Chapter Text

Sand swirls through the air on a high wind, over the stone walls of the Gerudo capital, simply known as The Town. There are smaller settlements scattered across the Gerudo Desert, of course-- in such a harsh, unforgiving environment, large populations are too difficult to provide for, and too difficult to defend. But the Town is where the Chief lives, the Town is the center of Gerudo trade between settlements, and the Town is where children's laughter currently fills the air in a side alley.

The girls number only three, and are fairly young. They're each about ten, it seems, and giggling behind their veils like the school children they are.

“I heard a rumor that a voe was caught trying to climb the city wall!” One of them, with skin dark and bronze, her long red hair loose around her face, and the almond-shaped blue-green eyes of the Gerudo, whispers. “I heard he was arrested!”

“Aren't they usually just tossed out?” The second girl was taller than the first, nearly six feet over her friend's five and a half. Her hair is the same color, but bouncy curls rather than straight.

“Yeah, that's why it's such a rumor!” The first explains in a tone that parents everywhere across the land would recognize as a child's 'you're being dumb’ voice.

Both girls turn to look at the third. They have to look down to do so, as she's less than four feet tall. Her skin is bronzed, but not the bronze of the Gerudo. Rather, it's the weathered bronze of pale skin under the desert sun. Her hair is blonde , long but tucked up in her turquoise veil. Large, round, crystal blue eyes peer up at them, framed by fluffy blonde bangs.

“What do you think, Link? About the voe? They're saying he's a Hylian…”

Link, for such is the name of the small, Hylian girl in Gerudo clothing, is silent for a long moment, then she shrugs.

“Yeah, I suppose we don't have much information to really have an opinion. Other than that a voe trying to sneak into the Town is a moron .”

Link snorts at that.

“Really, any Hylian in the desert right now is a moron.” The second girl stops, blinking. “Well except for you, Link. But you're not really a Hylian, are you? You're one of us.” 

Link nods, vehemently. 

“I heard another rumor, actually. Nani was talking with Sijah, see, and after they were talking about the man that got caught, they said…” The straight-haired girl pauses, and looks around furtively. She leans in, and the other two lean closer as well. “They said Link was a voe.” She whispers, looking between her friends.

“That's just silly, Nissa.” The curly-haired girl rolls her eyes. “You're making that up.”

Link, though, has frozen. It's an open secret amongst the adults of the town, but she had hoped to have a few more years before her friends began asking questions. Once her puberty hit, at least, and she would have to deal with all kinds of discomfort.

The other two have noticed her reaction, though.

“Link?” Nissa asks, looking worried. “It's not true, is it?”

Link is quiet, almost always. She spoke seldomly, and only when absolutely required. Even then, if she didn't like or trust you, you weren't likely to get a word out of her.

Her Mama called it selective mutism. 

But she knows, in this moment, that Nissa and Vana need an answer, or she could say goodbye to her friends and probably all respect from her peers.

“When I was found,” She says, slowly and carefully like she always is when speaking, “I was a voe. But I am not a voe anymore. I am a vai, and a Gerudo, and Mama says that's what's important. I don't want to be a voe.”

The other girls exchange a glance. “The adults all know, don't they?” Vana asks.

Link nods, waiting for the hammer to fall. 

“Well, I don't see a problem with it.” Nissa says, cheerily. “Link says she's a vai, she looks like a vai, she acts like a vai, and she's still the same Link the entire town adores. She's a vai, and a Gerudo, and I'm glad we have her.”

Beneath her veil, Link flushes, embarrassed. Vana gives her a noogie. “Come on, you pasty little vai, let's go get some lunch before lessons. I've got some rupees, we can go to the canteen.” 

Grinning, Link trots after her friends.

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“Mama, Mama, I'm home!” Link calls as she runs up the stairs of the palace.

The women on either side of the archway entrance chuckle as the young girl rushes past, into the throne room. 

Lady Urbosa, Chief of the Gerudo, sends the young girl a dazzling smile. “My little desert flower! How was your day?” The woman is Gerudo through and through, bronzed skin and red hair flowing down her back like the waves of desert sand. She’s wearing the headband her mother gifted her upon her rise to chief, but none of her other usual clothes. The reason why is clear-- she’s heavily pregnant, her stomach round under the sheer fabric of the maternity shirt she’s wearing to keep the sun off the baby. Her sirwal has been replaced with a skirt, airy enough to keep out the heat but providing more comfort.

“Good!” Link chirps. “No baby sister?” 

“Not today, I’m afraid, desert flower.” 

Link pouts, unseen behind her veil. “When?”

“Soon, my dear. Every day she comes closer.”

Link nods. 

“Do you have homework?”

Link shakes her head. “Birthday.”

“Oh, right!” Urbosa smirks. “I forgot your birthday was tomorrow.”

Link's big blue doe eyes fill with hurt. “Mama?”

Her mother laughs. “I'm teasing, flower. I knew. In fact, I've been preparing. You know how important tenth birthdays are.”

Link nods, excited. Traditionally, tenth birthdays were spent at home with one's mother, learning the history of the Gerudo and the secrets of the desert. It was the day a girl chose their path in life, be it research, production, or military. Their schooling would then be tailored to their choices, and later in life they would choose exactly what in that line of jobs they desired, further tailoring their education towards that. 

There was a lot that needed done in all three categories-- researchers, for example, could go into teaching or bookkeeping or chronicling or inventing or any number of other things. People in production did everything from sew to build to sell, and a lot of other minutiae that helped keep the settlements alive. 

And then, there was military. Guards, medical, soldiers, and all the like came from this branch of schooling, and it is there Link wants to go. She wants to protect her home and prove she's just as capable a vai as all the other Gerudo girls her age.

“Tomorrow,” Her mother says gently, upon seeing the determined glint in her eyes. “Tomorrow I will tell you the story of the Gerudo. And we will discuss where you will take your life.” 

After a long moment, Link nods. She knows her mother does not want her to go into military, just as she knows her mother will not stop her if that is what she chooses. 

Link is her own vai, and her mother respects that. But she and Mama will probably have a long talk tomorrow, so she knows exactly what she's in for. Military is the hardest of the paths to take.

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One. Two. One. Two.

Every second step causes agony. She limps across the uneven, rocky ground, her leg screaming out in pain. The arrow protruding from the back of it is moving slightly with every step, only increasing her pain, but she knows better than to take it out.

One. Two. One. Two. 

She's using a tree branch as a crutch, desperately hobbling through the rocky terrain. She knows the soldiers are chasing her. They have dogs, the open wound in her leg will draw them like a magnet. She's covered in dirt. There are monsters in this part of the wastelands.

One. Two. One. Two.

The bundle strapped to her back squirms, but stays quiet. She hums quietly to it before singing softly. “ Ooh, love. No one's ever gonna hurt you, love. I'm gonna give you all of my love. Nobody matters like you. Your life ain't gonna be nothing like my life.” She huffs as she hefts herself up a large boulder. “You're gonna grow and have a good life .” She can hear the baying of hounds in the distance . “I’m gonna do what I've got to do.” 

She can see, from this vantage point, the long trek she has ahead, and it’s mostly uphill. The desert may not seem like a safe place, especially for a Hylian like her, but she's heard the legends of the Gerudo. They don't hurt women. Not unless they're defending themselves.

She has no intention of fighting them, only asking, no begging, for asylum.

But there’s a long way to go before she can get to the desert. And it’s mostly uphill.

There is a long way to get up th-- She’s thinking in circles. The blood loss must be getting to her.

She grits her teeth and leans on her branch. The trek is rocky and hilly, and she has to climb at points. There are members of the royal army chasing her. She has an arrow stuck in her calf, slowly leaking blood.

She could do this. She had to do this.

One. Two. One. Two.

Every second step causes agony.

Chapter Text

Link stands in her room, staring into the mirror her mother’s mother’s mother had traded and bartered for from the Rito-- traditionally the only people who willingly traded with the ‘savage’ Gerudo women. It was Zora-crafted, an enormous, beautiful shell in blues and greens, with polished glass in a fan shape in the center. It's taller than she is, taller than Mama is. And Mama is so big . Link is always amazed at how small she looks in this mirror. Small, pale-skinned, and voeish. She doesn’t like it . Bad enough she sticks out so badly around other Gerudo, but she knows , knows she shouldn’t be here. She doesn’t want to take off her veil, her top, her sirwal. She doesn’t wanna look at herself and see what’s wrong. 

But after lessons, she had gone sand seal surfing with Nissa and Vana, and she was all dirty. Mama told her to change before dinner.

She sucks in a breath and takes off her veil. Her face isn’t so bad, still rounded with baby fat and kind of feminine. Her top comes next. That also isn’t much of an issue-- at least not yet. Once puberty hits for all the Gerudo around her, she'll be cursing her chest and voe in general.

She turns away from the mirror to take off her sirwal. She's become an expert at changing without looking down, without seeing even more proof that she doesn't belong. She knows what makes her a voe-- the amount of diapers she changed when Captain Pearla asked her to babysit her baby so she could go straight back to work made it clear, especially after she asked her Mama about the differences she'd seen.

She is a vai, but she was a voe.

She tosses her favorite outfit in the bin. She likes the turquoise-- Mama says it brings out her eyes. She has a large selection of colors, though-- she spent a lot of time doing odd jobs in all the settlements, helping other Gerudo with chores and being rewarded with rupees to spend in the markets. She's even got a couple of dresses, real ones, built for Hylians. They're too hot for during the day, but they're actually better to wear at night than her normal clothes.

She picks out her new outfit in pink and puts it on, sirwal first so she can cover herself as quickly as possible, then top. She puts the veil on, too, even though Mama will ask her to take it off to eat. She always does.

Link skips from her room, sliding down a banister for one of the aqueducts, giggling the whole way. She jumps off at the last minute and lands on the stairs, rushing down to see her mother.

There is a Rito woman at dinner. She and Mama talk about politics, about the state of the land and the rising tensions with Hylia. They speak of war like it's imminent, like it's just a matter of time.

There are already attacks, Mama says, minor skirmishes on the border of the desert, spies trying to sneak into settlements. Like the voe that was caught this morning, the one Link discussed with their friends.

He was arrested because he was a spy for Hylia.

Any Hylian in the desert is now considered a danger. Capture first, ask questions later. Mama comments that she's glad that Link spends so much time in the other settlements, and glad she had the foresight to ensure every soldier has met her daughter personally. She'll be recognized on sight by most everyone.

Link is safe here in the desert. It's her home. And she doesn't like that the Hylians are trying to pick a fight with her people.

The Rito woman is the Rito ambassador for the Gerudo settlements, since men are not allowed in any of them. The usual ambassador is her husband, but Revali can't enter the city, so Tya comes in his stead. She's always been polite to Link. Her feathers are red, and pink, and she wears nothing but a nightshade blue slip and a lovely scarf in all colors of the sky. 

Link thinks she's beautiful and exotic. 

"And of course I brought gifts for your little ones." She shoots a beaked smile Link's way and looks pointedly at Mama's bulging belly. She produces a beautiful mobile made with sparkling gems-- "A real beauty from the finest craftsmen of the Gorons."-- and a gauzy, beautiful white and silver dress for Link.

She gushes over it, sparkling with sequins and different color beads. It looks almost ethereal, fragile and meshy-- and yet it's thick and padded to protect against the cold of night's chill.

Link adores it. She loves the meshy material, the shimmering sheen of the soft fabric, the sparkling shine of the sequins. She wants to wear it right now, wants to run upstairs this instant and try it on. Instead, she sends the woman a grateful smile. “ Sarqso .” She says, speaking for the first and only time that night.

The older vai simply smiles warmly, not expecting anything different.

Link is sent away from the table once she’s done, as always. She puts on her veil before she allows herself to pout. She knows the ‘Serious Talk’ will only happen when she’s gone.

That’s fine, though. She’ll just have to listen in the hard way.

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She had made it up the side of the cliff, only to find a monster base belonging to bokoblins. They were all asleep-- it was night after all-- and so she sneaks, as well as she could, hoping to pass them.

The bundle on her back begins to fuss.

She almost rolls her eyes as they all startle at once and lumber towards her. She hefts her tree branch and lunges for the nearest red monster. She keeps her weight on her good leg and smashes at the thing until her branch breaks and it keels over, dead, before dissolving. She grabs its club and takes on the other two at once, unhindered by the bundle but having to compensate for her leg.

She still easily beats them back until they, too, die.

She scoops up the horns they've left behind and snatches a cricket as it hops out of the grass, taking only a second to assure herself it's the right kind. There's a cooking pot at this particular outpost, and she needs something to keep her going. Another cricket catches her eye, and with barely any trouble, she grabs it. She tosses three horns in the pot along with the two crickets and watches it simmer for a moment. 

“Oh, my baby, I’m going to get you out of here. ” She whispers, staring into the pot for a moment. Then she turns her attention to her wound.

Gritting her teeth, she grabs the arrow. She does not try and remove it. Doing so would be utterly moronic. Instead she snaps it, as close to her leg as she can manage. Then she pulls out a roll of bandages and some vodka from her pack. She grabs a chunk of the broken tree branch and shoves it between her teeth, then begins pouring the alcohol onto her wound.

She's very glad she thought to gag herself, or her screams would be ringing through the forest and lead her pursuers directly to her. The baby whines upon hearing her muted yell. 

She winds the cloth bandages around her leg, careful not to tie it so tight it won't impede her movement, then looks around the little camp. There's a bow, and a handful of arrows, which she happily snags, and another club-- she tosses away her old one. Even a monster shield. Not high quality, but better than nothing. There are also four explosive barrels.

With her wound at least partially treated, and a bit of rest, she feels much better. Swallowing down the hot Energizing Elixir she had created clears up her remaining fatigue. She can hear the baying of the hounds at the bottom of the cliff she had scaled, though. They'll be upon her soon. 

Protocol demands they go around the cliff. They'll already be heading her way.

Her eyes flick to the pot, then the explosives.

A grin that's nothing less than feral splits her face.

Chapter Text

Link heads upstairs past Sevais, who nods at her in greeting. 

Once in her room, she climbs up onto the windowsill and through the hole hewn from the stone that allows her to see the outside world. She climbs down the side of the palace, landing feet-first in one of the aqueducts, and hops over the edge, clinging to the top of the wall with her fingertips. Then she kicks off the wall, leaping the short distance between that wall and the palace wall. Nimbly, she twists herself around just enough to snag purchase on the palace, her feet hanging over ten feet above the ground. If she falls from this distance she’ll not only definitely hurt herself, she’ll also be caught. Right now she’s mostly hidden, and high enough up that most people wouldn’t think to look. If she’s caught trying to eavesdrop, she’s going to be in a whole mess of trouble, so falling is a big no-no.

Thankfully, she’s good at this. Her small, lithe form is an advantage when climbing-- she’s lightweight but strong. It takes a few minutes and some dexterous jumps, but soon she’s above the proper window in back of the palace. There’s a little ledge carved there-- it’s purely decorative, painted a sun-bleached blue, but it’s made of the same stone as the rest of the wall, and thus easily holds her weight. She stands there, pressed against the wall, and listens.

“So it really is that bad?” Mama says.

“I didn’t want to say too much in front of Link.” Tya says. “Revali’s last visit to Hyrule Castle ended in weapons drawn. The Gorons are sticking their heads in the lava and ignoring everyone-- it really ruffled Revali’s feathers that their chief wouldn’t even speak to him. And the Zora are historically closely aligned with Hylia, but Revali reported the entire city was in high tension and arguments were breaking out in the streets. Lady Mipha was very welcoming, but her father ...” There’s silence for a moment. “I am certain that the Zora are divided in loyalties and it’s causing infighting.”

“And the Rito?” Mama asks. Link can imagine her expression, all stern and with her eyebrow cocked.

There’s a bit of disgust in Tya’s voice. “The Elder is, as always, waiting to see which way the wind blows. Revali may  have possibly pulled some tail feathers when he announced that. He called the old man a coward and told him that when Hylia comes after them, he won’t have a chance to ride the updrafts anymore. It’ll be too late.”

“So Hylia truly does intend to try and take the Hebra Mountains?”

“No.” Tya disagrees, much to Link’s surprise. “Not yet. They’d be foolish to try from the position they’re in. Too much rough, hard to defend territory. Not to mention the logistics of fighting a battle in a freezing place like Hebra without a nearby safe base against a species built for that weather…. No, Urbosa, they intend to start with here. If they take the wastelands, they take the highlands.”

Mama gasps. “And if they set up a base in the highlands, they have an excellent vantage point-- practically a straight line to Lake Totori!”

“If they manage to successfully occupy the desert, Hebra will be next. They already have Hateno and Akkala thanks to their firm, unbreakable alliance with the Sheikah. They occupy Faron and the Plateau already.”

“If they take my desert, it’s an open door to Hebra. Are the Rito prepared for an invasion?”

“Are the Gerudo?” Tya asks back a bit sullenly.

“Soldiers we can handle. We could probably muster up a good defense if they didn’t send their entire armada at them. Fighting them back? There aren’t enough of us, let alone enough warriors. And that’s before you count the Guardians. ” Mama says with distaste.

Guardians? What's a Guardian? Link frowns. The way Mama's talking about it, it sounds bad. And all this talk about the Hylians trying to take over...

Things are looking bad. Link licks her lips, staring at the desert sand beyond the Town. Things are bad, and she almost feels guilty about it. These are the people she was born from. Power-hungry and evil, all of them.

... Will she grow up to be like them?

Suddenly, Link really doesn't want to hear more.

It's considerably easier to climb back up to her window than it was to climb down. She swings into her bedroom by the decorative ledge and goes to sit on her bed.

The beautiful dress is almost taunting now, shimmering in the light of dusk. Link doesn't even hang it up. She just curls up on her bed like a sand cat and silently stares at her mirror.

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The soldiers make it up to the top of the sheer cliff with their hounds and see the remains of what the woman had left behind-- the pot stained with the green liquid she had sucked down so desperately, the empty bottle of vodka, the bloodstains, the remains of weapons and tree branches. But the woman herself is nowhere to be seen, and that's by design.

They haven't even looked in the tree. Idiots. She trained them better than that. If she weren't currently on the run from her own soldiers, she would have them running laps until their knees gave out.

They allow the hounds to investigate where she sat, clearly trying to gain a better scent.

"She can't have gone far with an injury like that. We'll catch up to her." The commander, a man she had trained since he was a mere slip of a boy, grinds out. She almost wants to scoff. He's underestimating her. She hates that, loathes it, really. She's been their captain for decades and not only did they throw that fact aside the moment the King said to jump, they also seemed to have lost all sense of respect and sense in general.

If they had common sense, they would have looked in the tree. if they had a sense of danger, they would have noticed her trap already. If they had any real knowledge of her, they would know that she'd do anything to protect her baby, and nothing, not a leg injury, not monsters, not being chased halfway across Hyrule, and not a bunch of traitorous boors she's ashamed to even know right now, will stop her.

Idiots.

She adjusts her stance in the tree ever so slightly as the dogs begin to bark, having realized their mark is right there above their heads. The commander actually has the gall to look confused. Nobody has looked up yet! A bunch of disgraces, that's what they are!

The four explosive barrels have been moved to make a square around the cooking pot. She's already lit her arrow on fire with the flames under said pot.

They're all inside the square now. She pulls back the string on the monster's bow, takes aim, and fires.

The boom is cacophonous. The baby begins to bawl. The men scream. At least one falls off the cliff. She winces at that.

"Annabelle!" The commander shouts over the roar of the flames. She blindly fires an arrow in the direction of his voice.

She then slides down the side of the tree and books it. Her leg nearly gives out from under her, and she can feel warm blood running down it, but she keeps going, running across the sheer mountainside with a second wind. Maybe they survived that. Maybe they didn't. But they're all definitely wounded after that explosion, and that might just buy her the time she needs.

Chapter Text

"Good morning, Flower!" Mama says, bustling into Link's room while she's trying to decide between tops. "I think you should wear the purple one." Mama opines, and Link hangs the green one up in her wardrobe. She picks the green sirwal, though.

"Happy birthday, Flower." Mama says, waddling over. Link thinks it's funny to watch her walk now that her belly's so big. Like watching a baby sand seal flop across the sand for the first time. She's so big.

It's not fair that Link's baby sister is taking so long. She should be here by now.

Her expression must show her displeasure, because Mama laughs and ruffles her hair. "Savannah will come when Din believes she's ready to face the world, and no sooner, my girl. Now come with me, and we'll get some breakfast before we face the day ahead."

Link pulls on her pink veil, making Mama laugh again at her mismatched outfit, before heading out of the room on Mama's heels. They go to the canteen instead of the dining room, and Link smiles and waves at all the people in the restaurant. There are many well-wishes and Link gets brought her favorite food without Mama even having to ask. It's the Shocking Surprise, a meal made with Volt Fruits and Hydromelons grilled up and mixed with some kind of sauce that makes it all melt in your mouth, and it's served over toast. It's great!

She gobbles it down, listening with one ear as always while Mama talks to the other adults, addressing some minor concerns about the latest crops and trades and a molduga sighting near the southern oasis settlement.

Moldugas are bad news. They're big, and mean, and they eat everything. They swim under the sand and can sense the slightest vibration in the ground. And when they do, they dive out of the sand and straight up into the air, throwing whatever moved as far up as thirty feet. Then while the pray is either dead or recovering from the fall, it dives back down and eats them. They're a nightmare to fight, and near settlements they're a huge danger. They destroy towns and can kill off entire populations before being brought down.

Mama promises to send a squad to take care of it, and Link finishes her breakfast quickly so they can get that taken care of quickly. She gets Mama's attention and moves her hands about, patomining going to tell the guards herself. Mama is clearly grateful for the offer.

"Meet me at the goddess statue when you're done. We have a lot to discuss and only a day with which to do it."

Link nods, hops down from her seat, and rushes out of the canteen. Through the streets and a couple houses, until she's back at the palace at the center of the market. She goes through the main hall and down another until she goes back outside in the guard barracks. Link grabs one by the sleeve and deftly ducks out of the way of the instinctively thrown spear.

"Oh. Hello, Link." Captain Pearla says casually, as though she hadn't almost impaled Link. Link snorts, then begins gesturing. A flat, horizontal hand to represent the desert, then her other hand in a scoop on top to represent the molduga as a giant lump in the sand. To be sure she gets the message across, she throws the scoop hand up in the air and then back to the 'desert'.

"A molduga?" The Captain checks. Link nods.

"Where?"

Link points down, then mimes sipping a drink.

"Southern oasis. Got it. Tell Lady Urbosa we'll take care of it."

Link smiles and nods, because she knows that if her baby sister wasn't so close to coming, Mama would go with them to hunt. Mama was like that. A warrior. A good Gerudo Chief. But Savannah is coming any day, so Mama can't go out and do warrior things.

She heads back through the streets and homes until she reaches her Mama and the goddess statue.

Mama is sitting under an awning next to the statue, and Link joins her. The sun is low in the sky, slowly climbing its way to the peak of noon. Link can see sand on the wind. She licks her lips and leans against Mama.

"The story of the Gerudo is not a pretty one." She says. "There's a reason we wait until girls are ten to tell it. By now, you should be old enough-- and mature enough-- to understand the gravity of the tale. Still, it's tradition to ask." She pauses, and looks to Link gravely. "Are you certain you're ready to hear this?"

Link nods, pulling one knee to her chest and wrapping an arm around it, then glances at the goddess statue.

It might be her imagination, but it feels like the stone eyes are watching her.

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If she had entertained the thought that traversing the woodlands and mountains with her leg injury was hard, she now knows that traversing sand is a hundred times worse. Not to mention that she's feeling lightheaded and woozy from the heat. Or perhaps it's the blood loss. Not to mention the sand. She doesn't like sand. It's rough, and coarse, and it gets everywhere.

It's slow going. The baby is crying. The sun beats down on her, and the arrowhead digs into her leg and nearly unbalances her several times as her shoes sink into the sand. She eventually unbundles the baby and gives him her breast to stem his tears, though that only leaves her hotter and thirstier. She left Castle Town completely unprepared because she was fleeing for her baby's life, so she doesn't even have a canteen on hand. She's not all that familiar with traversing the desert, either.

Still, she pushes herself onward. It doesn't matter how utterly miserable she is. It's more important that she gets where she's going, and if she stops now she won't get back up. She's pretty much running off pure willpower as it is.

The sand is scorching her feet through the soles of her shoes, and she's feeling the heat. But it doesn't matter, not really. She can see things out of the corners of her eyes. Mirages. Just keep going. Ignore the falsities in the world around her.

The Gerudo are spread out in several settlements and patrol the desert regularly. She knows this from countless briefs, from spies and foolish tourists. She just needs to find one. One woman to help her.

And she needs help so, so badly. She's dying. She thinks she's actually going to die, right here in the sand among the cacti and scorching wind.

There's a horrible screech and a camouflaged Lizalfos bursts from the sand before her. She stumbles back with a cry of shock. She doesn't have a weapon. She cannot run.

She whips the bokoblin's bow off her back and fires the two remaining arrows directly into the monster's face. This doesn't kill the monster, but it does have the effect of making it stumble in much the same way she did, away from her.

Then she lashes out and hits it over the head with the bow, snapping it. The monster, though, drops the deadly sharp tri-boomerang it was carrying and she ducks and snags it before the lizard creature has time to grab it again. She pushes herself forward using her good foot and strikes as swiftly as she can, dispatching the monster in short order and actually leaving herself with a useful weapon.

Okay, so now she's armed at least. That's good.

She swoons. Is it the heat or the blood loss? She doesn't know.

She checks the bundle on her back, making sure her precious cargo is safely out of the sun, and forces herself to trek on.

The blood left behind on the sand turns it an odd, purplish color. Her feet sink into the desert. Just keep moving. Just keep going.

It feels like days pass, though the sun only moves enough to indicate it's been a few hours. Time seems to be sludge swirling around in her brain. She feels like she's not even controlling her body anymore, it's simply moving on it's own while she watches detachedly.

The baby cries, but she can't stop it. All her energy is on moving. In the distance, she can see a structure. Is it real? She doesn't know. How far is it? Deceptively, probably. It looks close but it's so far.

She can't think straight. Her mind has one goal, and that's to keep moving. Maybe that's why she doesn't notice the rumbling beneath her feet. Maybe she's just too dizzy to see the bulge in the sand, or maybe it's just another mirage.

A mirage that bursts beneath her feet and sends her rocketing into the air. She screams, all at once feeling a surge of adrenaline and fear that washes away the dizzy detachedness for one crucial moment. And she falls.

And as she falls, the sun at her back and her mind whirling with a panicked clarity, she desperately flails until she, miracle of miracles, is falling facedown.

She cushions the baby's fall with her own body. She hits the sand with so many cracks it sounds like a thousand bomb arrows being let loose at once.

There are yells and scrapes and roars and pain, so, so much pain, but she ignores it all. She screams when she moves and her limbs try not to cooperate but after a long, heart stopping moment of helpless flailing she's able to get the bundle off her back.

The baby stares at her when she opens the cloth and gives her a gummy smile and a giggle.

By the goddesses, the baby is completely, completely unharmed. It's a miracle. She's lying here broken and bleeding but her baby, oh her baby. Big, smiling blue eyes full of curiosity and innocence stare at her and she laughs the laugh of a madwoman because her baby is alive, alive!

The creature which threw her into the air gives another, final, roar and there are loud, female shouts but she can't focus on anything other than the glorious fact that her child survived the fall. The pain from her broken bones does not register. Her entire being is focused on the tiny person before her.

A woman approaches her, tall, bronzed, with a magnificent mane of long, primary red hair done up in a circlet, and traditional Gerudo clothes.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" The woman says in a smooth, warm voice. It's not callous, or cruel, or even condescending. Despite the words, her lovely voice manages to make a sentence that would otherwise be rude into a calming reassurance. "You're a long way from home, miss."

She sucks in a breath. This is her chance, but she cannot speak. The words just get caught in her throat.

With a pained yell, she offers the bundle, desperately. Her arms shake. Surely she has broken bones.

Delicately, the giant of a woman bends down and takes her baby, realizing quickly what it is in the blanket and cradling it with utmost care. "I recognize you, now. My vai have described you many times. Annabelle, correct? The captain of Hylia's royal guard." That reassuring tone is now walking a tightrope between calming and accusatory.

"Former." Annabelle coughs. Sticky wetness dribbles down her lips.

"Oh?" The woman tilts her head as Annabelle collapses back to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. She still stares up at the woman with her baby.

The former soldier meets the Gerudo's acid green gaze with her own brown one. "He--" She coughs again, "He wanted my baby."

The Gerudo woman kneels. "Who did?"

"The-- the King." Annabelle spits. Blood spatters over the sand. "He wanted to make my baby into a weapon."

"Why would he do that?" She asks, rocking the child.

"The mark, the mark." Annabelle mumbles dizzily. The world is spinning. "On the hand, when my Link was born. The mark of Courage..."

The larger woman is silent for a long moment. "I see."

"I'm dying, I'm dying..." Annabelle whispers. "My baby, my baby... You must, I beg of you. My Link, please... I came so far, I ran and ran and I need you to help me. My baby, please..."

