Archive of Our Own ^beta

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 Text

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 Text

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 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 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 cocked 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 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?!

Chapter Text

So I guess we’re dealing with this now.

—

My dearest time traveller,

Apparently.

Well. I’m glad you got a chance to see the stuff I’m only seeing in ruins? I guess? Exploring an empire in its former glory must be a wonder for any archeologist. And it’s good to know the device I’m working on can last 10,000 years. Makes me feel a lot less bad about all the times I’ve dropped it.

Sorry, it’s just-

how???

Chronomancy that can shift more than like, ten seconds only happens in fairytales. A forestborn knight jumps forward a decade and gets trapped in a half life, alien and going at their enemy sideways with all the information he shouldn’t have. Seasons bowing to one’s whims. Little rituals from that old cult that had the church on the Plateau. Y’know, goddess stuff.

…goddess stuff.

When I touched you, up in the sky, up in that palace of reversed cogs, you gave me magic. Things reverse at my- at your given command. You gave me the power to reverse time. It beats in my veins and- when I knew what to look for- resonated with the strange glowing pool in the eye of the Zonai.

Do you want me to follow you backwards? 

Are these tears, these images, these preserved moments keys you left behind for me to piece together for some witchcraft? 

No, that can’t be right. I’ve seen you here. In glimpses of light and stories. Did you find your way back to the present? Is it as simple as needing to track you across the land until you stop slipping through my fingers?

No. No. That isn’t right either! If those were you, they wouldn’t be locking down important archeological sites and telling fairies to hide before taking back off into the night. If those were you, you wouldn’t run from me! 

…Unless something is terribly wrong. The way my grandmother told Wooded Knight, the boy had two bodies. The youth barely grown into his hero’s greens he was at the start of his quest, and the strapling warrior he was at the end. The trick of his curse was that he slipped between both forms as easily as he slipped through time. He was both, and he needed to make them fit together along the natural course of time by the end.

Each lived in its own time, but they ended up… sort of bleeding into one another? He traditionally returns to his proper time and youth at the end of his quest, but never quite. He always continues questing through whatever other stories the taleteller wants, a man-and-boy.

But… what if instead of a hero in two times, it was two heroes in one place? The Wooded Knight gets lonesome and crafts himself a companion, or by mere accident brings himself with him through time.

I imagine such a state would be unstable.

I wonder, is there just one of you out in the world?

Impa is headed up to the Forgotten Temple to check something, I intend to follow her.

Yours, 

Link.

Ps: Sonia and Rauru seem like very good sorts. I hope they treat you well.

—

My twining clematis,

I ran into a treasure hunter named Calisa today.

Well, to be more specific, I ran the bokoblin beating her up through. She gave me some sweet rolls as thanks, and an interesting story besides.

Unlike most of the Gerudo travelers I’ve met, Calisa is not looking for a partner. Her interest, instead, is treasure. The way she tells it, all these caves opened up during the upheaval, and have all sorts of treasure inside. It’s interesting, really. They look way older than that. I’m not a geologist really but I don’t think even the entrances to most of these caves don’t look like, shorn. They’re just… there? Pretty smooth.

And most all the ones I’ve been in outside of even the harsher climates look about the same plantwise. Lightseeds, glowshrooms, bomb plants, all the same sorts of moss. Always the same, whether on the ground and up in the sky. It’s weird. 

In summary: None of these plants show up on the surface, they’re even more common in the Depths, and they’re ubiquitous in caves.

Several of the caves have structures in them, which means people. I’d expect seeds to walk out on people’s shoes, and yet.

How do you think this happened?

Yours,

Link

PS: She also mentioned something about a “rumored beast.” I think she means the magical glowing frog??

I can’t tell.

—

Clover,

I found your horse.

It’s somehow up north here being kept by a Hebra stable. They say it keeps escaping. Is it looking for you?

The stablehands have a better shot at caring for it than I do.

Link

—

Finest Coriander,

You know, I’ve only been to the Forgotten Temple once in my life before this. It was downright stuffed with guardians at the time, and it wasn’t a fight I wanted to do more than once. And then later, after, it was too out of the way to really bother coming back.

Well, I thought that was why. I’m suddenly less sure.

This place is ancient. It’s in the dust of the air, it’s in the fallen pillars, it’s in the itching of my hand. Something important happened here-maybe many somethings- and they have been forgotten.

Impa feels it too. I don’t know how she stands it.

Have you been here? Was this great work you? Have I been here in a different skin? Do I even need to bother describing this place to you?

…

The forgotten temple is a tall, long building at the end of a ravine. It was probably three levels at one point, but two of the floors and most of the support pillars seem to have collapsed. This makes the terrain difficult for old women to navigate, but somehow has not seriously affected the structural integrity of the building. There shouldn’t be enough light, but two very, very stubborn trees have broken through one of the walls and grow with some wildly defiant vitality.

Monsters occupied this place , and for some strange but rather convenient reason, brought a number of construction materials with them. I’m no great artist, but those planks were very useful for purposes of old woman transportation.

Impa should have better notes about this stuff than me about all this, frankly. She’s got a lot of incredible sketches of all the wall art and stuff around here.

When I mentioned this place giving me the creeps during dinner, she laughed.

