to ask you about, things I think you’ll enjoy, all to shove into your arms the moment I find you.

And hey, with luck, that’ll happen before I fill a cart with these things!

Your impatient guard,

Link.

---

Dear Zelda,

I think the Master Sword might be alive.

Before you get on me for not mentioning it sooner, I didn’t think it was real. People get attached to their weapons all the time. That old cliche about a sword being an extension of your body is never quite true. It’s a weapon, something you hold and use, something that you’ll occasionally lose and then need to compensate for in a hurry.

However, that weapon will almost always be the only thing between you and a sudden death. A piece of metal that will carry your will forwards, a partner in your victory. It’s hard not to grow some emotional attachment to your favorites.

I- think I’d describe a sword as a friend?

Not necessarily a very close one, I go through too many to get particularly attached to most of them, but the sword i-was different. She was the best sword I ever fought with. There was a fluidity with her in hand, a level of control in the dance of a fight I’d never really known with any other blade.

And now she’s gone.

There’s a piece of metal, yes, but it’s really only good for sparking against flint. And it’s… wrong for her to be so reduced. And I’ve had way too much time almost alone up here to think about why that feels different from the loss of a tool (even a powerful and important one). There’s a hole left here.

A… decent bit like the hole I'm finding in your absence, to be specific. There's a legend among the koroks that the sword holds a spirit. Sometimes the story goes that it's the ghost of a previous wielder, sometimes a fragment of the Goddess broken off at the sword's creation to ensure it fought evil, and sometimes that the ghosts of the dead collect in the blade in the more ghoulish ones. It's not something I put a lot of stock in, but I'm starting to have my suspicions.

Sometimes I'd wake up already parrying the first blow of an ambush, fight through the entire resultant battle with perfect clarity, and then collapse back to sleep the moment it finished. Even in a regular fight, I'd react to dangers and openings way, way faster than I ever should've been able to.

I know it's not much, but I'm now wishing I'd gotten to know her better. If any of this sounds familiar to you, I'd love to know.

Your –apparently superstitious– knight,

Link

–--

Zelda!

The fish here have to have diverged from the common Hyrulean carp just below this island millennia ago. The environment seems pretty stable out here, so I don't think they've changed much from that long ago– aside, possibly, from the effects of the thinner air.

I don't have enough samples of other types of fish– from mountains and the other flying islands I'm seeing in the distance, as well as a couple carp– to say anything conclusive, but I think this might be the closest I've ever gotten to looking at the living past.

Is this how you felt when you dug up the first guardian?

…

On a less dour note, the fish taste great! Even with whatever that gloom did to my tongue*, they tend to roast pretty firm and seem to play nice with peppers (which so far have had more luck breaking through the sludge), and smell great. A bit smaller than what I generally work with, but the smell, ease of bone removal, and way they softened when I boiled them is quite promising for soup.

The issue got slightly better when I got the first bit of gloom out, so I’ll probably hold off on putting any proper recipes together to show you until I’ve recovered more.

Though… I wonder, how would what I have mix with a few bits of salted moblin entrail?

A thought for later. And a consequence to sort out off the books.

*I’m starting to wish we hadn’t wasted the name “malice” on the last thing of evil goo. Coating a cook’s tongue in the essence of rot was such a pointed insult to throw in on top of all the other things that happened down there.

Your hobby zoologist,

Link.

–--

Princess,

I… don’t know where you are, I don’t know how you found me, but I can only hope I’ll be able to protect you this time.

The Master Sword stirred when we found you, just a little. I- I think she’ll be able to help you a lot more than I can.

Look after each other.

Link .

Chapter 2: Lookout Landing

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Dear Zelda,

I have taken my dive from the islands, and made my way to the fortifications around Old Castle Town. There were… a lot of people there.

We’ve been missing. For some time.

They put out missing person pictures in the paper and everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if every stable in the kingdom has our faces plastered on some wall or other. If the same has started happening in the major cities too.

It’ll be convenient if that has happened, but the sight keeps plaguing me with unanswerable questions.

Did people look for us a century ago? Did they pull together, scanning the kingdom for heroes either dead or already locked away by the time everything fell apart? Purah looks almost exactly how she looked when we knew her, did she keep posters of us and the other guardians over her bed back then, too?

