Chapter One

Staying Safe

Eddo was asleep. Just like every night, it had been a struggle to get into that condition. This time, he hadn't managed to fall asleep until well past midnight. As the sun began to poke its way obnoxiously through a hole in the curtains, landing sharply on his pale face, Eddo felt himself being pulled back to wakefulness. He wasn't sure if it was a relief to be awake again or not. For one, he was still exhausted and wouldn't mind having had another few hours at least, but then again when he was awake he was free from the nightmares that visited him every night. At least awake, he couldn't see the monster that lurked in the shadows.

Groggily, he sat up. He could already hear some of the others moving around downstairs. Glancing around the room, he noticed most of the other beds were empty already. He grimaced; there was something he was forgetting, he was certain of it. Something important...

A snort brought his attention to the bed at the far side of the room. The lumpy form of his only friend rolled dangerously close to the edge of the mattress, the only thing keeping him from falling to the floor was the fact that he was so entangled into his sheets that they held him in place.

Eddo grabbed his pillow and threw it at his friend. "Hey, Orca, wake up!"

Orca snorted again and then sat up sloppily, his dark hair sticking up at odd angles. "Wha...?" he grumbled, already trying to stand automatically now that he was awake. The blankets wrapped tightly about his torso stopped him, and he glanced down with a confused expression on his face.

"Isn't there something going on today?" Eddo asked, knowing the best way to wake up his friend was to try and get him to turn his brain on.

"Today? What? What is today?" Orca asked as he started to worm his way out from under his sheets.

"Saturday."

Suddenly Orca froze, and his narrow face paled. "Oh, man, Ed, it's not just any Saturday!"

Eddo frowned, trying to think past his own fatigue. Then he remembered, and his shocked expression matched Orca's perfectly. "Orca, if we're late we are dead. Literally."

"Hurry up and help me out of this trap then!"

Eddo rolled deftly out of his bed and onto his feet before racing over to his friend. "Stop moving so much in your sleep!" Eddo complained as they stretched the sheets almost to the point they would have ripped in half had they pulled anymore.

Finally Orca was free, and the two boys quickly got dressed before racing to where they were supposed to be that day. "Why didn't anyone wake us up?!" Orca complained as they tore through empty hallways.

"Seriously? You really have to ask?" Eddo shouted back over the loud pounding of their boots against the cold stone floors.

They slid into the Main Hall just as the last of the other boys were being lined up. The large room was brightly lit for a change, with large chandeliers swinging heavily over the stone floor. As he and Orca took their places, Eddo noticed the headmistress glaring down at them from the front of the room, her sharp golden eyes narrowed angrily and her bright red hair pulled back tightly against her face, showing off her prominent Gerudo facial features.

"We're not late, but I think we're dead anyway," Orca whispered into Eddo's ear, recognizing the furious expression that was being pointed at them.

Eddo nodded; he recognized the look, too. They had both seen it enough times to know when the headmistress was angry, and when she was angry. This look was the latter of the two.

A hush fell about the room as they waited in perfectly straight rows that all faced the doors. Those big double doors, that Eddo and all the other boys inside had only crossed through once, would soon be opening. Soon he would come to visit. Such an occurrence happened once every year, but every year it seemed to become more and more elaborate. This time the headmistress and all the other teachers were gathered just in front of the doors, garbed in their traditional formalwear that looked like such an old style of clothing Eddo imagined it was what people must have worn long before the school he lived in had even existed, and his school had existed for pretty much forever.

Eddo and Orca would sometimes debate why they had to do this ceremony every year. Eddo always got the feeling that he was looking for something within the school, and after he had voiced that opinion their conversations had turned from "he just gets bored" to "there's a hidden room somewhere in the school, but he only has time to look for it once a year!"

They had even tried to look for that hidden room themselves, because maybe if they found it they would get some sort of reward, but they were just as unsuccessful as he seemed to be every year.

The headmistress suddenly stepped forward slightly. All eyes turned to her, and the silence grew even heavier. "Attention, students," the woman called out, her voice just as sharp and cold as her eyes. "Soon, our great king will arrive. I expect nothing but perfection from all of you." Here she paused just long enough to cast another glare towards Eddo and Orca.

Eddo realized that he and his friend probably didn't look all that neat. In their rush to get there on time, he had forgotten to even comb his hair. He glanced over at Orca and imagined that if he looked anything like his unkempt friend, they must really be standing out right now even if they weren't directly in the front.

"Failure to do so," the headmistress continued. "Will result not only in the usual punishment, but also something special that our very own Aveil has thought up."

Eddo tried to hide the grimace from his face. Aveil was the worst of the teachers in the school, even more harsh than the headmistress. If she was in charge of discipline for the day, then more than likely every single student would be punished by her before curfew was even close to being called. Beside him Orca gave a small sigh; he had had the same thoughts as Eddo and was already resigning himself to it.

The room was silent again for only a brief moment before something new interrupted the quiet. A loud knocking that seemed almost ominous reached their ears. If at all possible, the headmistress' posture straightened even more before she nodded to a Hylian man who was standing nervously nearby. The man, who everyone called Grandpa out of fondness despite the fact that he probably wasn't much older than thirty, was the only nice adult in the school. Nobody knew his past, or even what his real name was, he never talked, but he was the only one who would help the students out every so often. Eddo watched as Grandpa scrambled over to the doors and quickly pulled them open before disappearing in a dark corner of the room.

