As they got closer to the camp, she could pick out the details of a scene unfolding. A tall and proud looking Rito was speaking to a woman. She was blonde, like her companion, and from what Sun could see, very beautiful. There was something delicate about her features, her white skin, that made her seem apart from her surroundings, as if she belonged in a library, or a court, as opposed to a tundra. Sun hung back, letting Link go ahead of her, feeling intrusive. The woman was speaking, her voice fair and sophisticated, and utterly blithe.
"Thank you, Taka, I'll return right away. Go ahead of me and inform the castle. I don't imagine it'll take us more than a week to get back."
The Rito, a fine, sleek, white feathered male, took off and it was like a flurry of snow had been cast into the air. Sun watched him go in wonder, as he disappeared into the clouds with surprising speed. The woman was still speaking, this time to Link, who had reached the edge of their camp.
"Oh good, you're back. Start dismantling the tents while I pack away the rest of the equipment. Taka has just informed me that Princess Riju will be coming to the castle a week before the festival in order to have a meeting with me and I am very curious as to what it might be about. I suspect it might have something to do with trade, given that they are the trading hub of Hyrule." She said all this without looking behind her, packing books into a miniature chest. Link obeyed her command without hesitation, taking apart the camp and depositing things into bundles, which he then lashed together. She continued; "Nevertheless, it will appear awfully rude if we don't get there on time. You know how I was criticised for going on this mission in the first place. They want me within those walls every second of the day," a hint of sadness crept into her voice. "You're lucky, no one says anything when you go off adventuring." Her speech wasn't hurried, and she didn't check to see if Link were listening. It was as if she were talking to herself.
There was a pause. The woman stopped packing and cradled a leather-bound journal across her knee, the thick parchment covered in dark green ink. Sun gathered her courage and took a breath to speak, but the woman, who still hadn't seen her, went on and Sun shut her mouth, not wanting to be rude. "I wish that we could have searched a little longer. I am sure that we are close to the location that the journal specifies. Though… perhaps I am wrong after all. Some of it doesn't make sense, no matter how long I spend translating it. Do you think he was mad?" She didn't wait for an answer. "I wish he would say where in the Hebra Mountains the heirloom actually was! He goes to great pains trying to impress on the reader how important the artefact is, but won't explicitly say where it is or even what it is." She hadn't moved from her position in the snow, though Link was striding about her in precise activity. "These Gerudo rumours concern me, Link. I should know better than to put stock in sages, prophesies and legends, but… something about this doesn't feel right. It's my duty to protect Hyrule, and if this 'great change and disruption' is any threat to her, well I have to know about it."
Sun listened to all of this, waiting for the woman to stop speaking so that she could make herself known. She kept glancing at Link, expecting him to introduce her, but he had busied himself in taking apart the camp, moving in a way that made her suspect that this was the usual dynamic between them. Not only was he a guard, but also some sort of servant, and this woman, someone of authority, as evidenced by her straight back and soft, clear diction. He worked, listening to her, falling into a comfortable sort of routine that comes with love and loyalty. Sun felt even more that she was intruding.
"Link, you'll have to go fetch the horses. I let them wander, but they won't have gone far. They'll be on that plateau to the –"
She finally noticed Sun, and started.
"I… I did not realise that we had a guest."
Sun smiled, both embarrassed and relieved that she had finally been noticed. "My name is Sun. I met Link hunting on the mountain, and he said that I could come back and use your campfire, but it seems like you're on your way."
"Indeed," the woman said. "I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule."
Princess? Was she actually speaking to royalty? What was she to do? Bow, or salute or… She flushed. Now that they were face to face, she realised that the princess wasn't much older than Link, maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. Her throat dry, she realised that she was still holding the hare by the ears, blood dripping onto the snow. Not knowing what else to do, she let the hare fall and removed her headdress, letting her long hair fall free and ripple in the breeze.
"It's odd to meet a Gerudo so far north," said Princess Zelda. "What are you doing all the way out here?"
Sun opened her mouth to repeat the story she had given Link, then stopped, knowing that it would only explain why she was at their camp, not why she was in the Hebra mountains. Thinking fast, she said, "I'm searching for the artefact too."
"I – what?"
"The heirloom. I heard you talking…"
What the princess had said earlier had made Sun think that the legend she referred to was a generic folk tale. Words like prophesy had sounded too grand and important for only a handful of people to know, but the shocked expression on Zelda's face told her that she had made a mistake. There was no going back now. She shuffled her feet, glancing at Link, only to see that he had stopped packing up the campsite and was gazing at her with intense curiosity. After an uncomfortable silence, Zelda stepped forward.
"But the existence of the journal isn't widely known about," she said, confirming Sun's thoughts. "How do you know there's anything out here to look for?"
"It's a legend of my people," she said, glad that her voice was steady. "You said so yourself. I didn't know about any journal, but I knew about the legend of the artefact –" she saw an opportunity "– I've just been searching all over for where it might be, asking around, making guesses, but you seem to know a lot more than I do. You've got a lead on it and everything. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject and we can compare notes…?"
As she had hoped, Zelda's cheeks went a little pink. Her flattery had worked. "Well… We have to abandon our search, I'm afraid. We're returning to Hyrule castle."
"Yes, of course." She had to stop herself sighing in relief. "Do you have a map I could look at. I'm a little lost and I would like to see which way I could take to leave the mountains…" And do what? She had no idea what she would do or what would happen to her, but despite her warm clothes and her hunting skill, she knew this snowy wilderness would kill her if she stayed. The muted quality of the thick snow, as well as the piercing cold made her feel like she was underwater, and she couldn't help seeing the landscape as alien and hostile. How anyone could live here, she couldn't comprehend. Meeting Princess Zelda had distracted her, but now that it came down to making her decision, the hunger cramps came back with a vengeance and she was starting to feel light headed. She would just have to figure it out as she went along.
"Right. Link, could you please fetch Sun a map?"
Link stood straight and bobbed his head in a tiny bow, and opened one of the small chests that appeared to contain papers. He produced a map, which she thanked him for and smoothed across the lid of the chest. At first she was overwhelmed by all the lines and makers zigzagging across the parchment, but she took a breath and forced herself to concentrate. It was like relearning something she had been taught in childhood and had since forgotten, and it didn't take her long to understand that the lines described the elevation of the mountain, and that the markings were place names. It was also a very limited view, and from what she could see, only displayed the local area around them. Looking over her shoulder to make sure that Link and the princess were distracted, she folded up the map and opened the chest, sifting through it with her fingers until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out another sheet of parchment, this one thin and worn, and much larger than the first one. It was another map, and she was pleased to see that it showed a little more than the Hebra mountains.
For long seconds, she poured over it, her eyes travelling along the roads and rivers, taking in the shape of Hyrule, a shape that was at once new and familiar. She could read the words effortlessly, just as she knew how to speak Hylian, and was absorbed in relearning the names, sounding them out in her head until they made sense. And there, at the bottom left hand corner, was a vast empty space, labelled Gerudo Desert. Her heart started to beat rather hard and she traced the lines of the surrounding mountains, her breath caught in her throat. So that was home? Something welled up from deep within her. It was a better goal than she could have hoped for, and while she had no idea if there was anything for her there, it was as if there was a compass needle in her chest now fixed in the direction of home, putting at her.
Standing, she folded up the map and tucked it in her clothes without realising, and said, in a voice that sounded deep and clouded, "you said that you were going to Hyrule Castle?"
Princess Zelda was a little distance off, standing amid her little boxes and bags, waiting for Link, who had apparently disappeared to find the horses. She started a little when Sun called out to her, as if she had been shaken out of a daydream, and said, "Yes. That's where we're going."
"May I travel with you? I… I want to make my way back the Gerudo Desert. I know that the castle is more East of that, but it's on the way. I'd be grateful if I could accompany you."
The princess eyed Sun, who still had the wolf's head in her hands, weighing up the situation. Sun went through everything again in her head, trying to see herself from Zelda's perspective. A foreigner, inexplicably on the other side of the world from where she came from, fierce and primal looking, in just the spot where they were searching for some strange Gerudo artefact, apparently looking for it as well, despite only a minority of people knowing about it. Sun, for her part, didn't immediately know her way through the mountains, and knew that she would have to follow the two of them to lower ground, and it would be a lot easier if they agreed to let her travel with them, with access to food and maps and without the fear of being caught and attacked. The Hylians were small, and appeared delicate, but Link had shot that hare faster than she could, and she had not heard his presence until he revealed himself. In a fight, she imagined he would be quick and vicious, with the experience of his employment, whereas her combat ability started and ended with her ability to feed herself. Her stomach twisted, reminding her that even that wasn't much to speak of.
To her relief, however, the princess nodded, and with the secure authority that comes with noble blood, instructed her to pack up the maps and bring the chest over to where she was.
"We don't have another horse," she said.
"I don't know how to ride," Sun replied, wondering if the Hylian horses would be able to carry her.
Link returned, holding the reins of two sleek and well-groomed steeds, a tall, stiff necked stallion, pure white with a shimmering mane and decked out with a fine saddle and bridle (obviously the princess's mount) and the other a monstrous brute, with a jet body, amber mane and tail and beetle black eyes shrouded in long lashes. It was this horse that took most of the burden of the camping gear, as well as Link himself, though Sun imagined that it would have been able to carry her and all. She followed behind on foot, however, and they set off.
xxx
At first Sun was withdrawn and reclusive on the journey, keeping apart from the other two. Her mind was still reeling from her reintroduction to the world. More and more came back to her as she walked, the snow giving way to stony paths, though the cold never let up. She thought of the chamber in which she had been sleeping and wondered if she should have gone back there to pick up more objects that could have been of use, but the truth was, she was glad to leave it behind.