“I’ve heard that one before! You should’ve heard how my daughter got the first time I brought her up here!”

“Oh?” Impa doesn’t talk about her daughter that much. Her post calamity adventuring days even less. I gestured her to continue.

Impa shook her head. “Eh, it wasn’t much. Just- oh you’ve been practicing those eyes of yours I see.”

I shrugged. I’d broken the hungry-dog habit when I became a knight, but it’d come back with a vengeance when I came back from the dead. I saw no reason to make it stop again. 

Impa did that big dramatic sigh she’s always been so good at. “Alright, fine, fine. So:

“It was a long time ago- maybe a decade after the world ended- and the two of us had just spent the past several days drawing a pack of moblins away from the Second Siege of Tabantha Bridge. I am no longer too proud to say that we were really, seriously outmatched. Robbie was comatose, a lynel had somehow joined the trail, the works. But we were faster, and thought we’d have a better shot at beating ‘em with a terrain advantage.

“It didn’t end up mattering. The monsters, every nasty toothed fire eyed one of ‘em, turned tail and bolted right at the threshold. Now, obviously, we were all pretty creeped out by that. And my girl in particular got pretty elaborate about why this might be happening.”

Her story went like this:

“Once upon a time, there was a traveler, and a corpse. Nobody knows where they came from, nobody knows their names, but one could never forget why they came to our kingdom. See, the girl was dead. The traveler, whatever the girl meant to him, couldn’t bear the thought of her falling to such a little thing as the laws of the universe. Good for him, there was something that could fix that.

“The little statue on the outskirts of his village was horned, like ours is, and disgraced, like ours is. ‘If you wish to save her, bring the gods from the sky to hear you, and I shall help you shall accomplish a miracle’ it promised him. So he came, a foreigner in a dead castle, laid the girl down on that pillar over there-” Here she pointed towards the lump of stone we’d set our packs against- “and set to his bloody work. 

“The dragons were sluggish in those days, so it was a mere matter of beer and good ropes to bring Naydra to the ground. He cut a blanket from her, and wrapped it about the girl to frighten away the cold of the grave. 

“Dinraal was ready for him, and led the traveler on a wild chase. Up mountains, through steaming seas, the works. At last, he knotted her around Hebra peak and buried her burning scales under snow. The traveler stole her heart, and the girl’s chest surged with mindless vitality. It was all the demon could do to keep the fragile, surging sprout of her life contained to the safety of the temple.

“Farosh… well, Farosh got help. Her eyes had been stolen, but the Zelda of that time had become a huntress because of the whole “dragons vanishing from the sky” thing, and they sought out the traveler’s hiding place together. 

“The girl was eating when they found her, burning eyed, silver coat dyed an oh so very bright red. They never found the traveler. She put up a hell of a fight, abomination and royal blood mixed in the dust. The stolen things were returned to their owners, the princess left a touch lesser, and the abomination’s bones were buried here, where the sin of it all couldn’t touch the lands beyond. Her ghost continues to haunt this place, frightening off any who may wish to use this temple for ill purpose.”

Something about the story niggles at me. I don’t know what. It can’t be true, obviously, but…

I’m going to sleep.

Yours,

A one-armed hero

—

Rampion,

Bad night.

We continue.

~~

There is an enormous statue of the Goddess here. It’s fallen on its side. Upheaval? Something else? Impa went closer to investigate.

My skin itches.

~~

There was a locked door behind the statue, Zonai make, and the strangest room behind it. A number of rocks, rough hewn in different sizes and shapes, stand circled around a stone lotus blossom. The floor beneath them is a circle, split up by a star of raised lines of white Zonai brick, such that each stone has its own split off section. There is a repeating inscription carved at the thick point of each “star” leg, but I cannot read it. Poetry? An oath?

Impa says the Sheikah have a tradition of hanging couplets by doorways in fancy scripts. Is this related or from a similar urge? A boundary point? A meeting place of gods?

The dragons I have seen the Zonai to have such affection for carving are here, and nowhere else in the structure (even though their upside down wedge pillars are, I’m suddenly realizing). Pillars and defining the threshold to the next room this time. I feel like they’re staring at me.

Secret plots here? Religious rituals? This place is vast-a mile of hiking even before the floor fell in- and people were likely intended to trek along it to get to the goddess statue at the end. The colossus looks old, but if the Zonai were the first peoples of Hyrule (and this room has to have been part of the initial construction), might it not have been part of things to begin with? Was it added later?

But this room isn’t big enough to fit more than like, 30 people comfortably. Maybe it was for priests? 

Hmm…

Was this “temple” just a temple? You could probably fit three of our modern villages under this roof. Why would somebody carve this much space into a mountain and overengineer it enough to survive who knows how many millenia without most of its floors? Could this possibly just be a living space?

There’s also an uncarved rock about the size of a regular votive statue ringed by little campfire stones and three sundelions (a new flower from the sky islands, heals gloom corruption) arranged around it in neat gravestone style. I don’t know who planted this.

Sorry, I’m rambling. We continue.

(A meeting room, who put down these stones? Meeting of the gods? Sages?)

~~

What the-

Ok uh.

What?

The geoglyphs only showed up very recently. These pictographs are etched into the walls. That plinth at the back end of the photo is written in modern Hyrulean.