The bronze woman gently pushes Annabelle's hair from her eyes. "Your baby will be safe. You may rest assured of that, and go to your warrior's grave in peace, Annabelle. I promise you, your trek here will not be in vain. I will care for your child, as if Link was my own."

Annabelle lets out a breathless laugh that feels like a sob. "Thank you, thank you... My baby... Your name, miss, I must have it... I must know who has saved me..."

"I am Lady Urbosa, Chief of the Gerudo."

Annabelle lets out another wheeze, blood dripping down the corner of her lips. "And I am Annabelle, Former Captain of the Royal Guard. Thank you, thank you..." Her vision is going. First it gets hazy, and then the corners of her gaze into the sands darkens.

"You are an adorable little baby." She hears distantly and the rest of her gaze goes dark.

Chapter Text

"Many, many, many years ago, the Gerudo were not so different from the Hylians." Urbosa hums, looking down at Link with a fond smile. "We were not the same, but we were similar enough. We met voe, we spent our lives with them, we bore our children in the usual way. Voe were rarely born to our people, and they were celebrated when they were. We lived in peace. It was a time of greatness, a golden age of prosperity."

She closes her eyes and leans back. "But slowly, things began to change. We were women, the Hylians said, whispering in the streets. We were emotion-driven, lovesick fools who needed to be saved from ourselves. We were different, and we passed those differences onto our children. And we needed the firm hand of a voe to guide us through our lives, as if women were errant children. As if we were some kind of helpless breed of cattle."

She hears Link make a disgusted noise. Vai almost always do.

But this is far from the worst of the tale. Urbosa frowns. "Laws began to be passed. We fought them tooth and nail as they tried to take our freedom. They began to resent us because we would not, could not submit. We chafed at our bonds. Our people began to resent the Hylians, and the feeling was mutual. We formed our own settlements, we cared for our children and we ignored the rules the Hylians had put in place. We left in droves."

"So that's when we came to the desert?" Link asks, wide-eyed and staring up at her mother.

"No, Flower... That was when the battles started. The Hylians did not like that we chose to leave rather than conform. They tried to take us by force. They called us treasonous. We called them racists, we called them sexists."

Link frowns.

"They had an organized army. We had nothing but civilians. Still, we picked up our kitchen tools, we took up thievery to gain bows and swords and arrows, and we fought back with everything we had. They did not expect resistance. We were vai, we were not supposed to fight back."

Her daughter's hands are shaking in her lap. She looks very upset, her pupils are pinpricks and her veil's fluttering with her breath.

.... Maybe Link isn't as ready for this as she thinks she is. Still, Urbosa's gotten this far in the story. "Those of us they captured, they violated in the worst possible way and then slaughtered like animals. They raped and murdered us, and then.... Then our voe, few as they were, began aiding the other side. Not a single Gerudo voe was innocent. They were spies, they were traitors, they fought in the Hylian armies and they participated in our violation and murders. The Gerudo vai were horrified, of course, seeing their own on the front lines. But the voe who had stayed... they were the worst. After passing as much information as they could, one voe suggested we round up all those too young to fight and hide them in one place so they were easier to defend. The vai leading the makeshift troops, desperate to protect the next generation, agreed."

She glances at her daughter to find her white-faced and frightened. She may have an inkling of where this is going.

"A battalion attacked, led by our own voe. They slaughtered every guard and held our children hostage. The King of the time ordered us to leave Hyrule entirely, told us to go to the lawless, barren wastelands."

"We agreed, of course. We had no choice. They were holding our youngest. What else could we do? We took what we could, and fled." Urbosa takes a deep breath. This is by far the worst part of the story to her. "They killed them. All of them, innocent children, male or female. Once we'd done what they wanted, they killed them all rather than returning them. And they dared to call us savages!" Urbosa spits.

Link makes a displeased noise. Her mother agrees. "And then they killed the men who had turned against us. Their intentions were clear-- without a next generation, and having forced us to the harshness of the desert, they would simply... starve us out. We would all die to the elements, or of age, with no children to take our places. The Gerudo would be extinct within fifty years."

Her daughter is trembling head to toe. Still as white as a sheet.

"We knew this, but were powerless to stop it. We were a small band of survivors, all female, trapped in an unforgiving desert with soldiers waiting to kill us if we stepped foot out of the wastelands." She looks up at the awning top. "The Gerudo had always worshipped Din above the other goddesses, but when they dropped to their knees in the sand and plead to the sky, all united, they asked of them all. They begged for a way to keep their people alive, a way to heal the damage done to their psyches. And the goddesses provided. In the center of the desert, water flowed from a pillar that rose forth from the desert sands. And our people, forever scarred by the actions of voe, were given the gift of immunity from their violations."

"The teeth." Link nods sagely.

Urbosa smirks. "Yes, the teeth. The teeth, the way any man who forces himself on one of our people pay. Of course, this gift made the usual methods of conception impossible, so we were granted one last boon, one final gift. So long as we prayed to our goddesses, so long as we followed the proper paths, so long as we gave a sufficient offering to Din upon the time we were ready, we would bear children, all female, without the influence of a voe."

"So they don't make babies like Hylians do? So I'd have to.... In order to make babies..." Link shudders and says no more. Urbosa simply nods.

"Over time, we built settlements. As generations passed, our skin grew darker to protect us from the heat. We grew taller, larger, stronger to fight the monsters in the desert. We not only survived, we thrived. And we passed down this story through generations so it would never be forgotten."

Link nods, visibly distressed by the tale. Urbosa pulls her into a hug. "Link, you are not like them. You are a flower that bloomed in the desert, a kind soul that's filled with courage. And not all Hylians are horrible monsters. They're just people, good and bad and in between."

Her daughter just doesn't look reassured. Urbosa frowns.

The young vai makes a gesture, holding up three fingers then makes a path with her other are for her index and middle finger to 'walk' down.

"Ah yes, your schooling. I did not forget." She sighs. "Which path do you want to walk?" Urbosa already knows.

"Military."

She doesn't want her Flower exposed to the horrors of war, and war is certainly coming. She does reassure herself that it will be years before she was officially on the guard.

"Are you certain, Flower? It will be a long and difficult road."

Link nods firmly.

Urbosa remembers Annabelle, and thinks of herself, and realizes that of course this is the path she'll take. It's in her blood, in her very soul.

The mark of Courage... The words haunt her, speaking of a deeper destiny, though she doesn't truly know what.

Urbosa sighs again. You understand the dangers of joining the ranks of the guard?"

Link nods again, expression grave.

"I will not stop you, Flower. I will help you grow into the vai I know you can be. The flower that blooms in adversity is the most beautiful of all."

Link blushes so hot it's visible above her veil. "Thanks, Mama." She whispers.

"Of course." Urbosa looks up at the sky. "It's almost noon. What would you like to do for the rest of your birthday?"

Link screws up her face in concentration, then points in the general direction to the market.

"Shopping?"

Link nods eagerly.

Urbosa laughs. "Alright, Flower. Let's see what's in the market today."

Chapter Text

Later that night, well after Link should have been in bed asleep, a small figure in a white dress climbs down from the window of her bedroom and then behind the palace, in much the same way she did the day before. She climbs up this time, however. Up and up and up. She stops on the roof to take a rest and looks up at the large, uneven stone pillar where all the water in the city comes from. The Goddess spring. Then, she grits her teeth , hops onto the pillar, and begins climbing. Up and up, her hands finding little divots and handholds in the stone with practiced ease, and her feet kicking off those same divots. All the way up until she's sitting on top of the giant stone pillar overlooking the town.

She lays there panting for a few moments. It's always so hard to get up here. If Mama found out she had climbed all the way up here, she'd have a fit. Too high. Unsafe.

Link would admit it's hard to get up here. Very winding. But the more she climbs it, the better she gets at climbing it. And she's been climbing it fairly often.

It's calm up here. Quiet. There's a blanket of stars above her, shining on the sand below. The moon shimmers with a beautiful grace, and she can almost see a smiling face upon it. Link sits back and looks up at the sky.

The goddesses blessed the Gerudo when they begged for aid.

Aid from wounds caused by her birth race. Her fists clench. It isn't fair.

Din. Farore. Nayru.

Link has always prayed to them all. The golden goddesses that created the world. But she doesn't pray anywhere but up here. It feels safer. She feels closer to the goddesses, and to the stars, and less out of place than she does praying at the goddess statue.

Link kneels down and drops her head, staring at the back of her head and praying. Praying for the same things. That she follows the right path. That she make her mother proud. That the Gerudo have a safe year, despite the war on the horizon. Good crops.

That someday, she'll feel like a real vai, and a real Gerudo.

She feels unheard, as always.

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A Princess should always be calm, composed, and dignified.

But it's hard to do so when everything feels like a cycle of the most boring, frustrating duties and lessons and by the goddesses, she hates hearing about her Father's plans to conquer all of Hyrule in one fell swoop. Whoosh and stuff. These people have their own rulers, they don't need her Father! But he just won't listen. And she hates seeing soldiers hurting and dying and knowing that there are just as many on the other side of the battlefield who won't go home to their families.

It's sickening. It's tiring. And she can't do anything about it. She hates it. But she's just a little girl. Naive, they call her her. Just a little girl, blind to the way the world really works. No one listens to her. It's not fair, it's far from fair. They talk like she's some mindless sponge that hasn't absorbed enough life experience to know that war is good.

It's not good.

Zelda huffs, then aims the bow, pulls back the string, and fires. The arrow hits the target with a 'thunk', directly in the center.

If Mother were here, she would listen. She wouldn't call her naive or a foolish little girl. She'd agree that war and hurting people, even if they're different people, is bad.

But Mother isn't here anymore. Zelda's breath hitches, and she fires another arrow before tears can blur her vision.

She still misses.

Every time she thinks of her mother, it feels like a punch in the gut.

A Princess should always be calm, composed, and dignified.

But, as with everything she's supposed to do and be, she fails at that too.

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The baby-- Link-- is showing signs of heatstroke, but the Gerudo know well how to handle that, even in little ones. Especially in little ones.

What the doctors don't know how to handle is the simple fact that the Hylian baby is a voe.

This has not happened before. They've never had to answer the question 'is a voe allowed in a city if it's a small child?'

The Chief simply instructs that they care for the small voe while she figures out what to do. She already knows, however, and says as much when Pearla asks what she's planning.

"I promised Link's mother that I would take care of her baby."

"But no voe are allowed in the city walls." Pearla protests. "Or the walls of any settlements, for that matter."

"Link is in the city walls. Therefore, Link is not a voe." Urbosa says simply. "Until Link is old enough to understand the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in, she will be safe within our city walls and raised among her sisters and aunts. And by that point, she should be well integrated and it should be safe to allow her to change that, if she so wishes."

Pearla nods, understanding lighting her eyes. She always was a smart cookie.

Urbosa can only hope it’s the right thing to do.

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Zora's Domain is truly, deeply beautiful. It's a blessing to live here. Mipha just wishes it wasn't in such turmoil.

Fights break out in the streets. Arguments in the palace. Frustration and fear and anger.

So much anger.

Mipha sighs and seats herself primply upon her bed, absently rocking the little cradle made of shimmering green shells next to it with one foot. This is not a world she wants Sidon to grow up in. Her people in strife, her little world shattered...

She does not trust the Hylians. They have plunged her people into war time and time again, slowly wearing away at the goodwill of her father and chipping a once firm alliance to dust.

And yet still, her father wishes to aid their allies.

Mipha loves to help people. But she is not a fool. Once their enemies are subjugated, they will turn on the Zora in a heartbeat.

She has seen the same greed-filled gleam in the eyes of others, but none who wield such power as the kings of Hyrule, each learning from their father's knee and becoming further and further from the man her father once befriended.

And perhaps... Perhaps that is the folly of the Zora, to align themselves with such short-lived, temperamental peoples. Peoples with ideals that twist and warp like storms, morals that change at a moment's notice, lifespans that pass in the blink of an eye.

Her father wants her to honor the alliance. Her people are divided. But, truly... Her mind is made up by the cradle and its contents.

She will not allow her baby brother to be put into danger simply because of some old words from a man long, long dead.

Chapter Text

The day after her birthday, after lessons, Link picks up a sword and shield from the armory and wanders out into the desert, alone. She trudges through the sand for a while, mostly just... thinking. Thinking about things that are better unthought. Sometimes she has to stop to take on a monster, and she always gathers up the parts and puts them into her bag. Every little bit of every little thing counts when you live in the desert.

Link had told her mother she would be going exploring in the desert, and Mama's only command was to make sure she was safely in one of the settlements by night time. She trusted Link to be safe and smart.

It made her feel good and grown up.

Link hums to herself, stopping to take her dinner in the shade of some ruins. Who was here before her, she wonders. Why would they make their home here, in the sands?

It's so curious. She wants to know more. She wants to know everything.

As she eats, she becomes aware of footsteps in the sand and looks up, wary.

A woman is trudging past. Link stares. It's a Hylian.

She doesn't seem to have noticed Link yet.

The girl puts her hand on her sword, watching with wary eyes.

A Hylian in the desert is bad news. Especially one walking so casually. Unconcerned about the sun and the heat and the sand.

The girl stands, hiding behind a pillar and watching suspiciously. After observing for a moment her eyes widen, seeing the crescent-shaped blade concealed under the woman's backpack.

A Yiga Clan member.

Link draws her blade and grabs her shield off her back, though she attempts to stay hidden. No confrontation would be better than a confrontation where she wins.

If she can even win. She is just a girl. A tiny, pasty little vai. This woman, meanwhile, is a trained assassin.

... No confrontation would be ideal. She puts away her gear.

And not a moment too soon.

"Hello? Is someone there?" The woman calls. Link is suddenly glad she's got on her new dress rather than any Gerudo clothes. She peeks out from behind the pillar.

"H-Hello?" She calls, voice cracking a bit from forcing her throat to work.

The Yiga spy's eyes go wide. "A little girl?" She says incredulously. "How did you get out here? Are you alright? Where are your parents?"

She sounds concerned. It's probably an act.

... That gives Link an idea. It could be an act-- But Link can put on an act, too. It means she'll have to step out of her comfort zone and talk fast, though.

Don't use any Gerudo words. You're a little Hylian, talk like it. "I'm lost." She whimpers as pitifully as she can.

"Lost?"

Link thinks quickly. Camping would explain her gear, like her bag of food and canteen. "Mama and I were exploring! We were looking for a place to camp, but then..." How does one end up in the desert.... "I got lost and it was getting dark, then I tripped and fell off a cliff cause it was dark!"

The Yiga woman seems concerned. "A cliff?"

Link nods. "It hurt, but I think I'm okay. It wasn't a big cliff..."

"So how'd you get this far in the desert?"

"I went lookin' for a way back out and got lost again." Link says as sheepishly as she can muster, rubbing the back of her neck. "And there were monsters! Skeleton monsters!" Link's seen Stal monsters before. Utterly terrifying, those. The perfect excuse. "I tried to fight them, but they just kept getting back up so I ran and ran away and then I found this place and I was so, so sleepy that I just fell right asleep right here."

The woman seems to deliberate for a moment. "The desert stable is only a few hour's walk from here." She says finally. "I'll escort you. There, alright?"

... Crud. She can't leave the desert! Especially with a Yiga spy! But she can't drop the charade now. It's completely unsafe. She maybe would have been able to get a few swings in with the element of surprise but she doubts she would fare well if she tried to pull her sword now. She nods and allows the woman to take her hand, trying not to look at the sickle hidden almost too perfectly under the woman's bag.

"That's a nice sword and shield you've got there." The Yiga woman says conversationally as they walk. Link smiles tensely, hoping it looks more sweet than it feels.

Thankfully, while good quality, sword and shield are both Zora made. Her bow is Rito made, as well-- a Swallow bow, known for light weight and quick draw. Nothing obviously Gerudo. "Mama likes to trade..." Her throat is starting to hurt. She doesn't like to talk so much.

The Yiga woman nods as Link takes a drink of her water. "You're probably sore and parched, little one. Just stick with me, alright? I'll get you out of the desert. It's not safe for a little Hylian like you."

Link nods and they begin their trek. Ugh, by the time they get to the stable it'll be nearly night... She won't have time to come back and find a settlement!

... Mama is so going to kill her.

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"Thank you for coming." Mipha says softly, eyes on the large bird with indigo feathers. They're at the top of the reservoir, above the waterfall. Mipha sits with her feet in the water-- it beats at her legs as it rushes into the pool at the base. Revali is seated behind the low retaining wall, trying not to get his feathers wet.

"I have to say," The Rito says smoothly, "Your letter made my pinions twitch. The Princess of the Zora, wanting to meet with the ambassador for the Rito in complete secrecy? Why, that's enough to ruffle anyone's feathers."

"I wished to meet with you, without my father knowing... About the Hylians."

".... Ah. That." Revali's beak presses together tightly.

"Yes..." Mipha places a hand on the swaddle wrapped around her chest and neck. "I believe the Hylians mean to wage war."

"As do I." the ambassador agrees. Mipha nearly melts in relief. It's not just her. She's not overreacting.

"What will the Zora do?" The Rito looks at her, askance.

"Father will honor the alliance. The Zora will take up arms beside them." Mipha says distastefully.

"You are not pleased with this?"

"It places my people in a very hard spot."

"Last I was here, the tension was thick as cloud cover."

Mipha nods. "Plenty of my people are willing to fight alongside our longtime allies. Some are not entirely pleased with the idea of fighting someone else's war." She rocks Sidhon gently. "But I believe at least a few understand what will happen after Hylia has defeated their enemies."

"They'll look closer to home."

"We all know nobody can conquer Death Mountain-- the Gorons are the only ones who can handle those temperatures, it would be impossible to meaningfully occupy a place you need fireproof elixir or impractical stone armor to even stand upon without catching alight. If Hylia defeats the Gerudo and the Rito, the only unconqured parts of Hyrule... Will be Zora's Domain and Death Mountain." Mipha finishes her prediction with a quiet, miserable air. "I believe they may break the alliance and attack us."

Revali moves to sit beside her on the retaining wall. "Do you have any idea what to do?"

Mipha stares into the distance, rocking her baby brother. "I... Have a bit of a plan, but... I'm not sure if it will work."

"You'll never fly if you don't hop out of the nest." The Rito shrugs. "Spill."

Chapter Text

Link has never been out of the desert before, so she doesn't know what to expect. The road she's taken onto has a slight shelf separating it from the sands, and it smells odd and musky to Link's nose. It doesn't move beneath her feet like sand but it isn't hard like stone. It's more.... packed together. Sort of springy. 

The Yiga woman is still holding her hand like she's afraid Link will vanish like a toddler if she so much as loosens her grip. A fair concern, she supposes, since Link did say she got lost twice in one night.

It does mean that Link has had no chance to slip away.

The air here is different from the desert. It's... refreshing, rather than scorching hot and dry. She doesn't know what to make of it. 

The path to the stable isn't actually all that long, and the Yiga woman points it out when they draw near. It's a strange round building with a giant metal horse head atop it. There are plenty of people milling about. 

The assassin takes her right up to the person manning the counter.

"This little miss was lost in the desert. She apparently got separated from her mother and fell down a cliff into the desert."

The shop keep gasps. 

"Here's some Rupees. Can you put her up for a while and maybe send someone out to glance around for her?"

"Of course! We'll try and get the little lady home as soon as possible. Thank you."

"Be good now, little one, and don't come back to the desert. The Gerudo are nasty savages who won't hesitate to take you prisoner."

"Thank you." Link lies, the words tasting bad on her tongue. Like sand. 

With that, the assassin smiles at her, turns, and walks away.

Link sighs. 

"So what's your name, little lady?"

Link draws it out in the air with her finger. L-I-N-K. The stable man frowns. 

"I didn't catch that."

She does it more slowly. 

"Link?"

She nods. 

"Alright, Link, let's get you in a bed. We'll send a stable hand out to look for your mother at morning light, it's getting pretty late."

A mother that doesn't actually exist. Link almost feels bad for the poor stablehand that's gonna have extra work.

It's dark out now-- too late to go back through the desert to find a settlement. Nights are dangerous, filled with skeleton monsters and nefarious characters. Plus it's really cold in the desert at night.... for some reason.

She'll have to stay the night here in the graciously offered bed.

The innkeeper allows her to pick her bed and one of the guests offers one of her daughter's nightgowns. The other girl chatters happily at her while she dresses behind a screen, and Link makes noncommittal noises.

These Hylians are... nice. Surprisingly kind, and polite. Just... just people, like Mama said. Not brutal savages.

At least, not to what they think is one of their own kind. She's too wary to trust it. As soon as she can, Link will be sneaking off to the desert and running for it.

She sighs and tucks herself into bed, flopping onto the pillow. It's a nice bed, at least.

Soon, though, she's far too hot. She's used to it being cold at night, so she'd bundled up tight in the blanket only to overheat. But she feels too exposed when she takes the blanket off, so she just has to suffer through it, tossing and turning for a while in her worry and her heat.

The sun is blindingly bright. It's shining through the trees, trees like she hasn't ever seen before. The foliage is thick, and deep. The earthy smell assaults her nose like nothing else before.

There are giggles and whispers just out of sight.

She's barefoot. Leaves and twigs crunch under her feet. She's never experienced anything like it.

She's walking forward, feet touching the dirt and grass, real grass. It's almost knee high. Something's... calling to her, for lack of a better explanation. She can almost hear it, whispering on the wind. The further she goes, the more clearly it seems to call.

...om...i...e...

She can hear the giggles in the trees, but when she looks there is nobody. She keeps going, following the voice that isn't quite a voice.

...Com..fi...me...

There are torches lit every ten feet or so, and she follows them on a winding path that does not seem to be the most efficient way to get where she's going. She notices that each fire blows in the same direction despite the twisting path-- the wind is always at her back. How strange.

...Come...

There are little pink balls of light dancing in the corners of her eyes. When she looks, there's nothing there.

The trees are huge and twisting and terrifying. She can almost see faces with jagged smiles.

.... Come find me...

Eventually the fog starts clearing away. The path of torches stops, and she continues straight. The giggling and whispering of the trees grows louder, yet she still sees nobody.

Come find me...

She walks into a giant log, and around a corner.

Then she sits straight up in bed, gasping. A cold sheen of sweat covers her skin, and there are goosebumps up and down her arms. She looks around, frantically. Still at the stable…

COME FIND ME!

The shout echoes through her head, a sharp pain forming right behind her eyes, making her yelp and nearly fall out of bed.

Someone mutters a cuss word in their sleep. The innkeeper-- someone different from the person who put her to bed, looks over in concern.

The words are rattling around and around in her skull, the unknown voice begging to be found.

She climbs down from the bed and walks to the man. "I- I need a map." She says slowly. The voice seems to quiet a bit at this declaration, the pain receding ever so slightly.

Still, she can hear it. Comefindmecomefindmecomefindme ...

Her head is pounding. She takes the map from the man and looks at it. A forest. The dream with the screaming voice had been in a forest.

... there are a lot of forests on this map. She bite her lips. The closest forest is the Faron Woods, according to her map.

She shouldn't do this. Her mother will be tearing the desert apart as soon as she realizes Link is missing. She has no supplies. She's never been out of the desert and she only has one change of clothes. She should just go home and forget about the strange dream and the voice still rattling around her skull.

The pain spikes. The voice gets louder again. She clutches at her head.

"Are you alright, Miss?"

She nods, eyes watering from the pain. Like driving a sword right through her head.

She needs to go. She needs to make the voice in her head stop screaming and she needs to know who's so desperate for her to come find them. She needs to know about the strange forest with the wind always at her back and the trees whispering like gossipmongers.

She shouldn't go, but she needs to.

Okay, so she'll need supplies, first and foremost. She has 45 Rupees, some monster parts, two durians, a hydromelon, and a couple of volt fruit she'd grabbed directly off the cactus. As well as another dress, a sword, a shield, and a bow with about thirty arrows and five bomb arrows. That's not a bad survival pack, but she could possibly get more money for the monster parts if there were a merchant nearby.

She holds up a green Rupee and points to it, then mimes taking something and handing over the Rupee. The man looks at her strangely. She repeats the gesture. Then she points to her lips, and then herself in general. Tell me!

"Are you trying to tell me something, little lady?"

Link nods and makes the gesture again.

"... Why don't you just tell me?"

Getting frustrated, Link stomps her foot.

"I think she's looking for a merchant." Someone else says from his seat on his bed. She nods.

"Oh, there's one that comes by in the mornings to sell to travelers. He also buys, of course." The man says. Link nods again. Then she points at the map and offers a blue Rupee for it.

"Keep it, kiddo. They're free." She smiles at the frustrating man. "Now head back to bed, alright? We'll send someone out to look for your mother tomorrow."

Link nods, even though her mother won't be found because she's in the desert, and heads back to her bed. She'll have to slip away in the morning. Shouldn't be too hard.

Chapter Text

Early, dawn arrives far too soon for the little Gerudo girl. She still feels tired. It takes her a long moment to realize where she is. Not at home. Not in one of the settlements. Not even in the desert.

Oh she’s so going to hear it from Mama.

I am waiting for you. Come find me, find me, find me.

Right. She needs to find the thing calling to her to shut up the voice in her head. A forest, that’s where she needs to go. Okay.

First thing’s first, find a merchant. Get some supplies. Not so hard. She Climbs out of bed and walks around the stable, eyeing up things that are grabable. An axe quickly makes its way into her belongings, followed by a handful of apples. An odd three pronged fork of sort joins the axe. 

Then she sees a man with a giant backpack shaped like a beetle approaching. Large pack, possibly a merchant.

Sure enough, he introduces himself as ‘Beedle’, a traveling merchant, and happily takes her monster parts. She buys all his stock of arrows and some food, nods her thanks, and heads away. No one really notices her slip out of the stable, thankfully-- Link wouldn’t like to have to come up with an excuse for why she, the supposed helpless little girl who lost her mom, was fleeing the stable without help.

She runs down the path as fast as she can until it turns and the stable is out of sight. She stands there panting for a moment to regain her breath before grabbing the cliffside and beginning to scale it. It’s not at all like climbing the buildings at home, and yet it’s also just the same. Find those small divots and cracks and go at them as fast as she can manage.

Like climbing the palace at home, she barely manages to pull herself up onto the clifftop. She flops over and wheezes, shaking out her hands and arms. Whew. Quite a workout. But no one will expect her to be strong enough to climb up here. Which means she’s safe to start traveling… She checks her map. East. Through the Faron Grasslands and past Lake Hylia.

It’s a long way, but she can do it. She regularly treks across the desert on foot. Surely she can handle a trip like this.

I am waiting for you.

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It was a very careful balancing act, like walking upon the edge of a cliff in a lighting storm. To find those who would follow her, rather than her father, without anyone becoming suspicious of her motives. 

A fine art. Delicate. But she is a princess, and her people adore her. The whispers skip across the water like thrown stones, the people listening to the song of the sea and the rain. One who doesn’t wish for her husband to go off to war, one who doesn’t agree that the alliance with Hyrule is sound. Those who are loyal to Mipha more than her father, those who are ready for a new era of new allies.

The whispers return to Mipha slowly, passed along the wind and the water. We are here. We are waiting for you to call upon us.

Mipha sits in her bedroom, rocking Sidhon in his cradle with her foot. He makes a sweet gurgling sound.

Does Mipha dare? Her path is a dangerous one. It places herself, her people, and her father in danger. 

You’ll never fly if you don’t hop out of the nest. Revali had said, as if it were the simplest thing. 

Perhaps a more apt metaphor would be that you’ll never climb a waterfall should you never enter the water at all.

Still what she is thinking of… it is treason, by all definitions of the word. It is destabilizing the Zora, it is usurping the King, it is refusing aid and possibly even actively sabotaging allied forces.

Treason.

She looks back down at Sidhon. A prince in this world of turmoil, the shining beacon of light upon the water that she will rally herself and her people around.

It is for him that she will commit a heinous crime, and sabotage her father’s plans to work with the Hylians.

Mipha’s resolve hardens and she nods to herself. Time is short, and she still has another person to persuade into allying with her.

… though that will be… quite difficult, as she dwells in the desert, and Zora aren’t exactly… made for that terrain.

Chapter Text

Link has never navigated cliffs before. At least, not like these. She’s climbed the walls of the settlements and the crags of the ruins, but not the sheer, smooth and flat plains of a cliff like this.

The view is breathtaking, though. She can see out into the desert, a seemingly endless plain of sand. Dust hangs in the air where sandstorms roam the land. In the distance, she can see the faded outlines of settlements and ruins, deceptively close looking but so far away as to almost be in another world.

Now’s her chance to go home. To enter one of the settlements and claim to have gotten held up fighting stal monsters, or trapped by a molduga. Her chance to not worry Mama and make it clear that she was fine.

Her head feels like it’s going to split down the middle as the voice in her mind screams its plea once more.

No. No, she can’t go home. She has to do this.

She can feel it in her bones, in her blood, in her heart. The Goddesses themselves can only be to blame-- after all, whom else would be able to speak to her through her own thoughts?

… Or she’s going nuts. Either way… onwards.

Mama will simply have to worry.

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“It’s only been a day since we last met here, Princess Mipha.” Revali says politely. Mipha sighs, staring out over the edge of the dam. “I may be an excellent flier, if I do say so myself, but covering the entire continent in less than a day is taxing even to me.”

“I’m terribly sorry.” Mipha sighs again.

“It’s no issue. I was only trying to ruffle your feathers-- I stayed at the Inn of a nearby stable last night, planning to set off this morning. So, onto the discussion.”

“Yes, the discussion.” Mipha scoops up her brother. “I have made my choice.”

“Oh?”

“I choose Sidon, over my father. I choose to break the alliance. Even if it means betraying my father, I am prepared for that. I love him dearly, but I will not stand idly by as he puts our kingdom at risk.”

“I see. So will you work in the open or the shadows?” The Rito asks, expression difficult to read. Mipha sighs a third time.

“It is best… If I work without those who would follow my father over me realizing what has been done until I am ready. But I do need to make one ploy that is out in the open and obvious… So the reasoning must be deceptive and innocent.”

“... I don’t follow, Princess.”

“I require a favor of you, Revali.”

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“The Zora army will be joining our ranks despite the infighting.”

Zelda makes a displeased face. Her father cannot see her, of course. The princess has spent much of her time exploring every inch of this castle and thus has discovered many secrets, including this small crawl space and the secret, cramped tunnel leading to it from behind a sliding panel in the armory. The crawlspace was positioned directly below the meeting room her father was using to hold his War Council, with a small vent in the roof, placed innocuously in the corner of the floor of the room. The whole ordeal was completely impossible for anyone much larger than her to get through-- Even she, petite as she was, had had to crawl through a long, filthy tunnel with an upward slope and several tricky turns she had had to wiggle through carefully lest she get stuck. All that to end up in a room barely large enough for her to sit in and stare up at the meager amount of light flowing in through the vent.

But it’s the perfect place to eavesdrop.

“And the Rito?” Her father asks.

“Ambassador Revali has not returned since his last visit, your Majesty.”

Probably because Father had drawn a sword on him in this very room. Zelda bites her tongue to resist the urge to scoff. Her mother would have scoffed. It was a scoff-worthy thing to do, to pull a weapon on an ambassador for daring to ask if you were preparing to launch an assault on someone. Which Father was . Zelda does not know much of the Gerudo, but for the fact that they are all women and they live in the desert. Father calls them savages, bottom feeders, all manner of nasty things that Zelda is not allowed to say lest she get a two-hour lecture on acting like a Princess, properly.

Preposterous.

“The sand-whores won’t put up much of a fight once we storm the desert.” Father says. “There’s not enough of them to resist our army-- We have them beat on sheer numbers alone.” He chuckles at that, chuckles at the idea of an entire society of people being pressed under Hylia’s heel.

Horrible. It’s an awful thing to think of, let alone to laugh about so smugly. Zelda cannot imagine-- the Gerudo have done nothing to her people. She knows this because Father would have long since brought it up in his hatred-fueled rants. And the Gerudo live in the wastelands . There’s nothing in the desert that her people need, or even really want. Especially since if they wanted something only obtainable in the wastelands, trade is the better option, hands down. Hylia doesn’t need the land or its questionable bounties, Hylia doesn’t need to invade.

And yet her Father seems to think otherwise.

Zelda blows out a silent breath of air through her teeth and continues to listen.

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The throne room of the town at the heart of Zora’s Domain is lovely, polished to a shine with seashell and Luminous stone seeming to be the main building blocks of the entire open-floor town. Revali lands lightly on the steps in front of it, then walks the rest of the way up. He bows to the Zora King, Mipha’s father, and is bidden to state his business.

He doesn’t need to worry about his true intentions showing on his face. Revali is as excellent a liar as he is at everything else he’s put his beak to. “Your Majesty, my Elder has asked me if I may trouble you to borrow your daughter for a time. He wishes to speak to Lady Mipha in person over a matter he did not give me details on. He simply requested I retrieve her and escort her to the Hebra mountains.”

As he speaks, Mipha slips into the room. “Ah, yes…” She says softly, and her father’s eyes turn to her. “I was expecting him. Father, I need to go speak to the Elder of the Rito--”

“Why?” King Dorephan asks calmly, staring her down.

“He wishes me to bring my brother to Hebra so he can offer Sidhon his blessings in person, but cannot make the trip himself. I have agreed to journey there instead.”

“... I see. Be careful, my daughter-- Hebra is far.”

“I’ll be fine, father.” Mipha smiles sweetly, but those teeth are sharper than Dorephan seems to see.

“Don’t worry, your majesty. No harm will come to Lady Mipha in my care.” Revaili says assuredly. “And of course, no harm will come to Prince Sidhon as long as Lady Mipha draws breath.”

Mipha nods, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. No harm, not even indirectly or accidentally caused by her father. “I will set out at dawn tomorrow, Father.”

“Of course, dear. Do give my greetings to the Rito Elder.”

Mipha nods and leaves back towards her room.

“I’m afraid I must go myself-- I need to plot out the route we will be traveling before we set off officially. Your Majesty.” He nods in acknowledgment. “I will be here in the morning, tomorrow. You can count on me.”

With that, Revali takes wing. He has at best twelve hours to make a round trip from here to the mountains and give his wife her instructions, then he actually does need to find a route to take with Mipha to their actual destination, and then be back by dawn. He’s probably not going to get a chance to sleep until after they’re well away from Zora’s Domain.

Chapter Text

The first obstacle Link encounters is fairly mundane. After jogging a ways east on the clifftop she comes to a sheer wall composed of…. For lack of a better word, blocks, of cliffs. Almost like giant stairs. Going around isn’t an option, the wall is more of a half-moon than anything and at either end the cliff just… drops. No more cliff. Link peers down over the edge of one side and actually squeaks, stumbling backwards. Nope. Nope. There is no way she’d be making it down that side. She can’t even see the bottom!

The other side, however, yields the same results. She sighs and eyes the stair-cliffs again. Each step is nearly triple her height, but that’s at least an amount that she can climb.

It takes foreeeeever to get to the top of the stairs and thus the next level of the cliff. The sun is high in the sky by the time she makes it up there, beating down unforgivingly. She decides to take a break and starts a fire, tossing in a pair of Volt Fruits and sitting back to watch them catch on fire. She impales them on her sword one after the other and happily chows down on the roasted fruit. By the goddesses, she loves these things.

With lunch taken care of, Link heads over a small hill and nearly trips over some yellow mushrooms. Oh! Zapshrooms! Katia sells all sorts of mushrooms. Link quickly picks them all and moves on, only to then hear some sort of…. Yelling? She doesn’t recognize the noise.

An animal rushes at her out of the corner of her eye and she dives out of the way. There are three of them, four-legged things with fluffy tails and long snouts with lips pulled back to reveal sharp teeth as they growl. She narrows her eyes, pushing herself back to her feet. What are these? Monsters? Animals? They make that high-pitched noise, like the howl of the wind over the desert, and circle her.

She draws her Swallow Bow and fires at them as fast as she can. They yelp and whimper before collapsing, dead. Animals, their bodies don’t dissolve so they’re animals.

She frowns, then sighs. Leaving the animals’ corpses here would not only be disrespectful but also wasteful, and if her time in the desert has taught her anything it is to never, ever be wasteful. One by one, she drags the three corpses back to her fire. She’ll clean them and make camp here, tonight. It’s not too terribly far from where she started, but she gets the feeling this journey will not be a short one, anyway.

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The sun rises with little fanfare above Gerudo Town, and Urbosa cannot deny it any longer. Her flower, her Link, is missing. It has been days. She sent guards to all of the settlements, guards to comb the desert. Not a peep. Not a sighting.

Link is simply gone.

And what’s worse is that Urbosa can’t leave the palace. Her baby is due any moment, and she cannot risk Savannah being born in the harshness of the desert. She must stay here where the infirmary is.

Maddening. It's maddening.

Pearla has sent warriors across the sands, all the way out to the farthest corners, and there is simply no sign of her. No sign of Link.

Urbosa slams a hand on the table in front of her, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. What happened? Did the Yoga Clan steal her daughter? Did a monster get her? Will the guards only find a corpse in the sand, hauntingly similar to the prone, broken form of Annabelle lying on the sand?

She doesn't know, and that, perhaps, is the worst thought of all.

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Link sets back off shortly after dawn, heading vertical once more. These cliffs aren't as… clean and stairlike as the ones she climbed the day before, but that actually makes them easier to climb. She's relieved for that, certain that she's going to be dealing with a lot of climbing and so any relief is welcome relief. 

It's still slow going. Her rough and calloused hands feel like they're burning on the scorching stone, and the sun is ridiculously bright above her head. It's almost hotter here than in the desert. The air feels… wet, almost, and heavy. Strange and forgien to a Vai used to wind drier than the sand beneath. But eventually she finds herself on a long, flat , sweeping and slanted plain bordered by a sheer cliff along one edge. There are large, glimmering black rocks studded along the wall, and zapshrooms all over the place.

Excited, Link heads deeper into the plain, reaching down to grab a mushroom.

There's a noise behind her. An odd, gooey sort of noise. 

She turns slowly, still half bent, to see… orbs of goo with eyes, yellow and crackling with electricity, rising out of the ground behind her. She straightens and looks around.

… the whole field is full of them.

Link says something Mama would have lectured her for for an hour and pulls out the fork-thing she got at the stable, the large tool long enough to be used as a spear.

She doesn't want to get too close to that zappity zap.

Link holds the spear like Captain Pearla taught her. She's not the most experienced with spears-- she prefers short swords with which she can use shields over two handed weapons. These goo blobs don't seem all that threatening, though, so she's not as worried about skill. Link lunges foward, stabbing out with the three prongs, and pops one of the blobs.

Her choice to stay as far back as possible quickly proves to be a good one as the thing explodes in a shower of electrical goop, barely missing her, before dissolving.

… perfect. Now she just needs to do that… Link looks around. Thirty or so more times.

… She might be here a while.

Chapter Text

Link frowns at the mountain of bits of electric jelly. She's leery of taking it with her, since it's still actively sparking, but her instinct of 'keep absolutely everything' is strong. She prods one of the jellies with her spear and it explodes violently with a large radius of electricity. Her spear falls to the ground from nerveless fingers as the shock courses painfully through her.

Once she recovers, she looks around, embarrassed. Of course, there's no one but the goddesses who can see her. Thankfully.

She picks up the spear and begins gathering the jellies. It would be really cool if she could throw one at a monster and then pop it with an arrow. Like a makeshift shock arrow with much more range. The idea makes her giggle.

Once all the goo is gathered up, she sets back out, wary of more blob monsters and collecting zapshrooms as she goes. On the other side of the long, flat plain is a huge stone arch, natural-made and chunky like the cliffs. She heads through it. 

Then she stops. Ahead, she can see a makeshift camp. Wrapped around a tree, crude stairwells and a fire pit with a hunk of unknown meat hanging over it. And monsters. So many monsters. These are definitely not animals. They're huge, lumbering things lugging massive clubs almost the same size as her, with flat snouts and wicked, long horns. She spies a couple lookout posts and quickly ducks back behind the arch, peering out to see how many she can count.

Including the lookouts, there seem to be about ten or eleven of the huge things, as tall as Mama and way more frightening. She takes a deep breath of the wild air, calming herself. She can't go left or right because of the sheer cliffs, so forward it is. She pokes her head out again. Okay, if she had to guess, the slight slope upwards will hide her serviceably enough to take out the lookouts with her swallow bow. Then she can sneak up on the camp and stabby stabby the rest. With a plan, she creeps forwards, almost crawling, and lays on her belly on the slope. She closes one eye and pulls back on her bow string. Bam! Headshot.

The stupid thing looks around in a panic, clearly not dead yet. Dang it! Totally not cool. It’s hard to line up her next shot, but she has to make it fast or one of the other monsters will notice!

This one hits it in the chest and knocks it straight off the podium, where it dissolves. She quickly reloads and fires at the next sentry, twice in quick succession. Rito made bows are meant to be light with a quick draw time and she takes full advantage of that. The string twanging is like music to Link’s ears as all three sentires fall. None of the other dumb lugs have noticed their lookout is gone. She stays low as she peeks out from behind the arch.

Five bomb arrows. She has five of them. Can she spare one or two in the interest of taking out the monsters? Will they even work? She can see explosive barrels that might amplify the explosion, but if there are any survivors they’ll come straight for her. Alternatively, she could try to take them head on and almost certainly injure herself, or she could try and sneak up on them.

Link sighs. Hard choice. Safest option is to try to take them out from afar.

She pulls out one of her Gerudo Bomb Arrows, then another for good measure. One, two, as quickly as possible.

The explosion is deafening, as are the cries of the monsters. Link drops her bow to cover her ears.

After a moment, silence. Pure, blessed silence. No monsters left.

She’s still cautious as she approaches the monster outpost. There could be one she missed, just milling about. She picks up massive, almost too-heavy clubs as she goes, using one to break a few boxes filled with fruit and cooked fish. Excellent. There’s also a chest, on the top ledge of the spiralling wood surrounding the tree the beasts have built around. She spots a ramp, held up with rope, and fires a couple arrows to break it. The thunk it makes when the bottom of the ramp hits the dirt is oddly satisfying. She climbed up the wooden ramp and across the wooden slats, picking up any monster parts that survived the blast. The chest isn’t locked, so she kicks it open. A gem? Is… this a diamond? It sure looks like one. Crystal clear and sparkling… She quickly puts it away.

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“I’ve never been this far from Zora’s Domain before.” Mipha comments, gracefully stepping out of the way of a bush as they walk. Revali smirks slightly.

“Not well traveled, then, Princess?””

“Goddesses, no, I always stuck with my people to ensure they were living their best lives... “

“I suppose that’s a noble goal.” The Rito admits. “How's the baby fish?”

Mipha checks her swaddle. Sidhon is sucking on his thumb, eyes closed peacefully. “Well. It’s quite hot here....”

“Yes, we’re fairly close to Death Mountain.” Revali gestures towards the mountain in the distance, much more visible than it is in Zora’s domain.

“You’re fairly well traveled, Revali. Have you ever met the Gerudo Chief as Ambassador?”

“No. The Gerudo don’t take kindly to men, and none are allowed in any of the settlements, period.”

Mipha looks down at her baby brother.

“Excepting infants, I suppose. They aren’t going to turn you away simply because you have a baby with you.”

“Then how do you meet with her? I know the Rito are willing to trade with their neighbors to the south, surely that involves your job, somewhat?”

“My wife takes care of it. She has a very good rapport with the Chief and her daughter.”

“Daughter?”

“Funnily enough, her daughter is a Hylian.”

Mipha stops in shock. “Huh?”

“She’s adopted, of course. Her name is Link. According to the story Tya was told, a Hylian woman under attack by the army of her own people desperately trekked to the desert with her baby, injured heavily and being chased. She was killed by a monster and Urbosa took the child in and raised her as her own. Tya says she’s very sweet and determined.”

“Wow. I’m… Impressed. I honestly thought the Gerudo hate Hylians…”

“They hate men, mostly, especially male soldiers. But women are kin, and provided you don’t attack them, they will welcome you happily. The hating everyone--”

“Is propaganda.” Finishes Mipha quietly. “Do you think she’ll help me?”

“I believe Lady Urbosa will give you a fair shot. Especially since you’re going all this way to a place definitely not meant for Zora. Tya will meet us in the mouth of the desert, and she will guide you the rest of the way. I would rather not head into the desert. I’m not allowed in any of the settlements and the sand gets in my feathers.”

Mipha laughs.

“But before we get there, we have a lot of ground to cover. Let me know when you get tired, we’ll make camp or find a stable.”

Mipha smirks. “I bet I can last longer than you, friend.”

“Then it’s a challenge.”

Chapter Text

Yeesh. It's wet-hot out, and Link hates it. The desert didn't have air so heavy, it was dry and windy and it felt like there was water in the air here which is weird because it's definitely not raining. Unless she has no idea what rain is like.

 That's not the issue, really, the issue was the pace of her travels. She'd been gone for days. Maybe even a week by this point, honestly she's not keeping track. What matters is getting to her destination.

Mama is going to ground her for years for this stunt.

She absently rubs her right hand. There's always been a mark there, an odd triangular thing with four smaller triangles inside. The lower right one is filled in with a golden sheen.

Mama has her wear gloves a lot. She doesn't mind, liking the lacey feel of the sheer fabric that matches her usual sirwal, top, and veil. Makes her feel more feminine. 

Link has no idea what this mark means , but when she looks at it she gets chills. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and it feels like the goddesses are staring through her soul.

Link shakes her head from the thought. 

So far, since her encounter at the monster camp, she's trudged across cliffs and sandy paths and she's really starting to wonder if there's a way down at all. For a long while, it's been too sheer to climb down and too high to jump down. At one point she'd even had to do some twisting and dangerous jumping to get from one cliff to another. She's lucky she has so much practice climbing, but she's not going to risk trying to climb down to a ground she can't even get a good look at.

The sun is beating down on her, but she's used to that. After the third day or so she'd given up continuing to wear the dress she'd had on and double checked her bag in the hope that there was something lighter. She was lucky-- when she'd taken stock of what she had in her pack, she had missed a pocket. Along with a second dress packed at the bottom, she had, in the front pocket she almost never opened, an emergency stash of clothes. It was her white Gerudo set, tucked away in case she tore or ruined whatever she was wearing when she traveled through the desert.

The heavy air wasn't nearly as bad in her light, thin clothes. That they were white also helped her deal with the sun.

So she's doing alright, but it feels so slow. There's got to be a faster way to travel… too bad sand seals are from… well, sand. She doubted there was anything that could swim in the hard rock and springy dirt outside the desert.

Coming across another rise in the cliffs, blocky and sheer, but only about twice as tall as her, she sighs, then huffs.

At this point, she has no idea where she's going. But the voice in her head, still faintly echoing between her ears as if it's being whispered in the back of her mind, urges her on. At least it's not causing her pain anymore.

She climbs the short bit and looks around.

…. The cliff is sloping down. Forward, ahead of her, is sloped down.

She cheers silently and gains a second wind, rushing down the gritty cliff.

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Zelda drops into a seat at one of the tables in the dining hall for lunch. She's been in math and science lessons all morning, and now she has fifteen minutes to eat and then back to lessons for writing and reading and politics and medicine, and then a dinner with her father and the Zora ambassador, and then after that she's got her piano lesson and then she can finally, finally take a break. And that break will probably be spent spying on her father's meetings again.

She's getting worried. The meeting with the Zora ambassador is a frightening prospect because if they agree to help her father with his crazy plans to take over the wasteland and the mountains then they'll also suffer casualties and really, it was better if no one got in a stupid war. What was the point? She genuinely doesn't understand.

"Princess, don't slouch like that." Impa says, sternly, as she walks past with a bowl of something that smells divine.

Zelda groans, dropping her head into her hands and stares at her lunch though her fingers. "Impa, why is Father so intent on war?"

The Sheikah woman pauses. "Princess, the King has his reasons. You shouldn't worry yourself so."

"Do you know those reasons?" She challenges, turning to meet the advisor's eyes with a shrewdness that, though she didn't know it, sounded just like her mother.

"Of course I do." Impa answers calmly. Something flickers in her expression. "The King knows what he's doing. I have give him my advice, it is up to him to decide the path he takes. As I will do for you, one day, Princess. But that day is not today."

Zelda looks down wearily. "Okay." The word tastes like defeat. It won't be her defeat, though. She'll find a way to stop all this pointless power-grabbing war nonsense. She grabs her fork, and pauses. On her right hand, a symbol shimmers. A large triangle made of smaller triangles, with the lower left colored in a shimmering gold. She's had this her whole life. She doesn't know what it is, exactly. When she asked her Father what it meant, he said, "It is the mark of your Wisdom, my daughter."

If she was marked with wisdom , why does nobody listen to her ?!

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Urbosa is doing something she rarely does.

Panicking. Her daughter has been unsighted for over a week. No sign of her, not a single blonde hair anywhere in the sands.

But that's not the worst of it. Savannah has just decided to make her way into the world and all her best warriors-- including Pearla-- are out of the Town because they're all looking for Link.

She calls for a medic as her abdomen cramps horribly, unsure of her ability to stand without assistance. In a moment, three women rush into a room, trailed by one of Link's friends. Vana, who had decided to learn of medicine on her tenth birthday and was even now learning at the knee of the clinic's best.

As Urbosa is helped to her feet and half carried out of the throne room, she closes her eyes and prays to Din. Prays for the safety of her daughters… both of them.

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Link is so happy. She's finally, finally, at the bottom of those dang cliffs. And she found another stable! She could see it from the clifftops as they went lower and had hurried her way there. It looked just like the other one, with the same animal head on the roof.

She'll be able to check her map against this stable, and adjust her course accordingly.

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Dalin did not really stand out of the crowd of Hylia's soldiers. Average, in appearance, decent enough in skill, and fairly low in the hierarchy.

That meant he ended up doing rounds out in Faron with a squad of others, more to be seen than anything else. If a serious issue like a mass monster attack came along, he would quickly be in over his head.

That wasn't the point . He was here, in this stable, because it made people feel safe. Hylia had a soldier here standing post, because Hylia was strong, and safe.

The other members of his team are patrolling, but it's his night to be at the stable. That's the best assignment, in his opinion. It mostly means sitting around and chatting with the travelers and eating free food.

It's going on dusk when it happens. A very tanned little girl approaches the stable, standing on her toes to look over the counter. There's an exchange of some kind that involves a lot of handwaving on the little girl's end.

What caught his attention is her clothes. Light, gauzy fabric, a midriff-baring top, baggy pants, and a veil.

She's dressed like a Gerudo. 

During their training, Hylia's soldiers have many things drilled into their heads but there are a few that stand above the rest. The alliance with the Zora is to be enacted whenever there is a chance. How to identify the Gerudo women, and that if you came across one outside the desert, aim to disable so she can be dragged in and questioned, but don't hesitate to kill if you're in danger. If you see a child with a triangle symbol on the back of their hand, immediately take them into custody. That last one was hammered into their skull. There was a massive reward for anyone who found the kid. The child was kidnapped royalty, was the rumor. Stolen away by a traitor.

If this little blonde hadn't been wearing Gerudo clothes, she wouldn't have caught his attention. If she hadn't been waving her hands around, his eyes wouldn't have been drawn to them. And if it had been even a little darker out, dusk a little more settled in, he wouldn't have seen it shining in the light. 

It was the perfect storm. There, on the back of her hand, glimmering in the light, was the mark they'd been shown countless times during training.

Dalin stands quickly, hurrying over just as she passes some Rupees to the innkeeper.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'll be taking her with me to the capital."

The innkeeper looks confused.

"I recognize her. She's a kidnapping victim." He grabs the girl's wrist, ignoring her cry of protest or surprise. He shows the innkeeper her hand. "This tattoo was one of the big identification clues."

The girl's eyes are big and round and she starts pulling her wrist, trying to get it out of his grasp.

No way is he letting that reward slip through his fingers. 

"Don't worry, I'll get you home, okay?" He says calmly. "It'll be okay."

She keeps struggling even as he leads her to his horse. She was stolen very young. She probably doesn't remember. He manages to get her on the horse but only by cuffing her hands and tying them to the saddle, says quiet, soothing things the whole time. Once she realizes she can't get off the saddle, she slumps in defeat. He confiscates the weapons she's got, going through her pack briefly to make sure there aren't any more.

Once he's assured she's unarmed, he climbs onto the horse in front of her. "It's a bit of a long ride." He says calmly, trying not to spook her. She hasn't said a word. "But we should get there by this time tomorrow." He flicks the reins and the horse begins to trot.

Such is the esteem that Hylia's soldiers are held in that no one questions his actions.

Chapter Text

This is so, so bad. The animal she's riding makes clippy-clop noises and the voe holding her captive keeps talking about how it's so good she was found so he can return her to the castle.

To Hylia . To the people who killed her mother, to the people who want to kill off her people. There has to be a way out of this. There has to be. But he took her sword and put cuffs on her wrists and hooked them to the seat on the animal's back.

She huffs behind her veil, eyes going dark. Finally, she gets the nerve to speak actual words. "The only one who's stolen me is you, man." She spits in Gerudo.

The voe pauses in his speaking and turns his head to look at her. Her eyes narrow in fury. His stupid helmet glints in the morning sun.

"Huh?" He says as though she's speaking nonsense. He wants nonsense? She'll give him nonsense. No way he speaks the actual language of the Gerudo. All Gerudo children are taught both the Common language and the Gerudo tongue, to facilitate communication with allies like Tya. Usually she spoke Gerudo when she did decide to speak, but here outside of the desert it was safer to use Common. Not right now though. She didn't intend to cooperate, and she would rather it was assumed she didn't speak or understand Common.

" Burn in the fires of Din, treacherous man. " The sharp 's' sounds remind her of the hiss of a desert viper. They're certainly as poisonous. Gerudo is much different than Common and Link can see the voe's brows knit together in confusion. 

"What?"

Link just hisses out, " Let me go ." 

"I don't understand you." The voe half-pleads. "Don't you speak Common?"

She chooses not to react to his statement beyond a narrowing of the eyes.

"Oh, geeze, you don't. No wonder she's so angry…" He turns his eyes back to ahead, speaking in a soothing tone. "It'll be alright, you'll be okay."

Link just huffs. Her kidnapper may let something helpful slip if he thinks she doesn't understand. It's best to avoid it for now."

Voe. Hylian voe at that. A warrior.

To think, she could have grown into someone like this idiot voe.

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"We're almost there." Revali assures Mipha as they head into the stable. She's riding side saddle on a horse they'd purchased at the first stable they'd gone to. Revali preferred to fly, of course, but Mipha couldn't keep up on foot, especially not carrying Sidon. So it was decided that they would get her a horse to keep the journey as swift as possible.

"Hi, welcome to Faron stable." The man in the window smiles. "Would you like to board your horse for the day?"

"It's too early for us to turn in." Mipha smiles sweetly. "It's only afternoon, after all. We were just looking to take a bit of a break. Get a meal in, you know."

"Of course, of course. Feel free to tie up your horse while you're here."

The two of them (plus Mipha's little bundle) tie up the horse and head straight for the cooking pot with people already seated around it. Revali tosses in some freshly killed goose, and once that's done searing he tears into it gratefully. Meanwhile Mipha sets down Sidon.

"Would you like your lunch cooked or raw?" She asks him.

The little prince looks up at her with big eyes and says, "Cooked for me, Sister?" In a tiny voice.

"Of course, of course." Mipha nods at the boy. "Then I shall cook mine as well."

Sidon gives her a big smile and a thumbs up.

Mipha tosses together some fish and swift violets she'd bought before the trip, quickly steaming the fish and herbs. Sidon pouts at the addition of a chopped carrot.

"You need to eat your veggies too, Sidon." Mipha says sternly. 

"Bluh." The boy huffs, leaning against her leg. "Sister…"

"It's already in there. No amount of whining will change that, Sidon."

Revali chuckles.

"'Vali gets to just eat meat." Sidon protests.

"Revali is an adult. He decides what he eats." Mipha gently pokes her brother in the chest. "I decide what you eat."

Sidon pouts.

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Slowly, the grassland is being replaced by wooden buildings and later cobbled roads and Link grumbles quietly because she's hungry . Stupid Voe, they've been traveling all night and the sun is high in the sky so it must be around midday. She had been expecting to be able to eat at the stable so it has been almost a full day since she's been fed and the stupid voe doesn't seem to have noticed.

"We're almost there." He soothes. She hisses angrily in response. She's not a nervous sand seal, she's hungry ! And being bounced up and down on this animal is not fun. Her wrists are killing her.

She thinks the voe knows that if he dares let her down, she's going to run for it.

At least the voice in her head is not causing her pain for diverting from her scramble to get to a forest.

This sucks.

She's passing the time thinking about different insults she can come up with in Gerudo in case she feels like talking again.

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Zelda huffs out a breath as she squirms into the passageway to the secret room under her father's War room. She's been so busy lately that she might have assumed her Father knew she was spying in her free time.

Eventually, she does get into the small room under the vent. It casts a pattern of light onto her face as she looks up at it. 

They're midway through the meeting, and everyone seems to be talking at once.

" Silence !" Father booms after a moment. "You're certain the child was him?"

"Er… I thought he was a girl, he's dressed like one. But he has the mark on his hand just like we were told, the triangles with the lower right one filled in."

"The mark…" Her Father breathes. Zelda looks down at her hand, at the glinting mark there. The one with the left triangle filled in.

"Why was he dressed like a girl?" Impa asks. So she knows who they're talking about. The princess rolls her eyes. Everyone knows what's going on but her.

"Well, um… he was dressed in Gerudo clothes."

" What ?"

Zelda claps her hands over her ears.

"Y-Yes, sure, I-um, I thought it was strange. That's how sh-he caught my eye, see, was he-- his clothes. And then I saw the mark. He doesn't seem to speak Common…"

"Well then what does he speak?" Someone else demands.

