After thanking Impa profusely, I part ways, wearing something that fits me, a tunic created specifically for me when I was a champion. Making my way out of the village, I head in search of more memory picture locations.

During the next three weeks, I climb a few more towers, expanding the amount of detail displayed by the map, hoping I’ll spot anything that sparks recognition, but nothing in particular triggers any real familiarity.

I manage to make a lot of money, though, about a thousand rupees, by trading the various bits of Bokoblins, Chuchus, even Moblins and Lizalfos’, earning enough to buy arrows and ingredients, taking opportunities to cook whenever I can. I don’t know whether I had a favourite food, or just a love of food in general, but something about cooking my own meals and taking my time to explore the world of aroma and flavour, from spicy to sweet to salty, each taste unique and distinctive, is beyond gratifying in a way I don’t quite understand.

Finally, as I reach the top of a tower denoted on the map as the Tabantha Tower, I spot a formation to the south-east that looks vaguely familiar. Using my paraglider, I leap form the tower’s peak, using the sailcloth to float towards the location that tugs at my very being. Upon, I draw the Master Sword and battle my way up the remaining part of the slope, reaching the spot I saw from the top of the tower. Surrounded by columns and decrepit masonry, a Sheikah shrine stands. My head feels like it’s about to crack like an egg, and I stagger, my mind filling with fresh images.

Zelda is poking at the shrines’ Guidance Stone, trying to figure out how to make it work, when I arrive.

“Nothing. Just as I thought. Hmmm… It appears that this structure was designed to be accessed exclusively by the sword’s chosen one. But, designs can always be worked around, at least I hope. How do I get inside…? I need to activate it somehow…”

My horse thunders up the hill, bearing me upwards, her chestnut coat glossy in the sunlight, letting out a whinny as I dismount. The look on the princess’ face is unfriendly, almost a scowl, as I leave my chestnut steed to stand beside the princess’ white, sprinting over. Zelda stomps forward, snapping at me. “I thought I made it clear that I am not in need of an escort.”

Putting her hands on her hips, she sighs crossly. “It seems as though I’m the only one with a mind of my own. I, the person in question-” she jabs a thumb at herself, “am fine, regardless of the king’s orders. Return to the castle.” She marches past me, “And tell that to my father, please.”

I follow. It’s all I can do. I’m caught up in a desire to follow my orders, but not wanting to be at the centre of another fight between the princess and her father. She huffs, and whirls around, fists clenched. “And stop following me!” she yells.

The memory fades, and I find myself back in front of the shrine, blinking away an ache in my chest. Those words hurt, as they must have once, but it’s less painful than it once was. Three images down, three memories recovered. The next picture will hopefully be easier to decipher. From the look of it, I need to find a desert, and within the boundaries of the shifting sands, I must find an oasis, with a pool of deep blue water surrounded by tall palm trees, and a small hamlet there.

As I make my way back towards the outskirts of Central Hyrule, I spend a night out in the rain again, but, on the second day, as if apologizing, the Goddess’ luck strikes true for me, as I encounter a fellow traveller. A tall woman with dark skin and an aquiline nose, as well as deep orange hair, wearing strange, billowy clothing, appears around a bend in the road. I gasp. She looks like the woman from my memory of being appointed as Princess Zelda’s knight!

I jog towards her. If she’s from the same place as the warrior-woman, she might be well-travelled enough to enlighten me as to the location! When I approach, I smile, holding a hand up and waving. “Good morning! Excuse me, miss, but I’m looking for a place and was hoping you might know its name and how to get there? I’ve only recently begun to remember things from my past and I need to get there in hopes of remembering something else!”

The tall woman respond with a greeting I can’t recall ever hearing, but it sounds as though I knew it once.

“Sav’aaq. What do you need, little voe?”

I pause. “Sorry, voe?”

The tall woman tuts to herself. “Ah, you are not familiar with the Gerudo language? Voe means ‘man. Vai is ‘woman’. Anyway, what can I help you with?”

I pull my Sheikah Slate off my hip and select the image of the oasis. “Do you know this place?”

The Gerudo woman leans down, before nodding and smiling proudly. “Sa’oten! I know this place! This is Kara Kara Bazaar, near my home of Gerudo Town, in the Gerudo Desert! And I know how you may get there, for I left my home recently to find a husband!”

She gives me extremely detailed directions, and I realise that my Sheikah Slate is recording the location based on the route she’s giving me. I feel my heart swell with relief. So soon after the last, I’m well on track for my next memory!

After thanking the Gerudo woman profusely, I head off, excited to make more progress in remembering whom I was before. I spend the next few days hunting ingredients to make snacks that will fight the heat, made from special herbs and fruits, as well as improving my stamina through a few routines I must have run through as a knight-in-training that came back along with one of my memories.