Either somebody is really, really good at pretending to be a Zonai, was able to slip through their tech and relock the door behind them after they were done, and had the time, resources, and motivation to pull an incredibly high effort trick on us; or somebody an ungodly number of years ago had some massive conspiracy going on that involved light paintings best viewed from the sky with your time travel memories in them.

Even the castle looks the same on that map (in a completely different sort of stone than the etchings or the main map, I’ll point out), and that thing wasn’t built before PC 500!

The inscription reads “A tear for a tear,” by the way. Which I’m not sure you need to hear because I’m more than half convinced you broke time over your knee to confuse me. What the hell does that mean?

What by Ganon’s jewels is happening and why am I supposed to be seeing it??

What am I supposed to do with this????

What do you want me to do, Zelda?

Chapter Text

Edelweiss,

Ok, whatever else you want from me, it seems like having these memories is key to it. So let’s focus on finding them and try not to go mad from the other questions. Those are for people like Tauro, and for times safer than these. 

There’s two memories up here in Hebra. That’s a place to start. Impa has opted to stay behind and glean whatever else she can from this place. I hope she makes it out okay when she’s finished. Hopefully we’ll catch back up with each other… eventually.

We continue.

A gleaner

(ps: I don’t own any gloves right now, so these might be a bit more sporadic)

—

Holly,

Writing to ya from a very isolated and up till quite recently sieged cabin somewhere out in the woods!

The couple(? I’m not actually sure) who the bokoblins were trying to eat are a very polite pair of shield surfers named Yammo and Jogo. They were hungry and I was more than a little injured by the time I finished with the monsters, so a lot of cooking happened today.

Pumpkins again, this time with meat in.

I’m glad I stocked up on probably-discovery-of-a-lifetime skyborn spicy peppers that I still can’t taste! I really, really hope I didn’t overdo them. They seemed to like them, but…

Currently have a couple pints of soup on the fire, which should tide everybody over for a while. 

The ironshrooms sauteed okay. That’s enough for the blood loss. 

There aren’t any beds at all in here, for some reason. Annoying. The surfers have bedrolls, at least. They also had some cream for my arm. I hope it helps.

Good night!

~~

So, his name’s ‘Ganondorf?’

Nothing Hyrule fights ever stays dead, huh. I’m sorry about Sonia.

I suppose I know my job now…

I’m glad the old teleportation systems worked.

We continue.

Link

—

Poppy,

The reason I picked this cabin was because it was near another one of the tears. In this one, the king and queen recognize light and time power within you, and name you their descendant. They also pointed you towards a “Mineru” to sort out how to go home.

I wonder, how long did you stay there living out that historian’s dream before that happened? Was this work derailed by the demon king situation, or sped up?

(On an unrelated note, I noticed something interesting peeking through the clouds while I was up north getting traumatized. I think they may have been boats? I’ll go back up there so I have some pictures to ask the Rito about, I think.)

Link

—

Lady dahlia,

Writing from the Lucky Clover Gazette with the strangest tale!

There was a line of floating, sailess boats and weird rubble floating up into the sky. Hard to navigate, but not impossible. Especially because where there should be a sail on those boats somebody managed to put together a spring made out of cloth that launched me like, 40 feet effortlessly. No, I don’t have any idea how that works.

But the bigger thing is that it wasn’t just “a couple boats,” they were going somewhere.

There’s a boat the size of a village up in the middle of nowhere . There’s this like, storm tornado around it? Which I think might be why I haven’t seen the sun since I got here??

I’d have looked closer, but all the doors below deck were locked and I couldn’t find any keys.

The two people running the gazette hadn’t heard about this, and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Rito hadn’t either. The bridge to town is busted, which is gonna make this a touch more complicated.

(Also I think I got drafted into investigative journalism as payment for staying here? I’m not complaining at all, they’ve got me assigned to the “missing princess” case, but still. Unexpected.)

Wish me luck!

Yours,

A icefingered rock climber to be

Chapter Text

Hibiscus,

Alright, everybody’s more or less ok. Undersupplied, the bridge is out and this isn’t really weather to hunt in, but ok. That’s good. I might have to get hold of Boulson after the storm clears to sort out the repairs, but… wait.

Thinking back, most of the bridge was still there. It was just hanging off the edge of the platform. (Did somebody cut it knowing the Rito wouldn’t be able to get at it in this visibility? Who? Troubling.)

Also most of the businesses are being run by children whose parents are out somewhere. They’re not bad at it, but things are… tense. 

One problem at a time.

When I arrived, the new chief, his wife, and their son Tulin were having a pretty spirited argument about whether or not to let the kid go hunting after fairy tales. There’s some song in High Hebran about a “Stormwind Arc” which some of the kids’ve been singing. It supposedly controls the weather and…

Yup. I’ve found the thing before. One question answered.

Anyways, Tulin stormed off to look for it on his own before I could interrupt, and Teba asked me to get some info about the legend he’s chasing and track him down. The kid’s really willful, honestly. It reminds me a lot of how Ravali was as a teenager. (the things you can miss are so strange!)