Or was everyone too busy with the chaos to think about how the people who were supposed to save them were caught off guard, leaving them to fight alone?

I… don’t know which one’s worse.

I suppose I could ask Purah what happened immediately after it all started, but she seems so busy with her new projects to bother with the past. It can’t matter that much.

Said new projects… sure are something.

The moment she finished crushing my arms (seriously, how’d she get that strong?) , Purah pulled back to study me with the same look she used to get whenever she saw an excuse to use that stasis hand-cannon.

Then, faster than I could think to react, she gave me a new paraglider (score!) and talked me into helping her run a test she’d never managed to find volunteers for. Said test consisted of launching me a mile into the air out of a giant tower (that, again, she’d never tested before this) and having me scan the ground while I fell.

It was a lot (and I mean a lot ) of fun, but the number of ways it could’ve gone wrong…

And, of course, the fact that I’m entirely sure I’ll come back if she asks again.

Your currently living knight,

Link

---

Dear Zelda

During my stay (Purah isn’t charging for the bed!), I’ve had the opportunity to talk to some of the folks in the militia.

Zelda, they’re babies. I- I can’t.

They’re so passionate about what they’re doing here, and they’re trying to do it with pots and pans. It’s so cute, and so worrying.

There’s no one left to actually train them, and I couldn’t stop them without feeling like a monster. A- at least they told me which fort they were preparing to take?

And I got to help the cook of Lookout Landing put dinner together for everyone this evening without anyone trying to stop me!

Your concerned adventurer,

Link

—

Dear Zelda,

Purah decided I was well enough to help the crew investigating the castle today. This, of course, meant that I got my first proper look at the castle after… whatever happened down there.

The castle has been pushed several stories into the air by a strange, almost tree-like mass of gloom. That tree bursts from a vast, gloom stained pit whose formation shows signs of sudden violence that the research team confirmed when I asked about them.

It’s somewhere between a sinkhole and a fissure, like… well, like you’d get if a chick broke out of its shell, or a monster clawed its way free of its burial.

Unsurprising, given what we saw, but the sight raises a few questions.

First: if the monster burst out, why is the castle still in the air?

Second: if this is the breach, what does that make the pits? Are they peep holes?

Oh! They've just finished processing my paperwork for getting a closer look!

~~

What?

I… saw you. Staring up at the castle. You were wearing a garb I had never seen before, and vanished into a speck of light when I reached out for you.

You looked like you, at least, but you only stared at the castle- this place you grew up, and this place where you were so hurt- with this horrible vacant expression. There was no sword at your hip.

Something's wrong, and I'm not sure what.

I'm going to go to Kakariko. Impa has to have heard of something like this before, and that's going to be a lead.

Your seeker,

Link

Chapter 3: The Road to Kakariko

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Dear Zelda

Ah, the open road!

It never loses its splendor, no matter how much is on your mind.

A lot of things have changed since the last time I did this, but the air tastes as sweet as ever.

The sun is warm, and the grass is soft and ever so slightly damp against my fingertips. The world is just beginning to tip towards autumn, with swollen apples, perfectly sweet berries lining the roadsides, and leaves that haven’t quite got the memo to begin rusting yet.

There’s some deep, deep comfort in how easily I was able to settle into my marathon gait, how the work of watching for danger curls up in the back of my mind with its head on its paws as the rest of me takes in the view. And any potentially interesting things on the horizon, of course.

I’m realizing that this… might not end up being the most efficient trip between places in the world.

Your wanderer,

Link

—

My dearest archeologist,

Today, I found a beast.

A vast, coiled thing somewhere between a fish and the great monster boar. Its body was formed of twisting light, and it stared up at me with burning eyes. It seemed to be waiting for the right opportunity to leap from the ground and begin to swim.

Apologies, that was probably a bit more poetic than it needed to be.

To put it more simply, I found a very, very large picture painted across the ground that I've never heard of before.

I'd assume they were some new high end art exhibition if it weren't for two things:

First: this installation isn't paint or carved earth, but light. A bright, twisting sparkle like a late afternoon carved into a stencil.

Second: this style of lining is an almost perfect match for what I've seen in Impa's history panels, which are themselves artifacts.

I don't think either of those things are enough to fully pin to an era quite yet, especially not if you're me, but it will make for a great research trailhead when you're back to use it.