Someone had put her there. No – she had been hidden there. She couldn't help but look out across the horizon as the mountain gave way to stunning sun drenched vistas and think of that thing that hunted her, a sense of dread stalking her like a shadow. Her mind cast up a vision of some great dragon shaped darkness, all teeth and fire and smoke, but she had no way of knowing what it was, or even if it was out there. Only the desire to look over her shoulder, to scan the hills and keep her weapons close by.
Thankfully, her companions were cheerful and oblivious to her paranoia. Princess Zelda in particular would chatter away, pointing out observations, telling stories and bringing up anecdotes. Sun thought that it was for Link's benefit, but though he listened to every word and smiled when she smiled, laughed when she did – a light careless laughter that made her think of summer – it was as if he were hearing these stories for the first time. This would make sense, only almost all of the events described seemed to include him in some way. They were aimless and rambling, much as recollections of past capers are, but Sun found them a nice distraction from her sore feet and the frustrating emptiness that she found when she looked into her memory. It was easier to sink into someone else's past than to try and find her own.
xxx
She was in some place far away, and yet so intimately close.
Home.
A bustling marketplace, the sandstone baking in the afternoon sun, everything bleached white under a brilliant cloudless sky, and Sun and her friend playing at molduga slayers, racing from the shadow of one house to another. The imaginary sand dragons could only go where the sun shone, and the rule was that if either one of them stayed out of the shade for too long, they would be eaten up, and the other would have to drag them from the dread maw of the creature. There was much kicking and screaming and then frantic running for the shade once more, where they collapsed, panting and exhilarated. They weren't very good at slaying the molduga, because there was always another one to chase and hide from.
But there was another game they played, one that didn't stop, even when their parents called them inside for supper. It was a secret that bonded to two together, and one that little Sun would defend fiercely if it came to it.
It had all started when she and her mother had greeted a woman and her child at the entrance to Gerudo Town. She had been told before the meeting that she was to pretend that the woman was her aunt, even though they were of no relation, and to be on her very best behaviour. She was also to play with the child, and make them feel welcome, for they came from a distant land and didn't know anyone in Gerudo Town.
"Mama, why is he wearing girl's clothes?"
She had felt, rather than seen, her mother stiffen and got the sense that she had said something very rude. "What are you talking about, love? She's a vai, just like you."
And so the rules of the game were established. Nevertheless, she thought herself rather clever for seeing through the disguise in a way that only a child can. The two of them stayed with Sun and her mother in their little home, and the two children shared a room, whispering long into the night and becoming fast friends, hushing themselves when the grown-ups came to make sure they were asleep. Her 'cousin' showed her how to peel a banana from the bottom so that she didn't snap off the top half, and she ingratiated him with the rest of her friends, letting him play in all of their games, though she kept their special game just been the two of them. He was tough, rough and quick witted and fit right in, winning every race and impressing even the older kids by climbing the tallest building in the town, right to the top.
But then he had to go, for his mother couldn't stay in Gerudo Town, and she missed him with a powerful misery as though she had been split in two. She wailed at her mother, clutching hold of her silk trousers, red face streaked with tears.
"Why can't he stay?"
"He would be found out if he stayed too long."
"Why aren't voe allowed in? It's Gerudo Town after all! Is there another town, where all the Gerudo voe live? Is that where he's going? Because I will run away mama! I'll run away and find him and we can play again and –"
Her mother stopped her with a look as sharp as a knife. "There are no Gerudo voe, Sun."
"Then… then what's he?"
There was a long, horrible silence as they stood together in the kitchen, and Sun felt strangely afraid, even though there was nothing to be afraid of.
"Mama…?"
Then there was a face in the window, like a horse, but not like any horse she had ever seen, with long delicate antlers that were more like the moth's antenna, and four round eyes in a row that glowed piercing red in a bearded face that seemed to be cutting right through her body to her soul. Sun staggered back, reaching for her mother, but she was not there. She was no longer in a kitchen but outside, in a grove surrounded by little glowing sprites. Moonlight rippled across a pond and grass grew between her bare toes, but instead of feeling calm, her entire being was taken over with terror. The creature stepped towards her.
xxx
She woke, tearing herself away from the grove that was both fantasy and memory, feeling an intense flood of sadness and joy that brought tears to her eyes. She curled in on herself, clutching hold of the dream even as it slipped through her fingers like heavy silk. The boy? Who had been the boy? Had he even been real? Her muddled mind had imagined him as Gerudo like her, and the notion was both perverse and fascinating, but the image of them chasing each other through the streets was so viscerally real that she was certain it was true – even the part of about his being Gerudo. As she thought about it, however, watching the sun come up, she realised that the boy might have painted himself brown, and dyed his hair red to make himself look Gerudo, to make the disguise more complete. By the time that Link and Zelda were mounting their horses, she had decided that this was probably the whole truth of the matter, and she played the scene over and over again in her mind.
So preoccupied was she that she didn't hear Zelda announce that they would be reaching the castle in time for supper.
