Edited 03.01.23
(N/n) - nickname
"The person we need to talk to is named Purah. I haven't seen her in a while, but she's nice, so don't worry," you walk with your hands behind your back, every once in a while looking back to make sure your comrade is still following. Link silently nods along to your words even when you aren't facing him.
The atmosphere surrounding Hateno is certainly a lot livelier and more outgoing than at Kakariko. Children are running circles outside and some adults stand by the entrances of shops calling for new customers. While it isn't as quiet and laid back as Kakariko, it still seems like a friendly place to be.
You don't pay mind to the children who suddenly run in front of you or the women who whisper rumors as you both walk past their laundry station. You simply keep on the trail which leads to the tech lab built above Hateno.
Although it stands very much alone, there clearly must be inhabitants there since smoke rises into the blue sky from the building's chimney.
Rather than continue following the path, you choose to take a shortcut instead by wading through the green fields. Link doesn't complain about this nor the dew-covered grass that soaks through the new pants Impa had given him before leaving Kakariko. She had actually supplied him with a few different clothing items including the pants, a blue tunic that was the first thing to actually feel familiar to him in days, and a cloak to go with it; a far better outfit than his previous one which was torn and too small.
"Purah? You here?" You open the door to the lab slowly, peeking inside while Link waits patiently outside.
There's a crash from within before a squeaky voice - one not too far off from a child's - shouts, "(N/N)?! Come in, come in! It's been ages since you've visited!"
'Everyone seems to know who she is,' Link notes about you, following you inside after the invitation, 'But I guess she did say she travels a lot.'
The lab is a mess with scattered books and papers littering the floorboards. If the books hadn't found themselves on the floor, then they're stacked on tables and chairs which is understandable since the bookshelves across the room are packed full. This certainly does seem like the type of place where tons of research data is collected.
"There's someone I want you to meet. Purah, this is Link. Link, this is Purah, the director of this lab," you step aside, making way for a shocked girl who can't possibly be much older than six.
"Linky?! Is that really you?! Wow! You sure took your time getting back to us, huh? And here I was beginning to lose hope you'd ever wake up again!" The little girl bounces over to the teen, putting her hands on her hips with an adorable attempt at looking bad, "Well, at least you're here now...It only took a hundred years...Welcome back!"
Link, of course, only raises an eyebrow at her. Once again, she's likely someone he's supposed to know and must also be Purah like you said even though neither point makes any sense because how could someone so young be a lab director and how could someone so young possibly know a hundred year old sleeping beauty?
"He's actually lost his memory - going off of what Impa said anyways," You cut in, crossing your arms with a pitiful look towards Link, "He didn't remember her either."
Purah frowns, circling the boy without any concern to how uncomfortable she's making him, "...Ah, I see. Yes, we were afraid of that, weren't we? No one could say the exact effects that would occur inside the Shrine of Resurrection, not even a beautiful genius like myself...But I didn't think it would be too serious.
"So, you don't remember anything, Link? Anything at all? You didn't even remember Impa, eh? Well, she can be pretty boring at times, so I guess that's understandable, but to forget little old me?!" Purah stops tugging at the ends of Link's tunic to face you, "What did you guys speak to Impa about anyhow? Did she offer any advice?"
"She told him about the Calamity then instructed him to come here to his slate thingy fixed. She thought you'd be able to do it."
Purah snickers, taking the Sheikah Slate from Link without asking, "And you came along to show him the way? What a good girl you are, willing to help a dirty lost boy in need~"
She stares at the screen, pushes a few buttons, then shakes it violently as if that'll do any good, "Yep, it's missing one of the most basic - and funnest - functions, but don't you worry, I can fix it up easy as pie - or better put, easy as calculus...I can't actually make pie. Anyways, all you gotta do is run a little errand for me and I'll get right to work!"
"What kind of errand?" Link asks when Purah hands him back the Sheikah Slate.
She crosses her arms at the confused look he gives her, "Well, I'm not going to fix it for free! I gotta a business to run, ya know?! I won't ask anything difficult of you, though. You just have to light the furnace outside with a special blue flame found at the bottom of the hill. It's easy...as long as it doesn't rain...Oh, come on! You used to be a knight - a hero even! You can light a little furnace, can't ya?"
He slowly nods, putting the Sheikah Slate away.
"Then hop to it, Linky! The faster you get that done, the faster I can fix the Sheikah Slate for you!"
~~~
You're sitting in the lab window, your arms crossed over the frame with Purah squeezed next to you, having to stand on her tippy toes to see outside, too. You both watch as Link travels halfway up the hill only for drops of water to begin falling from the sky onto the blue frame he carries.
He stands there in disbelief before sighing and marching back down to the furnace to start all over again. Purah poorly snuffles her laughter seeing this while you merely shake your head, mumbling something under your breath then turning away from the window.
Back at the furnace, Link waits patiently under a tree for the rain to clear. When it finally does, he races to grab another flame and hurries up the hill again...then another rain shower decides to come along...
Huffing, he tosses the tree branch he had been using to carry the flame and glares at it as if that will help him any. He planned to stay and pout in the rain for at least a few more minutes before you walked past him, "Come on, hero boy."
Obediently, Link follows you, curious for what you have planned. It involves handing him a shield once reaching the giant furnace, instructing him to hold it above at a flat angle before you remove a torch from where you had been protecting it under your cloak. Lighting said torch with the blue flame, you carefully keep it under the shield Link holds.