Actually, hmm…

Ok, I can't promise I'll be very good at this, but here's a promise:

If I see anything that I think would be of use to your research, I will write it down here to the best of my ability. If the research is in a space that I think will be dangerous or otherwise difficult for you to access, I will try to gather enough information to make it unnecessary for you to visit those places yourself.

Your gallant information getter,

Link

—

Dear Zelda,

It would appear that I have a horse now.

I met her on the road being harried by a pack of cavalry bokoblins. It, I’m very willing to suspect, was an increasingly common image. I’ve already had to save three travelers, and the vast shanks of meat I’ve always found roasting in monster camps have to come from somewhere, so it’s likely I’ll have to face more of these cases in future…

Well, in any case, just as I reached the base of the hill, the horse landed an amazingly savage kick against one of her attackers, sending it squealing towards me. It was all I could do to avoid getting trampled!

Needless to say, the ensuing battle was an exercise in balancing fighting and staying out of that horse's way. She was terrifying.

When we finished, I tried to inspect her for injuries. She reared at my approach with much flashing of sharp hooves and bright teeth, but didn't run.

A decent few cuts run along her side, a bit of a limp, and far, far too many healed scars. Among those what I'm pretty sure are a few burns. I hope she'll be ok.

Now I'm a knight, not a horse doctor, but I've somehow caught her interest. She'll pace after me, quiet as a shadow, only sneaking forwards to steal apples out of my hand. It feels… something like trust. We're only a day from the nearest stable, let's hope that trust isn't misplaced.

Your equestrian of limited understanding,

Link

—

Dear Zelda,

We've reached Dueling Peaks stable, and the staff there descended on her with much combing and general fussing about with salves and bandages. I had to hold her head at points to keep her from trying to bite people, but she calmed down once one of the stable kids came with hay.

They suggested that I register her as mine, which meant thinking up a name. Cinders is… possibly not in the best taste given the burns, but it does feel right . Something about her eyes.

She's sleeping now, and the stablemaster suggested that I do as well. However, I have instead noticed something and got a (probably bad) idea.

Alongside the sky island I woke up on, many, many more have appeared throughout the kingdom. Rocks have a tendency to fall from them, which combines with your time magic to create a lot of potential for verticality.

Unfortunately, I have not managed to pull up enough strength to get up to an actual island. My concentration breaks after… 500 meters, I’d like to say?

But if I reach the peak of the mountain and then get lucky enough to find a fallen stone there, then that might be enough.

Wish me luck!

~~

It worked it worked it worked!

(hey, no, I can be more professional than that)

I made it to a cluster of islands just above the mountain that I will claim the indulgence of naming The West Nucleda Archipelago. The specific island I made it to is particularly bare. Just a few empty patches of overgrown earth, a rock piston that fires into nothing using a power source I can’t see, and the base of a shrine.

When I investigated the last of these, I was informed by the sort of disembodied voice I really shouldn’t be used to by now that the rock part of the shrine (portals appear in them when I touch them, it’s a whole thing) was on a reasonably distant island.

Said island is further away than I can paraglide usually.

The piston, when I checked, proved able to rotate, and can provide some amount of momentum. But it is probably not enough to get a proper arc to the island even if I use one of the bird gliders.

This looks like an invention challenge, and I’ve never had the brain for those.

What would you do if you were here?

~~

I've settled on gluing a flame emitter and hot air balloon to a glider, lined up with a somewhat complicated mix of rewind and ultrahand tricks to buy myself time to climb on before it sets off.

Took some time, but I feel pretty good about it!

~~

Well.

There are, indeed, pirates in Lurelin Village.

Thank the Goddess for the warp system.

Yours and most definitely not an inventor,

Link.

—

Hey, Zelda?

What in Hylia’s harp happened to Kakariko village?

Chapter 4: Reasearch in Kakariko Village

Chapter Text

One of the sky islands fell into the village. Pieces of mortar, even entire rooms, litter the surrounding mountaintops.

Is everyone ok?

—

Alright, it seems like nothing fell on the village itself, but there are a good number of tents pitched in and around the walkways. And I'm not sure exactly what that means, but-

A very large, very muscled man just noticed me, and is coming over.

—

Oh.

This is the Zonai research team you established!

