Nabooru, Second in Command to the Gerudo King, had been the one to inform him of the altercation she had witnessed. He knew that no one would have informed him otherwise, and thus put down his work to attend to the matter. Apart from himself and his Second, no one could be bothered with the Hylian-Gerudo hybrid that was his son, a child borne of his extramarital affair with the Princess of Hyrule. He had taken the responsibility to raise the child in his desert home as both he and Zelda knew that, despite the misgivings his people may have had of the child, that his authority was ultimate. No one would dare harm a hair on the boy's head lest they wished to face his wrath.
That, however, did not save his son from the daily ridicule and isolation he was often subjected to. The Gerudo saw him as a menace, a boy that would challenge their divine king for his throne, and eventually betray them for the noble Hylian blood running in his veins. While no one dared to physically bring harm to the child, there was nothing to be done for the jeering insults and subtle exclusion that they doled out to the boy. Neither Ganondorf nor Nabooru could hope to be there for him every second of the day to deflect such mockery, and it made his heart ache with regret.
He swung the door to the stables open, knowing that there was only one place where his boy found comfort. The Gerudo King stood at the door as he silently observed his son, a boy of seven years of age with a head of flaming hair just like his, as he ran a comb softly through the mane of his black charger. Green eyes were filled to the brim with tears as his lip quivered, though his stubbornness did not allow him to cry. He was clearly absorbed in what he was doing, his world only consisting of himself and his father's steed as he tried to forget that he was different and that nobody seemed to like different.
"Hey kid," Ganondorf said quietly as he approached his son. The boy stopped combing the horse's mane, his eyes boring into the ground beneath his sandaled feet as he tried his hardest not to let his tears spill.
"Papa…" the child managed to squeak out in a quiet whisper. The Gerudo King knelt so he could be at the same level as his son, and allowed his gaze to wander over his steed for a moment. His large hand rose, his fingers carding through the unkempt tuft of red that sat upon his boy's head in an act meant to comfort him.
"Well would you look at that," Ganondorf began as a smile crossed his lips, "you did quite a fine job with his coat!" The boy was not easily amused, however. The brush he had been using fell from his hand listlessly as he turned his head, his eyes meeting with that of his father's.
"Papa, why do the Goddesses hate me?" he asked simply, as if it were an undisputed truth. The boy's tone caught Ganondorf off guard as he thought of how a child could come up with such a ludicrous assumption.
"They do not hate you my son," the Gerudo King said assuredly as he pulled the small child into an embrace. "Why would you even say such a thing?" He felt the boy's little face press into his shoulders as small hands grasped fistfuls of his shirt, the child trying to bury himself in his father's comforting hug.
"If they didn't hate me, then I would have been made like everyone else," the small, muffled voice answered as the child curled up in his father's arms. "Then I would have friends, and people would actually like me."
Ganondorf cradled the child in his arms as he thought deeply upon what his son had said. With a nod he rose from his position, the boy still in his arms as he grabbed a saddle and threw it onto his horse. The child turned his head away from his father's chest, eyes sparkling with curiosity as Ganondorf let the horse out of the stable and mounted with the child in tow.
"Where are we going Papa?" the boy inquired.
"You shall see," Ganondorf simply answered as he spurred his steed forward.
They dismounted at a beautiful oasis deep within the desert, farther than the boy had ever travelled before. He jumped from his father's arms, his eyes taking in the beautiful palm trees and the sparkling, inviting spring of water right at the center. Instinctively, his feet carried him to the water's edge, the cool liquid lapping at his feet as a smile crossed his face. A shadow came over him as the hulk of a man that was the Gerudo King came to stand next to him, a smile forming upon his face upon seeing his son's joy.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Ganondorf sighed as he continued, "I used to come here very often when I was young." He could feel his boy's eyes on him as he continued to stare ahead, beckoning him to continue his story.
"I'm different too, you know," he smiled as he turned to look at his boy. The child blinked in response, his eyes inquisitive as to what his father meant. Turning away, the Gerudo King looked ahead once more, "Before you came along, I was the only boy in this tribe. Sometimes it was hard for me because girls and boys aren't the same. I had no other boy to talk to, and I felt lonely."