"Um… he kept calling me 'voe' and there were a lot of 's' and 'v' sounds--"

" Those damn sand whores ! That traitorous bitch … somehow she convinced the sand whores to take in her son… where is he now?" She's never heard her Father sound so cold and furious.

"I, um, took him to the Captain." 

"So he'll be in the dungeon then. Excellent. I will go pay the poor boy a visit and we'll see if we can get through to him. Meeting adjourned, this is far more important."

With the knowledge that the meeting was over, Zelda quickly exits the way she came, mind reeling.

Someone else with a mark like hers. Another child.

In the dungeon? 

… Well, there's only one thing to do. She has to meet this person. She must.

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The ride to the next stable did not take long. Of course, Mipha and Revali were not young children, were not climbing cliffs, were taking the path between the cliffs, and were moving considerably faster. 

A trip that took Link a week takes a few hours for the ambassador and the princess. They arrive at the stable just outside the desert before nightfall. And there is That, sitting on a log bench. She beams at Revali and Mipha.

"Princess! It's such a pleasure to meet you." She says, gently taking Mipha's finned hand in her feathered one. "And this must be Sidon?"

The little prince of the Zora is asleep in his bundle.

"Yes, this is my brother." Mipha cooes, smiling.

Tya nods happily. "Well, I'll be your escort to the Town and Lady Urbosa."

"Will Sidon be alright going to the Gerudo settlements?"

"They won't mind." Tya assures. "But you can leave him here with Revali if you'd prefer."

Mipha giggles at Revali's horrified expression. 

"I didn't come here to babysit!" He says frantically.

"But you would if I asked you to, right, Lover?" His wife smirks.

Revali's expression gets even funnier, and Mipha continues to giggle for a moment before assuring Tya she'll be fine bringing him.

The Rito woman, highly amused, gestures for Mipha to follow her.

"They are expecting us. I took the liberty of heading into the settlement myself to ask for an audience with Lady Urbosa for you. I also borrowed a sand seal for your use."

"A sand seal?" Mipha asks.

"It's the fastest way across the desert-- we should be at the Town before the sun even sets. I will fly alongside you and carry your brother. You'll need both hands to hold onto the rope."

"Rope?"

"You'll see."

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Link is no longer wearing her Gerudo clothes. She no longer has her pack, either. She's been given pants and a long shirt. Not long enough to wear without the pants. They called it a tunic. She hates it. They're all calling her a voe-- well, a boy -- and she hates it. She's in a cell , and she hates it. 

A big voe with a long beard came to speak to her and she was brought into a room with a table and chairs. She pretended not to understand him as he spoke of her being kidnapped from her father by her mother, who was a traitor to Hylia, and he was so glad 'he' was back safely in the castle where he belonged.

She may have ranted at him a lot. In Gerudo, of course, screaming like she hasn't in her memory and shaking her fist at him. She was dragged back to the cell shortly after her tantrum.

Unarmed, not even wearing her own clothes, she felt scared and powerless surrounded by so many voe. The only thing she could do was pretend to be even more confused and helpless than she felt, and wait for an opening.

Now moonlight trickles in through the small barred window bear the ceiling. The dungeon is dark besides that, and she is seated on the thin cot against the wall, a thin cotton blanket around her shoulders. 

This is all horrible. She has no idea how to get out of this.

Footsteps, light but clacking come down the hall and she turns her glare on what's probably a guard of some kind.

It's not.

A small Vai with a pair of brilliant green eyes is inching closer to the bars, her long blonde hair tied into a braid and pinned around her head before falling gracefully around her shoulders. She's wearing a blue and white dress that, quite frankly, Link really wants. It's beautiful. This vai is lovely and sweet looking.

Her hand reaches out to grasp the bars and Link sees the mark, so like her own, on her right hand.

"Hello." The other vai whispers with wide, curious eyes. "Are you alright?"

Chapter Text

Link stares at the other vai, the first she's seen in this Din-Forsaken castle (not that she's seen many people here yet).

Her eyes glimmer curiously in the moonlight from the window. They seek out Link's hand, and she gasps softly.

So does Link, her own eyes on the mark on the other vai's hand. It's glowing, her knuckles white from gripping the bar tighter all of a sudden in surprise. Link stares at the golden glow, transfixed.

Likewise, the other blonde is staring at Link's own hand. She can't bring herself to look away from the hand gripping the cell bar to see if her own mark is doing the same. She suspects it is, but she can't look away .

Something clicks into place. Link relaxes minutely. She's been on guard for hours and she's hungry and tired and scared and there's a strange camaraderie between the two of them, a moment of clarity like the feeling of diving into the oasis after a long, hot day of work.

Some way, some how, she knows this vai, knows her intimately like the mark on the back of her hand and yet she does not know her at all. She's everything, she's nothing. It all whirls together in a fine golden mist as blue eyes finally tear themselves away from the mark to meet green and they stare as though they've never quite seen anything like them. They glitter like gems, the moonlight dancing in patterned shadows across their faces. 

For just a moment, they see it all spread before them, thousands, tens of thousands of times these eyes met, when Wisdom and Courage clashed but rather than break each other they fit together like a puzzle piece, like a triangle missing the top. 

For just a moment, everything is crystal clear.

And then it snaps, the memory of so many times before vanishing in the wind over the sands, leaving only a warm, fuzzy feeling behind and the utter certainty that the other is to be trusted. Link comes back to herself with another small gasp, the golden glow gone. The other gasps as well, hand going to her throat in shock. "I…"

They stare at one another again, she surprised and Link inquisitive. 

"I… must have spaced out a bit there." The other vai says with a breathless chuckle. "I'm so sorry, it's so impolite to stare-- wait, they said you couldn't understand--"

Link waves her hand negligently. "They think." She says, sitting back and looking at the other. "Is not my fault if they assume." Women are kin, and she knows this girl will not rat her out.  There's no doubt in her mind about that. Maybe it's foolish to trust someone so quickly, but there's something in those green eyes making her want to, need to .

The other giggles again. 

"Name is Link." Link says, getting the introduction over with so she can hopefully stop talking soon. She hates it. 

"Link…" The other vai breathes. "I'm Zelda. Princess of Hylia." 

Oh. Wow. Throwing titles around.

Does Link count as a princess? She scrunches up her face in thought. She's the daughter of the Gerudo Chief but she can't very well take over that position when she's older… Regardless of her and her home's insistence that she's one of them, she can't bear children the way they can and she would start a line of chiefs of the Gerudo who also wouldn't be able to bear children properly. Also it kind of makes her uncomfortable to think of a line of 'blood' Hylians become the chiefs… No, better to let that pass on to Savannah. But that still leaves the question of if the daughter of the chief can count as a princess…

"Ermm… Are you alright, Link?" Zelda asks tentatively.

Link jumps. "Sorry. Was thinking."

"Oh? I'm sorry if I confused you--"

"Just wondering if I am a princess. Thought experiment." Link shrugs.

"... Why would you be a princess?"

"Chief is my Mama."

Zelda's eyes widen for a moment but then confusion flits across her face. "Chief?"

"Lady Urbosa, Gerudo Chief."

Zelda's mouth drops into a small 'o'. "This is… not good. This is definitely not good. I don't know all of the implications of this but it is not good ."

Link raises an eyebrow.

"My Father is… well quite frankly I think he's going crazy."

Both eyebrows go up.

"He's determined to take over the desert and the mountains for reasons I cannot comprehend-- if he finds out the Gerudo Chief is your mother it won't be good."

Having known that already, Link only nods.

"We need a plan. He met with you, right? What did he want?"

"To 'break through my brainwashing by the sand whores'." Link spits disdainfully. "He told me my Mother was a 'traitor to the crown' but I know what happened. I do!"

"I may not like the answer but… what happened?"

Link pauses. She doesn't particularly like to talk and she's done more talking (and screaming) today than she has done in years. But she can't get this across without words. "My mother crossed the land carrying me, pursued by her own army, because the King wanted to groom me into a weapon because of some mark of Courage or something--"

Zelda gasps softly. "That would be the mark on your hand, I think. He always told me mine meant Wisdom…"

Link nods in acknowledgement and continues, "She was desperate to get me to the Gerudo in hope they would offer her shelter. We would have. But she was attacked by a giant monster called a Molduga and it left her near death. With her last breaths, she begged Mama to take me in and protect me. I've been raised as a Gerudo and I will not cooperate with the man who ordered my Mother's death at the hands of her own men." It's painful to get it all out, but her Mama had always told her the truth about where she came from. "He kept calling me a Hylian voe-- boy . He was wrong on both counts."

"Hmm?" Zelda tilts her head. 

"I am a Gerudo girl. A proud vai of the desert. Maybe not in body…"

"The mind is more important than the body. That's why you were wearing girl clothes, then?" Zelda asks.

"How do you know?"

"There's a little secret passage under one of Father's conference rooms. I listen in sometimes."

Link nods, absorbing that.

"Okay, so we need a plan."

"Plan?" Link asks.

"Yes. My Father will probably leave you be for a few days while he figures out exactly what to do since he thinks you don't speak Common and he called you brainwashed. He'll try and think up a solution, maybe even try to track down a translator Which means we need a plan sooner than that. We can't risk him finding out you're important to the leader of the people in the desert or he might do something like hold you hostage until they surrender."

Link winces.

"The first thing we need to do is get you out of this cell."

"... Can the second thing be food? I haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon."

Zelda's face darkens. "We'll take care of that immediately. Fools probably forgot in all the kerfuffle of actually finding you."

Link giggles.

"Once we have you out of this cell I'll take you to my rooms and we'll actually get some decent sleep."

"And how will you explain me?" Link asks tiredly.

"Oh, I'm well known for my curiosity. I'll say I overheard a guard talking about you and decided to investigate. If Father sees you being friendly to me he probably won't look a gift horse in the mouth and will see it as a 'way in', so to say."

"... What is… horse?"

Zelda blinks. "Four legged animal used for riding."

Oh so that's what the animal was. Link nods. "Why not look?"

"... I don't know, it's just a saying. It means not taking something for granted."

Link nods. 

"Now give me just a minute, I need to get a lamp."

Link makes a confused noise.

"It's going to be near-impossible to pick that lock in the dark." Zelda says even as she slips down the hall. She returns with an oil lamp from the wall down the hall.

Link watches her pull two pins out of her hair (causing the braid to go lopsided) and stick them in the lock, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

Link has to wonder why a princess would know how to pick locks.

"Do you have… clothes?" She asks slowly.

Zelda pauses and looks up at her in confusion. ".... Of course?"

"That I can wear." Link clarifies with a blush. "Hate these."

"Oh! If any of my dresses fit you, you're welcome to them. I have more than I could possibly wear…" Zelda trails off as she continues wiggling the pins. "Hey, what were you doing out of the desert, anyway, if you lived with the Gerudo?"

Link flushes darker. "Accident." She says, refusing to elaborate on the Yiga spy and the voice in her head. Her throat hurts and she's exhausted and hungry.

But she's not scared anymore.

Click .

"Got it!" Zelda cheers, pushing open the cell door. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."

Link smiles at her, and much to both of their surprise, throws her arms around Zelda.

She hears hitching breath and feels wetness on her cheeks and abruptly realizes she's clinging to the princess, sobbing into her shoulder. 

Zelda, for her part, just holds her tight.

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The baby in her arms is perfect and beautiful. Deep bronze skin and lovely red eyes with a little tuft of red hair. 

Savannah is gorgeous.

Feeding the little bean is giving her too much time to think. Urbosa wants to cry. Maybe it's leftover hormones but she thinks it's the fact that Savannah's older sister isn't here to meet her. Link was so excited… 

It's been long enough that the warriors are combing the sands for any signs of a body .

Princess Mipha and Ambassador Tya are here, but she has had them put up at the inn with the excuse that she needs to recover from the birth. Really, she just can't face the world right now.

She can't.

She burps the baby and sets her up in her bassinet before throwing herself on the bed like a petult teenager and bawling her eyes out like she hasn't since childhood. It's unimaginable pain, the idea that her Link is gone and may never return.

Worse than any physical pain she's ever experienced. She scrubs at her eyes with her arm and hiccups but the tears keep coming. Coming and coming until they exhaust her and she drifts into a cold sleep, tears streaking her face.

The sun bounces off the sand and Urbosa hesitantly steps forward, seeing nothing and no one around her. Something is wrong. She should be able to see a settlement, ruins, something, not this endless plane of sand.

She takes another step forward and shrieks is surprise as something cold and clammy wraps around her ankle. She leaps back, wrenching her ankle free but falling onto the sand in the process as she jerks.

A mottled, rotted hand is clawing its way out of the sand. Urbosa scrambles for her sword but she's unarmed.

The air cracks with an inhuman groan and the hand flails, gripping and grasping and clawing before gaining purchase on the sand and beginning to pull up a disgusting, disturbing arm covered in lacerations and rot, the smell overpowering. Urbosa gags on her own breath as she spots the broken bones poking out of the tears in the skin.

Slowly, surely, another hand bursts out of the sand, this one skeletal with bits of muscle and viscera hanging off it. The two horrible hands drag themself further from the sea of golden sands, and a head finally rises. Blonde hair is patchy on a white, sand-polished skull, varying lengths of frayed, strawlike hair. One blue eye glares at Urbosa, the other hanging out of its socket on a string of nerves.

Urbosa is frozen under the glare, at the disgusting, rotted corpse of Annabelle.

" You !" She screeches, her jaw snapping and twisting and Urbosa gags again. Annabelle claws at the sand, clearly trying to escape its grasp. " You swore! You promised !"

"I--" Urbosa says feebly, unable to form a coherent thought, eyes big and round. "Link--"

" You told me to go to my grave in peace! And now, look what you've done !" The monstrous corpse screeches. " Where is my baby?!"

"I don't know, I don't know!" The chief of the Gerudo wails like a child.

" I should have known better than to trust you, you bitch! "

"She was supposed to be in a settlement by night--"

" You lost my baby! I died for that baby! " Annabelle screams, almost entirely out of the sand. Every inch of her is horrifying, broken and rotting and terrible. " I'll kill you, I'll kill you! You don't deserve to be a mother--"

A child's wail cuts through the air.

" You don't deserve to lead your people-- "

The crying is getting louder.

" You deserve to burn in the fires of Din, to be ripped in the winds of Fayore, to drown in the waters of Nayru! A curse on you, a plague on your peop-- "

The child's cries crack the air--

And Urbosa nearly falls off her bed jerking awake from the horrible nightmare as Savannah wails in her basket.

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Death mountain is a place where few tread, and fewer stay. The only people able to handle the heat are the Gorons. This is a well known fact.

Anyone else needs stone armor or fireproof elixir in order to so much as step into the hotter areas, lest they literally burst into flames. And the ingredients for fireproof elixir are mostly found in those hotter areas.

It was interesting, then, that Daruk, son of the Goron chief, saw a woman walking up the mountain path with purpose. She had skin much darker than most Hylians, and long, straight red hair whipping in the firey wind. She looked like an adult, sort of. It was hard for him to judge, not having seen many Hylians, but she was tall. That, he was pretty sure, was a sign of adulthood.

She wore a thick dress that was visibly and liberally coated in fireproof elixir, and hiking boots. 

Daruk jumped down from his vantage point, landing with a thud. The woman turned around but did not startle. Impressive!

"Hello! What could a lady like you be doing all the way up here?" He asks brightly.

She gives him a smile. Her lipstick is blue, and her eyes are a vibrant blue-green. Not colors he sees a lot of.

"Well, I'm looking for someone who can help me." She says, hand on her hip. "I've come a very long way."

"You have, have you?" He booms. "How far?"

"I came from the desert in the southwest."

Okay yeah, that's very far.

"Well I certainly will help you, if I can!" He claps her on the back. "What's your name?"

"Nissa." The woman says, eyeing him. "You would just help a strange girl like that? No questions?"

"Well, of course! Helping people's what I do! How could I refuse a beautiful lady who came all this way?"

"... Thank you. But I am not a lady, only a girl. I am eleven."

Oh. Well he was way off. "Even more of a reason to help! Come on, I'll take you to Goron City. I know this great place to get some grub, and you can tell me why you came all the way out here!"

Nissa smiles wanly. "I would like that, yes."

Chapter Text

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think you are?"

"Who are you?"

"Who are you to lead her?"

"Who are you to lead them?"

"Who are you to think that you can hold your head up higher than your fellow man?"

"Ladies, calm yourselves. All will be taken care of in due time."

"But my Lady, he spits on Wisdom . He cages Courage . He craves only Power , just as the darkness before him."

"Peace. We cannot interfere, you know this. We have done this many times before."

"And many times Hyrule has been driven to ruin."

"What makes this time different?"

"With every incarnation it gets worse."

"Peace. I am watching. As you should be. This time… this time may be different."

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Link pads after Zelda, shoeless since hers had been stolen. Zelda's not very impressed with her father right now. 

Who is he? Who does he think he is?! He's not better than her, than Link, than the people he's trying to subjugate.

King or not, father or not, Zelda has a duty to her people. She's been thinking about this for a while now, as she watched the people around her seemingly go insane , become madmen drunken with power and desperate for more.

As she and Link pad down the dark halls, fury grows in the heart of a princess with the blood of the goddess and the soul of Wisdom.

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"The meanest dog you'll ever meet-- he's not the hound dog in the street. He'll bare his teeth and tear your skin, but that's the worst of him.

No, the dog man really needs to dread, is the one that lays within their bed. It's him who knows your deepest sins, and when it turns to bite, it wins."

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Zelda clenches her fists. He steps become harder, her dress swishes with the increase of her speed.

"Are you okay?"

"I think it's time I actually do some princessing, don't you?"

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"They've got a trying road to walk, and it's not along the horse's path. It isn't the road they've walked a hundred times before."

"It isn't?"

"What's different this time?"

"I think I know."

"Do share."

"I'll tell you where the real road lies… between their ears, behind their eyes."

"Riddles?"

"It's not like it's a hard one."

"That is the path to success this time, and likewise the road to ruin."

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"Can… help?" Link asks.

"I think I'm going to need your help." Zelda turns to look at Link, eyes dark. "I won't let anyone be hurt anymore! I'll protect them, I'll protect everyone! I must…"

The back of her hand glows faintly in the dark, unnoticed.

"Not alone."

"Hmm?"

"Me too. We'll stop this."

Zelda will not fail again. Not at this.

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"Do they trust each other?"

"They will."

"Do they trust themselves?"

"They must."

"If they want to break the cycle, they must prove it. Before us, and man. Can they do that?"

"They can."

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Zelda's room is enormous. It's like the size of an entire Gerudo house. Link stares around the fancy, gorgeous place decorated lavishly with curtains and rugs and all sorts of things. Zelda giggles at her goggling reaction. "Do you want to wear one of my nightgowns?" She asks. Link nods frantically.

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Link wakes up comfortable. For a moment, she believes she's back at home, warm and safe. Something smells sweet, like the honey candy Tya sometimes brings.

She's curled up against something warm that smells nice.

It takes her a moment.

Then it comes back to her, and she opens her eyes. The light of day makes the princess's bedroom even more beautiful. The same can be said of the princess herself, peacefully curled against Link.

Link had offered to sleep on the floor, but Zelda claimed her bed could fit four of them and it was perfectly fine. They'd gone to sleep on separate sides of the bed with almost four feet in between them and now that it's morning they're a tangle of limbs. Link almost giggles, but that would wake up the sleeping Vai curled up with her.

Zelda's beautiful in the light of day. Long blonde hair hanging into her face, which is almost heart-shaped, with high cheekbones and a soft smile playing on her pale lips.

Anyone could look at her face alone and know she's a Vai.

Her build is sleek and slim compared to the blockiness of Link's. Petite and pretty, not at all like a Gerudo with their tall muscly forms and hourglass shapes but still obviously and beautifully vai .

Self consciousness rises in Link and she blows out a sigh. She can wear her hair long, she can hide her face behind a veil, she can wear the dresses and bangles and earrings and try to keep her voice in check but at the end of the day, when she takes that all off and looks in the mirror, she hates herself.

The older she gets, the more pronounced the self-loathing. She doesn't begrudge other vai for being Vai, she just begrudged herself for not living up to the standard.

"Mmmm…" Zelda stirs in her sleep and Link tears her eyes away from that tiny cute button nose she'll never have. "Warm."

Link nods absently. Their cuddling is very warm. She's never exactly cuddled with someone to sleep, she doesn't know if this warm, pleasant fuzziness is normal, but she likes it a lot.

"Nnnn… Link?" Zelda's eyes crack open.

Link nods.

"What a strange dream I had…" Zelda murmurs.

Link tilts her head.

"We were here, in the castle. There was this strange inhuman screeching in the background… red mist coming up from the ground. The air was thick, and it was hard to breathe… and there was this gunk all over the place, this horrible sort of thick, living goop that glowed pink and red and black. We were being watched by eyes-- so many eyes." Zelda shudders. "Orange and bulbous. You had a gleaming sword and I had an odd device and we were using them to fight back hundreds of monsters while we ran through the castle… and then my father appeared in front of us."

Link squeezes her hand.

"He was half covered in the gunk, screaming and screeching words but I couldn't make anything out. He attacked you and me, that horrible goop in patches all over his skin and clothes… and then the advisors attacked us from behind, goop all over them, and, and… and then the soldiers, the maids, everyone came upon us like locusts and I knew, knew that the whole world was covered in this darkness but I couldn't do anything, anything, I tried to access the power my mother said I had but I just couldn't do it and that screeching grew louder and louder until a horrible… thing made of that goop broke through the ceiling and slammed into you… I screamed your name… and then I woke up in your arms, here."

"Bad dream." Link nods slowly. "Very bad."

" Horrific ." Zelda whispers. 

Link cards a hand through her hair. "Is okay. Dreams belong in sleep."

"Y-Yes. Yes, you're right, of course… we should get up and moving."

"Dresses?" Link asks hopefully.

"Oh, yes! I'll show you, you can pick anything you want as long as it fits…"

They climb out of Zelda's enormous bed, Link shivering once her bare feet hit the stone floor. 

"Shoes and socks too." Zelda notes, taking Link by the arm andeading her to a door. She opens it to reveal racks and racks of dresses and shoes and clothes and hair accessories.

Zelda, snickering, slowly reaches over and uses one finger to close Link's dropped jaw.

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Link slips into the window of Nissa's bedroom in the middle of the night, startling the other vai.

"Flower? What are you doing here?"

"Need to talk." Link says quietly. "Privately."

"Well it's only Auntie and I in the house…"

"Not even her. No one. Favor."

Nissa invites her friend to sit on the bed, joining her after double checking that her Auntie was indeed asleep.

"What's wrong?"

"Politics."

Nissa winces. "Oh no, the Rito Ambassador was here today, wasn't she? Or is it yesterday… it's either ungoddesly late or early enough to be a sin."

"You were awake." Link says a little smugly.

"Well, we all know I'm a heathen." Nissa laughs quietly, watching her friend. She's wearing some pretty, gauzy white dress, and no veil. Her pretty face is scrunched up in worry.

"Something bad happened, didn't it?"

"... There will be war. War we cannot fight."

Nissa's heart stops for at least ten seconds. She's sure of it. "Oh, sa'toen…" she mumbles.

Link nods. "I have... idea."

The redhead looks sharply at her little friend. "Flower?"

"You heard of… Death Mountain?"

"The volcano in the northeast? Of course." Nissa says a bit testily, not seeing how this would help matters.

"Gorons live there."

Nissa thinks to her studies and casts her mind to who and what Gorons are. "Okay, and?"

"Tya says they are neutral. Chief even refused to talk to Revali."

"Okay but if they're neutral then why does it matter?"

"I don't think they're bad people."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't think they realize how bad things are. We'll be crushed like bug. Bad people would stand by. Let us all die or worse for Hylia's war."

"I really don't think I understand where you're going with this…"

Link nods and digs into her bag. "Mama doesn't know. Mama can't know. No one can know except you and me."

"About your favor?"

Link nods, finally pulling out a large jar of nasty looking orange paste and a sheaf of paper. "Made this with some of my butterflies. Fireproof elixir."

Nissa's eyes widen, thinking of the butterfly hutch Link maintains in the throne room. She loves it. It has-- had-- butterflies from all over the land in it. Took her ages to collect them all through trading.

"Link… what's going on?"

"Nissa… need you to go. To Death Mountain. Sneak out of the desert and go to Gorons. Tell them. Give them my notes. They are… plea… for help from Gerudo chief's daughter."

"Are you crazy?! I can't leave the desert! None of us can leave the desert! Auntie will behead me for so much as considering it!" Nissa whisper yells, trying not to wake her Auntie. "I'm a child, Link! We're both children, we--"

Link reaches over and grips her shoulder. "Nissa." She closes her eyes, looking pained. "Children, yes. That's why it has to be you, on behalf of me. They are not seeing Ambassadors or concerning themselves with war. But children, we are innocent and scared, yes?"

Nissa couldn't argue with that. The idea of Hylia taking over the desert is terrifying.

"They will listen to you, Nissa. They will give you a chance to make our case."

"How do you know that for sure?"

Link closes her eyes again. She looks like the weight of the world is on her shoulders. "You must have the courage to do this for me, Nissa. As my friend."

Staring into those big blue eyes, Nissa finds she can't bring herself to say no.

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Link stares into the full length mirror, nearly drooling at the dress she's borrowed from Zelda (who insisted that Link didn't need to use her title). It's different shades of green, with a folded neckline that goes over her shoulders. The bodice of the dress has a blue butterfly above her left hip, and the skirt of it falls in shimmery folds with light green trim just barely touching the floor. It contrasts nicely with her blue eyes and sun-bronzed skin. There are even matching green gloves.

"It looks good on you." Zelda praises, reaching up on her toes to dig in a box in the closet. "Here we go." She returns to Link at the mirror and pins a blue butterfly broach that matches the dress to the neckline.

"Your hair is very long." Zelda hums, reaching for a brush.

"Don't cut it." Link shrugs. "Usually pin it up in my veil."

"Makes sense." Zelda nods, seating Link at her vanity and beginning to brush the tangled mop straight. 

"... They told you I was a vo-- a boy, right? Why do you understand…"

"You told me they were wrong and you weren't a Hylian boy, you were a Gerudo girl. If the adults don't believe you, that's they're problem. We'll dress you up however pretty you want." 

It feels nice to get her hair brushed, but even nicer to hear that from her new friend. 

"Do you have trouble with Common? Sometimes you say things strangely…" The princess asks, not annoyed, but curious.

"I don't like talking. Sometimes skip words to be done faster."

"Aaaaaaaah." Zelda nods agreeably. "I think I'm going to put some of your hair up in a bun."

Link makes a confused noise, but Zelda just gathers a bunch of the back of her hair-- but not all of it-- and tucks and tugs it into a band. Now it looks as though Link has part of her hair tied in a knot on top and a little back of her head. A few tendrils of blonde fall to frame her face, and the rest of her hair spills to mid back. Zelda reaches over and grabs the other thing she got out of the box and puts a matching butterfly hair clip in Link's hair.

"What do you think?"

Link feels tears come to her eyes as she stares at the vai in the mirror. She quickly turns and throws her arms around Zelda.

"We're not quite done." Zelda is smirking. Why is she smirking. "Have you ever heard of contouring?"

Slowly, Link shakes her head.

Zelda kicks open a drawer full of more makeup than Link has ever seen. "I'll tell you a secret. We girls can shapeshift. Just don't tell them menfolk, or they'll tell the church." She starts digging out different shades of dark makeup. "I swear I have more make up than a makeup store." She huffs. "At least the 'these are for if you get a tan instead of bursting into flames in the sun' shades are about to get some use. What color lipstick do you want?"

"... Green." To match this dress.

"Alright. Mascara, sponges…" She starts dumping what feels like a mountain of tubs and tubes along with a pencil which just… is confusing.

"Alright. You ready?"

Link eyes the makeup a bit apprehensively.

"You'll love the result." Zelda promises. "And if you don't like it, we can always wipe it off."

Slowly, Link nods.

Chapter Text

It took Nissa about half a day to get out of the desert. She snuck out, leaving Auntie a note telling her that she was going to be doing a search for the statue of the Eighth Heroine and not to worry about her. Of course, Auntie would worry about her, but this way Link's name is kept away from her travels.

Then she headed north, into the mountains and highlands, headed for Tabantha and Rito Village.

She did prepare herself for the cold (warm saffina was incredibly easy to find and pick and make dishes that would keep her warm for hours regardless of what she was wearing, and for monsters, but not for snow. She had no idea snow could be so much harder to walk in than sand. Her feet were soaked quickly and she got annoyed very fast.

Unexpectedly, however, she comes across a Hylian voe traversing the snowy mountains himself. She quickly hid herself, but not quickly enough to not be seen.

He coaxes her out, tossing his weapons into the snow and promising not to hurt her. It takes a while for her to bring herself to inch out from behind her rock, reasoning that if he were going to hurt her, he could have just walked closer, but he didn't.

He smiles at her when she's fully visible.

"You're one of the women who live in the desert, right?" He asks earnestly.

She nods slowly, half ready to bolt.

"What are you doing all the way up here?"