At least they’re still selling snowquill equipment. I have gloves again! The whole set is really soft under the protective bits and it’s… nice to have that. The down’s fluffy, but pliant enough to fit around my bad arm’s rock thingies. And that’s not even mentioning the headpiece! I’ve still got my jewelry to replace ( man that guy who broke into my wardrobe while we were gone was rude. I know I haven’t talked about it much, but blrg), but this looks so cool and I can already tell I’ll be wearing it for weeks.

Anyways, I digress. The bonfires at the other end of the lake await! (and next, of course, the road!)

~~

Got the song translated by the storekeeper Nekk (currently signalfire stoker), and it is fascinating with what’s happening now.

Some highlights, while I wait for my legs to stop hurting from all the mountain climbing.

Heads up: I have no sense for High Hebran, and Nekk had no sense for poetry. I have no idea how good this translation is in terms of essence, though I’m willing to trust the literal details.

Once, a god fell from heaven, stilling the Hebra winds.

The heavens grew lifeless, just as the air below thinned.

With the world in upheaval, we pledged to help the lord.

A line of ships soaring, built as a passage skyward.

The god ascended to heaven, leaving behind an ark.

Its winds brought us new life, thanks to its great, divine spark.

This… raises many questions. I really want to get your help clarifying what this meant at the time, but for now, a couple thoughts:

• This “god fallen from heaven” sounds like Rauru. He was King, after all.
• Though… Rauru stayed to rule instead of trying to go back into the sky. Was this a predecessor? A successor?
• I’m very tempted to take this song literally on the “the winds stopped and the air wasn’t good to fly on” stuff, but… was that actually the shape of the disaster? If it were just a wind generator, why’d it try to shoot me? Is this Rito friendly shorthand for something worse?
• This “divine spark” business… sounds a lot like a secret stone somehow. One of the sages was of wind, after all. That doesn’t make much sense though, given that they’re supposed to only be power boosters, and the wind is (clearly) still going. Unless…
• Oh no. Rauru was dead and still around enough to give me his arm. Am I gonna be crawling through more ghost ships?
• Was this arc built special for this job or did the god have it in reserve? “Left behind” is vague…

Well, the hunt continues. Just gotta find a small white bird in a blizzard. Easy!

Yours,

A quite cozy man.

—

Lady of the Valley,

Much digging around and a surprising amount of cave updrafts later, I found Tulin!

He’s doing ok, and we’re on our way up to the Arc. He’s developed a quite useful trick for creating his own tailwind since last we came here, and was kind enough to loan it to me. It speeds things up considerably!

Been on the road for a couple days, trying to find a convenient launch point that doesn’t involve launching a child a thousand feet into the air during a snowstorm. (It’s still fundamentally experimental technology! If Purah didn’t kill me in my sleep if something went wrong, Robbie would.)

The trip’s been a lovely exercise in sampling Rito food preservation techniques. It’s an experience equal parts illustrative and bracing. I swear I can even taste some of what’s been done to these fish! Amazing!

Tulin laughed quite hard at my shock, and told me their confections tend to be a much easier time on outsiders. I’ll have to try some of them once we’ve finished here.

Oh, and he’s found the ascent! Back with you soon!

—

I hear a voice calling to us from the arc that isn’t you. Tulin hears it too. 

Turrets, for and aft, seemingly heat seeking. Still firing, but slow. 

There’s a… I’m not sure how to describe it, so let’s say “five locked hatch” in the topdeck. Whatever’s under it, it’s causing the storm. 

Tulin can start the still fans about the ship. I think I understand how this is gonna go. Boat crawl incoming!

Yup those open the door. Something’s com

—

I saw you again.

Just a memory, but one Tulin could see too. You ordered the faceless Rito sage to prepare for me and him after the imprisoning war wound down. 

You looked older, with your jaw set like that. With that determination radiating off you. 

You must’ve been so scared.

Anyways, the Stone has made its way into Tulin’s hands, rest easy. The information he got from that ghost is well composed, and he’s plenty heroic enough to do whatever you want from him. 

He set a sending on me somehow capable of loaning me his wind trick. It’s like… blue and glowy and has all his weapons? I don’t know how it works, but you probably do. I hope you explain it.

Yours,

Link.

—

Hail, Zelda!

Everybody worked their way home when the storm cleared, and they brought food with them! There wasn’t time or planning free to put on any proper celebration, but people darned well were ready to cook. Nutcakes and family recipe fish casseroles and sweet unleavened pastries with wildberry jam!

I’m stuffed!

And I could taste the sweetness of it all without it feeling like I was stuffing my face with rotting fruit! My tongue really is starting to work again, it seems.

None of the adults had energy to do much more than sit around and trade stories, but the kids were really intent on Tulin’s new jewelry. It’s a lovely thing, that anklet. I don’t envy him the attention, but it seems like he’s having fun.

I’ll probably take off for Zora’s Domain next. It’s been too long since I checked in on Sidon…

Chapter Text

Beebalm,

Stopped in Hateno to do some chores before working my way north.

It’s deep autumn now, which feels strange. Somehow too short and too long for how long I’ve been questing. The leaves are really burning!

I gave the school permission to use our apples before I left last time, so hopefully no waste there. What little I’ve hunted (I’ve been going through my meat at a pretty solid rate but there’s always some left over) is currently up at the ranch getting turned into sausages. Produce lasts a while in the Slate, but it’ll be best to have backups.

