"I was thinking I'd relax for a day or two here. This is one of the bigger sea people villages, and it's nice and warm, and I've been hiking hard through the wilderness for a while. After that, I heard a rumor of a hidden shrine to the east, at a point that juts out into the sea, I want to investigate it."

"That sounds interesting. Are there a lot of shrines?"

"At least dozens. I'm not sure how many there are in total, but I hope there's plenty."

"I wonder why they made so many."

"Well, the spirits of the dead monks that live in 'em say they're there to test the prophesied hero's strength. Which is, uh, me. I think."

"...Prophesied hero?"

"I don't like talking about it too much because it turns out nobody ever believes me, but..." Sigh. "Here we go. I almost died a hundred years ago, broken and bloody I was put in some old Sheikah magic bath, and woke up just fine about one year ago, missing most of my memories. I've gotten some back in - fits and starts - and the prophecy that predicted finding Sheikah stuff and Ganon's return also said that the princess of divine blood, the one bearing the hero's soul, and four great heroes from the far corners of Hyrule would come together to defeat him. I'm the hero - a talking tree spirit recognized me - and that's why I have to get the Master Sword and go defeat Ganon."

"I never heard of prophecies before I came here."

"They are... Stories about things that haven't happened yet, but will. Sometimes they're fake prophecies, just stories with no power, but sometimes they can tell what the future holds. This one came true. Exactly as the prophecy read, the signs came... That the events told in old legends about what happened ten thousand years ago would repeat themselves. The prophecy said the power prepared by the ancients to oppose Ganon would be found underground. They looked and found the Guardians, ancient weapons. The prophecy said Ganon would steal a great power. He did - he took control of the Guardians, the very thing meant to oppose him. The prophecy said that the Divine Beasts would stop moving and great storms would form over the ocean and the moon would turn red like blood as he rose. Those things happened."

"At home sometimes people can tell what's going to happen but not by magic, just by knowing what's already happened."

"I am pretty sure prophecies are magic. They're revelations from Goddess Hylia. Or Naydra, spirit of wisdom. Or something."

"It's weird that magic can see the future."

"If you say so. I'm no scholar, that's the princess's kind of thing."

"I haven't studied anything related to this either, I'm just speculating. Anyway, so you're a hero - that's another thing I never heard of before coming here - and dead people are waiting in glowing buildings to test you. Do they tell you how hard they think their tests are compared to what you need to do to beat Ganon?"

"They say things like 'overcoming this trial proves you have the resolve of a true hero' and give me a spirit orb... I'm not sure what the spirit orbs are, but Goddess Hylia can take them and make me stronger. That's mostly why I want to find as many shrines as possible. The challenges are weird. Sometimes it's fighting something, but usually it's some kind of strange puzzle instead."

"Maybe they can't communicate as much as they want to so they need you to be able to figure out something important that they can't tell you?"

"Well, they don't answer questions... And they're not even making sound, it's like when Hylia answers me... I'm not sure what the puzzles mean if they mean something other than 'you're not an idiot at least, if you got this far'."

"That makes sense except for how nothing in Hyrule makes any sense."

"Your world has insanely powerful magic everywhere and hasn't exploded or anything, sounds like!"

"And it's been centuries since we sank any continents in wars!"

"Well, no matter how much sense it doesn't make, I've just gotta do the best I can with what I have and what I know. Right now, that means getting stronger and then saving the world from Ganon. And today, that means relaxing at least a little bit because burnout is definitely real."

"Yeah, meet you back here in a couple days when we're ready to get moving again?"

"Sure, I'll stop by the inn every morning and we'll decide when to go a bit later."

She waves behind her as she walks off.

He looks for chances to do more miscellaneous work for people. And maybe Sebasto will be around and free at some point.

Someone will give him lunch if he helps cook for half an hour, just carrying and cutting things. The elixir guy wanders out of his hut at some point and shouts, "If you want your last two elixirs they're ready!"

Sebasto is nowhere to be found. A whole lot of people on at least a dozen boats are all lining up on the shore together, though.