She gives a royal frown. "Well, it's not my business. It seems a mite dangerous to import or export magic, though I will certainly be importing knowledge from Bar, here. Hmm." Smile, "Any recommendations for foreign food? This 'milkshake' is delightful. Like the good parts of a cake in frozen liquid form."

"I'm not the best person for food recommendations. I hear pizza is a staple, but it's too greasy for me. If you're looking for something sweet, I'd recommend madelines. If you're looking for something savory, try...quiche."

"I've had quiche. And others have mentioned pizza. I'll try it, and madelines, later. I am curious what is so appealing about math. I could ramble about elixir ingredient properties for hours, I know."

"Math is at the root of all of our physical laws. It's as much discovered as invented. There are still open problems. There might always be open problems. It's something to aspire to."

"And werewolves, and magic, make discovering the real ones even harder, don't they?"

"In some ways, yes. Most of the problems caused by our magic are conveniently only relevant to werewolves and other supernatural creatures. It looks like everything works as we thought it did, except for a few additional complications."

"My people are more concerned about building new lives than seeking true knowledge at the moment. I don't really blame them. But figuring out the world is a romantic notion."

"I haven't been able to focus on it lately, for similar reasons. How is the rebuilding going?"

"I don't really have something to compare it to. We have actual taxes, now, instead of using what was left of the old treasury and appealing to patriotism. Most of the major bridges are fixed. We're working out who owns the land that was overrun in the original Calamty now - the records are mostly gone so I'm tempted to just claim the whole lot as royal property and hand it out relatively fairly, maybe give out reparations to people who squawk about how their grandparents had a farm there before. The Royal University is starting its third year of teaching and we have a few hundred students this time."

"How many people live in your kingdom? How many kingdoms are there?"

"There are approximately two million people in all of Hyrule. We knew about at least a dozen other kingdoms before the Calamity - one still exists, we are trading with them. Two are known to have fallen entirely. The rest, the Expedition Corps has not found their fate as of yet."

"I'm sorry. What exactly was it? The calamity."

"Ganon, the evil god and counterpart to Goddess Hylia, cannot be destroyed entirely. Whenever he returns, Goddess Hylia calls forth a hero with the bravery of ages, and a princess with the bloodline of a goddess..." She smiles sadly. "And they seal him away once again. Apparently, most of the time it goes smoothly. It did not, just before the Great Calamity."

"This is a recurring problem? How often?"

"That is not entirely clear. The good guesses say between once every hundred years, to about once every thousand."

"Why was this time different?"

"Sheikah technology. We thought we were going to use it against Ganon. Instead, he used it against us."

She shakes her head. "Fine. I'm telling the story again. Before the Calamity began but after the Sages were predicting it would be soon, we unearthed ancient Sheikah technology, wonders of a society that understood magic far better than we do now, and studied them. The four Divine Beasts were the greatest weapons against the foretold return of Ganon we could imagine, but just as he returned he slew all four champions who had trained to pilot them, and turned the divine beasts, and the army of automated warriors, the Guardians, against us. Link was the hero - I was the princess. I... I didn't have any kind of divine power like the prophesies said I should. We tried to fight Ganon anyway. It did not go well. Suddenly, in desperation, I found my promised power. I brought Link to the Shrine of resurrection, hid the legendary sword, marched back to the castle, and entered a... A fugue state that held Ganon and I locked in suspended time. For one hundred and one years. Apparently. And then Link came back and sealed him."

"Are you sure you're not accepting outside help? That sounds monumentally unfair."

"Goddess Hylia is helping us. I have not yet met anyone who I would trust in Hyrule if they had as much power as a goddess."

"I see. Does Hylia often help?"

"She does what she can. I see how it wouldn't seem so - she does nothing direct - but I really believe it. Heart Containers and the dragons' magic are her doing. The Sages' power is her doing. The Master Sword, the sword that seals the darkness, and the fact that Hyrule's life prospers even in the worst conditions is her doing."

"What exactly are 'heart containers'?"

"If you touch one with the intent to claim its power, you absorb it, and become - tougher, more vital, more enduring. Even naturally enduring people see very noticeable benefits from just one."

"Those seem useful. If you're not accepting help, are you selling it? If those work for us, we'd be a lot better off. Have you ever used one yourself?"

"I have used them myself. Two of them. They were very invigorating. They are - Very rare, unfortunately. I would have to charge a lot of money for one. I have healing potions that I can practically give away, however. The fact that these are consumable is a significant drawback, of course."