It's now led by a Lurelin man named Tauro, who has chosen to turn his Zonai language understanding towards the various wall inscriptions scattered throughout the fallen ruins. He’s… probably the largest Hylian I’ve ever seen, and approaches everything with a soft voice and quiet intensity. I’m not sure what his job was before the upheaval, but he seems to be a perfect fit for research head.

Speaking of, I swear that most of the Zonai research team has moved into Kakariko to research what I’m going to henceforth refer to as the Ring Ruins. This seems to be the hometown for a decent number of them, which helps with some of the housing, but the inn was overflowing even before the innkeeper wandered off and got lost somewhere. This whole situation probably explains where all the tents came from.

He also agreed to give me some pointers on how to do proper historical research, and is going to start me out by a challenge to track down his inscription translations and create a small analysis project.

I’m… a bit nervous, but hopeful.

You’re gonna be so impressed!

Yours,
Link

—

Zelda,

Impa has retired from her position as chief, and is currently traveling Hyrule in search of something called a “geoglyph,” which I am given to understand is the proper name of those light paintings. I didn’t know she still had the constitution for these sorts of treks!

(note to self: if I can track her down, I should probably try and help her out)

Her heir, Paya, has taken over for her. There still seems to be some tension about whether or not she’s qualified that’s clearly wearing on her, but I’m willing to hope it will ease as she gets more comfortable. She is quite comfortable with the ongoing archeological research, though. If the sheer amount of her wallspace that’s been committed to maps and ongoing theories is any judge.

—

South Ring Ruin:

This ring is set on the south end of the mountains the village nestles between, and a great deal of fairly rickety scaffolding. It took some searching as the ring clearly cracked apart somewhat upon impact with the ground, but I eventually found a perfectly preserved stele with Tauro’s translation notes pasted beside it. The literal translation is as follows:

Literal: who protect…of Hyrule from the Demon King together…King…There were… known as sages…

Which is… definitely something. On the face of it, I find myself wondering why the translation appears to be of an incomplete inscription. The plaque bears no cracks, and there’s no way I’m looking at one big tablet that got broken apart at some point. Whatever this is, it’s complete, up in a frame with plenty of blank space and everything.

Under the translation proper, Tauro included his interpretation of the text’s full contents.

Interpreted: there were those known as sages, who protected the kingdom of Hyrule from the Demon King

Which… neat I guess?

East Ring

This ring is also quite close to the village, and the impact damage made the layout even stranger than the first. Monsters had wandered in at some point, and I had to resolve an argument between some old locals about proper engagement methods by clearing the group out myself. Explosions were involved. The stele was intact, though!

Literal: wind, flame, water, lightning… and time… Light… Who holds the power…secret stone…and…That person…dwell within…power…amplify… Great…might…display…

I wonder what the capitalizations are about… wait, is Tauro only translating sentence fragments?

Interpreted: Those who held powers such as wind, flame, fire, lighting–and light and time– amplified them with secret stones. They used the stones to attain great might to accomplish their goals.

Anyways, the first four elements are fairly familiar sorts of magic. I’ve definitely used two of them personally (possibly three? But I’ll probably never know how Mipha’s Grace really worked. Healing is complex, but I get the odd impression it had something to do with water as an element), and am pretty familiar with how they operate in weapons besides. If there were people with natural skill, and these “secret stones” amplified them… just how powerful are we thinking here?

Hyrule is a land that wears the memories of its past written across her geography in ways even I can’t miss. Might these people have written the hills too?

Time and Light though…

Something about those two are important. Light is Hylia’s power, domain, thing, and her incarnations carry it within them. I wonder, what would you do if I called you radiant?

That would match up with your theory that the Zonai founded Hyrule, as well as the statues at the end of every shrine. But that isn’t right .

My hand itches.

Nestled Ring

This one fell a ways away from town. I can hardly imagine what this structure must’ve looked like complete. Was it always this spread out, or did something happen to blast a smaller structure apart? I don’t see any scorch marks, but sky island ruins don’t tend to fall at angles.

Literal: Those who…most elite among the…granted…qualifications…are chosen as sages… Those…worthy…secret stones…and…henceforth…sages.

Actually… where did my old co-workers get their magic from? Were these sages Zonai, or some impossibly distant ancestors of the people we know today?