The boy looked down at his feet, wiggling his toes in the water as he thought about what his father said. "Except for you and Auntie Nabooru, no one else ever wants to talk to me….I feel lonely too," the child said, a sadness creeping into his voice. Ganondorf knelt onto the sand then, his arm snaking around his son's shoulder as he pulled him close. The Gerudo King placed his hand under the child's chin, lifting his head up so they could look at each other, face to face.
"Being different is lonely child," Ganondorf explained, "but it is also uniquely beautiful. Look at this oasis, for example. She is different from all the same sand and stone that surround her. However, everyone appreciates the oasis because she's different; where the desert only offers unrelenting heat, the oasis offers a place of coolness and rest." The boy perked up as he made the connection, his eyes widening in realization as a grin appeared on his face.
"And the oasis is also lonely because there's no other oasis near it!" the boy exclaimed excitedly. Ganondorf laughed as he ruffled the child's hair.
"Aren't you an intelligent little one," the man chuckled. The child smiled genuinely as a spark appeared in the depths of his green eyes.
"Does that mean we're like the oasis Papa?" the boy asked. Still smiling, Ganondorf took his son's hand, noting the stark contrast between the boy's golden tan and his deep bronze one, and shook his head.
"I am like the oasis my son, for while an oasis is indeed different, it is something one will expect to find in the desert." He looked to the boy as a confused expression settled on his face, "You, my son, are much more unique than a mere oasis." With that said, Ganondorf stood up, his son's small hand in his rather large one, and led the child around the bank of the spring until they came upon a large boulder. The Gerudo King pointed towards the rock, the boy's eyes following what his father was trying to show him, and gasped in surprise.
Blooming from a crack on the surface of the boulder was a large, colorful flower, a plant unlike anything the boy had ever seen in his life. Letting go of his father's hand, the child scampered over to the rock, his eyes tracing every detail of the beautiful petals as his tiny fingers itched to touch it. However, the boy could not bring himself to do such a thing; it was too pretty and delicate to be handled by human hands.
"It's amazing…." the child whispered in awe as he was unable to take his eyes from it.
"It certainly is, for flowers do not normally grow in the desert," the Gerudo King remarked as knelt near his son. "You are just like this rare desert beauty my son." Ganondorf chuckled as the child stared at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly opened as his father compared him to such a unique and beautiful thing.
"You see my son," the Gerudo King explained, "a flower doesn't normally belong in the desert, but this flower didn't let that stop her. Despite all the difficulty she had to go through, she grew until she blossomed into a beautiful plant." Ganondorf took his son's face into his hands, his thumb caressing the child's cheek as he stared deeply into his eyes.
"I know it's hard growing up in a place where you are very different," the Gerudo King sighed, "but that doesn't mean the Gods hate you. They want you to grow and blossom, just like this desert flower."
The child looked at him, nervously biting his lip as his feet shuffled in the sand. He still looked unsure as he thought about his father's words. "So…I'll be like this flower someday Papa?"
Ganondorf could not even begin to explain the boon that this boy was. A merge of two royal lines, the combination of light and darkness; he was fated to be amongst the great. He could remember the day the child had been born, the thrum of Power and Wisdom that had passed over both himself and Zelda as they marveled over the gift that had been their son. He could only imagine the anguish that she felt on a day to day basis of not being able to be there for her baby because of the petty racism and customs that existed between their people.
A flower did not even come close to describing their son.
The boy squealed in delight as his father scooped him up in his arms, his loud laughter ringing out in the vast expanse of the desert.
"You will be much more than just a flower," the Gerudo King declared. "You will be a great and mighty warrior!"
The rest of the day was spent in the oasis, father and son splashing about the cool water as they let their troubles flee from their minds. As Ganondorf held his wet and squirming child in his arms, he could only imagine how much more delightful this day would have been if Zelda would have been here, together as a family.