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The world was not ending, and Ganondorf’s sleep-deprived brain had only now woken up to that fact enough to realize what he had foolishly done. It was not that he had touched Zelda, or told her that he loved her; he could only regret that he had not done those earlier.
It was that he had invited her to meet his mothers.
After a long nap in the office of his fishing hole (he had not slept in over a day, what with the end of the world hanging over his head), he headed to his mothers’ small home, deep within the trees of the Southern Swamp. As expected, there were tears and laughter, and many hugs (how Koume and Kotake were able to give such tight hugs with their thin arms, he would never understand), and promises that tonight’s dinner would be exceptionally grand.
“Mushroom soup!” said Kotake. “I’ve been saving some rare ones!”
“And I’ll cook some of that salmon you brought me,” said Koume.
“And mango pie for dessert – your favourite.”
“That sounds great,” said Ganondorf, then cleared his throat. “I, er… I invited Zelda.” He coughed. “I hope that’s alright.”
For a moment, there was silence as both of his mothers stared at him with matching wide-eyed expressions.
“Zelda?” said Kotake. “The fishing girl from Great Bay?”
“Yes.” Ganondorf could feel his ears warming. “That’s the one.”
“You said she was stealing your customers,” said Koume with a raised eyebrow.
Ganondorf scowled. “That was… a long time ago. Now we’re… She’s my… We’re… together.” I think.
More silence. And then something that sounded rather like squealing.
“I knew it!” cried Koume.
“Our Ganondorf, bringing home a girl,” cried Kotake.
“It’s really not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Koume shook her head. “You’ve never brought a girl home before.”
“I worry about you, holed up alone for hours every day,” said Kotake.
“You’re alone for hours every day.”
“I’m old!” said Kotake with a cackle. “I’ve earned it.”
“Do you want a voucher?” asked Koume.
“For what?”
“The Boat Cruise, of course! It’s very romantic –”
“No.”
Kotake placed a wisened hand on his arm. “We’re delighted to have your girlfriend for dinner, sweetheart.”
Ganondorf nodded slowly (his face still felt rather hot). “I’ll go skin the fish,” he said.
As he left, he heard another cackling laugh. “I was worried he’d marry a fish.”
“Mother!”
***
Ganondorf had agreed to meet Zelda at his fishing hole and walk with her back to his mothers’ house. The swamp could be difficult to navigate, and like any good witch, Kotake had wanted to live in the most maze-like spot of them all.
(He wondered, sometimes, if this had originally been chosen to deter any pirates who might have otherwise come calling.)
By the time he was meant to meet her, his entire body was alight with nerves. What if she regretted what they had done? What if she had simply not wanted to greet the end of the world alone, and now that she had her whole life ahead of her had changed her mind? And what if she hadn’t changed her mind, and her mothers changed it for her with their antics?
Stop worrying, he berated himself. This is pathetic.
Still, he could not stop the what-ifs from plaguing him as he approached the fishing hole and saw her standing on his doorstep. And then she turned and caught his eye, and her warm smile melted all of his fears instantly.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” said Ganondorf.
“I missed you.”
Ganondorf snorted. “It’s only been a few hours.”
She laughed. “I know.” Then she touched a hand to his shoulder and pulled him down for a kiss.
“So,” she said once he had been released. “I finally get to meet his elusive mothers.”
Ganondorf hummed. “They’re looking forward to seeing you.”
“Lead the way, then,” said Zelda, and he took her by the hand.
***
They chatted the entire way back to his mothers’ home, about the non-ending of the world (“Impa cried when I came home earlier… I’ve never seen that before.”), about his mothers (“Koume operates a boat tour attraction; Kotake runs a potion shop.” “A real witch… Exciting!”), about the developments in their own relationship (“I love you,” blurted out Ganondorf after they had emerged from under the cover of trees and the rays from the starting-to-set sun caught the strands of her golden hair. His face warmed, but the smile Zelda gave him had him wanting to say it again, and again, and again.)
Before he knew it, they were at his mothers’ doorstep. He had barely raised his hand to knock on the door when it swung open before him, and matching pairs of wide eyes greeted them. Immediately they went to Zelda, studying. Ganondorf resisted the urge to wince; his mothers could be intimidating when they wanted to be.
