"Did it or did it not get me in the door very efficiently?" she says, breaking out into a wide smile. "Oh, Impa, it's so good to see you again."

"You worried me so much, silly girl, when you hared off to face Ganon, without even a word of notice! I had to learn from Doren, of all people."

"I'm sorry," she says, her smile dimming a little. "It was, well. A difficult time."

The smile widens again, though, when she adds, "But I'm glad to see you're in good health! You must be, to be capable of supporting such an enormous hat. The hat to Impa ratio here is really approaching the absurd."

She chortles. "Well, you see, when I took over from Old Lady Kotomi, I thought to myself, I need a bigger hat than that, to assert dominance for my reign of terror! But then old age caught up to me, and I got smaller, but the hat stayed the same, and at this point, I can hardly make my hat smaller, can I? What an embarrassment! I would be deposed in an instant."

(The shy woman sweeping in the corner pretending not to eavesdrop squeaks quietly.)

"Perfectly understandable," Zelda assures her, trying not to giggle. "Your logic is flawless, as befitting the Princess's favourite advisor."

Impa slaps her hip, laughing.

"Ah, I had such a speech prepared for Link here. But this is better. You've caught him up, I suppose? I am sorry, I'm ignoring you." She turns to Link. "Anything an old woman can clear up for you?"

"...Who are you?"

Impa snorts.

"The same as ever. Today, I am the chief of Kakariko Village, High Lady of the Sheikah. One hundred years ago..."

Her eyes turn to Zelda.

"Perhaps the princess can give a more accurate accounting."

"Impa was my aide, advisor, and very good friend. I entrusted her with the task of taking you to the Shrine of Resurrection when you fell outside Fort Hateno."

Oh. He nods.

"Thank you."

Did he know her, personally? There's not a face he can remember her by, not like with Zelda. He doesn't say anything. If he did and they want him to know, they would say so.

"I do have to ask, Princess... how is it that you are here, and yet Calamity Ganon is still contained in the castle?"

"That is a bizarre and fairly unbelievable story. The simple version, which you should perhaps resort to if anyone figures out enough to ask the question, is that my sealing power still shields the castle and keeps the Calamity contained there while I travel, and never you mind how that works, it's not like anyone ever understood my power to begin with. The complicated version... well. I'll tell you if you like, but I promise you it's even more bizarre and unbelievable than you think."

"If I were afraid of bizarre and unbelievable, I would not have asked to be assigned to your service so many years ago."

"Right then."

...she does glance at the eavesdropper, before she says anything, but then figures that if Impa hadn't wanted her overhearing potentially sensitive things, Impa would've kicked her out before Zelda entered the room.

"When I reached out to Link from the castle as he was waking, I remembered another life, one that I lived before this one. I—wasn't a princess. Wasn't in Hyrule. Wasn't anywhere in this world at all. I was a total stranger, but... a stranger who was just like me, except... her family was different, and that changed some things. And then... when she died, at the same age I was when the Calamity attacked, she... met something I can only call a goddess, in the space between lives and between worlds. Not our goddess. A different goddess. And... I think it would be safe to say they made friends. And then the goddess between the worlds sent her here, to become me, and I was born and grew up without any idea that any of this had happened, until that moment when I touched Link's waking spirit and suddenly I remembered being two people with two lives who were both me. It was... confusing and alarming. But even though it knocked me for a loop, I didn't lose hold of Ganon, because the goddess between the worlds granted me a lot of strange powers and one of them was the ability to... come apart from myself, like a forking river, into two people who are both me. So I'm here, adventuring with Link, and I'm also at the castle, holding on to Ganon long enough for us to recover Link's strength."

Impa widens her eyes as she takes in the story.

"Another life... another goddess. What a curious tale. Does this goddess have a name?"

"Not that I ever heard. My memories of meeting her are a little blurry, possibly because I was dead at the time."

"Well. Another deity on our side is a good thing, anyhow. Sometimes I've wondered if Hylia..." she trails off and shakes her head. "Forget this old woman's ramblings. What are your next steps now? Are your Sheikah Slates in fully functional state? I recall that you mentioned something if that."

She shakes her head. "Still missing functionality. We'll need to get them fixed up. I heard a rumour Purah's still around; we should ask her about that. Besides that, we're also in search of... a house... to sleep in... because we don't have one of those... and I've also been thinking of learning to fight."

"Purah has established her laboratory near the ancient furnace in Hateno Village. She has made significant progress in understanding ancient technology—even restored a Slate of her own from parts of the other damaged ones we discovered.

"For housing, we unfortunately do not have the capacity to accommodate another household, but the inn will be open to you for rest. Let Mori know about expenses; I'll let her know to offer a living stipend within reasonable bounds. The harvests have not gone well since the Great Calamity, however, and I regret that I cannot offer you more material support..."

She sighs.

"Perhaps we can repay you in knowledge. If you wish to learn to fight, I am sure I can find one of our blademasters who would be delighted to teach the last of the line of Rauru."

"I would appreciate all that very much. As for material support, we're well supplied thanks to one of my strange powers, and in fact if you needed aid, I could happily sit somewhere and pull unending vegetables out of my pocket—I can reach into my pocket and pull out anything I've held since leaving Hyrule Castle, which is where I got the second Sheikah Slate. It's a little silly but undeniably useful."

"You can duplicate anything you've held?" Impa sounds a little baffled. "That's... interesting. I'm sure we can think of something less tedious and more productive than vegetables, my. We export most of those anyway. Pure steel, good paper and ink, now... or you could copy the swords and seals directly, could you? It may offend some of our clanspeople, hah! Mercury-cloth and moonsilk. Elixirs!"

"Anything and everything. Though I wouldn't dream of offending the clanspeople unless you tell me to."

"It is always better to rely things made with our own hands, lest the knowledge be lost and we be found one day destitute. And there is a certain sentimentality in wielding an instrument imbued with a craftsman's soul. Paya can introduce you to the smithy, perhaps, and the clothiers, and they can supply you as you return the favor? I have heard the story of poor Link's sword already!" She laughs. "Good equipment is hard to come by in this age."

She nods firmly at that first sentence. "I would be delighted to duplicate materials for the smithy and the clothiers." She smiles. "And, yes, a replacement sword would be much appreciated."