Summary: North Hyrule's discovery helps reveal the enemy, but their leader makes a drastic decision with tragic consequences.

It was a typical morning in Zora's Domain, and someone just had a rude awakening.

"Wake up, Daddy!" shouted Tara.

"You just love to splash me, don't you, you little cutie?" said Link as he first wiped the water off his face, then tickled Tara after her slumber pool splash in his face.

Tara giggled, then reached out, and Link pulled her close and hugged her.

"You're speaking so much better, Tara!" said Tila.

Suddenly Tila's Tab buzzed and flashed red.

"Please watch her, sweetheart, I have to answer this," said Tila.

She jumped out of their slumber pool and examined her Tab. The Divine Beast rune was flashing red, and pressing it put her in contact with her sister, Queen Faray.

"I assume you're the one accessing Vah Kachta?"

"Yes," said Faray. "I'm here with Sheikah Chief Saldon and his apprentice, Aldora. We need to test if Tesimals can render the invisible cloth visible. We're not moving Kachta, just entering it. Saldon and I wish to unlock the entrance."

"Transmit your code then, Fa," said Tila.

Faray touched the rune on her Tab and thought of the code sentence. Tila's Tab showed the code was correct.

"You're good, Sister, and I'll approve your access," said Tila as she pressed the rune on her Tab. "Good luck! And can you please fill me in when you're finished?"

"Thanks and I will, Ti," said Faray.

They ended the call.

Faray then held her Tab against the door mechanism, and then Saldon held his Tab there too. A few seconds later, the lock activated, and the door to the Divine Beast swung open.

"We're in," said Faray. "Whew! The air's stale, isn't it?"

Back in Zora's Domain, Tila put away her Tab and turned back to their slumber pool.

"Everything okay?" asked Link as he played with Tara.

"Yes, fine," said Tila. "It's just not every day one of us accesses a Divine Beast. We put in an additional safeguard after our sister Sopha... well, you know. Come on! Let's go get breakfast!"

"Fish!" said Tara, then she turned to her Dad.

"Don't you dare, you little tease, don't say it three times," laughed Link, reaching out and tickling her again.

Tara just giggled.

"She must think you've learned by now," laughed Tila. "Or she's given up on you."

Tila took Tara's hand, and they prepared to go to the Lake to catch fish.

"Let's see if Daddy can swim any faster today, okay, Tara?" said Tila.

Meanwhile, in North Hyrule, Faray led them through the inside of the giant structure.

"It looks like a whale or leviathan," said Aldora as she gazed around. "Is that the design?"

"Yes, this one was built for water, though it can also travel slowly on land," said Faray. "It's named after a famous Sheikah monk. The main control unit is over this way. I haven't been inside here since my training sessions with the former Sheikah Chief, oh, about twelve years ago now."

They made their way to the main control unit, and Faray placed her Tab against it, activating it.

"I brought a container to hold a sample of the Tesimals for our experiment," said Saldon.

"How much do you need, Master Saldon, and how long should I set their active duration for?" said Faray.

"In theory, I only need one since they reproduce, but to save time, let me have a milligram's worth. And you can set a limit of an hour for the experiment, but I expect it will take much less than that if it succeeds."

Faray adjusted the mechanism and dispensed the amount into the container.

"Now, please let's have one of the small cloth samples we brought, Aldora," said Saldon. "Just place it in the container with the Tesimals, and they will train off of it."

Aldora pulled the fabric by feel from the pouch she had put it in and placed it in the container.

"Now we wait and watch," said Saldon.

At first, nothing was visible as the cloth was invisible and the Tesimals microscopic. But after several minutes, minuscule dots appeared as if hanging in midair as the Tesimals disabled the cloth receptors. Then larger individual sections of cloth became visible as the process speeded up. Finally, the entire piece of fabric was visible.

"Success!" Saldon exclaimed. "As I expected, the Tesimals can disrupt the receptors. Now we need to disperse Tesimals wherever we suspect enemies may be hiding. They will continue to spread throughout Hyrule as long as they're active."

"You said on the way here that you were thinking of five separate locations, each major Hyrule City plus Hyrule Castle?" said Faray. "How much do you want for each location, and for how long?"

"Given that time is of the essence, I would say a kilogram for each location," said Saldon. "Their reproduction is exponential so that they will saturate the location fairly quickly, but the bigger the initial seed, the better. I had hoped this experiment would be successful, so Aldora and I came prepared with five containers. To be safe, we should also dispense a kilogram of them here in North Hyrule. As for the duration, I would say a week to be safe."

"Very well," said Faray. "Let me have a sample of the target material, and I'll insert it in the control unit to train the Tesimals."

Aldora carefully handed Faray another piece of invisible cloth, and she inserted it into the control unit. After a moment, Saldon gave Faray the five containers one by one, and she filled each of them with a kilogram of Tesimals.

"I can contact Queen Zelda to get these where they're needed," said Faray. "Are you ready for me to disperse the Tesimals here?"

"Yes, whenever you are, Queen Faray," said Saldon.

"Then I suggest you both cover your ears," laughed Faray.

She activated the terminal once more, and there was a loud swishing sound along with a loud whistle as the whale-shaped mechanism mixed air and water and then blew mist containing Tesimals out of what would be the blowhole in a living whale. After a few moments, the noise stopped.

"Well, that's that," said Faray. "I'll let the guards know about it. If I understand it, our enemies are renegade Sheikah so would stand out once they're visible."

"Yes, though I honestly don't expect to find any here," said Saldon. "But it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Shall we go, then?" said Faray. "I'd love to pilot Kachta underwater again someday. That training session was the most enjoyable for me, and it swims fast for its size."

Faray used her Tab to shut off the control unit, then they made their way to the entrance, and she used her Tab to shut the doorway and engage the lock. Back in Zora's Domain, Tila's Tab buzzed once again, and the rune glowed green for a few moments, then stopped glowing.

"Let's let Zelda know while we head back home," said Faray as they boarded the vehicle parked at the end of the pier.

Once they were all inside, the driverless car took off back to their domain.

Faray placed the call to Zelda. After brief greetings, Faray came to the point.

"I'll let Chief Saldon answer any technical questions, but the essence is we need to disperse these miniature robotic particles wherever we think we might find the enemy," said Faray. "That will render them visible."

"That is wonderful news! How do you advise we do that?" asked Zelda.

"We think the Divine Beasts can facilitate that process, Your Majesty," said Saldon. "They can mix them with water, sand, snow, or volcanic ash. I'm not sure what would work best for the Hyrule Castle location. But we need to get these containers to those places as quickly as possible."

"I'll ask the Rito to pick them up at once," said Zelda. "I'll see if Dr. Purah can come up with something for my location. And thank you, this is truly a ray of hope!"

Zelda ended the call with Faray, and then placed a call to the Rito Elder.

"Ah, Your Majesty, how can I be of service?" said the Elder.

"We need your help," said Zelda.

"Is this a combat-related matter, Your Majesty?" asked the Elder. "Because Master Revali is right here with me. Perhaps it would be better if you spoke with him?"

"Yes, that would be fine," said Zelda.

The Elder handed his Tab to Revali, and Revali listened as Zelda explained the situation.

"I see," said Revali. "All right, we can send five Rito to North Hyrule to pick up the containers. And you want one container each delivered to Purah at Hyrule Castle, Gerudo Town, Goron City, Zora's Domain, and my village. Will you send instructions to each of the Divine Beast pilots? Well, I honestly think Medoh could handle the entire mission, but you say time is of the essence, so I understand. I'll see to that part personally. I can still pilot Medoh, and this is fairly simple. Yes, it is a little like old times. I'll alert our guards, and our archers can look from above for anyone who becomes visible. You are very welcome, Your Majesty. I'm happy to help."

Zelda ended the call. She thought she would call the Gorons next. After speaking briefly to their leader, she felt she should alert Daruk too.

"You already spoke to our leader, Zelda?" said Daruk.

"Yes, just now, and I updated him on what's happening. But I wanted to speak to you too," said Zelda. "By the way, how are you, Daruk?"