Everybody seems to be doing alright, aside from the monster attacks. Tempted to check in on the election, but I’ve already taken long enough.

Yours,

Link.

—

Butterfly weed,

Oh by the harp I should’ve come sooner.

Something’s absolutely coated Zora’s Domain in some incredibly nasty gunk. Shimmery like zonite and greasy between your fingers with a smell like rotting sugar. I’m lucky not to have any cuts on my legs right now, but this stuff is practically precision designed to poison a zora. It more or less melts with a bit of water, but goddess why didn’t I come sooner? people must’ve died by now!

…

Guilt is worthless. We continue.

~~

The city’s less coated, but not for lack of trying. Whatever’s dropping this stuff from the sky is being quite thorough. The cleaning pools are being used quite heavily right now on gill clearance. The woman at the head of that is… apparently acting regent Yona.

I was not aware Sidon liked girls.

She seems a lovely sort, and the passion she’s throwing into all this probably means she’s a good match for him, but. Still. Surprising. 

Remind me to ask her about the kingdom she’s from when we come back here together. The way she talked about it made me remember quite suddenly that we haven’t had any sort of time to worry about our neighbors during the Reconstruction. Her accent’s familiar, but damned if I could place where (did I meet her as a kid?).

Anyways, speaking of regents, Dorophan’s disappeared. Sidon’s up on Mipha Court trying to keep the gunk from poisoning the kingdom. I’m gonna check in on him.

~~

All the zora royal family have the biggest smiles…

The big guy grinned like I was the dawn and caught me in this massive hug when he saw me. I kinda crumpled at that, which I think is another zora family talent. There was just so much to say! Gossip to seek (he really likes Yona), lunch to deliver, notes to compare…

It was really hard to stop talking once I started, but I managed to keep from mentioning what happened to you. It would’ve just distracted things.

I have an obvious hunch about what’s causing this. Sidon’s pointed me towards a tablet the zora found after the upheaval.

~~

Ok, this riddle is… oh boy.

A lot of this doesn’t make sense, but I’m pretty darned sure I’ll need a king’s scale for this. Wherever did Dorophan go?

~~

Some kids were whispering about it around the empty throne. Who knew swimming through rock was such an effective snooping strategy?

Dorophan got attacked by a monster, they say. Supposedly hidden behind one of the waterfalls. Time to get sopping wet!

~~

Found him.

He’s in… real rough shape. Sludge poisoning, apparently. Stuff must be a type of gloom with what it’s done to him. Not dead, hopefully won’t be soon, but…

He said something about the thing that attacked him too. Well, ‘thing s ’ actually. There were two. A vile little thing born from the slime, and its keeper.

You.

I’m not sure whether he thinks you did it and is trying to spare me the suspicion, or if he’s really sure something else is happening. 

I heard a few more rumors on the road, actually. Stuff about seeing you on the back of monsters. I assumed it was old news about the dondons and dismissed it. Maybe I shouldn't have. 

~~

The sky fish was an island! It was a bit hard to find in the dark, but I managed it. Some of the debris lined up into a target sight from the right angle. Simple enough. The scales I got off the king are such a lovely weight.

Oh, that is indeed magic. Down before up, I suppose? I’m gonna grab Sidon.

~~

Sidon can make whirlpools. Incredibly stable ones. Neat!

(Also the goop is alive and trying to kill us. That's also a factor.)

(I assume the super stable whirlpools are to do with why he also can spit water at things at speed now?)

Anyways there’s a giant ass building under the ocean. Might as well happen.

~~

Mixed zonai and zora designs. A lot of water. There’s pipes. Not sure how this is still working

~~

Oh hey, gravity doesn’t work right up here! There’s so many bubbles too!

Just gotta tip some jugs over. And keep up with how the gravity’s screwing with my attacks. And keep Sidon ok. Him getting hurt would- would be bad.

~~

I just walked through a wall of fire.

~~

We’re done! All the water things are fixed, just gotta open the

—

Zelda,

Welp.

Darned be Sidon and his big heart. There really isn’t time to worry about me, but he insisted. Two days isn’t even that long to stay up!

He is literally holding me down right now. I think he passed out himself at some point?

I do, annoyingly, feel a lot better. Let’s sort out breakfast!

~~

In retrospect, it’s probably good that I was rested enough when a squid pretending to be a shark made of goop tried to kill us. What a strange, frustratingly wriggly thing! It went down eventually, at least. Sidon has the stone, I saw you again (and heard the exact same message), and I just had the nicest dinner with the royal family.

Dorophan’s okay, but more than a little spooked by the whole experience and quite ready to step down. I hope you’re back in time for the coronation!

No big archeological thoughts for this particular bit of old mortar, it might make more sense to you. Maybe there was a drought here once?

Next up is the gerudo, I think.

Maybe I should pace myself this time?

Yours,
seeker

Chapter Text

My wandering scholar,

There are two (technically three) priorities to juggle right now, I think.

1. Fulfill your plan to defeat the demon king
2. Find you.

The exact details of how the plan will work are still somewhat up in the air, especially with the Master Sword missing, but the ‘what’ of it clearly involves the sages. It seems our enemy has sent enemies to stop this leg of things, and for now my work is to cut through the monsters and insure the secret stones get into people’s hands. To figure out more, I’ll most likely have to continue seeking out geoglyphs. There’s one near here, which I’ll be going to look at just after I finish this.