Interpreted: Talented individuals become sages by taking up secret stones

Large ring ruin

This one is enormous, and by some miracle completely undamaged. Pity about it sitting on its rim and being quite difficult to explore. At some point, one of the researchers removed the plaque for easier reading, and then someone passed out right on top of it.

The man (Ollie, he later told me) was completely out of it until I stuck a particularly strong smelling truffle under his nose. I nearly lost my fingers, but he did wake up and run down to reopen the town inn. Now… what do these translation notes say?

Literal: The Demon King…vast power…No hope…victory… King's own life… managed… imprison him… Imprison…not…indefinitely… Prepare… Demon…revival… We sages must…leave our knowledge…future generations

Future generations, huh?

Interpreted: the reigning king determined that they were no match for the Demon King and gave up his own life to imprison the threat. The sages tried to leave something for the people of the future who would have to prepare for the Demon King's revival."

That… isn’t good. That’s an impressively not good thing.

These seem like they’re all part of the same inscription. I’ve got to get to the last bit.

Your knight, companion, and research partner to be,
Link

—

Forbidden Ring

This last one has only mostly fallen. It half floats, half rests between two mountains. Of the set, it looks most obviously like a ring, though it has lost a chunk of its top. At a glance, I suspect that it would feature quite heavily in the advertising of Kakariko’s tourism industry.

~~

When I crossed the filtering barrier, the guard caught me by the arm. When I gave him my credentials, the man just shrugged and told me -not unkindly- that no one was allowed up there by order of the princess.

Well, obviously, I went back to Tauro at that point with a few questions.

I knocked on the side of the doorway as I entered.

Tauro looked up from his work. “Ah, You’re back! How’s your project?”

“Why aren’t we allowed near the mountain pass ring ruin?” I asked.

Tauro blinked, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “ Oh. I thought I’d forgotten to mention something. Just after the upheaval, the Princess came through, ordered us not to get close to that particular ruin, and left before we could ask why.”

“What?” I asked, utterly dumbfounded.

Tauro didn’t seem to notice what I meant. “We think it was about safety? Paya and I were planning on sending a runner when we heard that she’d gone missing, but then kept being too busy with this and that organizational thing to spare someone. And then we just… forgot to sort it out. I’m so sorry, I’ll fix that as best I can this afternoon. There’s a reporter from the Gazette coming in for an update on our column, and-”

My jaw had cemented itself shut at some point during his talking, so I grinned, flashed him a thumbs up, and walked away as fast as I could.

‘Maybe she had safety concerns’
Do these people know you at all? If you actually came to a place like this, I’d have lost you for the better part of a week and then found you somewhere inexplicably high up with dust in your hair and a mad grin on your face because you found a shard of pottery with a promising inscription. That’s how we ended up in a mummy hole without backup to begin with!

Unless…

It’s been… definitely more than a week since I last saw you. Days are a bit hard to keep track of right now. Is it possible that experience down there changed you in some fundamental way that even Ganon and the calamity couldn’t? I know my body has been marked by it, might you have been also? Is my memory of you true?

Link

—

Zelda,

I’m sorry. I just- I needed to get out.

I’m going home.

Yours,
A coward.

Chapter 5: Hateno Village

Chapter Text

Zelda,

I’m sorry. I just- I needed to get out.

I’m going home.

Yours,
A coward.

—

Hateno Village

My dearest Zelda,

The fields are sunny here, the food within just about ripe. The wind whistles through and around the buildings, just as it has for a century. The mushrooms are new, though.

Huge, incredibly bright things that seem to sprout from the ground, drip from the buildings, and garnish the people as they go about their work and gossip. As best I can tell, they’re all just stiffened cloth (there’s a new fashion designer in town with some very distinct aesthetic tastes), and they do look nice, but it’s definitely kinda unsettling if you aren’t expecting it.

Note to self: make sure to warn you before you get surprised too

Said fashion designer, a woman by the name of Cece, seems to be a pretty exacting woman with a large dramatic streak and quite a bit of trust in her little sister and assistant. Her reach has stretched across the kingdom, bringing the town a pretty huge reputation as a fashion center and a number of hopeful students to her door.

Cece has also gotten the idea to get involved in local politics and take over from the current mayor, Reede. I don't think she has any history in politics, but I don't think Reede did when he first became mayor, either.

