This happened much quicker than I expected. I got bored last week and just started writing. So...here you go.

I am planning this to be a three-parter just as Before the Wild is, it might be around the same length or longer. I am letting the story write itself for the meantime until the plot begins to really get going. For this chapter, you get some backstory to Ganondorf, as this part in the story, worded below, is about him mostly.

Next chapter, we begin where Breath of the Wild left us hanging, Zora's Domain. Enjoy Chapter 2.

Part 1: The Yiga Traitor

Near Inogo Bridge, Zelda

The group of four stopped at the rockslide that blocks the road of the wetlands to the realm of the Zoras. It was early in the evening, still light out, yet they all came to the consensus that traveling at night is just as dangerous now as it was months ago. Ganon is gone, but his monsters still prowl the land. Zelda is sure Link would've kept going if she or Paya wasn't around. She will have to remind him that she is a more than capable warrior.

That was two hours ago. At the current moment, the group of four tend to their own thoughts. Paya sits on the riverbank, humming a tune that Zelda remembers as an old Sheikah song about Kakariko Village. Ganondorf found himself a spot on the higher ground, his eyes on the rushing river. Link sits by the horses, his back on the rising cliff. Zelda stayed around the fire they built for light and for cooking, now quietly watching the flames perform their dance.

The ride from Sahasra Slope to their current position was just as quiet. Any talk made was either important or was between the girls. Link, for a reason Zelda didn't bother to search for, took the lead instead of following or riding beside Zelda as he usually did. The princess rode second, her attention on the Sheikah Slate and her journal; Paya was third, and being the only one of the four to not travel around Hyrule, she was mesmerized by the wild. Ganondorf trailed behind, and if it wasn't for the occasional grunts he made, Zelda would have forgotten the Gerudo completely.

So much of Ganondorf is a mystery to the princess, and though she knows it could be rude, the desire to know her companion overwhelms her. Link is not talking to her for some unknown reason, Paya is minding her business. Her mind set, Zelda finds her feet moving towards Ganondorf.

She makes the short climb to Ganondorf's spot, walking up to stand beside the giant of the group. Giant is the wrong word for a member of a race who average height is four inches that of hers. With Link being just an inch or so taller than her, Zelda found herself at Ganondorf's shoulder. She turns her head up to the sky to the Lanayru Tower rising out of the hills across the river. "It is a nice night."

Ganondorf grunts agreeably. Seems he's no fan of small talk. No problem to Zelda.

"Tell me why you've betrayed the Yiga." Ganondorf makes eye movements to her, which the Princess silently applauds herself for gaining his attention. She smirks knowingly to answer his question of how she knew. "Link knows nothing of the language, so you couldn't have alarmed him. I don't know how skilled Paya is as a Sheikah but I know she knows the tongue, yet she doesn't seem alert now. I am the only one, and to be frank, it took me hours to piece just how you would know about them returning. Of course, you aren't Sheikah."

"What makes you think Link hasn't had the idea?"

"Link would have his sword out if he thought you were Yiga."

"Most likely the case." Ganondorf looks past Zelda to the seated Link, who has his eye on the pair. Drawing his attention back to the Zora River, Ganondorf continues the conversation. "Speak in Sheikah. If you desire my story, I rather he doesn't know it yet."

"Paya?"

"If she does overhear, there isn't much we can do."

Zelda is going to surprise Ganondorf again. Like Impa taught the princess the Sheikah language, the Gerudo Chief and Champion Urbosa taught her Gerudic. "There is another way to speak, voe-sakis."

Ganondorf's ears perk up, clearly stunned that a Hylian knows the language of his true people. He closes his eyes and chuckles. In Gerudic, he says, "I shouldn't be surprised you know this language too. It is said that you were quite the scholar. We'll speak Gerudic then."

"Very well."

"My name is Ganondorf Dragmire." Once again, the name sent a chill down Zelda's spine. She wishes she knew why. She can say it without the cold fingers of danger sliding down her back, yet the two times he spoke his name, she felt the need to fight or run.

"Princess, are you okay? You look pale."

"Huh?" Zelda hadn't realized she's showing physical effects of hearing his name. She shakes off her fear, takes a breath, and assures Ganondorf of her wellbeing. 'Oh yes, I am fine. Must be the soup digesting that has me like this. Please continue."

"Okay. Like I was saying, I was born 18 years ago to my mother, a Gerudo noble, and my father, a traveling warrior. The first five years of my life was as normal as it could be. My father was gone a lot, so much of my time was spent with my mother. I learned of my people's history, Hyrule's history, even of you and Link. For a time I wondered why my mother named me after Calamity Ganon, but she told me Ganon stole my name from another, an ancestor of mine who the beast once possessed. She told me that the reason we aren't home in the desert is due to the danger of being male in our family. The last male in our history was the first Gerudo Champion over 10,000 years ago. That's what I'm told. Don't know if it's true."