“Hello,” Zelda said brightly. “It’s nice to meet you both. I’m –”
“Zelda,” said Koume, her eyes narrowed.
“That’s right. I work at –”
“The fishing hole in Great Bay,” said Kotake, with a similarly scrutinizing look on her face. “We’ve heard about you.”
“Mother,” began Ganondorf, but he was cut off by Koume.
“She looks strong,” she said approvingly, gaze fixed on Zelda’s arms, which were uncovered by the light top she was wearing and were indeed rather toned from many training sessions with Impa. This was something Ganondorf himself was very appreciative of.
“She does.” Kotake nodded. “A good thing for a woman to be.”
“Er – thank you.”
“Let’s go inside,” Ganondorf said shortly. “Please.”
“Oh, alright.” Kotake snickered as she gestured through the open door. To Zelda, she whispered loudly, “I hope you like mushrooms.”
Zelda smiled. “Ganondorf has told me you run a potion shop?”
“Yep, and good thing too, considering all the trouble my sister gets herself into.”
“That was once!” Koume snapped.
“It was only the other day,” Kotake retorted. “Who knows what would have happened if that kind sword boy hadn’t been there?”
“Sword boy?” asked Ganondorf.
Koume sighed. “A young boy brought me one of Kotake’s potions earlier this week after I was attacked in the woods – I’m fine, dear,” she added to Ganondorf, who had straightened at her words.
“Very sweet boy,” said Kotake. “But what a weird get-up.”
“Bright green tunic and hat,” Koume agreed. “And he seemed a bit young for that sword.”
Ganondorf blinked. “That kid came to my fishing hole yesterday. And he attacked me.”
“What?”
Zelda hummed. “Impa mentioned a boy like that came by our fishing hole a couple of days ago. I was out at the time, but… she said he was very nice.”
“That boy was not nice,” Ganondorf grumbled.
“You must have upset him,” said Koume.
“Don’t bully children, Ganondorf,” said Kotake.
“What – I never –”
Kotake cackled. Zelda giggled. Ganondorf rolled his eyes.
***
They sat around the kitchen table, soup in bowls and fish on plates (it was very good, thought Ganondorf, and he was glad that Zelda seemed to be enjoying the food as well), and to Ganondorf’s absolute relief, his mothers seemed to be enjoying Zelda’s company (and her theirs).
They asked her about living in Great Bay, and the fishing hole, and how Ganondorf had gone from bitter rival to cherished friend, then regaled her with stories about crazy boat tour customers (Koume insisted that Zelda take a voucher, which made Ganondorf roll his eyes), and all the wildlife met while mushroom picking, and about Ganondorf’s teenagehood (Ganondorf listened to these with bated breath, but his mothers were thankfully steering clear of anything too embarrassing).
“For a while he told us he was going to be a famous rock star!” said Kotake with a laugh. “Play sold-out shows in that bar in Clock Town.”
Zelda smiled at him fondly. “You are very good on the guitar. You could have done it.” She nudged her foot against his under the table.
Ganondorf snorted. “Too much effort. Fishing’s easier.”
“He did always love fishing,” sighed Koume. “The one thing the pirates didn’t ruin for you, I suppose.”
“Pirates?” repeated Zelda, and Ganondorf’s stomach flipped.
Koume’s brow furrowed. “Oh, has he not told you?”
Ganondorf shook his head slightly, attempting a signal. His mother, however, was completely focused on Zelda.
“Kotake and I aren’t really his–”
“You are my mothers,” said Ganondorf. “In any way that means anything.” He bit his tongue, catching Zelda’s eye. Her lips were turned down in a confused frown. He sighed.
“My birth mother,” he said quietly, “was one of the Gerudo pirates. Yes, those pirates,” he added, seeing Zelda’s mouth open. She closed it. “Amongst the Gerudo, male babies are incredibly rare. So rare that there is a tradition… Any boy born to the Gerudo is made into the king.”
“King? So you…?”
Ganondorf nodded. “I was a prince.” His palms felt rather sweaty; he wiped them on his pant legs. “I was trained to wield a spear as soon as I could walk, trained to steal even earlier. And I realized… I didn’t want that life. So I ran away.”
