Chapter six

[3rd person POV]

Terrance followed the Sheikah lady as she walked towards a small house built on a slightly elevated slope with a small pond dug around it.

Two Sheikah warriors stood guard at the entrance of the stairs and they nodded to the lady as she walked past them.

"Good afternoon Young Miss." They said as she passed them.

"Afternoon Mamoru, Jiro, I am escorting this way word adventurer to meet with the village chief, please be at ease." Said the young lady.

The guards nodded to her, and looked at the adventurer that she was bringing to talk with their village chief. They did a double take as a certain feature stuck out to them like a sore thumb, while this man looked like your average middle-aged hylian, instead of having pointed ears, the man had rounded ones.

Various superstitions came to their minds, about stories their parents had talked them about demons with round ears. Had he not been being escorted by someone whose judgement they trusted, they would have barred him entry.

Terrance noticed their guarded looks towards him, but want sure what has made them feel so defensive towards him. They had just glanced at him after talking to the lady in front of him, who seemed to have some status in the village from how they welcomed her. And after that brief glance he could sense their heart rates increase and their eyes narrow slightly. Did they think he was a Yiga clan member or something?

Putting their reactions to the back of his mind for now, Terrance followed his guide up the many wooden steps up to Impa's house.

As he and the Sheikah lady opened the doors, showing one large room in the inside, there were shelves with various items lining the walls and many cushioned rugs aligned as though they were for an audience to sit on while facing the elevated platform at the opposite end of the door. In the middle of the elevated platform, a middle aged woman sat on a red cushion cross legged, she was wearing a white kimono like the rest of the villagers but had a wide brimmed straw hat with five metal eye decorations attached to small metal chains fixed to the edge of it. The brim of the hat was slanted in a way that obscured the woman's face.

As the two stepped into the room, the lady sitting at the other end of the room spoke, "Welcome young adventurer, please come closer, my hearing isn't what it used to be, thank you for guiding him here daughter, please return to your duties. There is much for the two of us to discuss and Id rather not hold you up."

"Yes Village Chief." Said the lady as she inclined her head in a brief bow and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Now then sir, my name is Impa of the Sheikah, is there a way you would prefer to be addressed? I'd rather not have to refer to you as "Mr. Adventurer" every time I speak of or to you." Asked Impa, as she raised the brim of her hair revealing her face.

Meeting her brown eyes, Terrance replied, "My name is Terrance Grayson, Lady Impa."

She nodded her head, "Intriguing, I have never heard of the last name Grayson before. It doesn't match any of the noble families that served the Hyrulian royalty before the calamity, if I may, where do you hail from Mr. Grayson?"

'crap thats right, Hyrule was based on medieval times when most people didn't have last names' thought Terrance. Putting a story together in his mind Terrance said, "I am flattered that you would think that I am of noble upbringing, however Grayson is in homage to my late father, I took his name after he passed to monsters in the forest."

"I see, my apologies for bringing up the death of a relative. However you have yet to mention where you are from." Said Impa.

"Ah, well I am not too sure. My Father raised me in one of the forests between the fields of central Hyrule and Death Mountain." Replied Terrance.

"And your mother, if I may ask?" Said Impa.

"Unfortunately I never met my mother, she passed on while giving birth to me." Said Terrance.

"I see, you seem to have taken the passing of your parents quite well, I know many who were or would likely be much more bitter about the passing of their parents than you show yourself to be." Said Impa.

"I learned from an early age that lementing what you had no control over, and getting saddened by what ifs only leads to darkness. I am sure both of them would want me to live a life full of happiness instead of always feeling sad about their passing. I also believe that Goddess Hylia, in her infinite kindness helps convey my messages to them through my prayers." Said Terrance.

"I understand, Mr. Grayson, how many Hylians have you interacted with before arriving here?" Asked Impa, while she knew that he was not telling the whole truth, she did not see any malicious intent in his eyes or mannerisms.

