**Hey guys! This isn't my first fanfic, (I forgot my password/email for the other account ;_; ) but I would really like some critique. I hope you enjoy it! Character concepts and item designs for all of my stories can be found on my profile.**

EXTENDED SUMMARY:

A few years after the tyrant Ganondorf is defeated, a young Hylian named Mira, raised by Nabooru and a tribe of Gerudos, finally becomes a woman. Throughout her young life, Nabooru has told her that she has a destiny, a destiny chose for her by The Goddess of the Sand. But there's one problem, Mira doesn't want a chosen life. After the ceremony of her sdulthood, Nabooru turns her away, telling her that she may not return for another 5 years. Soon, a perilous adventure unfolds before Mira, and she must answer the most important questions of her life; what exactly is her destiny? Why does she have to be the hero? And most importantly, where the Hylia is the Hero of Time?

CHAPTER I

I awake with a start to the feeling of sand pouring down on the bridge of my nose and leaking into my eyes.
For the love of Din, my ceiling was leaking. Again.
Rolling off the bed, I take my blanket and make myself into a Hylian-burrito, rubbing the desert sand out of my poor eyes and trying to escape the dripping granules while still managing to get some well-deserved rest. Though that did not last long. Soon there was a violent rapping on my door. Moaning, I throw the blanket off, sitting up and smoothing out my clothes.
"Who is it?" My voice still soft from sleep.
"It's me." A familiar voice responds. "You should have been up half an hour ago, graduation is today, you know."
"Since when have I ever cared about being punctual?"
"Mira."
"Dana." Standing now, I slip my earth blue tunic over my torso, buckling the large, leather belt around my waist. "I'll be out in a few minutes. Wait for me, ok?"
"Nabooru is going to be so displeased…" Dana whines from behind the large oak door.
"I am the incarnate of displeasure for The Sage of Spirit." Finishing up my dressing and hopping into my boots. "Anyways-" I fling the door open, staring at my Gerudo friend. Her nose just as big - and hair just as red - as always. Would it be racist to say that the majority of them look exactly like her? "Nabooru couldn't see me as anymore disappointing as I already am."
"Mira…" Dana mutters, attempting to console me. "Don't say that stuff."
I shrug. "You know it's true. Nabooru's Hylian prodigy is a lazy bum who can't even be on time for her own graduation. Sometimes I wish I was a Gerudo, you know?" Dana creases her brow. "Maybe if I was like you she wouldn't expect as much. I wouldn't be her 'special snowflake'" I use my middle and forefingers to indicate quotations. "I don't know, man. I just don't feel like I belong here."
This is where someone would probably tell me that I 'belong with people who love me' or something along those lines. Or they would tell me how angsty I'm being. Well, you see, I'm not a very sentimental person. Look at Dana and I, for example. Dana is curvy and tanned with golden eyes and flowing, tame, crimson hair. I for one, am a sickly pale and made of skin and bone. My faded-brown hair slightly curled and unmanageable- I always have to put it up. With eyes a dull-blue grey, I am certainly nothing like my Gerudo counterpart. Also, another reason I absolutely do not belong here is because, well, I am one-hundred-and-ten-percent Hylian, and everyone in the land of Hyrule knows that Gerudos are completely opposed to the lifestyle of Hylians. (and indifferent to the race itself.) So here I am, living in a small shack in the Gerudo Desert with a race that couldn't care less about my own.
All I want is to get away.
"I grew up with you, and I don't see you as anything other than my friend. I don't know why you have to play the Hylian card all the time." Dana stares at my home sewn tunic, styled after the fabled Hero of Time's traditional green garb turned feminine- sleeves and length shortened. "But it would help your case if you didn't always wear that."
I snorted. "I'd rather not run around with all of my pale flesh exposed. I'm nothing close to all of you guys' skin tone."
"MIRA!" A loud, booming voice screeches from the ceremonial circle in the middle of our colony. "YOU ARE LATE!"
"Oh Goddess…" Dana squeaks, cringing a little. "I told you Nabooru would be displeased."
To confirm Dana's worries, Nabooru appears from behind a hut and storms toward both of us. "You have the nerve to be late to your own ceremony?" She cries. "I started this whole fiasco for YOU, Mira! And you dare disgrace me like this?"
My face reddens. "And why am I so important?"
Nabooru pinches the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and looking flustered. "Not this again, Mira." She motions towards the village with a decorated hand. "We are a family of Gerudo women, and all of us have raised you since you were a babe. You are the only Hylian ever to be raised by our tribe, or any Gerudo tribe, for that matter. I want you to be able to be proud of that heritage. Go out into the world and be a hero. This is your destiny that The Goddess of the Sand has bestowed upon you."
"Why me?" I clench my teeth and glare into her golden eyes. "Hyrule does not need saving! The Hero of Time made sure of that! And all I am is a child whose parents died in the harsh desert. A child that you saved." I avert my eyes. "Maybe you should have left me to die. I would be much happier dead than I am with you!"
Without a word, Nabooru slaps me across the face, sending me into the sand. "You should be thankful." Her voice is stern and cold. "The Hero of which you speak has not been heard from in years." I rub the pink mark on my cheek, tears welling up in my eyes. Dana stands there, quiet and wide eyed. "You!" Nabooru points a sharp finger at Dana. "Take her to the heart of the tribe. I have to take care of some things at the ceremony. She will fulfill her destiny, whether she likes it or not." Nabooru strides away, back towards the ceremonial circle.
"Mira, are you okay?" Dana grabs my hand, pulling me back on my feet, then dusting off my tunic.
"Yeah, but my ego isn't" I sigh, picking sand out of my hair. "This sucks so hard, Dana."
"I know, but…" She grabs my hand, leading me towards the circle. "I have a gut feeling that you really are needed in this."
"Fine. But as soon as this ceremony is over and I am an adult, I'm getting the Hylia out of here."
Dana frowns slightly. I know she can't leave the tribe. "I'll miss you, ya' know."
"Shut up, we can cry and all that nonsense after the ceremony." I rub my cheek a bit more, hoping there isn't a mark. "Now lets get this stupid thing over with. And don't forget, after this you'll be an adult too, and you'll be able to be a medicine woman, just like you've always wanted." I smile lightly, though my heart is starting to ache a little. "And I'll visit all the time."
"Promise?" She holds out her arm, all fingers in a fist besides the pinky.
"Promise." Our pinkies entwine, and we shake on it.
After all, you can't break a pinky swear. Not ever.