"Um… I'm headed to Rito Village." She admits. "I-- I'm just a girl, I-- I've never even seen a man, please, please don't hurt me--"

"Shhhh." He says gently as she descends into a panic. "I won't hurt you. You say you're just a girl? How old are you?"

"E-Eleven…"

"Ah! You're very tall."

"All Gerudo are tall." Well, except for one. But her breathing is evening out a little.

"And what's your name?"

"Nissa." 

"Well it's very nice to meet you, Miss Nissa. My name is Mack. I'm a painter."

"You… paint?" Nissa asks, a little bewildered at the idea of a Hylian doing something so… normal. She was expecting… well, she didn't really know what to expect."

"I do!" He nods brightly. "I do landscapes, and portraits… oh! You would make a wonderful model. You're very pretty and I don't think there are any paintings of the desert women outside of the desert."

"I…. You want to paint me ?" Nissa says incredulously.

"Only if you're willing, Miss Nissa."

The idea of this Hylian-- a voe, no less! Painting a picture of her is confusing and interesting and a little bit thrilling.

"I wouldn't ask for you to do it for free, of course, and certainly not here in the snow."

She will definitely need money if she's going to get all the way to Death Mountain.

"You'll pay me?" She checks.

"Of course. And I can escort you to Rito Village, I just came from there. A young girl shouldn't be wandering the mountains alone." Mack frowns down at her feet. "Those shoes look like they would be good for walking on sand, right?"

Nissa nods.

"But not so good on snow?"

"I've been having trouble." Nissa admits.

"I have an extra pair of boots for emergencies. They might fit you, since you're about the same size as me." He reaches into his pack and withdraws a pair of flat-footed shoes that cover the entire foot to the ankle. They seem to be fur lined on the inside.

"Oh and here's some socks."

Mack hands her the items and she looks down at them curiously, having never seen anything like this kind of boots. After a moment, she trudges over to a rock, brushes the snow off, sits down and takes off her sand boots. She shoves them in her own bag and pulls on the socks, then the boots, pulling the straps tight and then looking confoundedly at them.

"Here, I'll tie them." Mack says. "If you want."

She doesn't have a clue how, so she nods and he bends down and ties the straps into a tight bow at the top, then ties another knot. 

"There you go, Nissa! Now you're all good." He stands back up, smiling at her again.

Nissa tentatively smiles back. Maybe this voe isn't so bad.

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Link cannot believe the change. The makeup seems to have simply transformed the structure of her face in the mirror. It feels a little weird to have the stuff caked on, but Zelda assured her as she was putting it on that it wouldn't smudge and it was waterproof, and she'd get used to it on her face after a bit.

"You like it?"

Link stares into her own eyes, lined by the pencil which did turn out to be makeup, apparently, called eyeliner. Seemed to have a similar purpose to the eye paint the Gerudo have, only it's not applied with a brush and it doesn't last days. The 'mascara' had made her lashes stand out thick and prettily.

"It's wonderful." Link breathes, almost reverently. She can't believe it.

Zelda beams at her. "Alright, my turn to get ready for the day. Go sit on the bed." The princess heads back into her closet. The dress she emerges out of it wearing has a shorter skirt than Link's, and the skirt falls in diagonal waves. It's a deep blue and has a white ribbon with golden edging tied around it, knotted into a bow on her hip, on the other side of where Link's butterfly is. The bodice is layers of 'v' shapes in various shades of blue with bare shoulders. The sleeves are instead around her upper arms. Her shoes match, a pair of small flats with a strap over them and socks that go all the way up under her dress. She's holding a white ribbon. She walks over to her vanity and begins brushing her hair, only for Link to come over and take the brush to begin returning the favor. "Hair ribbon?" She asks. 

Zelda nods, setting it on the table. "I was thinking a braid."

"Mmmm." Link says noncommittally. Braids are nice and all, but she thinks she can do better. She knows how to do hair up in lots of different ways-- when everyone around you is a woman, some of them are bound to be interested in wearing up their hair, and Link's picked up quite a bit because doing up her hair makes her feel pretty.

Right now she feels absolutely beautiful . 

Link hums as rather than do a simple braid she gathers up chunks of Zelda's hair and makes multiple smaller braids, twisting and gathering them behind Zelda's head into a careful knot of braids that looks a bit like the bun Zelda put in Link's hair. It reminds her of a flower, looking ready to bloom.

…. Flowers… 

"Mama is worried about me." Link sighs.

"I know." Zelda doesn't nod, which is good because Link has not pinned this up yet and it will fall apart if Zelda moves her head. "Hairpins?"

Zelda hands over a box without moving her head and Link gets to work. 

"Ribbon?"

That's handed to her as well. She threads it in the hair just above the braid-bun and ties it into a bow.

"Can I move, now?"

Link nods, and Zelda, seeing it in the mirror, smiles. "Let me toss on some light makeup and we'll hit the world by storm."

Link thinks of how hard a sandstorm can screw up the town and smirks. "Sandstorm." She corrects.

"Even better."

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"Lady Urbosa will see you now." The Gerudo guard whom had entered their room in the inn says simply, no formalities. "She asks that you meet in her bedroom at the top of the palace as she is still recovering. You will not distress her, or I will have your heads."

Mipha nods, picking up Sidon. Tya, apparently used to the brashness, clacks her beak in amusement. "Pearla, we're going to be discussing war with a woman still coming down from the hormones of birth. We're all going to be distressed."

Mipha winces at the informality.

Pearla, however, laughs throatily. "Ah, Tya. Your tongue is as sharp as your beak. I do not mean to scare you, Princess. We aren't exactly… used… to hosting a Zora, let alone a Zora dignitary. I was...probing for a reaction."

"And did I pass your test?" Mipha asks, voice calm and level as usual.

"You didn't have a hostile reaction. Agreeable or snarky, as long as your intentions are good, we will view you as the sister you are." She turns to go. "However, if your intentions are nefarious,we will quickly move from hosts to prison guards ." 

"That is quite a fair stance to take." Mipha says.

No more is said as Pearla makes her exit.

"Don't worry, Princess. Everything will be fine." Tya assures. 

"Come along, Sidon." Mipha instructs gently, offering her hand.

"Carry me?"

"I carried you across the continent." Mipha says sternly. "You can walk through the town."

Sidon pouts but follows them out of the room.

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Urbosa sits primly on the chair in the corner of her room, trying to get comfortable. There are some of Link's older toys set up on a rug and two chairs set across the small table from in front of Urbosa's chair. Her own baby will be cared for by Pearla for the duration of this meeting, but she thought it prudent to provide entertainment for the little Prince of the Zora. A gesture of goodwill.

Princess Mipha traveled far, and in near complete secrecy, to get to the Town. The least she can do is welcome her and make her comfortable.

Blia gestures in Mipha and Tya, with a littler Zora following along like a lost little puppy. He lets out a little gasp and runs straight for the toys.

"Sidon!" Mipha begins to scold.

"Don't worry, Princess, they're there for his use anyway." Urbosa says easily, taking in the red and white Zora woman with a calm smile. 

"At least say thank you, Sidon."

"Yes Sister." Sidon stands back up and looks up at Urbosa adorably. "Thank you!"

"You're quite welcome."

Beaming, the little guy gives her a thumbs up and then rushes back to the toys. They're probably very different from the toys that he's used to.

"So, Princess Mipha--"

"Lady Urbosa, please call me Mipha. If… this meeting goes as I hope, we will be working together."

Urbosa's eyebrows go up only slightly before she smiles. "Very well, but only if you afford me the same favor."

"Ah-- Okay." Mipha nods. "It is nice to meet you, Urbosa."

"Likewise. I am afraid my daughter is not here to meet you…"

"So we have heard." Tya nods immediately. "As soon as I found out, I went back to the stable outside the desert and got my husband to join the search parties."

Urbosa hadn't known that. "Tya…"

"Revali has an advantage your warriors do not, Urbosa. From the sky, he can see much more."

"I couldn't do less than thank you with all of my heart, Tya."

"For what it is worth," Mipha says quietly, "The only reason I have not rushed to offer my own help is that the desert is inhospitable. Hearing that a child is missing…" She glances at Sidon, who is playing with some figures of Lizalfos and some that look like Gerudo warriors while making little fighting noises.

Adorable. Urbosa smiles at the sight. 

"Speaking of which, you have found your stay at least comfortable, I hope?" Urbosa says, turning back to Mipha.

"Oh, yes. The innkeeper showed me the bathing area and Sidon and I have been using it whenever I feel too dry. It is much appreciated."

"Good, good. Now, onto matters more important. Such as what drove you of all people to come all the way out here." Perhaps from another mouth that statement could be considered rude, but Urbosa says it as pleasantly and calmly as ever, voice reassuring. 

"Well… I would like to discuss a potential alliance between the Gerudo and the Zora."

Urbosa is silent for a moment, then turns and calls, "Bila. Some breakfast, please. I feel this will be a long meeting."

"Of course." The door guard heads down the stairs and she can hear her call out the orders before returning to her post.

"I was under the impression that the Zora are aligned with Hylia." Urbosa says, the distraction having given her a moment to think.

"We do." Mipha says frankly.

"Surely you can see the conflict of interest, there."

"Yes, it is that conflict that is the problem ." Mipha says. "My father wishes for us to honor the alliance and help Hylia with their proposed takeover of here and Hebra. Some people are with him. Some don't want to fight someone else's power-grabbing war, and some, including me, baulk at the idea of subjugating half the land under the heel of a man that acts nothing like the man my father once made an alliance with."

"And so your people have broken into factions." Urbosa says, understanding immediately. "I take it you are leading one of those factions?"

Mipha nods. "Father does not know. I have been very careful, kept it to only whispers. Revali has been a great help. I want this world to be safe for my brother, Urbosa. If Hylia takes over the wasteland and the mountains, there is every chance that they will then go after Zora's Domain. I will not allow that to happen!" Mipha half shouts at the end of her rant. "I will not allow innocent people to fall to a pointless war and I will not have my brother grow into a throne that's been crushed into seashell dust!"

Urbosa nods slowly. "And so you want an alliance. But how can we help you? We do not have the resources to even get to Zora's Domain, not with the Hylain military trained to arrest any Gerudo on site , and even trying would leave our home undefended."

"You misunderstand, Urbosa. I don't want your forces. I want to bring mine to help you. I'll bring my people here and to Tabantha-- We'll split my forces along gender lines, the women coming to help in the desert and the men heading for the mountains. If we stay in the settlements to defend them, that frees up your warriors to fight in the desert. We can't handle the heat and dry air enough to fight on the sands, but in towns and settlements we'll have access to water and it's much cooler here."

Urbosa takes a shaky breath. That… that might save them all. That could change their fate from certain destruction to a fighting chance.

"And what do you ask for in return?"

"Many of the women I have available will be wives and mothers. All I ask in return is that their children be given sanctuary here, in the Town, where they will be best defended. Both boys and girls. My father would never use children as a bargaining chip but I don't believe the same can be said for Rhoam. If the parents if these children fight against his armies, he may well take their children hostage."

Urbosa winces slightly at the remembrance of their history, of the children being used to force them into the desert over a thousand years ago, and then brutally slaughtered.

"You and any fighters and children you bring will have sanctuary in any of the settlements. While children are something that can slip past;" Here she looks askance at Sidon happily engroessed in his game, "I ask that you do not bring any male warriors to us so as not to make my people uncomfortable."

"It shall be done. And thank you."

"After breakfast, I will take over Revali's part in the search for Link and he will begin escorting Zora to a safe place a two hour's walk away in small groups so as not to raise any alarms from the domain. Once he has everyone gathered, he will escort them here and then to Rito Village." Tya says. 

"You've got this well-planned." Urbosa says, amused.

"I knew you wouldn't say no to the proposal." The Rito woman shrugs. "So we finalized plans as swift as the wind. 

"And you, Mipha?"

"I will stay here, with Sidon, until they get here. You and I can decide where everyone goes once they arrive."

Urbosa leans back and smiles wanly.

Finally, something is going right.

Chapter Text

Once Zelda deemed them both ready, she and Link left her room and headed for breakfast.

"The layout of the castle is deliberately confusing." Zelda says as she pushes a panel and part of a wall lifts. "It's set up so that an invader would easily get lost. There are also lots of secret passages and such. A lot of them I don't think Father even knows about. Perhaps Mother did… she used to promise to show me all the little secrets she kept in her hair."

Link snorts. 

"Yeah, it was a silly phrase. She had other ones, too… I miss her desperately…"

Zelda looks over to see a sad look in Link's eyes. She runs at her arm almost guiltily.

"Ve sab'toqes." She says, eyes downcast. Zelda frowns slightly. 

"Right, I suppose." She says instead of voicing her confusion. "Maybe you can teach me a little Gerudo?"

Link tilts her head. "'Ve'." She points at herself. "Sab'Toqes', regret. Sadness. Pity? Sad pity." She nods to herself at the last part. "Is… difficult to explain. Gerudo has many less words than Common. Many just use common, easier to get meaning across with more words."

"That makes sense, I suppose. But you still learn Gerudo?"

Link nods.

"So, you're sorry for my loss?"

Link nods enthusiastically.

"Thank you."

"Sarqso."

"Hmm?"

"Thanking. Sarqso."

"Oh! Okay!" She supposed that's a decent first language lesson. "We'll come up on people soon, so…"

Link mimes zipping her lips. Not touching her actual face to risk smudging her makeup.

"We'll be meeting with Father for breakfast. I always have breakfast with him."

Link winces.

"Don't worry. I'm confident I can tell him into submission if required. After all, he wants your cooperation. If it's on my terms rather than his, he still thinks he's winning because he hasn't learned that my terms have changed from 'try and convince father not to have a war' to 'cause havoc to express my inner rage at this war nonsense'."

A giggle comes from behind her. She grins impishly back at Link.

Before last night, the idea of going against her father was a terrifying and stupid idea that she wouldn't have even considered. She didn't have the… have the courage to do that.

Her brows knit together, pieces trying to connect in her mind. Courage marks Link, according to her father. 

There's not enough information. There's not enough information . She needs more, needs to put this puzzle together.

There's got to be an answer.

"After breakfast… we're going to the library ." She says ominously.

Link side eyes her.

"I need to figure out what this marking thing is. It's not something I can just ask Father, he'll spin whatever story he needs, I think. I need EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE! " She smacks her fist into her palm for emphasis. 

Link yelps and jumps at Zelda breaking out into yelling. Some tittering laughter comes from behind a door as they pass. The people who laugh at the importance of empirical evidence are the people who need it the most!

Link just shakes her head in bemusement.

"It's important to get your information from a reliable source! As unbiased as possible! It needs to stand up to scrutiny! You can't just cherry pick your evidence! You have to examine all facets of a problem!"

Zelda continues her rant in this fashion literally until they arrive at the dining hall doors.

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Walking on the snow had certainly been easier with the boots, and now she could see Rito Village in the distance.

"Doing alright?" Mack checks, looking back at her. Nissa's smart enough not to go in front and expose her back to a voe, no matter how nice he seems. And, of course, he is leading the way.

"Ve'sav." She mutters.

"Mm?"

"Oops! Sorry, when I get tired I sometimes forget which language I'm speaking… I'm good. A little tired but we have hiked across almost an entire mountain range. I'm fine."

He smiles at her. "Bilingual, huh? That's pretty cool. I tried to learn Zora in school but it never really clicked."

"Ah Zora… the water people, yes?"

Mack nods. He turns back and shades his eyes with his hand to take a look at the 'village' growing ever closer, a massive expanse of stairs and platforms and open air homes. The place has no right being called a village.

"I think I'd like to paint you sitting on the edge of one of those platforms, the sun at your side and the wind in your hair. Almost a profile, with you looking slightly towards the viewer. It'll be lovely."

Nissa flushes. "Um, okay." He's the artist after all.

"So, where are you headed after Rito Village? Back to the desert?"

Nissa looks around as though someone else might pop out and reveal they were listening. "I plan to go east from there. According to the map I found in my Auntie's book, it's the fastest route from the desert to Death Mountain without crossing Hylia."

"That's… a very roundabout way. Why wouldn't you cross Hylia? It would practically be straight northeast and it wouldn't be nearly as much trouble."

"Hylia's soldiers are trained to arrest us on sight, Mack." Nissa says quietly. "My being just a girl would not deter them one bit. We've had people try to leave over the years; foolish women who don't understand the danger. Over a thousand years, at least fifty known women and girls have tried to escape the desert. Only one has technically returned." Nissa shivers. "Her head was found at the break in the cliffs at the edge of the desert near that stable place. Only her head. That was three years ago."

Mack's eyes widen. "That… that's barbaric !"

"You called me a woman who lives in the desert. The men who want us dead call us sand-whores, as if it wasn't their oppression that forced us to the sand to begin with. And among those men is your King."

"That's sick . I've never understood bigotry like that but that's so extreme I can't possibly fathom it! And your people have been living in the desert for generations! It's not like anyone knows any of you personally! Why… how… I…" Mack sits down hard on a rock, uncaring of the snow upon it. "I… don't understand."

She can see tears in the corners of his eyes. They fill them and spill over the man's cheeks. 

"I didn't think there were still people like that…"

Nissa feels conflicted for just a moment before she seats herself next to him.

He pulls down his coat's hood to look at her, brown hair spilling out around his face. "I… no wonder you were so scared of me."

Nissa looks away. Unsure of why she's here, unsure of why she followed this voe across the mountains, unsure why she feels tears welling up in her own eyes. "I don't understand it either." She admits quietly.

"If it's that dangerous to leave, then why didn't you stay?"

"Because my best friend in the world is counting on me to deliver a message to Death Mountain. And I will never let her down." Nissa kicks a bit of snow with the boots. "I wish…" 

"You wish?"

"I wish things were better. I wanted to explore, and learn about the world, and meet all sorts of people, growing up. But as I grew, I learned that we Gerudo don't get that chance. We can explore the desert but it holds no more secrets for us. If we're careful, we can explore the Highlands, but most don't even do that because we're not built for the cold and the snow and there's every chance we could be caught unawares."

Like she was with Mack.

"I wanted to see the world." She says quietly. "I want to. Maybe that's why Link asked me to do this instead of Vana. She knew I wouldn't take much persuading."

Mack slowly reaches for her hand, giving her plenty of time to move it away, and clasps it in both of his. "Nissa… you deserve to see the world. Learn all cultures, live your life." There are still tear tracks on his face, glimmering in the cold. "You're going to get to Death Mountain. I'll make sure of it."

"You… huh?"

"I'm coming with you. I can't well leave a little girl to travel the world on her own, right? No, you need someone to protect you. I'm not much of a fighter, but anyone who'll try to stop you will have to go through me."

"I… I can't go with a, a man… I… I'm scared…" She whispers the last. If she puts her trust in Mack… if she lets down her guard…

What would be the cost?

"You've already been with me almost two days." He points out gently. "I wouldn't hurt you, Nissa."

She wants to believe. When she turned ten, Auntie told her the story of the Gerudo. It was a cold, cruel reality.

She doesn't want a reality like that. Tears trace her cheeks as a thousand years of fear and anger sit upon her shoulders.

And then it hits her.

Link fits right in among the Gerudo vai. There's nothing inherently wrong with Hylian voe, they're… individuals. Each holds their own beliefs. And Mack's beliefs… seem to mirror hers. "I want a better world. One where I don't have to be scared." She says quietly.

"We'll do our part to make it happen." Mack says with quiet conviction, reaching up with one hand to wipe at her tears. "This is the first step, Nissa. Are you willing to take it? I am."

Nissa takes a deep breath. "Mack, I… if I put my trust in you, what will it cost me in the end?" Her hope, her innocence? 

"Friendship. That's all I want. Oh, and to paint you. I'll paint you all over the world if you want, Nissa. The mountains, the forests, the desert, the ocean… anywhere you want to go, I'll take you there. I'll keep you safe from nasty bigots and you keep me safe from nasty monsters." He grins a little.

She had been rather violently dispatching monsters across the mountains. Ice Chuchus are the worst. You think you've killed them and then they explode and it's enough to freeze your feet to the snow.

"You only want to be friends?" Nissa says.

"I think we could be good friends, Nissa."

The eleven year old takes a deep breath, steeling herself for the biggest decision of her life. "I would like to travel with you, if you don't mind."

His face breaks into a big grin. "Alright. Then we better get going. If we can get to Rito Village by sunset I can have it in the background of the painting ."

He stands and helps her up.

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Zelda bursts into the dining hall as though absolutely nothing is odd, the doors whacking against the wall.

She moves to sit down at her usual sweet at the big table and gestures for Link to sit beside her.

Her father is staring in absolute confusion, clearly trying to work out who the heck she brought into breakfast.

She watches the gears turn in his head, slowly smirking as it takes him enough time that it can be considered uncomfortable silence. If he's really having this much trouble realizing the tanned girl at her side is the same tanned girl he threw in the dungeon last night, then at least she knows her contouring is on point.

Who says people can't shapeshift?

She sees when it clicks.

"Daughter. What is the meaning of this?"

"We're entertaining Link this morning, obviously, Father. It was ever so rude of you to put her in the dungeon." Zelda says with aggressive innocence.

"I-- he, why--" Her father stops and takes a deep breath and she smiles sunnily at him. Link also gives him a smile mirroring hers. "Alright, we'll start from the top. How did you even know the boy was down there?"

"What boy, father? There wasn't a boy in the dungeon."

Her father blinks, clearly thrown and not expecting his question to go off the rails in that manor. She's gotta throw him off his rhythm.

"The, the boy sitting next to you!"

Zelda turns wide eyes on both Link in the seat next to her and the empty seat at her other side. "Father, are you well? There's no boys here. Only Link."

" Link is the boy!"

"Father, she said she was a girl. She's dressed as a girl. I can't think of a boy that would sit still and let me cake so much makeup on his face."

"I--" He visibly calms himself down. "Okay, how did you find out she was in the dungeon?" He corrects himself, obviously deciding to pick his battles, and that continuing down that line of questioning is the path to insanity. Which is a shame because it was quite funny to play dumb and innocent.

"Well, Father, I heard one of your soldiers talking about the kid in the dungeon and I went to investigate. Kids don't belong in dungeons after all, so if there was one down there than it must have been some silly guard's mistake."

Father is now rubbing his temples and staring at the table. "Nayru save me." He mutters. "Alright, so you went down to see hi-- her . Why in the name of the goddesses did you let her out?"

"Because she was down there by mistake, remember?" Zelda says, still weaponizing innocence and a child's unbeatable logic. 

"She was--"

"After all, if you approved of her being in that cell, that would make you a bad person, Father. Children don't belong in cages."

Her father stops short and looks at her-- really looks at her, like he's never seen her before. Zelda turns up the innocence in her expression, but her words are hitting the man where it hurts. Time to up the pain and twist the knife. "Mother would never have married a bad man, Father." It's a low blow, low enough that even she feels a twinge of pain at the knowledge that, if her mother had known what Zelda now knew, she would never have married her father.

And now Father had the choice to either tarnish both her mother's memory and have her own image of him crash and burn (like it already has, not that he knows), or go along with the convenient excuse she's provided him with.

"Ah, yes. I'll have to reprimand the one who decided that ." He says. Just like she knew he would. Adults are too easy. "Moving on, how did you learn hi- her name?"

"I asked." Zelda says simply.

Once again rubbing his temples, Father sighs. "She doesn't understand us."

"Excuse me, but where's your EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE!?" She shouts the words and slams her hand on the table. "She understands me just fine! Did you meet her yesterday? Before someone locked her in a cell?"

"I, um…"

"She told me you yelled at her and insulted her mother! And her Mama! You should be ashamed, Father, what would Mother say?"

"I--"

Tears well in Zelda's eyes. "Father, what would Mother say?" All she can see is the image from her nightmare, of that horrible pulsing mud everywhere, her father smiling and half his face infected, infected with that horrible stuff. "Father… what would Mother say…?" She asks a little more helplessly, a little more brokenly. Nothing makes sense now that she sees it with clarity.

Was her Father always so bad and she and Mother were just willfully blind?

"Zelda…" Father begins, but she pushes her chair out and offers a hand to Link.

"I don't recognize you anymore. I remember the Father that would read me stories and taught me piano, I remember the Father that smiled at Mother and me while I learned to ride horses. Where is he, Father? What did you do with him? You say that Link's birth mother was a traitor to the crown. Link says her birth mother was trying to protect her from you . I feel like I don't know you anymore. Tell me, tell me why you're so determined to hurt people? That's all war is, is hurting people…" Zelda breaks down into tears and Link hugs her, sending a scathing look at her Father.

"Zelda, I don't expect you to understand--"

" WHAT IS THERE TO UNDERSTAND, YOU'RE HURTING PEOPLE! " Zelda screams, hearing her heart crack even over the noise of her own wail. 

Link is gently leading her away and she's going but she's still crying and still staring at her father. That was his last chance, his last chance to defend himself and not blow her off.

And he blew her off.

With her still sobbing, Link leads her out of the room and down the hall, obviously not knowing where to go but knowing better than to stay put. Zelda can't even think straight she just keeps blubbering and bawling. And so they wander deeper into the castle until Link finds a nook with a window, sits them both down, and holds Zelda tight as she breaks down.

Failure. Failure. She broke down, she lost her composure.

She failed but so did her Father. He failed.

She put her trust in him, and it cost her everything.

Chapter Text

The painting turned out gorgeously, and Nissa couldn't stop stealing glances at it as it dried. 

It's breathtaking, just like the view was when she perched herself on one of the many, many ledges. The sunset in the background, her hair almost individual strands as the wind rippled through it. It's so detailed. 

When he said he was a painter, Mack didn't say he could make a plain old Gerudo girl look like an angel in the skies. The platform she'd been sitting on and the one that had supported her feet in the same position for hours as she drank in the view had been left unpainted, but the details of the city behind and beside her had, including Rito far in the skies, barely visible. With the relaxed pose he'd set her up in and her supports unpainted, it looks like she is simply lounging in the sky, untethered and free like the Rito from the village. Visible ripples of wind and feathers swirl around her.

It's the most beautiful piece of art she's ever seen, and not because she's in it. Because it's beautiful .

"You can stop boggling any time." Mack says with a little chuckle. 

"It's incredible! You're incredible! How did you make it so detailed and pretty--"

"Trade secret." Mack chuckles. "Now let's go up to that clothing shop a few stories up."

"Why?" Nissa asks, confused.

"If the Hylian military is trained to recognize you on sight, then it's probably better if you don't wear your desert clothes."

"... Oh. Good point. But I have no money--"

"Nissa, I'm buying. I told you I'll get you to Death Mountain. However that needs to be done. You need a few changes of clothes. We'll probably have to buy more along the way-- the stuff they sell here is cold weather gear."

"O-Oh…." Nissa sighs. "Fine. I will let you buy me clothes. But eventually I will pay you back!"

"Alright, if you want to." Mack nods.

Nearly two hours later, Nissa escapes the confines of the clothing shop much to the amusement of the proprietor. They had found some lighter gear that wasn't meant for traversing the mountains, and something that would be useful, very useful, in the coming days when they skirted too close to Hylia. A hooded cloak with a short cape, colored a soft blue that reminds her of Link and her love for turquoise. 

She'll come back to her friend, successful. 

"Okay," Mack begins, allowing her a moment to tuck her distinctive flame-red hair, now done up around her head with a toothed silver hair clip decorated with small rubies, into her hood. "You look great!" 

In addition to the hair clip he insisted on buying to help keep it easier to hide in the hood, she was now wearing black hiking trousers and a shirt the saleswoman had said was a 'tank top'. The cloth is unfamiliar and rough, although she knows Link has dresses like this. She rather likes the trousers, they feel sturdier than her usual clothes.

In addition to the hiking clothes, Mack had grabbed cold-weather and hot weather gear for her, as well as a thick and sturdy wool dress that could be coated in fireproof elixir so her clothes wouldn't simply turn to ash around her.

With the cloak hanging over her shoulders and upper arms, and the trousers and new hiking boots (which she'd been assured were different than the snow boots, though they looked much alike and she protested a lot when Mack insisted on buying them), her midriff covered by the shirt and her hair hidden in the hood, every inch of her skin besides her face and forearms and hands is covered. A Rito-made Swallow Bow joins the Lizalfos Spear and the shield she'd found in the snow outside someone's hut that seemed to be abandoned on her back. She had stored away her Gerudo-made weapons, bow, and shield, and no one would question her outfit or traveling weapons.

"Thanks, Mack… now, we need to go east, right?"

"We do."

"This'll take forever…" Nissa murmurs irritably.

"Just a few days, really." Mack assures as they descend the steps of the section of the settlement they're on. "We'll just go on horses. They sell them at the stable down there." He points at the strange building with the giant metal animal head on the roof.

"What's a horse? Also, stop buying things for me!"

"Nissa, I have plenty of money. Since I travel so much, I just smack my hammer on the ore deposits that are all over the place and end up with tons of gems just while getting from place to place. As for what a horse is, I suppose the desert is not the most hospitable environment for them. They're four-legged riding animals that we use to get around Hyrule."

"Oh, like sand seals?"

"I'm sorry, sand what now?"

