"So, if you are Gerudo, where are the others? Gerudo never travel alone." Prince Ganondorf asked as he dragged Link through the castle halls. "I didn't see any out and about today, not even the ones who work for the town merchants."
"Leggo, you're pulling me too hard! And where'd you get your info about the Gerudo, anyway? Girls looking for mates travel in pairs," Link corrected, rubbing his sore arm. "That's where one of your goons scratched me. But anyway, single Gerudo go out all the time. There's a test to pass. If you can handle a leever swarm with only a polearm, then you're allowed to go into town by yourself. But a lot of the girls don't, because more often than not, you never come back..."
Ganondorf gave Link a sour look. "Then the rumors are true, about the slave trades..."
"Yes. Auntie Koume and Auntie Kotake weren't going to let me go out into town for the same reason," Link mumbled. "I'm 'desirable'."
Ganondorf laughed, a touch of red lighting his cheeks. "Desirable... But you're very clearly Hylian. And a male, at any rate. Men make terrible maids."
Link looked up at the much taller prince, and thought better of correcting him. He knew he wasn't a real Gerudo, but the Gerudo were his family. Plus, the prince must be terribly sheltered to think that the slave trade was only for manual labor...
Ganondorf stopped and grabbed Link's shoulder. "Hey, I just realized. You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll have the cooks work up the best and biggest feast they can muster. We have to welcome you to Hyrule, after all!"
The more Link talked with him, the more he realized that the Prince of Hyrule was still a young man at heart. Link was always told that he was born in year of the rabbit, if he remembered right Ganondorf was year of the boar and thus five years older. But the prince was acting like a schoolchild given a new puppy. Not at all like a twenty year old commander.
"I'll see if I can get the tailor to make you some new clothes before the feast. No offense but your clothing right now is literally raggy."
"Hey! I like my clothes," Link protested.
"This is a castle, not the desert. You have to be dressed for the occasion! Imagine if Father or Grandmother saw you looking like that. How do you think they'd react?"
"...I'd be appalled," came a reply.
"Right, see?"
But Link didn't see, because he was busy scrambling into a bow. "What are you doing? Get up," Ganondorf prodded, until he realized someone else had joined the conversation.
"Grandmother!" The prince was red in the face. He had hoped to get Link cleaned up before introducing him...
The stately Queen Zelda, leader of Hyrule through thick and thin... She was known for taking charge of her kingdom, the first Zelda in history to take the throne without a king. She fought alongside her armies, negotiated for her people without arbitrators, and in times of poverty, donated castle food to the townsfolk and imposed the same rations on herself and the castle staff as on the people.
Those more steeped in tradition insisted she take a husband, that the day to day pressures of ruling a kingdom were too much for a young lady to bear. She responded to such criticisms by driving a sword through the heavy oak meeting table, and declared that only someone who could remove it was worthy of marrying her.
It amused Zelda to no end, watching men from all over the land come and try to pry the blade from its resting place. She laughed as they tried every trick imaginable- chains, setting the table ablaze, driving it down further. Finally, when she'd had enough, she asked her bodyguard to clear it away. He nonchalantly walked over to the table and pulled the sword out, revealing to everyone that Zelda had enchanted the sword so that only a Sheikah may pull it out. And every single Sheikah in the kingdom knew who that spell was meant for, the man who already had Zelda's heart- Sheik, the son of Zelda's nursemaid.
The pair had one son, Agahnim, who in turn fathered Ganondorf. And unfortunately for Zelda, both her son and grandson took after Sheik. Sheik was stoic in his role as Zelda's bodyguard, but as Prince Consort he was lively as could be. Every spare moment was spent playing with Agahnim, teaching him magic and fighting skills, riding, and being as involved with the kingdom as possible. Having inherited his father's enthusiasm, Agahnim tried to make friends with the Gerudo. The poor boy failed, but came away with a wife and son who had just as much of his grandfather in him.
Queen Zelda pushed past her dumbstruck grandson and stared at the boy on the floor, at the mark on his exposed left hand. Chuckling to herself, she turned to Ganondorf. "Why is this boy lying on the ground? That mark on his hand, is it not the same as your own? As my own?"
Ganondorf answered with a bow, "Yes, Gran- Your Majesty."
"Then why is he groveling on the floor? Rise, young one. Forget what nonsense my grandson has put into your head about propriety. Stand before me with pride." Queen Zelda watched as the boy- quite a scrawny boy- stood to greet her. When she saw the blue of his eyes, she couldn't help but smile.
"M-my name is L-Link, Your M-Majesty..."
"I am well aware who you are, Link of the forest. I knew your grandmother quite well, a shame your family came to such ruin. Come boys, we will adjourn to my study where I will answer your questions." Queen Zelda turned on her heels, her silver braid swinging behind her. The boys followed her to a grand library, with a small office to the side.
Link barely gave the queen time to sit down before throwing questions at her. "You knew my grandmother?! But I'm an orphan! How come you said my family came to ruin? What's going on with my family? Oh, not that it matters, Auntie Koume and Auntie Kotake are my family now..." Link sat in a chair and pulled his knees to his chest. "The Gerudo are my family... I'm an orphan... Nobody wanted me... the moon fell down..."
Queen Zelda and Ganondorf watched as Link started shaking and rocking back and forth in his seat. Ganondorf ran over and wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders to try and calm him down. "This must be one of the episodes he told me about in the dungeon. He said it's because he's crazy...?"
"No, not craziness," Queen Zelda corrected. "It is a result of his divine gift. Courage does not come without a price, and in this instance, that price is the weight of one's past deeds. Stay and comfort him, Ganondorf. When he is calm see him to bed, and we can continue our discussion another time."
Ganondorf waited for his grandmother to leave, before taking his cape off and wrapping it snuggly around Link. "It's okay, whatever you're seeing isn't real. Come on, wake up Link!"
"They said they were fine... that they'd face the morning together... morning never came..." Head still buried, Link began humming a strange tune, almost like the tune Ganondorf heard in the temple in Castle Town. It then degenerated into a song he recognized as his grandmother's lullaby, though Link missed quite a few notes.
"...Would you like me to sing Grandmother's lullaby for you Link? I can't sing it as well as Grandpa can, but it's worth a try, I guess." Ganondorf picked Link up from the chair and laid him on the lounge in the corner, then sat beside him.
"Here we go..."
A/N: Yes, I totally named Ganon's daddy Agahnim. It makes sense, if you think about it! Zelda marries Sheik, their baby would be part Sheikah. Agahnim looks like a Sheikah. Ganon looks like Agahnim. Problem solved. ;)
