It was said that out of the desert, Din created the Gerudo.

"I shall give them my power," she said, "I will fashion them with a warrior's spirit. They shall be the fiercest people of all Hyrule, and they will be strong. I shall grant them skill with the bow and sword, I shall give them craftiness and wit, and I shall give them pride and freedom."

So it was to be... but Nayru, in all her wisdom placed a hand upon her compatriot's arm and said;

"Wait – for I too will grant them something. If they were to have all that you give them, they would embark upon conquests and spill the blood of all who dwell Hyrule," said Nayru softly, for she loved her children and her creation. Stretching out her hand to the desert, she made this proclamation.

"To balance their strength, I declare this; only once in a century will a man be born into this race." As it was done, Din's anger flared against Nayru.

"Would you destroy this people?"

"They will not die out," the wise deity replied, "for this one man shall live longer than any man of any race, and he will not die before he has a son. He will possess the power of his people, he will be the King of his kind, and he will father his nation."

And so, Din agreed.

Din's Blessing

by eolianstar

Zelda: Ocarina of Time © Nintendo

Rated for suggested themes

Before Hyrule was saved by the green-clad hero of legend, it was recorded that dark clouds loomed over the land. It was written that this darkness, this great and terrible destruction, was spawned by the Evil King of the Desert Lands, an ugly and twisted man history would forever remember as Ganondorf.

However, no record will say that in his youth, before the black arts deformed him, he was a ruddy and handsome young man befitting the image of a king. He was strong and courageous, and his people revered him as much as they would a god.

And because he was the sole male child born to a race of women in a century, he was, in a sense, a savior to his people. For if the Gerudo were to live, they were to cherish him and bear him children. Thus, the race of warriors was then reduced to a large harem.

But that was the secret of the Gerudo, and they thought to take pride in it.

In those days, a girl would wait upon the quiet hill, overlooking the still desert. She would comb her long crimson hair with her fingers and observe the proud fortress. She would watch the fat golden disk slide slowly along the oily scarlet sky and feel the wind, thick with dust, blow against her bronze skin. And then, she would spy the young king below, his painted burlap cloak flying gently in the desert winds.

And she would despise him in her heart.

P a r t . o n e : Aru

Aru slipped silently into the chamber as she bound up her hair again. She could hear Meela and Tamar laughing. Kisha and Loa sat nearby, one sharpening her spear while the other listened to the hearsay intently. The light from the fire glowed against their tanned skin, shone brightly against their red hair.

"Tonight he will see Yori," Meela remarked, leaning against the table with her hands on the wooden surface. "Poor foolish girl. She's been following all of those old superstitions for conceiving a boy."

"How old is our King? Not yet twenty-five?" Kisha speculated as she tested the sharp end of her weapon with her thumb. "We shall all be dead by the time the next King is born."

Sheathing her blade in a leather scabbard, Aru listened somewhat distractedly. She noticed how large Tamar's belly had grown and how much cheerier (and condescending) Meela had become since her night. All the while, Aru was frowning deeply as an unpleasant feeling overcame her. It was a nauseating feeling that made her feel sick.

"Regardless, Yori is so attached to him. She would love nothing other than to become his favorite by bearing him a son."

"That's the only thing that could ever earn his attention. Pitiful girl, he hardly even looks at her."

Aru could hardly bear it anymore.

"Can we not converse about something else?" Aru said angrily.

All four women looked at her strangely. Out of them all, Aru was the youngest and perhaps the most plain. But she was also the strongest. She could shoot the straightest arrow and was the deadliest in combat. Perhaps this was why she was the only one who could remember the true heart of the Gerudo people.

Still standing, Aru looked back at her friends with her infamous stare.

"Do you not remember how things were like? We swore to be the best thieves, the must cunning warriors, the fastest riders of all Hyrule, but now, you all laze about in your daydreams and worthless fantasies!"

"Oh, Aru," Kisha said, not bothering to match her gaze. "Don't attempt to fool us. I see you every night on the hill, watching for when the King enters the fortress from the raids."

Aru was taken a back at this, and she stepped back slightly.

"What?"

"You are attracted to him as much as we all are, that's all." As Meela haughtily said this, Aru could feel that same awful feeling turning her stomach.

How wrong you are.

"You just don't know," Tamar said, a bit more kindly than the other two. "Your night will come too, Aru, and then you'll understand how exciting it all is."

"No," Aru growled, very much appalled by the idea. "It is merely a subject matter for gossip. And does it not seem wrong? That all of you are seeing the same man? Our half-brother?"

A row of shadows flickered against the wall. They turned and saw their King and the other raiders behind him as he impressively strode past their chamber. His painted cloak spread out behind him, his black armor glistening like obsidian. Upon his brow, the amber stone set into the circlet caught the torchlight and brightened like an ephemeral flame.

For a moment, Aru felt his gaze pass over them, catching her eye in that infinitesimal moment. Instead of averting her gaze like most did, she defiantly lifted her chin as he walked past. A flicker lit up his eyes, and then vanished.

When he was gone, she turned to look back at her companions, who were still watching him, gazing at his back as he proceeded to the next hall.

Disgusted, she turned her own back and left.

.e n d . o f . p a r t . o n e

Hello dear readers (: I really never thought that this fanfic would be the one to debut this account, but considering that I don't have anything else, I suppose it shall do. As you probably have noticed, this work will have quite a bit of suggestive connotations, but let me assure you that this is not the focus of the story. Nothing in this will ever go above PG-13 level -- ever. Perceptive readers can take this as a satire of modern society, and readers who might be offended by any possible deeper meaning can just take this as a story (:

This should be a rather short story as well, though I'm unsure as to how many chapters there will be. The next installment will come up depending on the response I get.

Thanks for reading (: