“I understand your resistance, Fuga, but you’ll have to work with them if you want to work with me.”
Zelda’s usually calm tone of voice had left for a stricter, more assertive one. Fuga, on the other hand, was almost tearing their hair out.
“But it’s the Sheikah! What if they don’t like me- what if I don’t like them! What if- what if they resent me for being a Yiga-”
“Oh please, they’re very kind people,” said Zelda, albeit a bit too dismissively. “Come on, Fuga. You came all this way to the Ancient Tech Lab and now you want to back down?”
“Yeah, actually!”
“No, you aren’t,” Zelda finished, grabbing Fuga by the arm and quasi-dragging them inside the Royal Ancient Tech Lab, just west of Hyrule Castle.
The interior of the laboratory was… eclectic, certainly. Certain items were glowing faintly of orange or blue, most often of both. Papers were strung up using ropes and paper clips, things were linked together with red string, scribbled out notes and addendums, books around the room, old texts. However, the space had been divided clearly. One side was chaotic and messy, the other neat and organised, delimited by a line of chalk on ground. Two young Sheikah scientists were focused on their respective tables, one working on notes, the other on some piece of technology, which Fuga had recognized to be Ancient Sheikah technology. A third Sheikah, sitting at a table in the middle of the room, noticed the newcomers and got up excitedly.
“Zelda! I didn’t expect you so early!”
“Really? I thought we’d be late.”
Suddenly, both scientists realised, almost in sync, that others were here, and all the attention fell on Fuga, who tried their best not to crumble under the pressure.
The first scientist, who had been working on scribbling notes, was wearing large round glasses and their white hair was dyed with a single strand of dark red, or perhaps purple. It was hard to tell with the poor lighting. Their hair fell to the sides of their head and the back was pulled up in a bun. The second scientist looked as eccentric as the first. Their hair formed a mullet, long at the back and styled to be short on the top. They were wearing glasses, but far from the regular ones their colleague was bearing. They seemed to be able to adjust to focus on smaller details when needed. It covered their eyes entirely. The third Sheikah was looking at Fuga expectedly. They had long hair tied loosely and a large hat casted a shadow on their face.
“So you’re the Yiga,” said the scientist with the dyed hair.
“Please, don’t antagonise them-” the non-scientist Sheikah said, rolling their eyes.
“No, no, I’m just curious, y’know, I just want to know if it’s true what they say about you, the Yiga.”
“Wh-what do they say?” Fuga barely managed to answer.
“Aw, yikes, sorry!” The scientist suddenly apologised, genuinely. “I forgot the Yiga think we’re scary.”
“Purah, you seem to forget it’s mutual, as well.”
“Maybe to you, it’s mutual,” the first scientist, Purah, answered. “But to me, I see nothin’ more than a scared kid. Nothin’ scary about that. Sorry! Introductions first. Impa?”
The one who had been addressed as Impa spoke up, the non-scientist Sheikah.
“Right. My name is Impa, of the Sheikah. And this is Purah and Robbie, head researchers at the Sheikah Ancient Tech Lab. You must be Fuga, of the Yiga, correct?”
Fuga, unsure of the correct words to say now, simply nodded, far too intimidated to do anything else. Purah was correct in her assessment that Fuga was scared.
“Is it true that the Yiga don’t have access to ancient Sheikah technology?” Robbie asked, a bit unaware of the predicament Fuga was in.
“Uh– Yes. W-well, no, we do have access to it, we just don’t– don’t particularly need it, um…”
“Do you guys still have red eyes like us?” It was Purah’s turn to ask a question.
“Yes?”
“Can we see?” Continued Purah.
“N-no, I wear a… a mask for a reason.”
“What is that reason?” Continued Robbie.
“We, the Yiga believe that– that we have an exterior face and a true face, and we… we only show our true face to our loved ones– um… yeah.”
“So the mask is meant to represent the exterior face?”
“Guys, guys! Leave them some space,” said Zelda. “I know you’re… excited about meeting a Yiga, but you’re coming on a bit strong for a first meeting. Remember Fuga hasn’t seen a Sheikah in their life too, okay?”
“Wait, really?” Said Purah. “Oh, I really am sorry, Fuga!”
After a moment of silence, Fuga spoke up again.
“So you’re… not mad at me?”
“Why would we be mad?” Answered Robbie.
“I dunno, I just thought that… the Sheikah were mad at the Yiga for turning away from the kingdom, being… y’know.”
“Shucks, that’s water under the bridge to me!” said Purah. “Sure, there are Sheikah who would be, but I’m really excited to be working with you!”
“Exactly,” added Robbie. “Y’know, having researched ancient texts, there’s a lot of good reasoning behind what you did. Not all Sheikah would agree, but we’re keeping an open mind here.”
“And even so,” finally added Impa with a smile. “Princess Zelda trusts you, which means there is no reason to distrust you in any way.”