Three days of travelling turn into four, then into five, before I breach the mountain pass and make it to the Gerudo Desert. The heat is intense, but I manage to battle through well enough on the first day. At night, however, the temperature drops freakishly fast, leaving me scrambling for my warm doublet, tugging it on in hopes of resisting the bitter winds and sheer cold. Eventually, I manage to snatch a few hours’ sleep in the time between pre-dawn and post-sunrise, when the temperature isn’t too bad. Once it gets hotter, though, I resume my trek, the sand shifting and grinding underfoot as I keep myself hydrated and cool as best I can.

Another day and night of this interminable, wretched heat-and-cold cycle, and I finally see the shape of the Kara Kara Bazaar, just like the helpful Gerudo woman described. Panting and sweating, I drag myself towards my destination, collapsing by the pool and gratefully drinking deep of the cool water. Once I’ve slaked the intense thirst that has gripped me for most of the day, I fill my waterskin and sit back. At first, I don’t notice the headache creeping up on me until it’s too late, having taken it for a sign that I was suffering from heat-sickness.

The world wobbles, and I’m glad I was already sitting or I’d probably have hit the dirt…

Zelda runs through the desert, slipping in the soft, loose sand, barely able to breathe. Shooting a look behind her, she just keeps running, trying to get away-

Two slim figures in full-body shrouds, skin-tight red and black outfits designed to conceal identities and allow for freedom of movement dart round and in front of the fleeing princes. Each clutches a razor-sharp sickle that gleams wickedly in the late afternoon sun.

Before she can retreat and try another direction, a third of the shadowy assailants has caught up from behind, brandishing their own vicious sickle. Princess Zelda falls, scrabbling backwards…

As the latest ambusher twirls their sickle, closing in on the defenceless princess, they bring it up, ready to end the life of the only child of the Hylian royal family, a short cray rings out, the sound of feet pounding through the sand.

“Hyahp!”

 Steel rings on steel, and the sickle spins up into the sky, landing at the same time as the assassin, who crumples silently to the sand in a motionless heap. Interposed between the two remaining contract-killers, I hold the Master Sword ready, glaring at them wordlessly.

When they realise that their comrade isn’t faking it or going to get up again, the pair of renegade Sheikah back up, then vanish in puffs of smoke. I wait until I’m sure they’ve gone….

I come to my senses again, sitting in the sands of the Gerudo Desert. “I… I saved her? From the Yiga clan… those Sheikah who turned their cloaks and sided with Ganon… and that happened right here? No wonder I got back something so important…”

I hug my knees, staring into the water as I compose myself. Only a few memories back, but… I can feel myself growing more complete, more whole. It’s a good feeling… That night, I toss and turn, my sleep disturbed by something that is... half-dream, half-memory. It can’t be a true dream, since I remember it perfectly when I wake, soaked in my own sweat and gasping from breath.

Zelda and I are sitting on a rock, side by side.

“So… about what you said earlier… you’re serious? Is that why you seemed so comfortable in those clothes? It wasn’t just part of your duty as my appointed knight? You… actually liked wearing those?”

I nod. “Yes. I… I felt happy in them. I wish I could wear them all the time… but I can’t. People wouldn’t understand….”

Zelda’s hand gently touches the back of mine, and I flinch a little. She brushes her thumb over my knuckle softly.

“I do. On top of everything else you were dealing with, you had this buried deep inside, so far that not even you could face it without help. I’m grateful that you trusted me with this… and I’m sorry for not figuring it out sooner…. When we get back to the castle, I’ll have something special made for you, if you want? I want you to be more at ease in yourself…”

The princess leans in, briefly resting her head on my shoulder. She hums something softly, her voice a breathy whisper. It sounds so gentle… I wish that I could…

“Let’s get something to eat, okay? I think it’s about time we had lunch, anyway. What do you feel like? I could go for something sweet… do you think they have fruitcake here? I’ve always been particularly partial to it…”

I wake with tears in my eyes and a feeling of tightness in my chest, like a band around my heart has started to loosen. I don’t know what my dream-memory was telling me, but… the princess accepted me for something I couldn’t share with anyone else… and she loves fruitcake? I should figure out how to make it for her, as thanks for whatever she’s done for me.

Over the next three weeks, I travel across the length and breadth of Hyrule, acquiring more memories, from the slopes of Death Mountain to the rolling Hyrule Plains, seeking out every single spot, recognizing more and more of the images’ depicted locations. It seems that, with each memory restored, I’m more effortlessly able to recall where these places are and the memories from each.

They come more easily now, painlessly, as I feel that my understanding of who the person I was, and what… she… wasn’t. Finally, I understand what Princess Zelda truly did for me. She… She understood that I wasn’t a boy, had never been, and she allowed me to be myself, my REAL self, in private with her. And that’s… that’s when I fell in love with her…