She's got a decent bit of support from the town, so she probably has more going for her than her campaigning schemes. Given that her campaigning scheme is “give me free mushroom samples to hand out to people who don't support her,” that probably isn't hard. Best of luck to her, I suppose?

That process is tomorrow's problem, though. For now, I've got a house in about half an inch of dust.

To do:

• Dust paintings
• Fixtures
• Sweep floors+stairs
• Air out bedding
• Clean off dining table replace flowers, they’ve gone dry
• Check well study

~~~

Well, this place feels a lot more cheerful!

A bit weird to actually fit on the bed again, but I’m not complaining. I’ve been taking naps on… way too many rocks over the last week or so. Besides, the smell of the soap is comforting. I think I’m gonna be okay here for a while. I think I may have needed the centering.

On an unrelated note, I should probably apologize for poking about in your study notes, but hey. I’d been wondering where that hair tie got off to! Also: thanks for the shirt. Looking forwards to looking for it next time I swing near-ish to the castle! You… weren’t wrong about the old one getting worn out even before it got eaten by a mummy.

You’ll be happy to know that our cooking stuff is still in good condition, and I’ve picked up a fair slew of ingredients on the road out here. The foul taste in my mouth has faded, too, so I should be good to actually enjoy it, too! It’s getting late, so let’s go with something simple. I’ve got a couple eggs on hand that should do perfectly.

~~~

Well, my taste sure isn’t back… turns out, omelets have a worse texture than you think they do. I think I’m filled enough for tonight.

Word travels fast in this town, by the way. Your co-teacher dropped by while I was eating to offer help cleaning. Didn’t need it, but he did ask if I’d be willing to help with his history classes.

I think that’d be nice.

Your dearest housekeeper,

Link

—

Zelda,

So, turns out small children are terrifying. These ones were putting a lot of effort into being well behaved for the big stranger with the weird arm, I could tell how hard they were trying not to ask about it, but still. The sorts of questions they did ask!

Anyways, to make a long, long story short, I need a photograph of the doomsday tapestries in Impa’s old meeting room, and the camera glyph on my Purah Pad isn’t working. I’m going to need to head to Castle town to get it fixed. Wish me luck!

Yours,

An unqualified schoolteacher

—

Zelda,

When I explained the situation to Purah, she sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, Robbie’s much more of the software guy. And he’s down in the depths chasing a lead right now.” Her eyes were fixed on something a little past my shoulder as she muttered “and if I know anything about him, he’s probably gotten lost.”

“Does he need help?” I asked.

Purah co*cked her head a tiny bit, considering me with that same slightly frightening expression. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever introduced you to my head of research. Just a sec-” She took a deep breath and stuck her head outside. “JOSHA, COME IN HERE REAL QUICK, I’VE GOT FRESH MEAT!”

A few seconds later, a little girl with a shocking amount of white hair bound into stiff pigtails and owlish brown eyes behind an identical pair of thick glasses as Purah joined me in the office. She looked me up and down, eyes only lingering on my arm for a moment, then turned to Purah. “Who’s he?”

Purah blinked. “That’s Link. Err, old friend of mine? Usually has a sword? I could’ve sworn we’ve talked about this before now…”

Josha nodded. “Right, the guy with the blue shirt!” She turned back to me, looking at my arm for more than a moment this time, “and that’ll make you easier to remember. Err, sorry for your loss, by the way.”

I shrugged.

Josha considered me with a nearly perfect match of her mentor’s ‘scary’ expression. “I hear you’re good at taking long falls?”

Ten minutes later, I was plunging into the dark with a hasty sketch between my teeth.

This hole, and several others like it, had opened up during the upheaval and started spewing gloom. Anyone stupid enough to slip into one would find themselves in… well Josha just said “a huge cavern network”

Which wasn’t quite right.

“Cavern” implies something small enough for it to be easy to understand how the roof can possibly be supported. Whatever this is, It’s hard not to be amazed the kingdom hasn’t collapsed in on itself under its own weight. The roof of these depths is so far away it looks almost like the sky, glittering with unknown spores. Even the darkness feels heavy.

