You step out of Lady Impa's house with Link. The both of you walk down the stairs and pass the guards who stare without shame.

"I guess we're stuck together," you start, not knowing how to talk to someone you are convinced you just met, but apparently knew a century ago.

"Seems that way," he agrees and hooks the Sheikah Slate back on his belt. Your eyes meet again before both of you break eye contact at the same time. 'What do I say?', you question.

Thankfully, Link speaks the next words. "Do you want to leave now?" he asks.

"If you don't have a problem with it, I don't either," you shrug. "Where do we go from here?"

Link takes his Sheikah Slate in hand again, opening the map function of the device. "Looks like we'll need to go south and take a right. Beyond that... I don't know. I haven't gotten the tower yet," he mutters more to himself as you both begin walking towards the exit.

"Tower?" you echo in confusion. "What tower?"

"The Sheikah Towers," he says and turns around to walk backwards, looking for something in the distance. "Those things over there," he points to a tall structure dazzled in blue lights. "They give the Sheikah Slate the information for maps."

"Oh, interesting," you muse. "That would be helpful."

"Seriously," Link sighs and faced forward with you, passing under the exit doorways. "Without a map, it's like you're going in blind."

"What is that thing, by the way," you ask, pointing to the tech hanging from his belt. "Sheikah... Slate," you say slowly, hoping you're not getting the name wrong.

"Oh... uhm," he grabs the slate. "I... don't really know a lot about it. I do know that it has a map and four runes. Well, apparently five, but it's incomplete. It was in the Shrine of Resurrection I woke up in. Did you wake up with anything? You were in a shrine too, right?"

"Yeah, I was," you answer. "But, no. Mine was empty. Just one room." Link furrows his eyebrows as he tries to figure out why the two shrines were different.

"That's weird..." he mutters as the path directs you two downhill. "Did you have to do trials when you woke up? Did you meet King Rhoam?"

"What?" you look at him in disbelief. He blinks with an expression clearly saying 'what?' back. "No, I didn't do anything. I woke up minutes before I met you. You met the king?"

"Yeah... I figured-- Sorry, I thought we'd gone through the same thing."

"No, don't apologize. It's just strange." But truthfully, you find the supposed favoritism unjust.

You come across a bridge crossing over a stream. A small sign is positioned right where the road forks. The sign pointing to the left read 'Hateno Village', your destination. Wasting no time, you take the turn with Link following behind you.

But just as you get a clear path, three jelly creatures slug up from the ground. Yellow eyes pop out of their blue, translucent mass making you shiver with disgust. Link groans in frustration beside you and draws a traveler's sword with small crumbs of rust around the base of the blade. "These guys again. Hold on," he tells you.

You watch as he swings the sword in one swift motion across all three of the chuchus, which burst upon impact, spraying jelly around it. You shield yourself with your arms and thankfully, the disgusting substance didn't get on you. Link, on the other hand, was unlucky to get a handful on his worn clothing.

He muttered something under his breath indistinctly as he brushed the jelly off of him, then promptly bent down and picked up the jelly remains, pocketing them. "You collect that stuff?" you ask, trying but failing to not sound judgemental.

"I collect everything I find," he explains. "I might be able to sell them later."

You snap your fingers as the two of you begin walking again. "Good idea. I need money as well. I don't have anything."

"Then let's fix that," Link nods and begins walking down the path, almost jogging. "Let's get to Hateno before sundown."

"Sounds good."

It doesn't take long before you come across a Sheikah Tower glowing orange in the distance. "Hey, there is the tower you are looking for," you point out.

"Oh good," he says and starts running with you following suit, taking a right in the path instead of continuing straight. "Alright, you wait here. I'll only take a second," he says and then starts scaling the tower.

You watch him and his skill for a second before looking around some more. Butterflies and Darners zoom past you headed to who knows where. Downhill, you can see uninviting monsters patrolling around their campsites just looking for fights. You are too far away to be seen in their nearsighted vision.

You wander around the base of the tower and pick up small things you find. You stuff your pockets with edible mushrooms and flowers, herbs and nuts. Surely this will be enough to buy you something. At least some new clothes that fit.

Mechanical whirring and clunking can be heard from the top of the tower. You stand up and see the top of the tower straighten into a point and the orange lights spiral into blue. It was wondrously beautiful.

You turn and find an apple tree, picking the apples while Link climbs down. You jump as you hear a hard thud in the grass behind you. You let out a gasp and turn around to see Link at the bottom of the tower.

"You startled me," you admit. "How did you get down so fast?"

"I have a paraglider. King Rhoam gave it to me," he explains.

"I'm beginning to think this is favoritism," you mutter saltily. Your remark doesn't go unheard by Link, who chuckles slightly.

Yeah... a smile looks good on him. Without even knowing it, you smile back.

"Okay," he starts after grabbing his Sheikah Slate, "the path is pretty clear now. We should be there by sunset."

~

You arrive at Hateno with the sun painting the sky orange, just as Link estimated. You walk past the small forest and to the entrance which was patrolled by a single guard.

"Travelers at this hour?" the guard muses as you approach. "Nevertheless, welcome to Hateno. May I be of any assistance?"