"Sand seals. You sneak up behind one and loop a rope around it's tail then ride around on a shield using the rope to steer. Of course, we breed and train some so that they're easier to deal with, but you really can just sling a rope around one in the wild and just go. Really, really, really fast. They swim through the sand and you can literally cross the entire desert in like an hour and a half. "

Mack is staring at her dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, did you just described sneaking up on a wild animal, haphazardly looping a rope around the tail before it flees, and then letting it drag you behind it at mach speed on a shield with only a rope ? What happens if you slip or the rope snaps?"

"Then you will probably die. Maybe get seriously injured if you're lucky? I don't recall it happening recently." Nissa shrugs. "It's pretty much the only way we have to get across the desert without taking days just to walk from one settlement to another. A round trip from the Town to the deepest settlement is six days on foot, having to walk on sand and deal with alternately boiling hot and freezing cold between day and night. Add in carrying supplies or the like and you're looking at maybe a week? What happens if one of the settlements runs out of water? They'd have to take the three day trip to the town and at least three days back! The entire settlement would die from dehydration before the messenger even got to Town. What choice do we have but to take sand seals, which gets you there and back in forty-five minutes? We know how to handle them, we're taught practically since we're old enough to walk. What other option is there?"

Mack has shrunken more and more into himself as each fact hit home. 

Nissa knows why.

"The desert is a dangerous place, Mack. We've adapted. We had to. And now we have nowhere else to go. Look at how I'm dressed! We had to practically bury me in clothing to keep people from noticing I'm not a Hylian. And people would notice."

Mack takes her hand and gently leads her down the last few steps until they reach solid ground.

"You'll find riding a horse much safer. Maybe not as breakneck, but I think we can make the trip in just a few days."

"Mack… thank you. I never expected to meet a voe, a man, who would have actual sympathy for our plight."

"Of course I do! It's horrible!"

Nissa smiles tiredly. "Let's just get moving. The sooner I get out to Death Mountain, the sooner I can get home to Auntie."

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Zelda is a disheveled mess once she finally stops crying. Her head pounds and her heart aches. Link took out most of her braids in order to run her fingers soothingly through Zelda's hair, leaving it a wavy mess.

"I'm sorry…" She whispers, trying to pull away.

Link simply holds her tighter before letting her go.

"I… I should not have brought Mother into the argument. It… was wrong of me, to hit him with that. And it was wrong of me to speak of my mother when yours is no doubt in a horrible panic…"

Link takes her hand and squeezes it.

There's an odd grumbly noise, and the Gerudo girl looks down at her stomach and pokes it.

Zelda gives a choked laugh. "We should go to the kitchen and eat there."

Link gently wipes Zelda's face free of the last of her tears and nods. "Tell about your vabava. Your mother."

"Over breakfast?"

Link nods as Zelda leads the way, their hands still clasped. 

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Sidon saw and heard more than his beloved big sister seemed to notice.

She loves him, adores him, would tear down the world and rebuild it for him if she needed to.

He's never seen her go against their father, and the stress in her expression, the tension in her fins and shoulders, the way her fingers inch towards her trident whenever someone moves or speaks suddenly or unexpectedly makes him deeply unhappy..

He doesn't think she knows that he knows that he's the whole reason they're here. 

He just doesn't know the words to say. To make her feel better. He isn’t able to comprehend the level of badness that would stress his big sister so much.

"Sidon! Lunch time!"

Obediently, Sidon leaves their inn room and heads for Mipha's voice. She's seated at the table with Nice Miss Lumie, who ran the inn.

Nice Miss Lumie smiles at him. "I don't get to see little ones as cute as you very often in my inn, Sidon."

"There will be lots of Zora children running around soon." Mipha says, sipping on a glass of something that smells sweet and looks cold. "Ooooh, this is nice."

"It's a Noble Pursuit. Gerudo specialty. It's made with ice ."

"How in the world do you get ice out here?" Mipha says in surprise.

"Out back of the town we have an underground ice shed. It's deep enough that at night it freezes water and during the day it stays cool enough to keep it from melting.”

Ice, ice is something Sidon understands. “Ice is cold.” He puts in, just to make sure Sister and Nice Miss Lumie know.

“Sure is, little voe.” Nice Miss Lumie says kindly.

“Whassat?”

“It’s a boy, or a man.” She explains. “While meanwhile a girl or woman would be referred to as a Vai. Those that do not consider themselves to be either are known as vae. That’s also the name of a group of vai and voe.”

“Sister and I are vae?”

Mipha beams. “What a smart little brother I have.” She cooes.

Smarter than Sister thinks. She helps him into a chair that’s too tall for him and frowns down at the vegetables on the plate. There’s a fish, too, but most of it he doesn’t know and assumes they’re veggies. “Noooooooooooooooooooo.” He whines, looking to his sister, hoping for mercy.

Sister giggles and pats his head. “It’s local fruit. It would be rude not to try it, don’t you think? Lumie made it just for you.”

Fruit… Well, it’s not carrots, and it does smell kind of sweet. He still peers at it suspiciously before beginning to eat.

Not the worst thing he’s ever had. It’s not carrots.

“So you and Lady Urbosa have come to an agreement?”

“Yes.” Mipha says, sounding relieved. “Women from my people will guard the towns so that your warriors can guard the desert. In exchange, the children of the women will be given succor here in the town. We’re working out which families will take in children with the women, and we’re hoping you can take in some?”

“If they don’t mind sharing some rooms and they’re as well behaved as Sidon, I certainly wouldn’t mind.” Nice Miss Lumie agrees immediately.

Sister relaxes minutely. “I just hope it’s enough. At this point… I’m not sure I believe we have a chance at stopping them if Hylia launches a full scale attack.”

And suddenly, Sidon knows just what to say. “I believe in Sister!  I believe in Nice Miss Lumie and I believe in Nice Lady Urbosa and I believe you will keep us all safe! I believe in you!”

Miph had frozen at the beginning of his declaration and by the end of it she’s crying. He’s just starting to worry he said the wrong thing when she scoops him into her arms and holds him tight. “Sidon… Yes, yes, you’re right. We can do it. We Zora do not give in!”

“Yes!” Sidon agrees as Mipha rubs tears from her eyes.

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“Mother was a wonderful person.” Zelda sighs, having about talked herself out about how much she misses her mother. They’re sitting at a table in the back of the kitchen, the chefs having made the two of them breakfast without a single question. “She always took care of me, always insisted on teaching me herself. We would sit in her study and she taught me to read, and write. She taught me history, and she taught me how to research. She loved exploring ancient relics, and trying to figure out how they work….”

“Relics?”

“Oh! Yes.” She looks around as though to see if someone is watching before she bends down and pulls something out of her sock. She shows it to Link.

It’s a circular disk with a twisting and turning pattern and a little bump on the side glowing with an ethereal orange light.

Link takes it and inspects it from every angle. “Hmmm.” She hums, fingers searching for a latch or button. Nothing. Obviously it did something , the glow wasn’t just there for show.

“There was… another thing…” Zelda says, eyes downcast.

Link looks up from probing the disc to see her friend clutching her fork in a white-knuckled grip. “Terrako. I built it myself out of some of the parts Mother had lying around. When Mother… When I lost Mother, it was my only comfort. Terrakopromised to never leave me…” Glittering tears plink down onto the table. “Father took it shortly after. I begged him not to. I cried and pleaded and tugged at his robes, but he said that ‘toys’ like it were a distraction and detrimental to my learning and training. One of my last two links to my Mother, my only friend, and he took it and proclaimed it a useless toy that I didn’t need. Only weeks after I had already lost my mother…” Zelda sounds like she’s been dying to let this burst from her chest for a long time. “I didn’t sleep for almost a week. I had been hugging it at night and it would play me my favorite lullaby to keep me from thinking of my pain. Once Terrakowas gone… I just laid there crying at night. I was scared and sad and lonely and no one else seemed to care. It was like the kingdom had done their mourning and they moved on without me.”

After a moment, she pushes away her half-eaten plate. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

Link stands up, abandoning her nearly empty plate, and comes over to wrap her arms around her friend.

“No one would comfort me. No, it was just back to lessons and training and getting scolded for messing up and failing.” Zelda sobs into Link’s shoulder. No one understood.”

Link runs a gentle hand through the blonde waves of hair. It’s getting even messier, with parts of braids hanging around and pins sticking out of it but neither girl seems to care.

Link suspects Zelda was never given enough time to properly grieve for her mother. That was something Mama insisted was an important thing. Time to accept what had happened, time to process that the object of grief wouldn’t be around anymore. Time to seek comfort from loved ones and friends. Going through that pain until acceptance  was important or it would color everything you did from then on. It would turn simple loss into deep trauma.

No, it sounds like Zelda went from losing the most important person in her life to being given the cold shoulder from her father and teachers, and seeking comfort in what she had made with her mother only to have what she considered the other important person in her life to take away the only thing bringing her comfort and insisting it was worthless. Then while she was struggling to recover from the double blow she was repeatedly told she was a failure for not keeping her composure and doing what was expected of her.

By Din it was a wonder Zelda could do anything with that much deep-seated pain.

Link looks down at the little disc and places it back in Zelda’s hand.

“Link…” The princess only gets that far before she breaks down again.

The other people in the kitchen are completely ignoring their princess’ tears. Not a single person asked why she wasn’t eating with her father, and not a single person asks why she’s crying.

“Take me to library.” Link says quietly, trying to distract Zelda, who scrubs at her face.

“R-right. Of course. Come on…”

Clinging to Link’s arm, she leads the way through the castle corridors.

Chapter Text

Link thought she knew what a library is. A larger than normal collection of books, multiple shelves’ worth, were able to be rented out from Nissa’s Auntie in the town. Link, if she had to guess, would say there were about two hundred books. Which is, in her mind, an awful lot of books. Nissa devoured them, had read nearly every single one plus any she could borrow from anyone else.

Nissa’s head would have exploded if she were the one to follow Zelda into the castle’s library.

The room just seems to go on for miles. Shelves and shelves and shelves of colorfully bound books are back to back and side to side, making aisles of books that go almost to the ceiling. A dozen chandeliers haphazardly throw light onto heavy wooden tables.

Link is literally hyperventilating. It’s one thing to look at dresses and makeup and think idly, ‘oh, that would be really hard to get ahold of in the desert’. It’s one thing to note that a bedroom could literally be the size of a house and discard the thought.

This, though. This is an affront too far.

“Link?! Link, look at me, are you alright?”

This is what Hylia has denied her people. This is obscene . Disgusting.

She feels like she might pass out.

"Link?"

Zelda's shaking her shoulders-- she's sunk to the floor, breathing heavily.

This library is as big as the entire marketplace in Town, buildings included.

There must be hundreds of thousands of books here.

Books full of knowledge, knowledge lost to the Gerudo simply because the same greedy people who hoard these books have them trapped in the desert, barely making it by. Delectable food just sitting in giant pantries, a dining hall as big as the palace and all of it is sickening, sickening, sickening.

Physically sickening. Or maybe that's the hyperventilation putting her stomach in her throat.

This library is a very physical representation of Hylia's oppression of the Gerudo. And Link finds herself on all fours, vomiting from stress or disgust while Zelda and a little old lady fuss over her.

It's just one thing after another this morning.

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At the foot of Death Mountain, Nissa gets off her horse (named Elaine) and begins digging in her bag. Mack hops off of his own horse, Granite. 

"I'll set up camp here, Nissa." He says. They've already discussed that she only has enough fireproof elixir for one. This leg of the journey will have to be made alone. 

She's been soaking the dress in the stuff for a few hours while they rode, and now she chokes down the rest of it and changes quickly behind a tree.

"Be careful out there, Nissa." Mack says gently. "I'll be waiting here for you."

She nods, stepping out in the open in the thick woolen dress. Her hiking boots have been covered in the paste.

"That was nasty." She says, making a face.

Mack laughs a little. They'd spent a lot of their riding time from Tabantha to Eldin just talking, getting to know each other. He had talked about his time traveling the land, exploring and painting anything even remotely interesting. He made money selling his pieces and selling the gems he gathers while traveling. He told her about his late wife and how very brave she was, how much he loved her, but she and their infant son had been gone for a decade. He'd started traveling to help him with his grief and really never stopped.

Nissa told him about losing her mother to the Yiga Clan as a very young girl and growing up with her Auntie, running the Town's library. How she'd read nearly every book in the desert and it had filled her mind with fanciful tales of other regions and people. She talked about Vana's determination to become a medic, how she studied every day and apprenticed under the best, but Nissa knew she could be so much better if she had more resources to learn from.

She talks about Link, the adopted daughter of Lady Urbosa, how seriously the girl took her position as the daughter of the chief. How they hoped to gain the aid of the Gorons.

She'd poured out more of her hopes and dreams to Mack than she had to anyone else.

He didn't judge, just listened. Encouraged her. Promised to help her find some medical textbooks to bring to her friend.

It felt nice, to get this off her chest. She felt disconnected from her Auntie sometimes-- the shadow of her mother's death hanging silently between them.

The support she was getting was oddly… parental. She could easily imagine Link having a conversation like this with Urbosa. Vana with her mother.

A Hylian voe was not something she could ever have expected to spill all her secrets to, but something about Mack had just started making her feel safe around him, like he'd enthusiastically support all of her plans no matter what they are. Like he'd support her choices, no matter what they were.

Nissan pulls the hood off and puts her hair down. Neither cloak nor clip will survive this heat.

She says her goodbyes to Mack, promising to be back as soon as she can, and begins to climb Death Mountain itself.

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"I don't know, she just started freaking out the moment we entered the library…" Zelda tells the castle doctor. Link is curled up on one of the infirmary cots, shivering as she recovers from what was definitely a panic attack.

Dr. Namia nods, putting her hand against Link's forehead. "She seems to be alright, Princess. Give her a while longer to calm down and try to avoid taking her to the library again until we figure out what spooked her so badly."

"Yes Doctor." Zelda looks at the pair of books Nimune had given her after Zelda had specified what they were trying to learn about. Two old, worn journals-- one blue and stamped with the royal symbol, and the other a soft green stamped with the same symbol on Link's hand, with the lower right triangle embossed in gold.

Nimune had told Zelda that those books were strictly to only be removed from the library by a Hylian Princess named Zelda. They were locked away by the last Princess Zelda with her orders being passed from librarian to librarian.

With nothing else to do, she lifts the blue journal and reaches for the clasp.

It doesn't budge. Zelda frowns and looks closer at the latch. She hadn't been given a key for this. Teeny tiny text in a fancy script that definitely wasn't there before she touched it is now engraved around the keyhole.

The key is the blood of the goddess .

What?

With a sigh, she puts that one aside to pick up the green one. This one doesn't have a key hole, but still won't open, much to her frustration. It's as if all the pages are glued together.

This is stupid, the whole point was that she would get some answers !

Well if she can't get answers from the library, she'll have to get them from somewhere else. She'll have to do something drastic. 

She glances at Link, who looks at her miserably.

"Are you okay?"

The other girl shakes her head but keeps her own counsel.

"Link… will you help me break into Father's study tonight?" She asks quietly. Link's eyes go big.

"I think we're only going to find the information we need if we take it. I need to know what Father is planning for us, I need to know why he had your mother killed. I need to know what's going on !"

Link looks away. "Need to go."

"Go?" Zelda says quietly.

Link nods. "Need to go. Was on my way somewhere when caught. Need to get there and go home."

"... If you help me get this information, then I'll come with you."

Link's eyes widen even more.

"It's not like I'm getting anything useful done here." Zelda sighs. 

"... Okay."

The pair share a long look.

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"That's quite a tale, Nissa!" Daruk says, looking over the notes that Link wrote. "I can see you worked hard to get here. And your friend is absolutely right, if we had known things were this bad…" He shakes his head. "King Rhoam has lost the plot!"

"Did Hylia ever have the plot to begin with?" Nissa grumbles, picking at the 'rock sirloin' in front of her. "Link would eat this without hesitation." She notes, still trying to figure out if it was just straight up a rock or if it was actually edible to her.

"Sounds like a girl after my own heart!" Daruk says.

"Oh definitely, you'd love her. Everyone loves her."

"She must be pretty special to have you convinced to come all this way."

"Knowing that I actually succeeded… that's enough for me. I can't wait to see her again."

"Well I'll take you right to my old man! You'll have the help you need before you know it."

Chapter Text

Pearla hisses in frustration, spreading her hands across the map to flatten it. It's already flat, but the action gives her something to do with her hands.

She feels like a damn failure. 

"Captain?" One of the warriors asks gruffly.

"I'm going to take a break." Pearla snaps. "I want a report from Ambassador Revali by the time I come back."

"Make sure you eat something." The warrior says firmly. "You have not been taking care of yourself."

"Vai, what I do with my own health is no worry of yours." Pearla half-snaps.

"I disagree, Captain. I'll take it to Lady Urbosa if I must."

"She has enough to worry about!" 

"Then don't do something that will make her worry more."

The worst part is, Pearla can't argue with that logic.

She sighs and walks from the training area to the main square of the town, glaring at nothing.

A left, and then through the lanes until she reaches an exit to the west of the Town. This area is rarely visited by anyone. Sun-bleached stones dot the sands, each marking a life that was once a member of the community.

All except one.

Pearla picks her way through the graves in the golden sands, until she reaches one in particular. This stone is, fittingly, paler than the others. Pearla had purposely gone to the same place she went to for all other grave stones, had deliberately picked one that was utterly average, that wouldn't stand out or look out of place among Pearla's fallen sisters' stones, and yet...

The stone had bleached in the sun faster than it had any right to.

She kneels in front of it, her hands sliding into the sand. Traditionally, Gerudo gravestones carry the name of the deceased, her mother, and any daughters she had.

This one only bore two names. None of the warriors had known the name of the woman Annabelle called Mother, and so…

Annabelle

Mother of Link

Warrior

The words are stark, carved the same as any other.

Pearla sighs and brushes some sand off the marker. 

"I'm still looking for her." She assures. "I believe she's still out there. A smart, resourceful, skilled girl like that…" Pearla shakes her head. " Annabelle was a warrior, and was honored as such by the customs of the ones who had taken her and her child in. Women are sisters, and at the end the Captain of the Royal Guard had come not to her own people but to the Gerudo for help.

Lady Urbosa had insisted upon honoring Link’s birth mother same as anyone else. Pearla had dutifully dona as she was told, in complete agreement. Maybe some others would disagree, but not Pearla. She understands duty to your people, and duty to those you care for.

“I believe she’s still out there. But I tell you, sister,” She huffs, seating herself on the sand. “I’m going to skin that little vai alive once I find her for worrying us so.”

It’s growing cooler now, as the sun rapidly sinks. The cemetery is far enough away from the Town that it’s not insulated from the worst of the cold.

“Pearla?”

The Captain jolts and turns her head as Urbosa steps delicately through the graves, coming to a stop beside Pearla. She shivers slightly, eyes locked on the gravestone.

“Lady Urbosa, you should be resting.” Pearla points out, worried for the Chief in the cold. Surely that’s why she’s shaking so. “It’s only been a few days since--”

“I am fine, as is Savannah.” Urbosa says tensely. “More worryingly, I have heard you haven’t had a decent meal or a night’s rest in days.”

Pearla flushes darkly. She’ll have whoever went telling tales running laps around the desert--

“No revenge punishments. We’re all worried about you.”

She huffs out a breath. “I should have gone with her.”

“You can’t blame yourself, Pearla.” Urbosa says firmly, offering her hand to help her old friend up. “It’s hardly the first time Link has gone exploring in the desert on her own. She could-- she can-- take care of herself.”

“Well then where is she?!” Pearla snaps before deflating. Urbosa is the last person she should be yelling at. Probably the only person in the entire desert more worried than she is.

“I wish I knew.” Lady Urbosa says gently, pulling Pearla to her feet. “We mustn’t give up. And you need to go feed yourself and sleep before you collapse on the sands. You can not run yourself into the ground, not and succeed.”

Pearla glances back at the grave marker.

“Come on.” Urbosa chides. “I don’t want you working until you’ve gotten at least six hours of sleep and eaten dinner and breakfast. That’s an order.”

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Silent, stealthy, small shades slip slyly through the hall, the moon casting light through large bay windows and silhouetting a pair of young girls as they dart from shadow to shadow.

Link and Zelda are both wearing dark colors, both packed and ready to go. They’ve already raided the armoury. The only place they need to go before they leave is the most dangerous place to be caught in.

“I’ve never even been in Father’s study.” Zelda hisses. She peers around a corner, quickly ducking her head back. “There’s a guard walking this way.”

Link nods and pulls her friend behind a large ornamental vase. A really large ornamental vase. Too fancy. Too opulent.

The guard tromps right past. Link glares at the vase. If she had been under Pearla she’d be running laps around the desert for a lack of situational awareness.

Link huffs silently and waits until the footsteps are gone to pull Zelda down the hall. Her feet are silent, swift as the wind on the sand. The Princess’s are less so, but she is trying.

“We're almost there." Zelda whispers as they turn another corner. "I'm so nervous…"

Link takes her hand and gives it a squeeze, and Zelda smiles wanly at her.

"You're right. We'll be okay." She says in a tone that makes Link think she's trying to convince herself. 

Link nods encouragingly anyway, checking the next corner before she slips down the hall.

"It's just… what if I'm not doing the right thing?"

Link pauses, glancing back at her. "... You think too much." She says after a long moment of silence. Zelda's jaw drops open.

" What ?"

"I meant what I said. You think too much. Try to look into every tiny thing, worry about every little detail like Lizalfos with bone. You spend too much time thinking, not enough doing . You pick a course and then talk yourself out of the plan, and why? Because you think too much."

"I-- there's nothing wrong with being sure --"

"You go in circles. Is this right, is it wrong? Wrong, right, wrong, right. And you're usually right the first time! But you worry and worry and it clogs up your thoughts. If I worried like you I would be dead. Killed a dozen times on the way to this castle. Sometimes you just have to fire the bomb arrow and hope it takes out all the monsters, cause if you don't they'll eat you."

Zelda blinks, a little lost at the end.

"Sometimes you walk into field of zappy jelly monsters and you just have to choose , do you stick them with spear or slash them with sword? And you don't have time to second guess." Link tries again.

"... Chuchus?"

"I don't know, that is not the point! Thinking too much costs you the battle. Pick a course, adapt, survive. This is your course. Follow. Adapt. Survive. You tell me, you say you don't want to do things the way you have been. So then you tell me, 'Link, I'm coming with you.' but now you're thinking, 'what happens if I stay?' like you don't already know. The same thing that already happened will happen if you stay. So either stay, or go. Two choices. Pick, don't get caught up. You're a smart vai, you know what to do. So do it."

"... Do I really overthink so badly?"

"Yesterday, you took me out of the cage. You acted, not thought. This morning, you did the same with your Father. Tell me, did you feel better after acting than you did just waiting for something to happen?"

Zelda stops, a contemplative look on her face. Link drops her head in her hands. "You know the answer. You don't need to take a long time to think!" She complains, her voice going a bit hoarse. "You know the answer!"

"But I--"

"First thing that comes to mind. Did it feel better to do than to sit?"

"Yes." Zelda whispers.

"You spiral . You worry and worry and worry the problem into dust. There's an easier way. Act."

"Okay, okay. I'll try to stop being so nervous…"

Link nods.

The trek through the halls is quiet for a while. Link hates this castle. How does anyone find their way? She misses the rigid grid system of the Town.

"Why is it so hard to get places?!" She finally demands after they enter a third secret passage. 

"The castle was built for a siege, it's deliberately difficult to navigate in case enemies get inside."

Link shakes her head in dismay. On the off chance an enemy got into this fortress , they lived their lives in a place that was confusing on purpose . The Town was nice and simple to navigate-- that meant that an enemy in the town could easily be steered by pursuing guards and it was much more difficult for them to hide . You could have a hundred monsters in all these passages and hallways and you'd never notice until you opened one and you got stabbed in the gut! And it was easy to find your way around!

"Hylians… are not practical."

Zelda looks at her in confusion like she doesn't see anything wrong with this nonsense and Link just shakes her head again.

Ridiculous.

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Daruk hums brightly as he escorts Nissa down the side of the Volcano. It had been a good meeting with his father. He had blustered at first, shocked to find a girl from the desert on his doorstep, but once Daruk had convinced him to listen he'd easily gotten permission to take a few hearty Gorons and follow Nissa back to the desert. It was clear that they needed to speak with Lady Urbosa in person! They weren't getting the full side of the story staying sedentary on Death Mountain.

Daruk has initially planned to bring a few others, but Nissa expressed the worry that it was probably not a good idea to turn up mob-handed when they weren't expected, so he'd agreed to come by himself. Better that than a bunch of Gorons becoming pincushions filled with arrows!

The moon is high in the sky by the time they reach Nissa's friend's camp. He's delighted to see her return, and Nissa introduces him as Mack. Mack is an artist, and Daruk happily spends the next hour or so being shown various pieces. 

"It's great to see someone so devoted to their craft!" Daruk booms happily, looking down at the small canvas in his huge hand. It's a painting of Nissa, and it's fantastic. Wonderful! Amazing. "Anyone can see the effort you put in!"

"Um, thank you, Daruk." Mack says a bit shyly. Nonsense! There's no reason to be shy! Daruk claps him on the back, nearly sending the man pitching forward. Nissa giggles musically.

"I know we have to get you back to the desert as soon as we can, Nissa," Mack says as he puts the piece back into its protective covering and then back into his pack, "but when this is over, I'll bring you back if you want."

Nissa looks over the seething, glowing fury of Death Mountain shining under the moonlight behind them.

"I want the mountain at night in the background." She decides after a moment.

"Huh?" Daruk blinks, having lost the thread of the conversation.

"With the right perspective, you could be almost as big as the mountain." Mack muses, already sketching. Nissa looks gleeful.

Oh, to paint her here! Daruk laughs. "I bet it will be wonderful. I'll tell you what, I'll even get ahold of some gems to pile around. Gems reflecting lava is an amazing sight."

Mack's eyes practically glow with joy in the firelight.

"I can not wait." Nissa says firmly, a smile upon her painted lips. 

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In King Rhoam's study, two girls searching for information accidentally knock an old crate off the shelf. They exchange a panicked look at the loud sound, but then something from inside the box kicks the lid off, and a blue glow comes from within, followed by a strange, chirping noise.

Zelda gasps as the chirps give way to the notes of a song and a familiar shape scuttles out of the box on three metal legs.

Chapter Text

Three days had passed since Link and Zelda left the castle under the cover of night. The two young girls had taken anything that looked useful and easy to carry from the King's study on their way out, which included the little robotic creature that was walking between them, chirping excitedly.

Zelda had cried like a baby when Terrako had tumbled out of that box and looked up at her, then begun to play a lullaby. Link thinks the little guy is adorable, personally, and she's happy Zelda got her friend back. She's more than a little disturbed, though, because on the way out of the castle they passed an actual Guardian. She'd nearly shrieked and jumped out of her skin when it looked at her. It looked at her ! It was a big giant metal beast on four enormous deadly legs with an eye that could shoot energy beams and apparently there were upwards of a thousand of them in the Hylian artillery?! It would be wrong to say that Link is getting worked up just thinking about it because she's pretty sure that she hasn't stopped freaking out in the three days it's been since.

"Link? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Link says quickly. "Where are we?"

Zelda fumbles for the device strapped to her hip, a long flat screen with an eye that Zelda says signifies it as 'Sheikah made' on the back. She presses a button and the front of it lights up, quickly forming the lines of a map.

That was the other notable thing they had found in the King's study-- this odd device and some notes calling it a 'Sheikah Slate'. It looked like this had been shown to the king and he'd simply stuck it on a shelf and ignored its potential. The notes on what it could do were clearly incomplete and Zelda had muttered about it being a waste that her father decided to simply discard the device without further examination.

Even as just an interactive map, the Slate was a fantastic resource for the kids. But it was more than a map, and they were learning new things every time they pulled it out.

So it was less surprising than it perhaps should have been when, after fumbling with the screen and nearly dropping the Slate, Zelda accidentally presses a button and a giant walking bomb forms out of nothingness with an odd vworp noise. Link shrieks and grabs her friend, half dragging her away from the thing. She’s never seen anything like it but it looks like it’s an explosive. They watch from several feet back as its little spindly legs carry it further away from them. As it walks it spits out smaller versions of itself, and each of them begins to detonate until the big one stops and explodes with a final, massive bang .

Zelda looks comically between the slate and the ravaged grass where the bombs went off with wide eyes.

“.... How did I do that?”

Great, she didn’t even know what buttons she pressed. Link rolls her eyes.

“Better find out.” The Gerudo insists. There’s no way they’re using the map until they figure out what just happened so it doesn’t happen again.

Zelda puts on her ‘thinking face’, inspecting the Slate’s many small buttons. She tries out several different ones and then several different combinations until she finally sees some tiny icons on the corner of the screen when she holds down one of the shoulder buttons.

“A bomb, a magnet, a lock, and a snowflake?” She mutters. Pressing the button that corresponds with the picture of the bomb causes another giant bomb to form and waltz off.

Link gleefully rubs her hands together as it explodes. She never gets to play with bombs. Bomb arrows are expensive. Zelda gives her an I-know-what-you’re-thinking look.