Priority two is…

I have the creeping feeling that you wouldn’t want me to focus energy on that, to work on saving the kingdom instead of wasting time when everything’s at stake. That’s why the big plan to sort everything out without you, right? Don’t worry, I don’t blame you, I would do the same thing in your position. Have already, really.

Which is precisely why I won’t do this for you.

Sorry, you brought me back last time, so you’re stuck with me now I’m afraid! It’s twice now that you’ve had to go off and fight everything alone, and I don’t plan on keeping you waiting a century. And when I catch you, I have no intentions of letting go again.

I don’t want to fight this war alone anymore.

…

So, that’s why I’m gonna be doing some proper rumor hunting with the Gazette on the way down to the desert! The folks running it offered me payment for the work, but the main benefit, really, is just how much people talk to the man with the little notebook. Or, at least, I remember that being true back a century ago. Might not still be.

Oh well, I can be so very nondescript when I wanna be. 

Yours, hero and seeker,

Link.

---

Zelda

Good to know the stones really can be used by anyone.

I don’t like that Rauru described draconification as a long but valid route to get back to the present…

But hey, light and time, huh? That’s two good things, and both of them yours instead of some nebulous goddess thing nobody can really help you with. Did Sonia have time to teach you?

I could feel your excitement at the thought so vividly…

Link

---

Hey,

You know how I said something about how your horse keeps getting loose because it’s supposedly looking for you? Well, I’ve found the most interesting thing!

She got out again, see, and had to have run past at least one really monster to have ended up where she did. The odd thing is that the people taking care of her swear they saw you. And she specifically bolted at the sight. It was snowing, of course, so no clear looks at the figure’s face, which is just my luck. A curse? An impersonator?

I do know Antigony was terrified though. She’s always been a skittish thing, of course, but this was something else. In any case, I’m glad to say that she’s got many apples in her now and doing alright!

I’ll probably be taking her with me to keep an eye on her. That sort of restlessness is no good for anyone out on the steppe. She’s very fast too, which is good. Cinders will just have to play nice.

Oh, also, speaking of!

One of the fairies set their bud up here. Her particular favorite of the troupe was trapped in a pit only a couple miles down the road, and getting the cart moving was an unusually simple endeavor compared to how this usually goes- it just needed a roof, and I could get it up the mountain without having to strap rockets to it or anything. We only got a little shot at!

Now to start working my way south properly…

Yours,

An equestrian

---

sagebush ,

I ran into a goatkeeper insisting he saw you ‘just recently,’ and that you had insisted on mixing whole pinecones into his feedstock as part of some recipe he’d promptly lost. I’m Hateno enough to know that’s a bad idea, and you’ve picked up enough from living there and your own research besides to doubtless know the same. It was odd, quite simply. Not half as bad as a lot of what “Zelda” has been getting up to, just odd.

His goats had taken off (in search of better food, but I was too polite to tell him, the man seemed so very confident in your word), and I agreed to track them down for him. 

I found them just across the river, all staring in great interest at some slip of paper in a bottle and completely surrounded by pinecones. One of them proceeded to pass me the note.

Leaving aside the implications of sentient livestock (which I absolutely should not), the recipe was legit! It didn’t specify that “grd. pine” was referring to the nuts, which I did end up correcting him on, but the whole thing was otherwise completely sound livestock feed. I think this one might be legit, but I don’t really have any leads from it (the man couldn’t say which direction you went or even when exactly you showed up-- for all I know, it was pre-upheaval). It’s oddly out of the way, but otherwise…

Welp, better luck next time?

Yours,

Goat wrangler.

---

Princess!

Somebody swears they saw you only a couple minutes ago!

Can’t talk too long, they aren’t gonna wait around that much.

~~

Demise eat the Yiga. How could I be so stupid ?

She didn’t have anything. Her friend did have a cheap blonde wig though. They were so fast…

It was all I could do to keep track of them through the trees, and I didn’t even notice how far we were getting into the woods. So kind of my new friend to have those stamina potions “just hanging around in her pack” though, otherwise I might’ve had to pause and catch my breath and think! Heck, we talked about trading recipes while I was clawing my way up a cliff face. It must’ve all been so funny…

The both of them got me all the way up to the Champion Colosseum before turning on me. 

“The way we heard it, the Hero was really strong, and it seems that was true!” the one that wasn’t you said.

“Wouldn’t want to kill just any blonde kid wanting to chase after rumors, after all!” the other one said besides me before I could even get to my knife.

They’re lucky they aren’t dead.

I tried to cool off by fighting whatever’s moved into the colosseum, but I wasn’t strong enough to risk it. Those three headed things never taste good to fight anyways. I guess I’ll just be shaking for the next hour or so.

Hylia burn it all…

Link

---

Indigo,

It’s getting warmer as I go, and the stones are baking themselves red. Another half day, and I’ll hit the barrier mountains. From there, probably just a day more to the Gerudo. Wish me luck.

Chapter Text

My woman out of time,

I found a memory of a younger Ganondorf in the hall of your hosts, swearing some sort of loyalty to the newly founded Hyrule and its king. You didn’t trust a word of it. Your guardians didn’t either. This was… surprisingly relieving. 