"Yes," you begin, "we are looking for someone. Uhm..." you think for a second, but cannot recall a name. "Is there anyone here that can help with restoring memories?"

"Restoring memories?" the guard echoes without the slightest clue. "What rumors told you we had someone of the sorts?"

"Not rumors... Lady Impa from the village northwest of here told us that..." You turn to Link over your shoulder. "Help me out here," you mouth.

"Uhh," Link stammers, not knowing how to help. "Is there anyone here who would know about this?" He unhooks his Sheikah Slate from his belt and shows the guard.

The guard leans forward and rubs her chin in thought. "Sheikah technology, right? I don't know much about it but there is a Sheikah research lab up there," she points. "Though no one goes there. The woman's crazy. Hasn't left the lab in years. We only ever see her assistant come down, asking about an ancient furnace. Talk about a screw loose in the noggin."

"Thank you," you nod and walk past her. You glance at Link and give him a smile of thanks. He notices and smiles back, which you didn't see.

To your left stands a clothing shop, which you make a b-line for. You open the squeaky door and look around to see what is on display. Link walks into the shop behind you.

You can see a colorful set of clothes, a warm tunic, and a set of metal armor. Links walks over to the warm tunic, interested.

"The warm doublet?" the lady at the counter says eagerly as she sees the opportunity of a buyer. "That will be eighty rupees total." Link thinks for a second.

"Can I get the doublet... and these trousers?" he asks, pointing to the Hylian set.

"Yes! That will be 170 rupees," she declares with delight, happy to finally get a purchase. Link pays without hesitation. He buys the clothes and gets changed in the back. You walk over to the Hylian's set, which had more trousers folded by the display.

"How much for this set?" you ask the lady.

"It is 270 rupees in total."

The mention of money in question reminds you of all you have collected. "Can you buy from me?" you ask and turn out your pockets to retrieve the materials you collected. All together, you only have enough to buy the tunic and trousers, but it is fine by you anyway.

You purchase the clothes and pull them on over the ones you have on. Link walks out with his new clothes on as soon as you finish fastening the last belt.

"How do I look?" he presents himself.

You look him up and down, taking in the new muted color palette. They were just clothes, but that didn't change the fact that this kid still has looks.

"You look great," you nod casually and walk out of the shop together. You ignore the twist in your stomach and readjust your belt as an excuse to look away from him. The fact that you found him attractive was undeniable, but you had other things to focus on.

You cast your eyes around for anything new that could distract you from your intrusive thoughts. You spy a glint of metal and take a step forward to investigate. Lying by the side of the building and obscured by overgrown grass was a sword, forgotten and neglected. You pick it up and take it out of its sheath, feeling its light weight. 'I've done this before...' you think as a familiar feeling awakens. You were hoping to unlock a forgotten memory, but no vivid pictures or scenes came to mind, disappointedly.

You throw the strap of the sheath over you and observe the dye shop directly across from the clothing shop. You walk in and the person running the shop turns around. You jump back and stare at his appearance.

"Welcome!" he lopsidedly grins. "If you were looking to add some color to your wardrobe, you found the right place! Hue do you do?" he cackles. You look behind you to Link and give him a wide-eyed uncomfortable look.

"Welcome to Kochi Dye Shop, where we live to dye! First time customers get dyed free! Let's get going and dye your getup to the color of your choosing," he says. You nod uncertainty, not quite knowing what you were agreeing to. "Wonderful. Now go wait up there. I'll be just a minute."

You walk up the stairs to a small landing, standing in the middle. You watch as the man looks at vials of dye carefully. "It's time to tint! Another day to dye that whole outfit at once!" he cheers in a wheeze. "Alright, choose your dye color or go ahead and change clothes." You look at the selection of dye colors. One color catches your eye. A nice shade of your favorite color will be your choosing.

You point to the vial of the dye you want. "This color would be fine," you say.

"Wonderful choice! Thank you for the business!" he says. "All right now, stay like that and don't move a muscle." You are about to ask why, when you gasp.

The floorboards beneath you give way as a trap door. You fall into a pool of water. A poof of your color choosing fumes the air. You get out of the tub coughing with your clothes dyed perfectly.

"Yeehoo! What a wonderful tone that is. I might try that on one of my outfits," he jumps. "You look great! If you want to do a re-dye, just let me know."

You walk out of the store with your new dyed clothes.

"That was an... experience," you say, making Link laugh again. You smile and laugh along with him. "It is getting a little late. We should probably just make some food and stay at the inn until morning."

"Okay. There is a crockpot just over there," he points out. Both of you walk over to it. Link hands you the cooking materials he has on hand. "Do you know how to cook at all? 'Cause I sure don't."

"I think I do," you mutter, looking at the materials with squinted eyes. Link warms by the fire and watches you cook sautéd vegetables, mushroom skewers, and meat skewers.

"Wow, you look like you know what you're doing," he observes. You smile involuntarily.

"Funny enough," you laugh, "I don't."

"I say it is talent," Link says. You smile again and that twisting feeling comes back in your stomach.

'I've felt this before...' you recall, but no new memories surface.

After a bit, you and Link check into the inn. Link pays the forty rupees for both of the beds and tell them to wake both of you at morning.

You lay down and quickly fall asleep.