“Okay we’ll take a look at the other stuff in a minute, let’s actually check the map.” The princess says. Link pouts but nods, looking over Zelda’s shoulder. The map is enormous-- it even shows the desert.

It even shows Gerudo Town. That was a rather disquieting discovery. Link was now faced with that fact that if Rhoam had studied this map in any meaningful capacity he would know exactly where not just the Town but all the smaller Gerudo settlements were.

All of them.

“So the castle is here,” Zela points, “And our marker is here.” The area she’s pointing to is a ways southeast.

Link’s lips quirk into a smile.

“There’s a stable marked here. Outskirt Stable.” She notes, pointing just a little further southwest.

“Oh hey that’s where I got kidnapped.” Link says.

Zelda looks over at her sharply.

"It is !" The Gerudo girl protests. The Princess just sighs. 

"Well it's on the way to the desert." She mutters. "We should probably stop there or we'll be traveling at night." 

Link winces. The last two nights, they've had to make camp. It wouldn't be so bad if not for the Stall monsters clawing their way out of the dirt all night. Still… "What if the voe that kidnapped me is there?" She says a bit warily.

Zelda pauses. She looks Link up and down. "He supposedly recognized your mark on your hand and noticed you were in strange clothes. I think we'll be okay." 

Both girls are now in what Zelda called her 'blending in clothes', simple traveling dresses and boots with weapons strapped to Link's back. Both of them are wearing gloves specifically to hide those marks. Still, Link doesn't exactly feel secure that that will be enough.

"It will be fine." The Princess reassures. 

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So far Revali has brought dozens of Zora from Lanayru to the desert. It hasn't been easy, making trip after trip with just a family, maybe two, but it's working. So far no one, not even anyone at the stables they have to stop at to rest, has said anything.

He'd prefer to be looking for the missing kid. Kids, technically, another one of the Gerudo children apparently left for the mountains and definitely should be back by now, but more specifically the missing daughter of the Gerudo Chief. Not that the other missing girl was any less important than Link, but the other girl had left a note, had packed for a trip. Link simply vanished into the sands.

Revali sighs and presses a small bag of Rupees into the innkeeper's hand. The Zora soldier and her little girl he's escorting smile nervously at him.

"Lots of escorting lately, Ambassador." The innkeeper notes. It was only a matter of time before he tried to get some answers. Revali smiles tightly, pressing his beak together. 

"I do what I'm paid to do by my boss." He says. His boss notably not being the Elder in this case but rather Tya. Still, the man laughs. 

"Ever the politician. Have a great night. How can I help you, young ladies?"

Revali steps aside so the two young girls who had come up behind them can reach the counter.

He turns to head for the bed that's practically calling his name and then stops.

Does a double take.

One of the blonde girls looks up at him with an incredulous expression, her green eyes wide as though she can't possibly believe she's run into him.

He gapes right back.

The other girl finishes paying for their bed for the night and turns to her companion.

Her companion who is absolutely Princess Zelda in commoner's clothes with a traveling pack on har shoulders. 

What looks like a very small, very strange Guardian makes a peeping noise at him.

"What are you doing ?" Revali demands, smart enough to not break out her name in the middle of the stable.

Zelda sputters. 

The other girl frowns. There's something familiar about her… tanned, weathered skin like she spends a lot of time outside, blue eyes and messy, long blonde hair. 

Someone has to be pulling his tail feathers, otherwise Revali would be looking directly at Urbosa's missing daughter, inexplicably traveling outside the desert with Princess Zelda.

"Is something wrong, Ambassador Revali?" The innkeeper checks and the girl that might be Link freezes and then gains a sheepish expression. Her hand reaches out automatically and her fingers curl around the Princess's.

The woman Revali is escorting looks between the three of them, visibly confused.

"Nothing is wrong , I just happen to know these young girls." Revali covers awkwardly. "And they're definitely supposed to be at home . Because their mother is worried ." He stares into Link's soul. 

Link shrinks in on herself. 

"Um." Zelda blinks, visibly lost for an excuse.

Revali sighs. "Come sit with me." He says. The girls obediently follow him over to the fire, looking around in careful consideration, obviously looking for eavesdroppers. The little Guardian marches behind him. 

"Liquia, feel free to go to sleep, we won't be setting off until the morning." He assures his charge, who nods. The Zora guides her daughter back inside.

Revali stares the girls down as they sit across the fire from him.

Link stares right back at him, her jaw setting stubbornly.

"Would you like to explain to me why your mother is tearing the desert apart?" Revali says lightly, taking the wind out of Link's sails.

"Long story." The girl huffs.

"And the reason you have Princess Zelda with you?"

"Even longer ." Link waves a hand.

"That's not an answer."

"Don't have to tell you." Link snaps. Great. She's back chatting.

"Maybe not but your mother deserves to know."

"Will tell her then."

"I'm taking you back. And by rights I should find the nearest Hylian soldier and give the Princess to him. Do you have any idea what kind of incident--"

"I left on my own." Zelda snaps coolly. "So maybe don't assume I don't have any agency. I'm not going back."

Revali rubs his beak. Great. Great.

He doesn't get paid enough for this.

The Guardian whistles angrily at him, climbing into the girl's lap and screeching at him as though it's angry. Zelda pats it.

"It's okay, Terrako." She cooes. It turns to her and makes some more sounds. She hugs it like a favorite teddy bear. 

"I have to bring Link back to her mother." Revali says firmly. If he comes back and tells anyone in the desert he saw her and didn't drag her back kicking and screaming, he'd be plucked and then tarred and feathered with his own feathers.

Link scowls at him.

"We were on our way there anyway." Zelda says a bit sullenly.

"Doesn't matter, if I don't bring you back myself now that I've found you I'll be used for target practice." Revali snaps. "And I still don't know what to do about you, your Highness."

"If you tell my father where I am I'll use you for target practice!" Zelda snaps right back. "I will no longer be a pawn in my father's game, Ambassador!"

That's… unexpected. Seems the Princess has some spirit. 

"I've already gained sanctuary with the Gerudo." She adds with a little smirk, nudging Link who gains an amused expression. 

These girls are going to be the death of him. 

"Save me from the political machinations of children." He mutters. Link quietly snickers. Even the Guardian seems amused.

Chapter Text

The forest is quiet. Smells and sounds assault Link's nose, foreign still despite her new travels. Her bare feet scrape on small dirt and rocks as she moves without telling herself to, drawn deeper and deeper into the whispering silence.

The voice is calling again. Begging her to find it, to come back.

"I can't!" Link calls into the silent and still trees. Around her, whispers break out. "I can't, I must go home, don't you understand?"

You must find me! Come find me! Time is running out!

"No!" Link shouts, and abruptly regains control of her body. She turns and runs, blood pounding in her ears, and white fog swirls around her feet. 

Suddenly, she's standing back where she was, before a giant hollow tree trunk.

"No!" She repeats, blue eyes flashing in fury, and she turns to run again. Quickly, the fog surrounds her in a freezing blanket and deposits her back where she began. She digs in her heels to stop her momentum and tumbles to the ground in the hollow tree. Link pushes herself to her feet.

You need me, you need me… come…

Link snarls wordlessly, bracing herself against the damp, rough bark of the tree trunk.

"Ms. Hero?"

The Gerudo girl jolts and whirls, hand going automatically to a weapon that simply isn't there, and stares. Nothing at eye level.

"Ms. Hero?"

She looks down.

… what in the world is this?

It's a little creature with wooden skin and a mask made of leaves. It beams up at her, eyes shining. "Ms. Hero!" It says in a childish voice, bouncing up and down. "We've been waiting for you!"

"I don't know what you mean." Link says, stumbling back and nearly tripping over a rock. 

"Ya-ha-ha!" Another childish voice laughs, and another one of the strange beings appears. "You found me, Ms. Hero!" It says delightedly, hugging her leg. Link blinks. 

"What are you?"

"We're koroks!" One says.

"The children of the forest!" The other adds.

"We're waiting for you!"

"In the Korok Forest!"

"Ms. Hero…"

"We've never had a Ms. Hero before!" 

Link watches them bounce their words back and forth, stunned.

"You have to come see us, Ms. Hero!" 

"We've been waiting so long." 

"So long!"

"Grandfather is waiting!"

"He's been protecting it!"

"Protecting what?"

Me… come, I am waiting… the voice pleads.

"The blade of evil's bane!"

"The sword that seals the darkness!"

"The darkness?" Link gapes, feeling a shiver go down her spine.

Both koroks whine in fear and cling to her legs.

The surroundings abruptly flash and change. Link freezes, eyes wide.

They're still in the forest, but this is different. This is absolutely different. She's rooted to the spot, staring up at the massive tree. 

A young man stumbles through the undergrowth. He's older than Link. A full grown voe. Dressed in a distinct green tunic with a matching hat, golden blonde hair falling into his face. Lovely eyes the same shade of blue as Link's are drawn into a tired expression, marring his pretty face with exhaustion and worry. Around his shoulders is a shimmering blue scarf. 

"Mr. Hero, Mr. Hero!" 

Dozens of koroks appear, each different in their own way, crowding the man. He looks tired and worn, like an old, uncared for weapon.

"Children…" A creaky old voice says slowly and tiredly. Link jolts and looks up, seeing the enormous tree they're standing in front of is speaking , the bark on the front nearly distorting as it forces itself to resemble a face. 

With many chirps of 'Grandfather' and similar addresses, the crowd of small forest sprites disperses.

The voe walks forward unimpeded now, and drops into a kneel before the wizened old tree.

"Welcome, Hero of Eras." The tree says, slowly and deliberately, and the greeting sends a chill down Link's spine. 

He turns his eyes up to the tree, before casting them down once more.

"Your task is complete, is it? Evil has been thwarted for another cycle… the universe has consumed the innocence of another Hero and used it to fuel the fire that keeps goodness and hope burning brightly." 

The apparent Hero looks uncomfortable. Link feels uncomfortable.

"Your destiny is fulfilled, Hero of Eras. For the moment, all is well. So why have you come to see an old man?"

The voe draws his blade in a shaky hand and Link gasps slightly. It's a fantastically beautiful sword with a purple hilt, a lovely series of blue straps marking the grip. The blade gleams in the light and Link imagines it in her own hand for a moment. The very thought makes power thrum through her veins.

It feels oddly… right… the idea of this sword in her hands.

"The blade of evil's bane…. The sword that seals the darkness. You are here to place it under my watchful eye, then?"

The voe nods, finally rising from his kneel. 

Link freezes, now getting a good look at the mark on the back of his hand.

The same mark that's on the back of Link's hand.

"Do you know who will wield her next?" The voe asks, making Link jump. He had yet to speak and she was starting to wonder if he could.

"Alas, I am but an old man, Hero of Eras. I do not carry the knowledge of the future, only the wisdom of the past. The next Hero will be born when the time is right, and he will be drawn to the blade, as you all were once, again when the time is right."

The Hero of Eras rubs the back of his neck, looking unhappy. 

"I am sure your successor will be up to whatever challenge he faces." The wizened old tree says thoughtfully. "Place the sword in the pedestal before you."

The voe grasps the hilt with both hands, stabbing it directly into the center of the triangular stone, and the world around Link goes white--

And Link sits up abruptly with a gasp. Zelda yelps and nearly falls out of the bed they're sharing.

Stupid weird dreams. It's already fading from her mind.

"Link!" Zelda cries, grabbing Link by the arm. "I had a horrible nightmare, the same one as last time…"

Link rubs her temples. She can only recall flashes now; the Koroks, the sword, the man, the tree. It's all fading fast and she holds up a finger to stop Zelda's babbling. The girl pauses and Link describes what she can of her own dream. Zelda gasps when she refers to the sword and the tree.

"I know about that! It's an old legend about a magical sword that sleeps in a magical forest guarded by the Great Deku Tree. The sword that seals the darkness, the Master Sword. Only those who are worthy can find it and wield it."

Link raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes, I know it sounds fanciful, but it's true! Stories of it have been passed down in my family for generations… wait. You said you were looking for something and that's why you left the desert, was it--?"

"Something in my dreams was calling to me in that forest." Link says, trying to recall the face of the voe that the tree had called the Hero of Eras. It slips through her grasp like sand and she huffs, irritated. "I was headed for the nearest forest, the Faron Woods."

"Well that's not where it is." Zelda says, pulling out the Slate. She opens the map and points to an area north of Hyrule Castle. "The Great Hyrule Forest is here, and it's said that the Master Sword sleeps at the very center of it, watched over by the guardian of the forest."

Link nods, filing that information away for later. The voice lances through her mind once more, causing her to wince.

You're the sword, aren't you ? She demands of the painful voice.

Yes. Please… come to me.

Not right now . Link says firmly, despite feeling like she's making a big mistake. Soon. I have to go home.

The voice is silent at that, and Link nods to Zelda.

"It could be the Master Sword you had in my dream…" Zelda muses in the dark. "I actually recognized the 'odd device' I had this time." She holds up the Slate. "I was using this, I was using it to fight ." 

Link eyes the Slate pensively. "We'll work on that." She decides. "For now, sleep."

And with that, she promptly hides herself under the covers, dragging Zelda back down with her.

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Neither notices the exasperated look on Revali's face. He'd been woken by their whispering and now found himself concerned by the idea of these two children with an ancient weapon against evil.

May the goddesses have mercy on him.

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Zelda has never seen so much sand. She has a strong desire to run around under the beating sun and watch the sand kick up, but that would be undignified.

Link, on the other hand, seems like she's in her element, above such things as dignity, running around like a madwoman, barefoot in the sands without a care in the world. She seems unbothered by the heat, by the beating sun, by the occasional Lizalfos that bursts from the sand and is promptly stabbed in the gut. She's flitting around like she's loaded up on sugar.

Revali has already had to chase her down no less than four times when she got distracted by cactus fruits or monsters or a sand seal. He looks about ready to pull out his own feathers. The two Zora currently being escorted are a bit confused by the two of them; clearly they weren't expecting Princess Zelda and Chief Urbosa's daughter to end up traveling with them.

It's clear Link knows where they're going better than Revali, but that doesn't surprise Zelda. This is where her friend grew up. Home turf.

Even if it all kind of looks the same to Zelda.

Another screeching Lizalfos bursts from a sand dune ahead and Link whips out her bow so fast it's almost a blur, nailing it point blank in the horn and sending it skidding backwards. In seconds she's run forward and begun slashing at it until it explodes into smoke, leaving behind only the useful parts. These make their way into Link's bag, which they had retrieved from the dungeon storage during their escape from the castle. Link had been ecstatic at getting her things back, including a literal mountain of electrical Chuchu jelly. Zelda wonders briefly how many organs are in there and decides abruptly that she doesn't want to know .

"Are you quite done?" Revali asks testily. Link smirks at him. 

He looks thoroughly unimpressed by her cheek.

Link turns and points at what seems to be a massive cloud of sand hanging in the air. ,Elda had kind of thought it was a hill at first, but now that she's looking at it, it seems to be moving. "The Town is that way." She says immediately. "There's a sandstorm in the way. We could go through it but I don't trust you, Ambassador, not to get lost. We will go around."

Zelda snorts at the caught look on Ambassador Revali's face. Apparently he hadn't noticed either.

"Oh…" Liquia murmurs. "Will we get to water soon?"

Link eyes the Zora. "We will stop at the Oasis. Is only a small detour."

"Thank you, Miss!" The little Zora girl chirps. She does look a little hot under the collar.

Link smiles tiredly at her. Then she turns and leads them further south than they were heading, according to the map on the Slate. Zelda puts it away and follows her friend.

"If you see a Hylian, be ready for a fight." Link says, stopping suddenly. Revali tenses. Zelda looks between them briefly, confused.

"The Yiga clan haven't been out and about of late because the desert is being constantly scouted for you ." Revali murmurs.

"Doesn't matter." Link says tightly. "Bad feeling."

Revali frowns and reaches for his bow. "If necessary, take Liquia and Sani and run."

Link casts half a glare at him before nodding briefly. "Not skilled enough to take on the Yiga." She admits, stepping closer to Zelda. "Danger."

Zelda nods, not entirely understanding, but recognizing that both Link and Revali understand there's a real threat. If it comes to it, she'll be grabbing the others and running.

Chapter Text

The oasis they visit is beautiful. Zelda can't help but stare. She'd been told that there was nothing worthwhile in the desert. Nothing worth taking or seeing… that it was a wasteland. 

There are flowers blooming in exotic bushes, palm trees heavy with green fruits. Fish swimming around in the water. It sparkles in the sunlight.

Link gleefully dives behind a bush and shucks off her traveling dress, emerging a moment later in the Gerudo outfit she'd had in her bag. It was the same set of clothes she'd been kidnapped in, so she'd been ecstatic to find it back among her belongings when they located them.

"Will dry faster." She explains to Zelda's questioning look.

She hadn't even considered that, Zelda realizes, looking down at her own clothes. She can't exactly wear this dress in the water, and even if she did, it would mean she would be walking through the sand soaking wet.

Looks like she'll have to sit out this swim. Which is a shame because she's incredibly hot and tired.

Link eyes her speculatively. "Idea!" The Gerudo tosses a little smirk Revali's way and digs in Zelda's bag for a moment, eventually drawing out a pair of slacks and a sundress Zelda had packed. "Can I change this?" She asks.

"Change?" Zelda asks, confused.

Link screws up her face, searching for the word. "Remake?" She tries.

"Alter?" Liquia says gently.

"Yes!" She should know that. 

"Oh. Um, sure."

Zelda's barely finished speaking when Link grabs her short sword and the sound of ripping fabric fills the air. In moments the sundress is reduced to a long strip of cloth. Zelda's eyebrows raise, but Link drags her behind the bush and shows her how to securely wind the strip into a top that covers her chest and leaves her midriff bare, and then shoves the pants at her. The Princess gives the cloth an experimental tug and it doesn't so much as budge. Impressive.

Once dressed, the girls share a hug before leaping into the water.

Revali huffs like a grumpy-grump. But honestly, Zelda's too overheated to care. The water is divine . 

After a few minutes of getting used to swimming in the cool water of the oasis, Zelda ponders what to do next. Obviously, they're headed for Gerudo Town. She's going to have to put on her big girl pants and meet with Lady Urbosa as a proper little diplomat. 

The thought terrifies her. But she can do this. She has to do this. 

Link told her she needed to act , that doing the same old thing wasn't going to make anything better. And she was right.

Splash .

Zelda blinks almost comically, water dripping from her eyelashes and down her cheeks.

"You looked too serious!"  Link says with a slight smirk. Zelda can't help a little grin.

She could get used to not having to put on airs or graces. Link seems to be determined to put some color on her cheeks. Speaking of color...

She draws out the Slate and presses the button combination that leads to the snowflake symbol.

Terrako chirps from the edge of the water.

A cursor appears on the screen, which now shows the water in front of her. She aims it at Link and presses the button.

A spear of ice forms out of nothing and attempts to stab her. Link yells in surprise and dives out of the way with half a second to spare.

" I didn't know it would do that !" Zelda yelps.

"Then why point it at me ?" 

"I thought it would make you cold or something, not stab you!"

On the shore, Revali puts his head in his wings with a groan. 

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Mipha lets out a deep sigh. She's exhausted. Traveling across the desert is incredibly hard for her. She can't exactly pass this duty off to anyone else, however. This was her plan, so she's going to help get her people settled. Still, it's not easy.

Lumie eyes her as she wearily sinks into a seat at one of the breakfast tables in the room next to the inn lobby. "Rough day, Mipha?" She asks.

"I'm so hot. It's miserable." She admits, flushing because the women of the desert have been trapped her for generations. Surely she can handle a few measley weeks.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Mipha." The innkeeper says, taking a seat across from her. "You're built for the water. There's not a lot of that here."

"No one is built for conditions like these." Mipha grumbles.

"True, but we have the advantage of generations of adaptation." Lumie shrugs. "Can I get you anything?" 

"I… yes." The Zora relents. "Something to drink… water?"

"Water actually isn't the best thing for dehydration." Lumie says, already standing and moving towards the small kitchen off the breakfast room. "Salt. You need salt. And a drink. But not salt water. That's poisonous."

"How does that make any sense? That sounds like a load of b --"

"Sister!" 

Mipha claps her hand over her mouth just in time as her little brother runs into the building among a crowd of other Zora. "Sidon? Don't scare me like that!"

"Sister, a girl just came into town and everyone is going crazy!"

Lumie, halfway out of the kitchen with a plate of food and a glass of pink liquid that's probably not water, stops cold. "A girl?"

Sidon nods, head fin flopping. "People are calling her a flower I think? There's a lot of yelling. Someone was screaming for Miss Urbosa?"

Lumie nearly drops Mipha's food and drink but manages to juggle it onto the table before apologizing and running out of the building. Mipha makes a snap decision and throws back the drink. She chugs it so fast that she nearly chokes on it before she, too, runs out of the building.

Two small Hylian girls are utterly surrounded in the entrance to town, both blonde and bright-eyed. One is notably tanner than the other, wearing Gerudo clothes. Mipha thinks she knows exactly who that is; a suspicion that's proven correct when an absolutely heartbreaking wail fills the air and Urbosa nearly knocks over half a dozen people fighting through the crowd, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around the small girl, sobbing unashamedly. The girl hugs her back with an equal amount of strength and desperation, face screwing up before the tears seem to simply tear through her in a burst, and she collapses into Urbosa's arms like a ragdoll. 

The only thing she says is a whimpered, hiccupped, "Mama…" that Mipha barely catches over the ruckus.

The main emotion ringing through the air is relief. Even Mipha feels it, knees going weak at the sight of the missing girl. 

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"Mama, mama, mama…" Link chants through her sobs. She's home. Finally, she's home. All the stress of her journey and her captivity and her misery just unloads straight out her eyes and she clings to the tall woman and hiccups and cries like she's just a little toddler who scraped her knees in the sand. Her Mama holds her tight, like if she lets go Link will vanish again. 

"I'm sorry, Mama, I'm sorry…" Tumbles out of Link's mouth even though it's not really audible since she's sobbing into her mother's shoulder. Mama rubs her back, rocking her slightly. 

There will be answers for Mama later, Link promises herself, but for now she's simply going to revel being back in her mother's arms, where she belongs.

Urbosa picks her up like she weighs nothing, trembling head to toe. Link feels guilt-- she's clearly terrified her people with her disappearing act. She glances through her tears at Zelda, whose eyes are wide and wet with her own tears. 

"Flower…" Mama says quietly, thickly. "Flower, don't ever vanish like that again. Please, my baby, it would kill me."

Link buries her face in Urbosa's shoulder again, shaking her head frantically. "No, no, no…" She mumbles, hands clenched on Urbosa's back, arms around her neck. "No."

A waterfall of loose red hair falls to cover Link's face. Link shuts her eyes, shivering madly. 

She did this. She did this. She considered this an acceptable price for going half-cocked after a sword that was talking in her head.

Her mother didn't deserve that.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Link squeaks, face red from the effort of crying, even though she knows that's not enough to erase what she did. 

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It takes almost half an hour to escape the crowds of people demanding to know if Link is alright. No one seems to notice or care about her traveling companion. Urbosa thinks she could have been traveling with a Yiga assassin and she'd simply be glad the girl made it home.

Link gestures for the little blonde to follow her as Urbosa half-drags her home. The chief of the Gerudo says nothing against it, still reeling from the sheer amount of relief flowing through her. Her baby is home and she looks none the worse for wear. It's a goddess-brought miracle . The nightmares, the horrible things her imagination conjured up, none of it happened. Link is here and safe and alive.

They enter the palace with the other vai following quietly. She heads straight up the stairs, still carrying the small form of her little daughter. She heads straight into her own bedroom and sits heavily on the bed.

Urbosa rubs at her eyes, trying to get ahold of herself. But there's no calming down, not when Link is heavy and warm in her lap.

"Mama…" Link whimpers, looking up at her with big blue eyes tinged with red from her tears. "I… I didn't mean to be gone so long." She manages after a moment, clinging to Urbosa. "Didn't mean to be gone at all."

Urbosa runs a hand through Link's hair. "Oh, Flower…" 

"I'm happy for you, Link." The young vai says quietly. 

Urbosa takes a moment to examine her. She's got on damp traveling pants and a top made of a strip of colorful cloth. Long golden hair frames her face, and large green eyes with dark lashes are set among pale skin. 

"Are you going to introduce your friend?" Urbosa nudges, tilting Link's face to look at her. Link glances at her companion and smiles weakly.

"Mama, this is Zelda, Princess of Hylia." 

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Urbosa." Zelda, Princess of Hylia , says with a small, polite curtsey.

Urbosa barely manages to keep her reaction contained to a single risen eyebrow and a calm, "Alright. Start talking, Link."

Chapter Text

Urbosa rubs her temples. Trust her little girl to get into the craziest dilemmas. To think this whole mess started because a member of the cursed Yiga took pity on a little girl.

What were the odds ? And then of course her daughter had followed the voice, believing it the work of the goddesses. Courage and curiosity in equal measure. The fact that the pair of vai believed it to be the voice of the sword that seals the darkness even made it true, in a sense, for such a blade would only call out at the behest of the goddesses. 

To say nothing of the disaster that led her girl to Hyrule Castle and then back out again with the young royal of a hostile nation in tow. 

Only Link could end up in this situation. 

"There's something else, Mama." Link says, sounding a bit worried.

"What else could possibly go wrong?" Urbosa demands.

Link takes the device off of Zelda's belt and presses some buttons. She hands it to her mother, and Urbosa takes a look. "A map?" She murmurs, seeing all of Hyrule spread out before her. 

Link reaches over and fiddles with the screen, zooming in on the desert.

Urbosa's blood runs ice cold.

"All of our settlements…" She whispers in horror.

"If Father looked at that he knows exactly where you all are." Zelda says gravely.

Her hands shake on the device. This is horrific. One of the best defenses of the desert is how spread out they are forced to live. Invaders would have to search the entire desert in order to find them all and Hylians are generally not capable of doing that. Conditions are simply too harsh.

But if they knew exactly where the settlements were then they could head straight from one to the next, or worse, do a coordinated assault. 

Din.

"Sao'tan…" She breathes, tracing a fingernail across the exact boundaries of the Town. 

Link crawls up onto the bed to sit next to her. "I… did something else." She admits, turning her eyes down. 

Urbosa sighs and locks eyes with the vai, who flushes. 

"Sent Nissa to Death Mountain." Link admits after a long moment of silence.

Urbosa drops the device. "You what? That's where Nissa is?!"

Link's eyes widen. "Not back yet?!" 

"No! She left a note claiming she was going to the Highlands and hasn't returned!" 

Link shudders.

"Flower, you are in so much trouble ." Urbosa sighs. "I don't even know where to begin."

Link crosses her arms, defiance in her posture.

"No, Link, you're in trouble." Urbosa repeats. "You put your friend in danger and neither of you told anyone what you were up to. I can excuse you doing what you needed to in order to keep suspicion off you from the Yiga but you should have headed back to the desert in the morning. We would be having a very different conversation if you had . I would have at least known that you were outside of the wasteland!"

Link winces. She ducks her head, accepting that. "Yes, Mama." 

"We'll discuss your punishment later. For now… there's someone very important you need to meet."

Link's eyes flick to Urbosa's stomach. "She's here?"

"Yes, love. She's here." Urbosa smiles wistfully.

Zelda beams. Clearly she knew that Link had been expecting a baby sister. Urbosa isn't sure how to feel about Link sharing that news with someone close to the King of Hyrule, but she won't make an issue of it. For now.

The Chief of the Gerudo, mother of two, heads over to the bassinet in the corner and carefully lifts the sleeping bundle within.

Link's eyes sparkle when she's handed the baby. She gasps in delight when Savannah opens her eyes. "Red!" She says, delighted.

"Yes, that was a bit unexpected." Urbosa says warmly. Zelda climbs up on the bed next to Link to look at the baby.

"Oh, she's so precious…" The princess whispers. "What's her name?" 

"Savannah." Link responds, transfixed blue eyes staring down at the little one. "Hi, Savannah… I'm Link. Your sister."

Savannah cooes, fat little arms beginning to flail a bit, one escaping from the blanket she's bundled in and grabbing for Link's golden hair. 

Link mimics her cooing noise, clearly delighted. Urbosa finds herself relaxing almost against her will, seeing her two daughters together. 

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Mipha finds herself walking up the steps to the palace a few hours after the incident where Link arrived at the Town. She wanted to ensure Urbosa had time to catch up with her daughter and reassure herself that she was alright, but now it was time to find out how this affected their plans.

She's quickly led into the dining room, where both Link and the girl she came with (wait, isn't that Princess Zelda ? Mipha has only met the girl a couple of times but it sure looks like it) are eating ravenously. Urbosa is sitting there with a pleased expression, feeding the baby.

Mipha smiles tightly and gives a short bow in the direction of the girls. Zelda flushes and sets down her cutlery to stand and curtsey, much to Mipha's surprise. It was a little more surprising when Link clumsily mimics her.

Urbosa chuckles fondly. "Good afternoon, Mipha. Allow me to finally introduce my lovely daughter, Link. And her friend."