I really shouldn’t have expected them to have believed him- all the other memories and records I have found of what happens after this look more like a full war than any of the sudden betrayals that we faced from our machinery that century ago, and these people weren’t- begging your presence- as demise-struck stupid as your father was. But, no, the man who sacrificed his arm to me was, shockingly, capable of thinking and listening to one of the cleverest people I know. 

And I think that’s wonderful. Even with everything that came after this.

I’m writing this letter from an inn at Kara Kara bazaar. There’s enough people left here to let me brush up on my Gerudo a little, mostly merchants, but otherwise… things have certainly been better. There’s a sandstorm again, and I think I can see figures through it. They’re all too tall to be people, too oddly-jointed.

My linguist friend told me that, whatever they are, they’ve been massing around the bazaar for the last week or so. Word has been sent to queen Riju about it, though I admit I shudder to think what she may be dealing with at home. She’s expected to show up some time tomorrow. For now, I’ve got some cash to burn, wealth of saddle sores, and bed and board with one of the best masseuses in the country. I expect the new king of the zora would cause some sort of international incident if he heard I planned to go to war alongside one of our allies with a bad back, so…

Yours, a salt-pickled soldier,

Link

—

Zelda,

Riju arrived just in time to catch the assault. No casualties. But these “gibdos” that have swarmed the desert are very strange creatures!

They, at first glance, appear to be mummies. Tall, shrivelled things with their skin shrunk tight against their bones. They are not the mummies of any creature I know, no gerudo, fish, or lizalfos has quite that height, or quite that coffin-chest. Despite their look, their skin and bones are… rubbery, I suppose? They turn away blades with a violence that makes your arm shudder. When struck with an elemental effect, something chemical happens that makes them brittle and disoriented.

They also seem to spawn from…. Mushrooms? Not gloom, or summoning, or even from the ground. Mushrooms. Tall, psylobin-like structures with glowing spore vents that drop giant monsters instead of spores. I don’t. Entirely know what to make of this. I’ve taken a sample or two of them, which I’ll drop off with Purah when I get the chance, but beyond that- and that the bits of jaw and ribcage I haven’t earmarked for research break very sharp in a way that’s proven very good for fighting with- I really do not know what to make of this.

And it probably will go extinct as a lifeform once the demon king is destroyed. So there won’t be much chance to research them in general.

Riju’s trick with the lightning will be very useful, once I find the stone that’s doubtless behind this.

~~

What followed was a long and confusing walk through a sandstorm towards the Gerudo capital, fighting many more undead and sharp-toothed lizalfos along the way. The land was vaguely sketched in the dim light, save where it was occasionally distressingly bulbous. I have rekitted myself with a fair deal of element-based equipment, which has proven very useful already and will probably be quite badly needed when I raid out wherever’s causing this. But first…

Gerudo town is in something of a state. I very nearly didn’t recognize it, cutting the sky like a heap of unusually large stones. The place had been abandoned, possibly since the upheaval. The bright-stoned aquaducts flowed with sand, the cleverly-designed houses were picked over, clean inside only by virtue of their shutters. No violence, quite, no scorch marks or torn down statues. But the only hints towards any life having been here at any time in the last century were the dormant gibdo stalks ringing the walls like the remains of some long, slow siege. It was… worrying, certainly.

So I searched.

The city was picked clean, and empty save- bizarrely- for the old backdoor fashion company. The door was boarded up, and I only found my way inside through the underground water system, but the two or three people inside were having a seemingly grand old time. I even bought a few pieces from them for exorbitant prices and a small heap of fresh food. Very strange.

But they did point me towards a very interesting bit of the palace’s architecture.

Did you know they had a bunker? I feel like I should’ve.

And not a small bunker either! The complex buried under the palace is large enough to comfortably fit the entire city. There is a siege going on, and the Gerudo seem to have been well prepared.

There’s business, classrooms, the works. There’s even a prison for somebody’s unfortunate dad who tried to sneak in and check on his kid and oh boy should I probably deal with that at some point!

But, first order of business, Riju is expecting the siege to heat up pretty soon now that I’ve shown up, and that means strategizing. I will spare you the details, as I don’t fully understand them, but feel free to ask her about it later.

~~

The siege has been successfully rebuffed. Many injured, none dead. The next order of business is where these things came from.

Lunch was sandwitches with nut butter and voltfruit jam, and I have been given a fair bit of bread to use along the coming journey.

~~

The temple at the center of this was only called up by application of some sort of miles-spanning network of mirrors, and does not hold an obvious purpose in the way many of the other Zonai ruins I have been working with throughout the journey have. The temple itself is large and rather complex, with a heavy emphasis on vertical motion and the bending of light up through the space. The things that block me feel… more deliberate, somehow? I am oddly reminded of shrine challenges.

Maybe this temple held a funerary or ritual importance to the ancient gerudo?

Riju has promised to have somebody look into it with what remains of the royal library. Here’s hoping they turn up something of use by the time you’re back to look at it.

The secret stone guardian here was a particularly nasty undead(?) creature that at several points fruited gibdo from various orifices. I did get samples, yes, but I would very much like to stop thinking about the thing.

I leave gerudo desert with a lightning trick under my belt, a fresh sage for your cause, and a city already on the road to recovery. 