"Me? I'm the same old, same old, Zelda," laughed Daruk. "Just rolling slower these days, and I don't do as much traveling. But I'm good. And I miss you and the rest of the gang. If we ever finish that public transport project, maybe I can visit. How are you, though? You sound good!"

"I'm keeping busy," said Zelda. "I think staying active helps. How is your son, Darno?"

"He's great!" said Daruk. "I couldn't be prouder of him!"

"He has no problem piloting Rudania?" asked Zelda.

"No, not at all," said Daruk. "He learned it faster than I did. Though I remember you always used to tease me about that, that I wasn't exactly the quickest study for learning Rudania."

Zelda laughed.

"You got there eventually," said Zelda.

"Yeah," said Daruk. "And your family is well? Congratulations on your lovely daughter's wedding. I saw some pictures, and she looked beautiful. They're a great-looking couple!"

"Thank you. She's happy, and my little one is getting big," said Zelda. "Well, I wanted to see how you were Daruk. But my chief reason for calling was to let you know that Link and Mipha located the enemy hideout, and it's under a lava pool at the foot of Gortram Cliff."

"Well, what do you know?" exclaimed Daruk. "My little brother came through again? And Mipha too? Good for them both! But I'm burned the enemy chose my land to hide! Why don't we just flood the entire place with lava and seal them in?"

"I'd like to do that," said Zelda. "But at this point, we are still keeping our knowledge of their hideout a secret to avoid triggering an attack before we're ready. With any luck, we should be ready soon."

"Yeah, all right, I can understand that," said Daruk, scratching his chin. "But when you're ready to do some damage, let me know. I'd like to get a piece of that action."

"Thank you, Daruk," said Zelda. "Stay well."

Zelda ended the call. Her next call was to Gerudo Town, and she kept it short. She didn't know the new Gerudo Chief very well, and speaking to her reminded Zelda of how much she missed Urbosa.

Before contacting Purah, she placed a call to King Dorephan. After explaining things, she said she would also call Link and Mipha.

She called Link's Tab, and he answered at once.

"Zelda? Hi, and I remembered to call you by name," said Link.

"That's a first," laughed Zelda. "Is Mipha there with you? You both need to know this."

"Yes, we're both at home, and she's right here," said Link. "I'll put the call on speaker."

After exchanging greetings, Zelda explained matters, and that she had already spoken with King Dorephan.

"So, once the Rito delivers the container, we need Ruta to disperse its contents in raindrops?" said Mipha.

"Yes, exactly," said Zelda. "And I hope when this is over, we can meet in person, and I can thank you once again for all you've done."

"We both look forward to it, Zelda," said Link. "Say hi to the family."

Zelda ended the call. Now she needed to speak with Purah.

"It shouldn't be a problem, Your Majesty," said Purah after Zelda explained. "We don't need a high-tech solution. We just need to generate steam upwind of the desired locations. And we can even do that from multiple locations at once. I'll get things set up before the Rito's arrival."

Zelda ended the call.

At the Royal Ancient Lab, Purah turned to Robbie and Lapha.

"The North Hyrule Sheikah beat us to it, but that's fine," said Purah. "They have access to small robotic devices that can disable the receptors in the fabric, rendering it visible. We need to disperse them in the air around the castle."

"Let me handle that," said Robbie. "You're more adept at theory than practice, anyway."

Later that day, the Rito struck first.

"Master Revali, I was told you are handling this personally?" said Maki as he delivered the container of Tesimals.

"Yes, thanks Maki," said Revali. "The rest of the guards need to stay alert. After Medoh disperses this, it may make a Sheikah spy with an explosive gradually visible. You need to deal with the spy quickly. Shoot on sight."

"Understood, Master Revali," said Maki. "I'll alert the others."

Maki left, and Revali took the container and flew up to Medoh, where it perched above Rito Village.

"Yes, it's me again," said Revali as he entered. "Did you miss me? We have to defend our village. We need you to disperse these tiny things by stirring up some snow and mixing them in, then blowing them around. And afterward, maybe we could do a little flying together for old time's sake. All ready?"