Science is a developing study in Hyrule. Hyrule of ten thousand years ago might have advanced in science as they did in technology. Magic itself might have been more prominent. It could have been possible to determine the sex of a developing baby months before he or she was due, but in the current age, whether a century ago or now, that feat was impossible. How Ganondorf's mother knew is, to be simply said, mystifying. "She knew you were male before you were born?"

"You could say there was an omen the day of my birth. When my mother went into labor, there was a blood moon that night. She took it as a sign that the devil was calling to the heir of the bloodline he tainted, so in that fashion, she named me after my ancestor. She told me my name means "demon ruler." One day, I'll have to face those demons and conquer them, she said."

"How you become a Yiga?"

"I...was found by them when I was five." Zelda reads the underlying tone, the words Ganondorf is too hurt to say explicitly. She's sure her history has been written or spoken the last century by survivors and their families, but how do you tell someone that you barely know personally that your mother shared the same fate as his parents? She couldn't muster the courage to even say "I know how you feel" because she doesn't know. The only thing she does is place a hand on his shoulder.

To her surprise, Ganondorf shrugs her hand off, and continues to speak. "They trained me to the warrior I am now. It was harsh, deadly even, but without it I can say I wouldn't be one of their strongest. You could say I was a contender to succeed Master Kohga."

"Really? If you were such a great fighter, did you ever face Link?"

"No. I had a different mission days before Link arrived in the desert. I am the one who stole Chief Mareeha Riju's Thunder Helm, after all."

Zelda remembers the Gerudo's Thunder Helm. From what she recalls, the Yiga has always been after the Gerudo Chiefs' heirloom. Ironically it is the one who should be their king that steals it. "How did you manage it? The Gerudo have an ever-tight security around the town and the palace."

Ganondorf chuckles. "They let Link in with the simplest of disguises. It isn't that hard to replicate. It was a fun heist once the fighting started. Before you ask if I killed my own people, I made the order for such things to not happen. There were two or three assassins who nearly defied my orders. I killed them."

"I'm...happy to hear the Gerudo sustained no casualties." And that the Yiga sustained a few, she thought to herself.

"Not all of us were in the hideout when Link stormed it. I didn't think he could kill men, but I saw the fallen bodies. Some of them were friends, some rivals, yet...I felt nothing about their defeat. If a lone boy, Hero or not, could storm our hideout and kill everyone including out leader, that meant we were weak. I saw it, we all saw it. We've been too relaxed about Link. Honestly, he impressed me at that moment. So impressive that I was not surprised too much when he defeated the Calamity. By that time, I think a week after he saved the desert, I was ousted from the Yiga, branded a traitor, and just like Link, set to be killed on sight. Because it was I who stopped Gerudo from being slain, I was an 'accessory' to the Hero's raid. It wasn't just anyone who gave the order. It was someone I called my best friend, someone I called...other things."

Zelda figures it must be hard for Ganondorf to talk about this person, but if he is the reason Ganondorf is a traitor, he must have some positioning. "Who is he, and is he the new leader of the Yiga?"

"The offspring of Kohga. She is the new Yiga Master. Who knows, we might meet her soon enough." Ganondorf makes a glance to the lower ground. He grunts and begins to walk to the lower path. "Enough has been said," he says in Hylian, "for tonight."

"Very well." Zelda follows Ganondorf back to the end of the road of the wetlands. He stops just a few steps later and settles there. Zelda continues to Link, the hero whittling away a stick with the Master Sword. She sits beside him with some distance; he hadn't acknowledged her presence nor did it seem he has any intention to do so. If he is going to play that game, she will-

"You learn anything?"

-speak with him. Yet, though she trusts Link more than anyone (in this era) besides Impa, Ganondorf trusts her to not talk about what revealed to Link or Paya. On her honor as the (former) Princess of Hyrule, Zelda decides to not fully reveal Ganondorf's secrets. "Yes, I did. Little of his past. Quite mundane."

That is a lie, yet it seems to satisfy Link. He nods and leaves the subject right there. She could tell he had other questions, questions she figures he'll ask Ganondorf himself. She scoots over to him, cradling herself under his arm and resting her body against his.

"Link, do you trust me as much as I trust you?"

"That goes without saying."

Zelda eyes Ganondorf, the Gerudo laying down calmly in the grass. By her judgment, he is not a threat, but if he betrays them, it is best Link, and Paya, by extension, have negative opinions about the Gerudo-Yiga warrior. For the meantime, he has her trust and she will do her best to keep Link in line. "Then trust Ganondorf, okay?"
She takes his grunt as affirmation.