It wasn't really necessary for Grandpa to hide, however, for as soon as the doors had opened everyone had instantly forgotten about him. Because, as soon as the doors had opened, everyone's attention was on the man that stepped through. A bright but dusty city stood as a background to the man, whose presence was so overpowering that Eddo felt he was completely alone in the room with this oppressive looking man. No matter how many times he saw him, Eddo was still intimidated by the severe expression in his dark red eyes.

The headmistress quickly stepped forward before calling out crisply. "All bow down before your great and powerful king, Lord Ganondorf the Great!"

Eddo joined Orca and the others as they all scrambled to their knees. Just before Eddo bowed his head, he caught the shadow of a smug grin spreading over the man's face.

"Welcome to our school, my king," the headmistress said solemnly.

"Thank you; it gets more orderly every time I see it," Ganondorf said cheerfully as he stepped further into the room. His large boots clanked heavily against the stone; Eddo could practically feel the vibrations from the heavy footfalls spreading across the floor.

"You are too gracious, Lord Ganondorf," the headmistress replied, relief in her voice. The others could understand that relief; it was rare that Ganondorf sounded like he was happy.

Eddo kept his head bowed, just like all the other students, but he could hear the rest of Ganondorf's entourage beginning to enter the room. There would be more Gerudo guards, all women, of course; he had yet to see another male Gerudo, wearing thick, heavy looking armor that seemed to capture any light that shone on it rather than reflect it back. Then there would be a few Hylians mixed in; they were there only to serve the higher ranking guards and perhaps even Ganondorf himself.

Long minutes passed, and Eddo began to feel his knees start to protest being pressed against the hard, rough stone floor for so long. His stomach was also beginning to grumble, and he remembered that he had missed breakfast in his haste to get to the Hall. He quickly clenched his stomach muscles, mentally pleading with the organ to remain silent for just a few more hours.

Eventually everyone was inside, and the large doors closed with a loud clang. The view of the city disappeared, and its bright, multicolored lights that had been shining into the room before were now gone.

Then the ceremony began. Ganondorf would approach each student individually, place his hand on their head as if he were blessing them, ask for their name, and then move on to the next. Eddo didn't understand the point of the ceremony; it occurred every year, yet for the life of him he couldn't understand why. He supposed it gave Ganondorf's people some time to search the school for the mysterious secret room he and Orca had theorized about, but wouldn't it just be easier to have everyone confined to the dormitory? He bit the inside of his lip as he tried to figure it out; his thoughts acted as a good distraction from the pain in his knees and his hunger.

Eddo and Orca were somewhat in the middle of the crowd, and so it took some time for Ganondorf to reach them. By the time he did Eddo's knees were throbbing in agony, but he still clung on to his stubborn will power and remained stationary. He felt the heavy hand of Ganondorf fall onto his head.

"What's your name, boy?"

For every year that Ganondorf asked that question, Eddo had to resist the urge to tell him the truth and tell him the true name his mother had really given him. But then her warning would float through his mind, and so every year he would give his false name. "Eddo, Lord Ganondorf."

Ganondorf moved on.

Dinner was much better than the dinners that they usually had. Every year the school tried to impress Ganondorf, and so an elaborate meal was planned. Of course, there was always too much, and so Grandpa would take what was left, what he was supposed to throw out, and pass it out to the students instead. So Eddo and Orca pretended to enjoy the food that they were always given - thick, tasteless porridge and bread, the same as breakfast - and then they would wait in the dormitory with the others for Grandpa to arrive.

Orca gave a satisfied sigh as he flopped back into his bed. "I feel... full!"

Eddo snorted in amusement along with a few other students. "Enjoy it while you can, Orca," Eddo said.

"Until next year, oh fleeting feelings of satiated hunger!"

Eddo rolled his eyes and yanked the blankets over his head. "Drama queen," he grumbled.

"I heard that!"

Eddo rolled his eyes, but didn't shut them. It was too early to try and sleep. All he would see was the monster in the shadows anyway, and he was feeling far too good at the moment to risk going back there just yet. Instead he let his mind wander back to his mother. He rarely thought about her; it hurt too much to, but, once, every year he did. Every year, because every year he remembered her warning.

"What's your name, my dear son?"

"Eddo."

The woman with the kind, smiling face - the only woman's face he could remember ever being kind - nodded. "That is what you tell people. But you must remember your true name as well. The name I gave you when you were born, the name that our family always gives to our strong, baby boys."

Eddo's thin shoulders sagged. "Why do I have to have two names? Nobody else does. It's stupid."

"Don't say that. Your name is strength, and that is something our people need these days. Always remember your true name."

"But what's the point?" Eddo pressed on. "If I never use the other name."

His mother stroked a hand through his golden locks. "Because that is the name I gave you when I first held you in my arms. The name of Eddo will serve to keep you safe."

"Safe from what?"

His mother smiled. "Just safe. Some people wouldn't like to find out what family you come from, Link."

"What's your name, boy?"

Every year Ganondorf asked that question, Link had to resist the urge to tell him the truth and tell him the true name his mother had really given him. But then her warning would float through his mind, and so every year he would give his false name. "Eddo, Lord Ganondorf."

Ganondorf moved on.

So just in case it wasn't obvious, this takes place some time after the prologue. How much time, you ask? Well I ain't saying! You'll find that out later :-)

Questions, comments, or concerns? Let me know! I love reviews more than I love kittens and sunshine!

Thanks for reading!