(Also there’s a probably wrongfully imprisoned man in the basement who tried to see his kids. I should probably deal with that sometime soon… I have, frankly, never particularly liked how the gerudo treat foreigners.)

Yours,

Link

Chapter Text

Lurelin Village 

Dear Princess,

The last place I expect to find a secret stone is up north in the land of the goron. However, I have a suspicion that something is going to start happening very quickly once all the stones have been taken out of our enemy’s hands, and there’s something I need to do first. There’s a ship to the southeast with my name on it, you see. 

~~

It took some doing, and a lot of sneaking in and out of damaged houses, but I have succeeded in cleaning the place out. It may interest you that the monsters here had built pirate ships, and seemed to know how to use them. They had not in the process learned how to swim. I am not fully sure that things will remain clear here once the next blood moon hits, but I have solid hopes. For now, I’ve sent word to Bolson and his building company that Lurelin has been saved, and they should be here in the next day or so to start stabilizing the buildings here in advance of the locals coming back. 

I am sore all over, and will doubtless be even more so over the next few days, so I really should sleep, but…

There’s a geoglyph here. A long, thin knife that curves across the cape like a spine.

I need to see it.

 ~~

In this memory, Sonia held an audience with somebody who appeared to be you right up until it pulled a gerudo knife from behind its back and tried to throw it at her. Rather than landing home, it was stopped midair by a stasis cast, which in retrospect I should have realized was time magic more than it was ever shikah tech, because you proceeded to step out of the shadows looking somewhat smug. You called the imposter-you a traitor, and a puppet of Ganondorf, which was apparently literal because it promptly vanished into black smoke.

Ganondorf himself then appeared out of nothing behind Queen Sonia and plunged a knife into her back. Later memories, now with better context, tells me he then proceeded to steal her stone and ascend into the power that is still haunting us all this time later.

It was hard to watch.

But this run of events does raise some questions, and one major concern. Firstly, I do find myself curious about what happened in Rauru’s castle between that uneasy fealty and the demon king’s ascension. Why the setup? Why was Ganondorf given access to the castle and public trust to the point of a trap like this being needed to prove that something was wrong. When did he start creating these puppet-you’s, and what was he using them for? Was it just that you had the king’s trust? I hope to hear all about it when I find you.

That he could make puppets is in and of itself… concerning, with all our predicaments as late. Between this, the Yiga impressions, and my own experiences that I know for certain were reaching across time through the oddities of your magic, Hyrule seems downright stuffed with Zeldas.

Maybe I’ll find you under one of three spinning cups? That might as well happen.

Yours,

An up and coming three card monte expert

------

Princess,

Ok so uh. Apparently the village needed to be entirely rebuilt. Like all of it. And one of the big things Bolson needed for that was more full palm trunks than you’ve ever seen in a pile in your life. I had to jury-rig a cart up to even fit the enormous things, much less be strong enough to carry the weight safely. And then there was mounting all the posts and-

I am so tired.

But Bolson is a genuine miracle worker and everything looks incredible. People have started moving back in, and I’ve gotten absolutely weighed down with good fish as thanks. All in all a pretty good week.

It was a bit odd though, looking back. When I was travelling the country in the months after I first woke up, Lurelin was the only place I ever saw without ruins. Even Hateno was surrounded by old guardian corpses. It was like the war never reached here, not in a hundred years.

It did this year. 

Here, now, in this so much less dire leg of that war against all those that threaten the kingdom to which your blood has been and forever will be bound, this place was scattered to the winds. I never saw the calamity, not really. I hope you didn’t, either, in all that time you had to wait for me.

Yours, battered and sincere,
Link.

---

Amoranth,

Alright! I am no longer sore! And in lighter news, than my last letter, I’ve picked up a story!

You know the strange broken apart disc with text on it that only glows at night that is embedded into the beach here? Well, the kids here tell me that it used to belong to the red-eyed-king of mirrors. So great was his vanity that it would sometimes gain a life of its own, break through his mirror into our world, and prowl Hyrule on fours in search of anybody who might be more beautiful than himself, who would be turned into monsters. The only way to escape this fate, the kid told me, was to look like a monster yourself on nights when the wind was up, and the smoke was thick.

This is, from what I can gather, a somewhat fantastical spin on the kid’s part to their equivalent of Samhain. One of the older women told me about some costumes of hide and wooden masks carved to resemble monsters that she’d been planning on reworking for the harvest before the pirates hit and scuttled things, when I asked about this. I expect the actual holiday practice is something you are already very familiar with.

Still, in light of all the things that have happened over the last few months, I am beginning to notice just how many of our stories are about some parallel, magical, or sacred world crossing over into ours and bringing their problems with them. The Zonai came from a realm all of their own, dealt with our ancestors, and became kings. All but two of them left. And our stories, even now, are filled with fey kings and people getting lost in the spaces between spaces. I’ve lost you somewhere in the spaces between seconds, and you were in the court of a man who had command of magic and knowledge that boggles the mind today. Hell, one of the people on my docket to check in on is an impossibly ancient tree that tangles the paths of most visitors as a matter of course.

What happened? What does this say? I don’t know.

For now, I am realizing that I’m very close to the jungle, and who would I be if I didn’t check in on things there?

Yours,
An overambitious speculator