There’s life down here, though, fireflies and almost-trees and little blue flames which gather to me like lost puppies. Whatever this place is, it is far, far older than the gloom staining the ground. It is also full- and I mean full of Zonai tech. Whatever this place’s purpose was to them, they really needed to be able to get around it quickly.

Robbie was, by some miracle, actually pretty near the research target- a strange statue of a beastly, bipedal warrior facing a line of identical statues,- but he had also stepped in some gloom and wasn’t super up for intensive movement. I managed to track down… something he called a lightroot?

A huge, spiral shaped tree with Zonai patterning sand on the floor beneath it. It also (somehow) had a Zonai activation plate projected down from above, just low enough for me to graze it. When activated, the lightroot flooded me and the immediately surrounding regions with light, burning away the bits of gloom I had recently managed to inhale. Robbie, who had been clinging to my back at the time, nearly fell off with the shock of all his joints suddenly working again.

Unless my map is extremely wrong, this lightroot corresponds to a Zonai shrine up on the surface.

Hypothesis: Zonai had some sort of special connection with light, and their tech had a more organic bent than we can currently see for reasons of rotting wood. Much of their artificial light is carved to resemble the recently discovered lightbloom blossom.

In any case, true to Purah’s guess, Robbie only took a couple minutes of fiddling to get the camera working, and I managed to get a pretty clear set of photographs of the warrior. I didn’t follow the line too far for fear of losing track of one of the royal scientists again, but I did go far enough to notice something… worrying.

The Yiga are still around, and they’ve started camping in the depths. The group probably isn’t much more of a threat than they were a couple years ago, but… I’ve seen a lot of gloom corrupted monsters down here, and if they’re just wandering around directionless with Kohga gone, well.

I hope they’re ok. I wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone. There’s too many shades here already.

Nearly invisible things, standing completely still and staring ahead vacantly. Their weapons are all in perfect condition and held in ready positions, but the shades don’t react when you pull them from unresisting fingers. They’d probably be less scary if I had to fight them over it.

Well, I’m home now, at least. It’s warm, I managed to dodge any pointed questions in Kakariko, and the lesson went well. Today was… not short. I can’t wait to take a proper nap.

Your investigator, kneedeep in evil mud,

Link

—

Zelda,

Remind me to take you up to Lon Lon Ranch to try their new cheese when you’re back. This “Pizza” thing looks mighty interesting!

Yours,

Link

—

My finest flower, who thrives under the sun,

I saw Naydra today!

I went out for a walk this morning to see if Robbie had left anything for me to look at by his lab (if he did, he was far too good with the lock to find it), and saw them out over the sea. The wind was just beginning to rise, and the air tasted like salt. Rarely do I wish I knew how to paint half as much as I did that morning.

I’ve always loved the dragons, even years and years ago when I was too busy and wound up to love much of anything. There was just… something really comforting in looking up at something so serene sometimes. Something that has seen so many heroes (mes? I’ve never really known how to call those great heroes of ages past) carry out their quests. When they won, or even when they failed hard enough to mar the landscape, the world kept turning, and the dragons stayed. The dragons continued their sinuous arcs across the sky, and watched everything.

I wonder, would the idea that even the most profound failure wouldn’t be the end of the world have been as much a comfort to you all these years ago as it was to me? Would anything have been different between us if I’d been the first to reach out, and did so sooner?

…no, probably not. It might have stung a bit less to be alone during those times, but past that? I think we’d have ended up in the same places either way. You saved me, and I found you. And I’d do it over again in-

Well, I suppose I will do it over again in a heartbeat.

I’ve gotten news that all the major cities of Hyrule are dealing with some strange sort of trouble, and if I know you, you’re probably gonna be the first on the scene to investigate and help. This place is beautiful, quiet, and safe. There’s peace to be found here, and space to collect oneself, but it’s time to go. I’m going to find you, my wildflower.

Yours and seeker,

Link

Chapter 6: Road Again

Chapter Text

Dearest Safflina,

I met a traveling musician today! He was good, and eager to prove it. I gave him a hunk of honey for his trouble (god knows why he wanted it. Something about his bandmate?), and he asked me down to help him with some work at Dueling Peaks stable.

Convenient, I’d been planning on dropping by there to check on Cinders!

~~

Ok so. I was too busy with the mountain to notice at the time, but the great fairies have a: moved, and b: hidden themselves again. I couldn’t get her to talk on my own, but this musician and the strange little man who calls himself a conductor (which still exist apparently) are pretty darned confident that they could draw her out with a song.