Mipha nods, smiling softly. "Link. Princess Zelda. It's a pleasure." 

"Sit, I'll have some more food sent for you." Urbosa says, turning towards one of the women guarding the entrance. She needs no instructions, just jogs down the hall. 

"Oh, I… okay, thank you." Mipha slides into one of the carved wooden chairs. It has been a few hours since she ate right after Link arrived, and she doesn't want to be rude.

"I take it you're here to see how things have changed?" Urbosa asks.

Mipha nods, eyes on the girls as they go back to their meal.

"In the short term, not much. I was made aware of something Link did before she left that may change our long term plans, though."

"Oh?"

"She sent one of her friends to Death Mountain to speak to the Gorons. I've already passed a message into Revali and Tya. They'll be trying to track her."

"The other missing girl?"

Urbosa nods, casting a glance at Link, who stares back almost blandly, a challenge in her gaze. "Nissa is a capable vai, and she's as learned about the world outside the desert as anyone can be. That being said, she's still a young girl out in the world alone, heading through hostile territory."

"Do you think she's alright?" Mipha wonders worriedly.

Urbosa closes her eyes. "I certainly hope so."

"Nissa will be okay." Link speaks up quietly. "Would not have sent if I didn't believe she would be fine."

"You should not have sent her at all ." Urbosa says darkly.

Link raises her gaze again. "I accept that I should have come home the first night. Is fine that you're mad about that. Will not apologize for sending Nissa. She knew the risk. She agreed. It needed to be done, Mama. Gorons not listening to politics. Gorons not getting involved. We need help. Send someone they have to hear out . Child, like me, like Nissa. They are not bad. They will listen to her." 

Urbosa pauses, looking at Link with open curiosity. "My flower, that's the most I've heard you say in one sitting."

The tips of Link's ears turn pink. She shrugs and turns back to her food.

"You may be right, but it was not your call to make on your own." Her mother adds. 

Link shrugs again. She says nothing more, spearing a bit of meat on the end of her fork with a little more force than required.

"I could send someone to help look for her." Mipha offers, trying to cover up the tense silence. 

"Revali and Tya will cover more ground, faster." Urbosa says, sighing. She puts Savannah over her shoulder and begins patting her back. "We're pretty much done moving your soldiers through the desert. Their children are settling into the Town nicely. There's really only one new concern. Link and Princess Zelda found a device with a map on it in the King of Hylia's study. It showed all of the desert, and all of our settlements within. We have to assume they know exactly where all of us are."

Mipha gasps.

"I believe we're going to have to prepare for a battle sooner rather than later." Urbosa says.

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Rhoam Bosphoramus Hylia stands before his soldiers atop the balcony leading from the castle sanctum.

"My daughter was stolen from her very home." He booms. "Your princess fell prey to the Gerudo; was kidnapped from her bed by a boy brainwashed and indoctrinated by the sand whores. He stole information from my office, he stole my daughter from her people, and he did it all at the behest of those vile women. It is past time that we dealt with this, past time for the Gerudo to be wiped from the wasteland like the stain they are. Banishing them did not stop their influence. We must finish what was begun generations ago! We must return Princess Zelda to the bosom of Hylia, protect our people from the desert thieves and finally reclaim the desert!"

The answering roar of the army below is music to his ears.

It's all coming together.

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Zelda opens her eyes to an impossibly blue sky. Cloudless, beautiful, stretching endlessly around her.

The notes of an instrument fill the air. The sound of singing follows it.

Zelda does not recognize the language. It's like nothing she's ever heard before.

She takes a step forward. Her feet are bare, she realizes, and she looks down. She's wearing a pale blue dress she's never seen before, with gold embroidery criss-crossing the fabric in places. It shimmers in the light. Her hair is done up in several complicated braids-- she can feel their weight on her head.

The air tastes different. Fresher, cleaner than she's used to. She can smell fresh-cut grass. The sun shines down brighter than she's ever seen it, and seemingly closer as well.

A small chuckle reaches her ears and she freezes, turning slowly towards the sound. 

No one is there, but the wind whips around her almost playfully.

The music is beautiful, almost mesmerizing, and she takes another step towards the sound.

Her footfalls begin to cross the grass. She passes a waterfall and river, her feet finding pavement. 

She follows the path. 

There are houses, shops, but no people. No one is here, and yet this strange town bustles with life. 

Bugs, strange animals… there are fish in the water. 

The river pours right off the edge of the land and Zelda steps closer to get a better look--

Below is only clouds. 

"This is the sky?" She says a little incredulously.

"Yes." 

Zelda nearly jumps out of her skin. She turns and finds herself face to face with--

Herself .

The other Zelda smiles at her. She's taller, older, but unmistakably her . Identical in every way. Even wearing the same dress.

"Who… are you?" She demands, almost taking a step back.

"I am you. But you are not me." The older Zelda responds. "Come, walk with me."

Zelda follows almost automatically.

"What do you mean by that?" She demands.

The other Zelda pauses and glances at her. "Tell me, Zelda. Do you know the stories?"

"I know many stories." Zelda says primly.

"The stories of the Heroes."

Zelda twitches. The legends are old, fragmented. She knows even less of them than there is, because her father kept the information under lock and key. She found some of it. Some, when they broke into his study. And then there were the journals she still could not open.

"There have been many." The older Zelda hums. "Many more than there were supposed to be."

Zelda tilts her head.

"I was your age, once." She continues. "And I met a man. A man who hung the stars and moon, who smiled at me and told me it would all be okay. He loved to help people, to protect them. I was young. I was afraid. I needed protecting. I had been cast into the world with no guidance, no one to catch me when I fell, and I was afraid." She looks up at the sky, eyes shining with sadness. "And he was there. He was courage personified, all the good and kind things about mortals that I loved so much."

"I don't understand. If you are me, then why don't I know this?"

"Because I am you, but you are not me." The older Zelda says quietly. "His name was Link, and we quickly became the best of friends."

Zelda stops and stares, but the older Zelda takes her arm. The city in the sky seems to melt away, replaced by a dark sky and dead grass, by pain and suffering. The music turns to screams.

"Darkness fell. We did our best, but our best was not enough. I was young, I was afraid, and he was my Hero. When the ground beneath us split open and evil poured out, he fell. He fell to the darkness and I fled. I gathered the people who remained and hid them in the sky, where evil could not touch them as it roamed the world below. And when I finished building the sky city, when I had left everything I could behind, I returned from whence I came."

"You were not mortal." Zelda surmises. "... I am not mortal?"

"Remember, my dear, that I am you, but you are not me." The older Zelda says gently. "The darkness below the sky city was dangerous. I was afraid. The people could not hide forever, but they were lost. I had no one to aid me. I was alone. The ones who created the world below had abandoned it just as quickly, left behind their legacy. But their legacy was not enough to protect it, so I was brought into the world. And I failed my duty."

The dead, decaying world around them shakes with the force of an inhuman roar.

Zelda barely has time to catch sight of an outline of a giant, monstrous man with a wild mane of firey hair before the world shifts again.

Now they stand in the sky city once more, before a statue of Hylia bigger than even the one in the Temple of Time. 

"I decided that it would not do. I decided that the darkness must be sealed. And so, I incarnated. I rebirthed myself into the world, casting my heart and my essence, my very blood and being, into a mortal form."

The older Zelda gestures before her, to a blonde girl in a pink dress with a cloth caped over her back. She's playing the harp and doesn't seem to notice them.

"But I did not incarnate alone." The older Zelda says, and even as she speaks a young man with a mess of golden hair and crystal blue eyes jogs up. "He followed me. Together, he told me, and we would finish why we started. The failed hero and the failed goddess would have their second chance."

The girl in the pink dress drags off the young man gleefully.

"He was him, and yet he wasn't. Just as she was me, and yet she wasn't. And so, darkness fell once more."

The world around them spins. "But we were careless. They did not know. If I had known what would happen… well, the more time passes, the more regret I hold."

"Why?"

"Because when the dark god was defeated and sealed, when We thought it was over… he cursed us in his last moments. He cursed us to always be in an endless struggle, a futile cycle of evil rising and being defeated again and again."

As the world swirls with color, the older Zelda lowers her head. "And every cycle, I am reborn. I am you, but you are not me." She drops to her knees to look Zelda in the eyes. "Every cycle, fate pushes Link to the brink, Zelda. Every cycle another monster rises from the darkness, every cycle the innocence of a child is ground into dust. Because in the end, I was a failure. I could not protect him, I could not stop it. I am a goddess and yet I am a failure. But you, Zelda… you are not me." The older Zelda insists. "You are not me , do you understand?"

Zelda's face screws up as she tries to put that together.

The world stops spinning, and she is face to face with devastation.

"Darkness is rising once more, Zelda." The elder says, but she is no longer there. 

All Zelda can see is her home, the castle, covered in glowing, evil mud, pulsing under a red moon.

Her father stands before her. The Slate is in her hands. He is… infected. Infected with this darkness, this malice.

Link stands between them. The glowing blade of the sword that seals the darkness is in her hands. She's trembling.

A beam of blue light lances across the sky and sends Link flying.

"I am you, Zelda. I am you, but you are not me."

Zelda watches Link hit the ground hard, her broken body skidding across the glass.

"You are not me. You can break the cycle."

Link's not getting up.

"You can break the cycle."

Blood pools around her.

Zelda's father laughs.

"I am you, but you are not me. I'm begging you, I have no right to ask and yet I must. Please… you must break the cycle."

The screaming fills the air again, and Zelda realizes abruptly it's coming from her .

The Guardian that shot Link advances in her, its blue lights a terrible red instead--

And Zelda's screaming abruptly ends as she flails awake. Link's big blue eyes stare at her from next to her. Link's bedroom swims into focus around Zelda and she lets out a shaky breath. 

"You okay?"

Zelda just clings to her bedmate, eyes wide and shivering.

I was a failure. You don't have to be me.

Break the cycle.

Chapter Text

Zelda had found it hard to get back to sleep. It was cold in the desert at night, colder than she'd ever really had to deal with. Link had quickly fallen back asleep once she'd calmed Zelda down from her nightmare, bundled up next to her in multiple blankets.

Zelda was having trouble adjusting to having so many blankets. Link clearly enjoyed the weight, but she just wasn't used to this extreme set of temperatures. And to think, outside of the Town it was even colder.

After roughly an hour with no sleep coming, Zelda slides out of the bed. 

She pads into the hall, bare feet on the stone nearly silent. The woman guarding Link's bedroom glances at her and she smiles weakly in her direction.

"Did you need something, little one?" The redheaded woman asks.

"I had a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep. Didn't want to wake up Link by tossing and turning." She admits.

"Ah." The guard nods. "You needn't worry, it would take a war to wake that vai." 

Zelda frowns, knowing that Link was awake the instant Zelda had shot up from her bad dream. "I see."

"Here, let me take you to get a drink." The guard adds. "My name is Shilna."

"Zelda." Zelda says quietly, glancing back at the door. 

Terrako pads out of the room, his little metal legs going clackclackclack .

"Come, Zelda, let's get you a drink and then back to bed."

"Can I have something warm? It's… very cold." Zelda mumbles, embarrassed. "I'm not used to it being so cold."

"Of course, of course."

Fifteen minutes later, Zelda was being ushered back into Link's room with a cup of water. 

The princess sighs and sits on the edge of the bed, taking a sip of her water and setting it aside.

She has so many questions. So many problems.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Zelda slides off the bed and picks up her bag, digging inside until she fishes out the blue journal stamped with the royal crest.

Thoughtfully running her fingers across the lock, she contemplates the words that appeared around the keyhole. 

'The key is the blood of the goddess.'

Which goddess? Is it figurative or literal? Is it a key, or magic required to open it?

She just doesn't know.

"Oh, Terrako… she mumbles, looking to Link. "I miss Mother deeply. She would know… exactly what to do. I'm nothing but a pale imitation."

Terrako beeps at her scoldingly.

"I feel so alone." She whispers.

"You're not alone." Link mumbles, rolling over to look at her. She jumps. "You have me. Always and forever."

Zelda flushes slightly, then smiles weakly. "We do make quite a pair, don't we?"

"In the morning, I'll show you around." She responds. "Like you did me."

"Link… I overheard some of the guards say that you don't speak much… but you never seem to have a problem around me."

"... I… hadn't noticed." She blinks a few times. "I just… don't feel anxiety clawing at my throat when we're together. Like thorns growing in my throat if I do so much as think about speaking, sometimes."

Zelda smiles shyly. "That's nice. That you're comfortable around me."

Link nods. "I have an idea. You ever climbed a cliff before?"

"Eh?!" Zelda gapes at the sudden change of direction in the conversation.

"Come with me." Link climbs out of bed and goes not to her door but to her window and jumps out it.

"What?"

Link's hand appears from the top of the window. "Come on, you act like you've never climbed out a window before."

Zelda tiptoes to the window and looks out and up to see Link on the roof, perched on the edge of the aquaduct, holding out a hand and grinning like a fool. "Come on, you'll miss the best part."

"And… how exactly do you expect me to 'come on'?"

"Just take my hand, I'll pull you up." Link says as if it's just that simple. "Trust me."

Trust me.

She trusted Link without a doubt. Without a reason. Without further thinking, she took her friend's hand with both of hers and, to her surprise, she's easily yanked out of the window and onto the roof, letting out an indignant squawk. "How did you do that!?"

"I'm stronger than I look. Come on, we're not there yet." Link gestures to the giant, uneven pillar looking above them, spouting water for the whole Town.

"... I don't think I can climb that."

"I'll carry you." Link shrugs.

"You'll do wha-- " Zelda is sharply cut off as her friend slings her across her back.

"Hold on!" She instructs and Zelda clings for dear life. This is insane. This is going to get them killed for sure.

But Link scrambles up the enormous pillar, always seeming to find a handhold or foothold and seemingly unbothered by Zelda clinging to her desperately.

Eventually, they miraculously reach the top with no issues. 

The top of the pillar has a small pond with gleaning silver stones making up the bottom, but enough room for them to sit down, legs dangling into said pond.

"Look." Link gestures at the view.

Zelda looks, and gasps.

From up here, under the stars, the nighttime desert looks gorgeous. The stars twinkle above, sending soft light down across the empty expanse of sand, almost making it glitter in the night.

It's breathtaking, and she says as much.

"Yeah… I usually come up here to pray instead of the Goddess Statue." Link nods.

"Why?"

Link is silent, looking up at the sky with an expression of longing. 

Zelda leans back and looks up, too. Is her mother watching over her? Would she see Zelda's failures and be disappointed?

Here, close to the stars, it feels like she's closer to Mother than she's been in years.

"So have you been able to crack the code on that diary?"

"No." Zelda sighs. 

"What about your dream?"

"I don't recall it well at all. Just… snippets. My father, a red moon. You, flying through the air, and screams. Oh so many screams."

Link nods. "Horrifying." 

"I… I'm so lost, Link. I don't know what to do…" 

The Slate beeps and they both look down at it.

"What in the world?" Zelda murmurs, pulling it off her hip, where it had been even in her sleep. " Huh ?"

"What is it?" Link demands.

"It's…" Zelda looks down at the flashing words. "I don't recognize this script." She says. She's frustrated. So frustrated. Why does everything have to be questions? There's never any answers! The writing is stiff and mechanical, but not any characters she recognizes.

"Is… there anyone you might know who would?"

Zelda bites her lip. The people who most likely gave the Slate to her Father… but can she trust Purah and Robbie any more than she can trust her Father?

"Perhaps. But I don't know if it is safe to go see them."

Link nods, accepting that. She looks out over the desert and goes still as stone.

"Sa'oten!" She yelps, and Zelda looks where she is.

Oh. 

Oh no . 

There are hundreds of Hylian soldiers approaching the Town, some splitting away no doubt to go after the other settlements. There are Guardians , scuttling through the sand with no issues, dozens of them.

"We must go warm Mama!" Link shouts, nearly throwing Zelda over her shoulder and scrambling down the rock. The two girls, now followed by Terrako, who is beeping desperately, run out of the room, not a care for their sleep clothes, and Link leads the way to her mother's room.

"Mama!" She shouts, and her baby sister immediately starts wailing. Urbosa sits up, rubbing her eyes and looking confused for a moment.

"Link, what are you doing?"

"Mama we're about to be under attack!"

Urbosa's eyes widen.

"There are hundreds of soldiers out there!" Zelda gasps frantically. "And Guardians !"

Mama says words that Link isn't allowed to repeat and scrambles out of bed. She looks over at the baby. "Link, soothe your little sister, then bring her to the Inn and hide in the cellar. Tell Lumie it's time."

"Yes, Mama." Link says, picking up the baby and beginning to rock her.

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"Oh Hylia !" Mack gasps, looking at the desert down below. It's crawling with the Hylian army. Nissa is hyperventilating.

Daruk claps a hand on his back. "Good thing we got here when we did!" He exclaims. "Now come on, we've gotta get to helping!"

Mack nods. "I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll do whatever I can."

Daruk rolls off the ledge they're on without fear, and Nissa easily hops on her shield and surfs down the sand. Mack closes his eyes.

He has to be strong. He has to help.

Nissa and her people don't deserve this. 

It's better to fight for something you believe in than to stand and watch.

And he has a promise to keep. He's going to paint Nissa all over the world.

Mack jogs down the slope. His sledgehammer, usually used for ore, is heavy on his back.

Fight for what's right , he tells himself, or don't bother with life.

Chapter Text

"Shh, shh." Link hums, trying to soothe the baby. Savannah seems to have sensed the tension in the air as they're surrounded by terrified Zora children and adult Zora soldiers, and one innkeeper ready to throw down. 

The cool air of the Inn's cellar feels stale and you could cut the atmosphere with a scimitar. Zelda paces next to where she's sitting, Terrako nearby. The baby fusses, nearly the only sound in the whole room.

The ground itself seems to shake. Is it real, or is Link just imagining the army that killed her birth mother strong enough to bring the very sands to their knees?

"There has to be something we can do to help!" Zelda suddenly bursts out, stomping her foot and nearly making Link jump out of her skin. By the reactions of most of everyone else in the room, Link's not the only one.

Terrako tilts itself as though cocking its non-existent head. It makes a chirping, whooping sound.

The sound is mimicked by the Slate, and Zelda checks it.

"... What… is that ?"

Link peers over her shoulder, but she can't make sense of the detailed, blueprint-like drawing of some sort of animal with two enormous bumps on its back.

A prompt appears on screen, but not any words she recognizes.

"It looks like… it's asking me to confirm something." Zelda says. "I mean, I can't read it, but…"

That makes sense. But what… 

"Link, I don't think things can get much worse. I don't know what this is, but-- I'm going to confirm."

She clicks the top prompt.

A moment passes. Then…

The ground really shakes.

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Nissa had been about to bring Daruk and Mack past the army to get to the Town from down south, where they hopefully wouldn't be seen, but they weren't that lucky.

One of the huge machines-- a Guardian, Mack called it-- had caught them in its rapidly turning head, and unerringly locks its horrific pulsing blue eye on Nissa. A red light shoots from it and she can almost feel the heat on her forehead.

There's light gathering in the thing's eye and she can't look away. It's scuttling closer and she's transfixed and terrified.

"Nissa!" Mack shrieks, and the voe slams into her side just in time to knock her out of the way.

He isn't so lucky.

The blinding light passes by over her head and shoulders and slams into her friend like a physical thing and he's flung backwards, screaming.

Oh, goddess.

She rushes to check on him and can already see the burns forming. His shirt and jacket are scorched and he has a massive, bleeding wound on his chest. He's whimpering, barely conscious. "Mack, please, sav'shian, sav'shian, bevu'sav, please, please be okay, please…"

She feels more than hears the light on her back between her shoulder blades. She throws herself over her friend to protect him when Daruk steps in front of them both. He yells as the light comes, a shimmering barrier bursts into being and reflects light back. 

The sound of an explosion rocks the sands.

Mack's hand comes up weakly to trace her cheek. "What a beautiful girl you are, Nissa." He chokes out the words, coughing. Blood speckles his lips. "I'm so… so glad I got to paint you."

"Don't talk like that, you'll be okay, you promised, you fool! You said you'd paint me all over the world… sav'shian, I'm begging you, please don't give up. I'll get you to the medics in Town, they'll fix you right up!" She tries to pick him up and his head lolls on his shoulders. "No, no, no… Mack, please."

"He's unconscious, little gal." Daruk says, looking at their blood covered forms. 

"It's not too late, it can't be too late, he promised."

The explosion of the Guardian has attracted more, and their horrible red lights cover Daruk. Soldiers are turning, and upon seeing the three of them, a rain of arrows comes at them.

Daruk, moving faster than she thought it was possible for him, deflects it all with his barriers.

Nissa sobs. She's struggling to pick up Mack. She's tall and strong but he's a grown voe. "It's not too late, it can't be too late."

Tears hit the sand. Tears and blood, staining it into a purple slurry under the moonlight.

The ground begins to shake. The ground begins to shake and Nissa nearly loses her footing.

She starts sobbing harder. It's not fair. It's not fair. She never would have made it to Death Mountain without Mack. He promised.

The ground shakes harder.

"I'm runnin' out of juice." Daruk informs, blocking more arrows. 

This is so unfair.

Now the shaking is joined by loud crashing, and just a little ways away, a massive, glowing foot bursts from the sand, sending it spraying everywhere.

"What--" Nissa stammers out the word, Mack limp in her arms.

Another foot bursts to the surface, and they begin pulling the rest of whatever this is out of the sand. Nissa stares, still scrambling to pick up her friend. He's her friend. He's done nothing but be kind to her. He promised.

The massive mechanical beast finishes pulling itself free from the sand. Four enormous legs, two huge bumps on its back, and a six-eyed face that reminds her of the Thunder Helm.

Her mouth is dry. What is that?

The Guardians turn their attention to the… beast , as Hylian soldiers scatter in terror.

Its stomps are massive, almost desert shaking on their own. It shrugs off the horrible lights from the Guardians like they're nothing.

As she stares, tears still streaming down her face, it stomps towards her. She's sure they're all about to die, but once it's fairly close to her and Mack, it kneels down, revealing a ramp to get inside and Nissa suddenly knows . It's hard to describe, a feeling more than a thought.

"Daruk, please take Mack. Get him to the town, I'm begging you. He needs help."

The Goron takes her friend from her in surprisingly gentle hands, despite them being so big . "What are you going to do, little gal?"

"I'm going to stop this ." Nissa says with simple minded determination. She walks towards the ramp as if in a dream. Daruk watches her for a moment before turning and running towards the Town.

She'll just have to hope and pray that Mack will be alright. She deflects some arrows with her shield and steps onto the ramp.

Even as she climbs, Vah Naboris starts rising. Her throat is dry. The injustice of it all… but she can make a difference.

Her hand traces the wall as she walks. "We'll make them pay. We'll protect the desert." She mutters frantically. "We'll avenge him. We must."

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Daruk arrives at the entrance to the Town, which is surprisingly guarded by Zora.

They lower their spears at him suspiciously.

"He needs a doctor!" Daruk says immediately, holding out Mack. The Hylian's breathing is shallow, coming in little pants. "Please, we need help."

"How do we know he isn't just a Hylian spy? And men aren't allowed in town!" One of the Zora women says.

"I traveled her with him and one of the Gerudo children. Nissa, her name was. I came to offer the chief Goron aid, but we were attacked by that army and Mack here got, got… shot by one of those Guardian things. I don't think he has much time left..." 

The Zora look at each other.

"I'll go get Princess Mipha. You stay right there." One of them says sternly. She runs inside the Town.

"Hang in there, buddy." Daruk wills Mack, eyes on the army. They're fanned out all over the desert, Guardians approaching fast.

Precious moments later, a red Zora in a bunch of beautiful jewelry runs out. "Come inside. I don't want any more sand to get in that wound." She instructs. "I will help you, and Lady Urbosa can scold me later.'

"Thank you, Princess." He says, walking into the arch.

"Set him down." Mipha instructs. She kneels over Mack, tearing his shirt open. "This is pretty bad, but I can heal it." She murmurs, and her hands light up with a soft glow.

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"It's driving me crazy not knowing what's going on!" Zelda bursts out.

Link nods. Princess Mipha had just left, leaving Prince Sidon in the care of Miss Lumie. Miss Lumie had also taken Savannah from Link when she couldn't successfully calm the baby.

"I… need … to know what's going on." Zelda decides.

"'Re you really Princess Zelda?"

She jumps and looks down to see Prince Sidon looking up at her.

"You're pretty." He says.

"Um. Thanks."

Link squees, causing Sidon to look at her.

"You're really pretty!" He proclaims, and Link's cheeks heat up. She hides her face in her shoulder.

She's not. She's not. She looks too voeish, her figure is all wrong for a vai, she's not wearing her eye paint… the contouring that Zelda did is long gone, leaving her back with her unsatisfactory face.

Link doesn't believe the little voe.

"She is, isn't she?" Zelda smiles. The little prince of the Zora nods enthusiastically.

Link scrunches up her face. 

"Hey, Prince Sidon, can you do me a favor?" Zelda whispers conspiratorially.

"What?" He asks, wide eyed and innocent.

"Can you go distract Miss Lumie for a couple minutes?"

He tilts his head, the long fin on the back of his head flopping to the side. "Whas' that mean?"

"Just go talk to her so she doesn't look at the door for a bit. Link and I need to leave, but she won't want us to."

"Oh. Okay!" He nods again and rushes off through the crowd of children.

Link looks at Zelda, unimpressed.

"Oh, don't give me that. You want out of this cellar too."

She does, but that doesn't mean she approves of the method.

"Just come on, let's go." Zelda grabs her by the arm and the three of them-- if you count Terrako-- rush for the exit.

Chapter Text

Nissa steps up the stairs with purpose. Around her, Naboris cradles its pilot, her righteous fury resonating with its ultimate purpose.

It feels almost as if she's in a dream, even as she's placing a hand on the control terminal.

" Pilot registration beginning. Please do not remove your hand from the console. " An almost… synthetic… female voice echoes in her ears. " Pilot name? "

"Nissa." She says calmly. "Daughter of Navine."

" Welcome, Nissa. I am Vah Naboris. " The voice cooes. " Pilot registration complete. You may remove your hand from the console. "

Nissa sweeps into a turn, narrowing her eyes. "Are we ready?"

" We are ."

"Let's show them why you should never back a Gerudo, warrior or not, into a corner!" She barks, raising a hand.

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"Princess Mipha!" Zelda pants, running up to the Zora woman with Link and Terrako nipping at her heels. 

She stops, taking in the scene of Mipha healing a Hylian. Of a Goron in what classes as Goron finery standing over them anxiously while the Zora guarding the gate alternate between glancing at that group and the open desert. Of the distant figures of soldiers and guardians visible past them, approaching ever closer.

The ground shakes so violently she nearly loses her footing. Link catches her deftly.

"What is going on ?" The Princess demands.

"I am healing this traveler that came with Daruk here as well as a girl named Nissa." Mipha says a bit bemusedly. "The other missing Gerudo child, I believe?"

Link's hold tightens on Zelda's arm. "You came with Nissa?" She manages to squeak out.

"I sure did! Name's Daruk. What's yours?"

"I am Zelda, Princess of Hylia, and this is Link, Lady Urbosa's daughter."

Daruk leans forward to peer at them. "Link, huh? The little gal had a lot to say about you." 

Link smiles shakily. Zelda pulls herself free from the Gerudo girl's vicelike grip, only to take her hand and squeeze it comfortingly. 

The man groans and Zelda gets a good look at his injury. "What happened to him?"

"He pushed Nissa outta the way of one of those Guardian things' shot." Daruk says. 

Link visibly worries her lip. "Where… Nissa?"

"She's in that… thing."

"Thing?" Zelda drawls. If that isn't the most unhelpful description of something…

"The thing shaking the ground. It's this giant mechanical animal of some kind."

Zelda nearly stumbles again. The words click and she pulls the Slate off her waist and shows the screen to Daruk.

"Yeah! That!"

She turns it back towards her. Terrako chirps. Inside the blueprint, there is now a yellow dot near the center, much like the one that represents where they are on the map. She shows this to Link, who nods. That was not there when they last looked.

"What is it? Why did Nissa enter it?" Zelda asks.

"Couldn't tell you, Tiny Princess." He sighs.

The Hylian on the desert sandstone gives a choked gasp, eyes fluttering. "N-Nissa?" 

"Please be still." Mipha says gently. "I am still healing your wounds."

A loud whining noise, like a Guardian getting ready to shoot only deafeningly loud, fills the air.

In the distance, visible beyond the gate, a blast of light thicker than Zelda is tall suddenly cuts through the air, smashing into the sand like a physical force, and sends Guardians and Hylian soldiers alike screaming and flying through the air.

She and Link exchange a look of half-terror, half amazement.

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Urbosa stares up at the mighty mechanical beast that has come to their aid, as shocked as everyone else on this battlefield. Hylians and Gerudo are frozen as one, horror and awe filling the air as yet more Guardians are slain by the massive glowing light from the head of the animal.

She had known coming into this fight that it was surely a losing battle, though she'd never have given up until her corpse hit the sand. She had expected a bloodbath.