The next leg of the trip is less eventful than the last. Of the giant Ganon-controlled robots with lasers that they see, none are functioning well enough to kill them. Valanda experiments with his new outfit and settles on the most comfortable way to wear it. They pass through a tiny hamlet and some woods and then, eventually, they're at Hateno.
"Healing elixirs! They're pretty interesting actually, they're basically a concentrated and very insistent version a certain manaform that strong and healthy living things have, so when you drink one it spends all its energy aligning your systems - mostly healing by magical fiat rather than accelerating natural processes, like most medicine does..." She could ramble about healing elixirs for a while if not interrupted!
Fi interrupts her after less than two minutes of magic lecture. "I would like one or more. If you would like to trade I can sing, dance, recite prophecies, recite poetry, read quickly, do advanced mathematics..."
Fi has an impressive list of ways she can pay.
"Woah woah woah. You've got some snappy skills! I actually have some pretty nasty calculations I was trying to figure out for a side-project... Can ya solve fifth-order polynomial equations?"
Purah throws math at her for almost half an hour before running out and declaring, "You've more than earned my healing elixirs! Getting lots of annoying math out of the way will save me weeks of checking things! The flow-density tables'll make a good reference!"
Purah gives Fi half a dozen elixirs, bouncing cheerfully.
"Thank you."
Fi considers the other opportunities this place presents before deciding that she's not equipped to take advantage of them anyway.
Valanda eventually comes back in.
Varrin waves Valanda over to ward another couple of ice sculptures!
Link asks, "Goin' so soon?" As Fi leaves, but shrugs when she continues to do so.
She wanders over to Varrin and Valanda. "Huh. Pretty. I can't do art, but this is pretty."
"It really is! Varrin's great, shouldn't have any trouble selling these. Hey, got any question ideas? We've got three left."
"I dunno, maybe sell the questions? If he'll let us?"
"No," says Nick, without looking up from his book.
Link shrugs. "I can ask about my odds of defeating Ganon before doing all the things that I could do to help with that, I guess."
"Maybe ask if you're right about how to do it. And I can ask about immortality. That'll be three, I can't think of any better ones... maybe we're just not thinking of something important but I don't know what that would be."
"Immortality is a good ask. Goddess Hylia says it's just... Not a thing she can do. Longer natural lives yes, lingering spirits - sometimes. Proper immortality, no."
"I'm sure some kind of mage can do it but I don't know which kind or how. When did Hylia say that?"
Link asks the crystal ball, with all the necessary theatrics.
"...I can do it. I'll want the sword, and the Divine Beasts, and it'll be a tough fight, but then I can do it." She impulsively hugs Valanda.
"Everything is going to be okay. I'm not done - We're not done... But Purah's learning all sorts of crazy useful stuff, I'm going to defeat Ganon, and you're going to be a wise and just ruler in your homeland. It's going to be great."
"Yeah, it really is. I hope someday I get to see what Hyrule's like without Ganon!"
They have such hope! And a couple more questions and Valanda double-checks that Nick's familiar with Hari laws before he's willing to let him out in Har.
Varrin's sculptures sell well. Bar supplies stacks and stacks of books for Purah. Valanda saves up and stocks up on advanced otherworldly medical supplies.
And eventually Valanda walks back out into the Hari Empire and goes to his interview.
Nikolas the vampire follows, lurking lurkily. What a nice society of amoral selfish people to go get get lost in.