One problem: the bridge over Squabble River has a massive rock in it. Now I could try and rebuild the bridge, honestly I probably should since it’s a not small shipping route and there’s no way you could get a cart across the couple planks the stablehands put up, but also…

You know how I am with explosives. We got rid of the sheikah bombs for a reason. I don’t wanna try and break up two tons of solid stone unless I have to. So, let’s try a boat.

~~

They want me to use their stationcart. For some reason.

~~

Welp. I should’ve done more sketches before I put that in the water, but fortunately nobody threw up. Or fell out. Or got smushed.

Complete success!

Anyways, it turns out that the fairy Cotera has one hell of a singing voice. She also mentioned seeing you! She said you told her the world was dangerous and she needed to hide, and basically nothing else about where you went next. This narrows down nothing about which of the major cities you might’ve gone to, but also…

It’s nothing.

Impa’s in the northwestern part of Hyrule, so I’ll check there first.

Cinders is in good health, and has deigned to take shoes and a saddle. Was she tame before now?

Yours, a powerfully unqualified boatman.

—

Pumpkinvine,

Stopped over in Lookout Landing to resupply.

Everybody’s doing well. Managed to get the kid to try honey apples, which apparently aren’t a big thing in Kakariko. Somehow. It wasn’t exactly hard to convince her, but… well, I can’t say she doesn’t come by her scientific focus honestly, but I really hope Robbie and Purah are making sure she’s remembering to eat. They’ve both had plenty of time to break the habit, at least so I’d hope.

Maybe I could throw Hestu at the problem? Do ageless forest sprites need to eat?

Okay, I’m getting distracted.

I remembered on the road that, in the rush of glimpsing you, I clean forgot to actually look at the Castle properly. This is incredibly dangerous. But hey, that’s why we’ve got portal tech! Without further ado:

Exploration B:

Firstly: The castle has, in essence, been split in two. The lower sections (winding path up, gatehouses, and old dungeons) have remained on the ground and been stocked by tough but otherwise quite mundane monsters. Everything else, kitchens, bedchambers, and old throne rooms has been raised 1-200 feet in the air on… ok I thought it was tendrils of malice. I was extremely wrong.

It’s… I think it’s a tree? Or it might be stone? The two blur when the depths are involved. Whatever it is, it’s twisted and burns like embers. The walls are laced in a similar fashion. It isn’t goop here, or rot. There’s vivacity here, and I don’t know what that means.

I managed to get up top to the castle (thanks for the spare shirt, by the way, it looks great), nothing. Aside from the plain monsters, it’s practically preserved. If Mr. Monster Mummy is still here, he’s still below.

I tried to go down and check, but even the weaker Depths beasts proved too strong for me, and the thickening maliceroots were humming. I need to be stronger if I want to try that fight. As it stands… I had to run to the surface over a Like Like of all things. That does not get to be how this works.

I cracked off a sample of malroot before leaving, and a bit of lightroot besides. I wish I knew somebody who knew the growth and handling of dangerous plants. Something tells me they’re linked. For now, they’ll make for incredibly dangerous necklaces/things for the kid to work with.

Yours,

A disarmed gopher.

—

Miss rosemary,

Impa’s research area was only a few hours’ travel from my last camp site and is operating out of a stable. We haven’t properly started yet, for it was too bright and her hot air balloon needed repairs besides, but she did fill me in on what she knows.

1. These glyphs appeared during the upheaval, which probably means that they’re linked to that mummy, what caused it, or what happened afterwards
2. They are scattered all about Hyrule, and are best viewed from high up (hence the air balloon)
3. The phrase "Where the Tears rest upon the earth, we marked down the images to which they gave birth"

Whatever these are, they’re important. It’ll only be a few hours, but- blrg.

Patience.

~~

I helped around the stable a bit. Some girl needed the wheels on her cart changed and hadn’t the stamina to tame a horse for herself. She named it Zunk, for some reason? And there was something about the way she said "come talk any time" that was very confusing.

~~

Pumpkins were enough to throw together some pie for the stablehands. Messed up the crust again, but they were very nice about it.

~~

I’m sorry, you TIME TRAVELED?!