The fact that he was bad at lying ruled out her suspicions that he was a member of the Yiga Clan. While the Yiga were too cunning and good at acting for their own good, however a carful observer would always notice that their eyes lacked the light that other people's eyes had. This young man still had that light.

"None, apart from the Caravan, you and your daughter are the first people that I have interacted with after leaning the woods." Said Terrance, and while he was lying once again reguarding the Caravan, as no such caravan had existed, it was true that Impa and her Daughter had been the first folks he had interacted with since coming to Hyrule.

"I see, that at least explains your outgoing personality. If you had run I to more larger groups you clearly would have been less inclined to interact with others, at least without having your head covered." Said Impa.

"Why? What's wrong with my head?" Said Terrance confused once more.

Impa sighed. "Did your father never tell you stories about the round eared ones?"

"The round eared ones??" Asked Terrance.

"It is a cautionary tale often told to children, the rounded ear ones, also known as demons, are a species of beings almost indistinguishable from Hylians, Sheikah, and Garudo, if not for their defining physical trait, rounded ears. These beings are said to bring disaster wherever they go, heralding a great upheaval. While it is suspected to be mere superstition that these individuals with rounded ears are the causes of disaster, there were many historical accounts recovered from a time of over ten thousand years ago from our ancestors of rounded eared ones being born to the Garudo Tribes and amassing armies to cause conflict with the other factions of Hyrule, bringing death and destruction to all peoples before being slain." Said Impa

Touching his ears, Terrance suddenly understood, in his previous world there had been stories about changelings that took the places of human children and brought disaster. Often linked to various physical traits, like heterochromia, birthmarks,and yes even differently shaped ears. Apparently Hyrulians also had these superstitions. Then again who could blame them, when he thought about it the only characters Terrance could remember ever having rounded ears were Ganondorf and Demise. In a land where the humanoid peoples predominantly had pointed ears, round ears would naturally be the ones that stuck out.

"It seems that your were told about this at some point but forgot about it due to it not being relevant to your immediate survival. Is that correct?" Ask Impa as she watched Terrance's face jump from surprise to confusion to acceptance.

Terrance nodded his head.

"Unfortunately due to this superstition I do not think many of the surviving villages will be willing to shelter you. After times of tragedy, people tend to lean into superstitions, do anything in the hopes that they will survive just a little bit longer." Said Impa.

Terrance looked downcast, if only he had been sent to a different time period. Maybe he would have been able to go around without prejudice.

"Knowing what I do about my ancestors, the discrimination that lead to the creation of our clan, I would be willing to offer you shelter here. I will speak to the villagers on your behalf." Said Impa.

"Why?" Asked Terrance confused by Impa's offer.

"Because we Sheikah know what it is like to be discriminated against due to factors we have no control over. And I you were some kind of demon in Hylians skin, forcing you out of the village would only anger you and paint a target on our backs. Offering you shelter, while it has its risks, would put you in our debt. Furthermore, even though we only met a few minutes ago, you seem like the kind of person I want on my side." Answered Impa.

'Logically I can't fault her reasoning, except for the part about demons respecting favors, are they mixing them up with the Fae? I wonder what made her know I was a better ally rather than opponent.' thought Terrance'l before he replied, "Thank you Lady Impa, I will have to take you up on your offer seeing as my condition will likely cause me to be turned away by other groups."

After a bit more discussion, Impa sent Terrance on down to the Inn in the village with a note saying he was to be given a room there until the village could construct a house for him to stay in.

Laying down on the bed, Terrance thought about what he had learned and experienced today. He had finally made it to Kakariko Village, but now he knew that his ears would turn people against him due to superstitions. Thankfully he had gone to Kakariko first as it was home to the Sheikah, a people who knew what it was like to be shunned by the rest of Hylian society.

Telling Great Sage to monitor his surroundings with Magic Sense, Terrence went to sleep.

-To be continued