Revali adjusted Medoh and activated the propellers that provided lift and direction. They would also stir up a vast quantity of snow and spread it along with the Tesimals throughout Rito Village and the surrounding area. Once the propellers were up to speed, Medoh rose into the sky. Many Rito in the village looked up to watch it.

"Let's swoop lower and kick up some snow now," said Revali as he piloted Medoh to a snowy area.

The mighty propellers created a powerful wind and blew billows of snow. Revali mixed the Tesimals with the air current as he shifted Medoh to blow the snow toward the Rito Village area.

Rito children cheered at the sudden snowfall in the village, but above the village guards were circling, intent on seeing anything unusual. But nothing appeared. Perhaps there was nothing there?

The wind and snow blew the Tesimals everywhere, and their numbers grew exponentially by reproduction.

"The village looks clear so far," said Maki. "Lakin, why don't you check out the surrounding area."

In a small enclave inside the top of a tall pillar rising from Lake Totori just west of Rito Village, a solitary Sheikah had been living secretly, awaiting instructions. Save for when he ate, he was invisible, and his location was off the beaten path. It was a comfortable location, with several Luminous Stones to light the area at night. It was a little disconcerting looking up and seeing Medoh poised above him, though at least Medoh faced away from his location. But it was an excellent vantage point from which to spy on Rito Village. He could see the entire village directly below him to the southeast and could keep track of where the leader went. And on a quiet evening, you could even make out Rito voices.

But it surprised him today when he saw Medoh suddenly activate and take flight. Usually, it just sat there like some big bird brooding over its offspring. He was not overly concerned about Medoh, as nobody could see him.

But as Medoh flew about, its air currents must have kicked up some debris as he noticed some specks of dirt had collected on his arm. He went to brush them off. Usually, this garment did an excellent job repelling snow, rain, and dirt. If it didn't, it wouldn't be of much use for keeping him invisible! So he was also surprised that he could not brush off this dirt no matter how hard he wiped.

And then he noticed that what he thought was dirt started growing, and he could begin to see his skin underneath the fabric. Something was wrong!

He pulled off his backpack, which was also becoming visible, and rummaged in it for his Tab to alert headquarters and receive instructions. He needed to turn the Tab on since it had been designed to be kept switched off to prevent signal detection. He waited patiently for the Tab to activate itself as he watched himself grow more and more visible.

One of the Rito guards flew above the column the Sheikah was hiding, then circled back and prepared to fly over it again. Were his eyes deceiving him, or was something moving down below?

The Tab finally completed turning on, and the Sheikah began entering the password. It was his last act. A well-aimed arrow from above pierced him in the head, killing him instantly, the Tab dropping from his hand. The Rito Guard flew lower, then reported.

"I found a spy," said Lakin. "He was hiding in the column west of the village. And he has a partly visible backpack."

"We'll be right there," said Maki. "Touch nothing!"

Maki and another guard flew over to investigate. When they arrived, they confirmed the kill and examined the backpack.

"This looks like the explosive they warned us about," said Maki. "I will dump it in the lake in case it might go off."

Maki took the explosive device, flew low, and dropped it into a deep portion of the Lake. Then he returned.

"I'll let Master Revali know," said Maki.

"Well, it looks like we succeeded, Medoh," said Revali. "You're as good as ever! Now, let's take one more loop around the area for old time's sake, and then you can rest again."

Medoh squawked, and Revali looked out as he flew Medoh around the Lake. He loved it here at Rito Village, always had and always would. And it felt good to be back with Medoh again, if only for a brief time. When they completed their circuit, Revali expertly landed Medoh back on its perch.

"That was fun," said Revali. "Until next time."

Medoh squawked once.

Then Revali sealed the entrance, and with a glance back at Medoh, flew back down to Rito Village.

Meanwhile, in a secluded area under the statue of Daruk that the Gorons had built to honor their grand Champion, a Sheikah kept himself from burning up by downing elixirs. He liked this spot and had made it his preferred location. He could see the village, but the place was pretty isolated. It was rare that anyone came near. And he thought it ironic that he was hiding right under Daruk's statue's face. He was hiding right under his nose!