“Ganondorf…”
He shook his head. “I’d heard stories of twin witches of very high rank among the pirates leaving to live alone in the swamp. I thought maybe if I found them, they could help me. I came here.” He swallowed. “I was ten at the time.”
“Imagine our surprise,” said Koume with a wry smile, “when the Gerudo prince showed up at our doorstep.”
“We knew he was clever to have found this place. And he was too cute.” Kotake laughed. “So we kept him!”
“I decided much later to open the fishing hole. After all of that, I wanted a quiet life, I guess.”
Zelda said nothing for a moment, watching him contemplatively. Then she smiled. “Hard to have a quiet life when you keep provoking nice sword boys into attacking you.”
“I did not provoke him!” Ganondorf insisted, and while Koume and Kotake both laughed he thought that he’d never loved her more.
***
“It was lovely to meet you, Zelda,” Koume said, grasping her hands as they stood by the door.
“Bring her again,” ordered Kotake as she thrust a container of leftover mango cake into Ganondorf’s hands.
“I will,” he said truthfully.
“Thank you for dinner,” Zelda said. “Ganondorf speaks so highly of you both – it was wonderful to meet you.”
There were several more minutes of hugs and cheek kisses before they were permitted to leave. Well aware that his mothers were watching through the window, Ganondorf waited until he could duck behind the cover of a large tree before grabbing Zelda and kissing her soundly.
“Thank you,” he mumbled between kisses.
“For what?” Zelda asked, raising her hands to grasp his arms.
“Not making a big deal of my past.” He pressed a kiss to one cheek, then the other. “Joking around with my mothers.” A kiss to her forehead. “Being you.”
“Thank you,” Zelda said softly, “For inviting me.” She smiled crookedly. “Especially since we’ve only been together for a day, technically.”
“It feels longer,” said Ganondorf, moving his lips now to her neck. “I’ve wanted you for ages…”
Zelda shivered, then reached down to grasp his hand. “Want to go for a walk? I don’t want to go home, just yet.”
Ganondorf squeezed her fingers. “I would love to.”
***
Walking quickly turned into sitting, as they found a spot outlooking Termina Field to curl up and watch the sky. Zelda sat curled up on his lap, much like the night before, though the circumstances couldn’t have been more different. How much could change in one day… He had gone from being certain that he and everyone he loved were going to be eviscerated by the falling moon, to feeling like the world was full of wonder and possibilities.
“It looks different,” Zelda murmured.
“Hmm?”
“The sky.” She leaned her head back against his chest as she looked up. “With the moon gone… You can see more stars.”
You could, Ganondorf realized. Thousands of twinkling little lights blinked in the sky, yellow and red and blue, big and small. “Beautiful,” he breathed.
Zelda nodded. “You know the Clock Town bomb shop was trying to build a rocket to the moon?” She giggled. “It’ll be more difficult now, I think.”
Ganondorf snorted, eyes still trained on the stars. The sky was so open now, without the moon blotting it out. “It’ll make it easier for the pirates,” he said, then immediately regretted it.
“What do you mean?”
“Navigating,” he grunted. “The position of the stars is important when you’re out at sea.”
Zelda hummed, then twisted in his arms to look at him. “Do you ever regret it?” she asked quietly. “Leaving them?”
“No,” said Ganondorf immediately, then, “I don’t know. I was never going to be what they wanted me to be.” He sighed. “I regret not trying to change things, I guess.”
Zelda tilted her head.
“Maybe if I was king, I could have stopped it. What happened to that Zora woman’s eggs.” He scowled. “Or maybe I would have turned out just like them.”
Zelda raised a hand to cup his cheek. “Well, I rather like who you are now, Ganondorf. So if you needed to leave to become that, then… I’m glad.”
He smiled down at her, raising his hand to rest on her own. “That’s good,” he said. “Because I would have been a terrible king.”
A playful smile tugged at her lips. “Are you sure? Wicked King of Thieves Ganondorf has a nice ring to it, does it not?”
He leaned in. “You’d like to see me wicked, would you?” he murmured, delighted to see her cheeks darken in a blush.
“I think you’d be handsome in a crown, that’s all.”
He touched his nose to hers. “Perhaps I am the King of Thieves,” he purred, “For I’ve already stolen the loveliest princess in the land.”
“Flirt,” accused Zelda, before tilting her chin up and meeting him for another kiss.