BOTW: The Lonely Knight

The Spring of Wisdom

It was an hour before noon when Link passed through the entrance to Hateno Village. His Hylian hood was getting drenched by the rain as he finally made it. Not much had changed since he left: though the streets were more empty than usual due to the rain. He spotted his house, Kochi Dye Shop, the East Wind general store, the Ventest Clothing Boutique, Ton Pu Inn, and the Ancient Tech Lab, standing on the cliff, some smoke billowing out of its chimney.

It had been several weeks since he had been here. After having wandered around for so long for Shrines, he decided to stay at the house he had bought there for a day, train himself, and then be gone by morning. He had left Epona behind at the Duelling Peaks stable earlier for her to get some rest before they resumed their journey.

As he walked in, Thadd, who was standing under a nearby tree with his pitchfork in hand, waved to him.

"Howdy Link!" he greeted.

Link suddenly turned to him, surprised.

"How do you know my name?" he asked emotionlessly.

"Everyone knows your name! It's written on the sign in front of your house." the farmer answered.

Link was confused. He then remembered. Bolson had included with his furniture a wooden sign with his name written on it and placed it right on his front lawn.

"Too late to remove it." he thought.

"Welcome back then!" said Thadd.

Link simply looked at him blankly for a few seconds, before walking away. He headed all the way up to the Ancient Tech Lab. The Champion walked in, finding Purah and Symin, busy examining an ancient core.

The director's assistant raised his head first to him walking in, Purah's eyes still glued to the piece of ancient technology.

"Hmm? Oh! Director, Link's back." he told her.

"Yeah yeah, I... Wait, did you say Link?" the young girl asked.

"Um... Yes, I just said that."

She quickly turned her attention to the Champion standing in the doorway.

"Linky! You're back!" she exclaimed. "Come on in, we were just finishing up examining this little beauty right here!"

Link obliged, lowering his wet hood from his head as he walked in.

"So, what brings you back here, huh? Need any tips on some of those photos on the Sheikah Slate?"

"That won't be necessary at the moment." answered Link. "I need to get it repaired though, it may have been damaged while I was gone."

He handed the device to her. Purah lowered her goggles on her eyes for a moment and examined it closely. There were several burn and scratch marks covering it,

"Well I'll say! What happened to get it in this state?" she questioned.

"It was damaged during a fight." the Champion replied simply, remembering all the fights he had been in where the Sheikah Slate got caught in the crossfire.

"... You know, I was setting myself up for disappointment when asking that. Still though, Princess Zelda was always careful with this precious artifact, but even that didn't stop her from dropping it that one time! But we got over that... mostly. Alright, come back at night, we'll have it repaired by then."

"Very well." answered Link.

He then left the lab, raising his hood as he headed back to the village and to his house. Sometimes, Link thought of using the place more often, but due to his duties, he could never stay in one place for long, leaving his house empty for long periods of time.