"Keep it above the torch the best you can. I'm not coming all the way back down here to do this again if we mess up," you warn him, but with a playful tone. He smiles slightly and nods, doing as you say by moving carefully up the hill before you both reach the research lab.
~~~
"Excellent work! I'll have to have the two of you do more errands for me in the future! I could really put you to work here!" Purah exclaims the moment you enter the lab while dripping with freezing rainwater.
The director spins on her heels, facing Link specifically, "Hurry and place the Sheikah Slate over there on the pedestal...Perfect! - Oh, and there's one more tiny little thing you gotta do for me before we get started."
"What's that?" He's a bit nervous, not wanting to go back through the rain to retrieve another colored flame.
"Give me your best 'SNAP'!"
"...Huh? 'Snap'?"
"Weak! Try to sound happier! Like you're actually excited to finally get the best part of the Sheikah Slate fixed!"
"...S-Snap..."
Purah sighs, muttering a 'whatever' then turning away to start working on the slate anyways while continuing to complain about how it must be sooo hard to say a single word like 'snap' (not that anyone's even listening to her rant).
Link kicks his feet awkwardly while waiting. Eventually, he spears a glance at you from where you sit on a stool by the door, ringing the water out of your cloak into an empty pot. Your hair is dripping despite having had the hood over your head earlier and two random strands stick to the side of your cheek, forcing you to move them back behind your ear every so often with an irritated growl.
"DOOONE~!" Link blinks, tearing his eyes away from you to Purah who holds the Sheikah Slate into the air with a very proud glimmer in her eyes.
"O-Oh, thanks...That was fast," his cheeks are dusted slightly pink, however Purah doesn't seem to notice, too busy talking.
"I'm a quick worker," she brags with a flip of her hair before turning the slate for him to see the screen, "I've even fixed the best feature: the camera! With it, you can take tons of super cool pictures of either yourself or the things around you. Observe~"
Scanning the room mischievously, Purah ends up setting her sights on you while you aren't paying attention, "Say 'cheese', (N/n)~!"
"What?"
"SNAP!" Purah takes the photo right when you glance upwards, not even sure what had just happened. Not bothering to give you that explanation, she instead shows Link the picture, "See? Exactly life-like. Isn't that amazing?"
Link's quick to nod, impressed with how detailed the image stayed, "Wow...It is..."
"...Huh? What's this? It looks like the Princess used to take them all the time, too. There's still some of her old phones on here."
"From Zelda?" Link leaps slightly when you're suddenly looking over his shoulder, glazing at the gallery of photos on the screen, "...Hey, I know some of those places. You know, if the Princess had been there, maybe you could've been with her, too, since you were her knight, right? Perhaps studying these pictures might bring back some of your memories, don't you think?"
Link hums, hoping your theory could be true. At the moment, he can't put a name to any of the locations shown in the landscape photographs, but if he studies them like you suggest, that could change over time.
He thanks Purah, taking one last look over the photos before putting the slate back on his hip, "What do I do now?"
"The heck should I know? Ask (Y/n)," with that, the young child saunters off to her desk, struggling to climb back onto her stool there.
By the time Link turns around to face you fully, you're swinging your as-dry-as-it's-going-to-get cloak over your shoulders with a shrug, "I guess you should get started fixing the Divine Beasts next. Impa did say you'll need them to limit the sorcerer's power. If you want, I can point out where they are on your slate - is there even a map on it now or do you need something else for that? Here, you know what, why don't I just give you one of my own maps instead -?"
"- You're not coming with me?" Link asks, feeling stupid for the question when you stop your reach into your pouch to raise an eyebrow at him.
"Me?" He stares at his feet and bites his lip, so you decide to reword your confusion slowly, "Are you...wanting me to go with you?"
"I mean...You don't have to - I-I was only wondering. You just...You said you're a traveler and you seem to know your way around pretty well, not to mention you know a lot about Hyrule's history including the Calamity, which is automatically more than I know...I'd, um...I'd feel better if I had someone like you to help me, at least in the beginning..." he whispers the last part, the tips of his ears becoming just as red as his face.
You cross your arms, looking him over for a second as if waiting for him to reveal he's only a joke, but when he doesn't, you casually shrug as if asked to simply walk down the street with a friend, not across Hyrule itself on a high stakes mission with a stranger, "...Sure, I'll go with."
"...You will?"
"Why not? It could be fun."
"It might be dangerous, though - you said it yourself: Hyrule's dangerous..."
You sigh, placing a hand on his shoulder, "And I've traveled around it enough times to get bored. Trust me, I can handle myself...Besides, how many people get to say they helped escort some legendary hero on his mission to restore the peace? Think I might even go down in the history books myself?"
Link chuckles at your dramatics, "I guess it's always a possibility."
"Sweet! Then I'm all in! One condition, though," you hold up a finger and Link raises an eyebrow, "We need to get you a horse. I'm going to make the wild assumption that you don't have one after a hundred years and neither of us are going to want to walk across Hyrule on foot. That would be absolute torture."
"Right," he's quick to nod before giving you a sincere smile, "Thank you, (Y/n)...I'm really going to owe you."
You shrug again, returning the smile.
"MAYBE SHE CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO SAY 'SNAP' WITH ENTHUSIASM!"