The rain fell in fat, merciless droplets onto Zelda's skin and on the surface of the Hylian River in a silver-white mist, just as it had the last time Zelda cried her eyes out in farewell to her hero. Where Link should have been on an even-tempered, noble horse, Ganon now stood arguing with the stable hand over the irritable stag pawing the sand at his side.

"I can't keep that here," he said. "That's a wild animal!"

"Every horse you see in here was a wild animal at one point!" Ganon retorted. "You're a wild animal!"

Zelda had no home. Her father was dead. Almost everyone she knew was dead. She saw the utter desolation of every settlement in Hyrule Field firsthand today, and she could only imagine what other skeletons of past horrors awaited her the farther she went. That, and she was cold and still covered in the dirt and dried mud of the last day she had breathed fresh air free from the Calamity's clutches, and her old, ruined dress- the only clothing she owned- left her with no protection from any of the elements. Yes, she had many reasons to be ungrateful.

She had imagined everything to be clearer, with the Calamity gone, not more complicated and hazy than ever. She had been so sure that, when Ganon had come running almost immediately after hearing her call out to him on the tower, that he had known who she was and what they were to do.

"You're the wild animal, bud!" the stable hand spat at Ganon.

"Oh, you bet," said Ganon, winking at another traveler who had stopped to watch.

Zelda turned away from the scene and took cover beneath the covered canopy of the stable. Ganon had been kind enough to offer to pay for her night's stay in a bed, and though the open stares of the visitors of the community style layout were possibly the last thing she needed, it was better than anything else she could think of. She ignored the perplexed look of the hunched-over merchant with the bowl cut and crawled under the sheets of the bed farthest from anyone else, and cried herself to sleep.

She awoke to the whinnying of horses and the chirping of birds, and for a moment thought she was home until she sat up to find Ganon's blue shirt and a pair of pants draped on top of her blankets, and then Ganon himself standing right outside the stable in nothing but his underwear, showing off to some woman in a traveler's cloak about the sword in his hands. Had he left his clothes for her?

Zelda looked away and tried to retreat back under the covers, but she was spotted.

"Hey! You're awake!" He waved stupidly, and then scurried over to her. "That chick over there is willing to pay me for all the stuff I found in the castle! She has no idea that she can just go in and take it now!" He snickered. "I went back early this morning and took a bunch of stuff just to sell to people! As long as those big freaky spider-things're still sitting around looking scary, nobody knows it's really just easy pickings! It's just a few monsters still in there!"

Zelda snatched up the clothes from the bed and skulked off to bathe in the river. It didn't matter why they were there; they were hers now. She didn't care if Ganon was naked for the rest of his life.

As she rounded the corner, she found Stew and Ganon's stag both absolutely loaded with baggage- the hilts of several weapons protruded from sacks on their sides, and wooden chests loaded with linens, books, armor, and other odds and ends to the point that they were bursting. Stew stuck his head out to mouth at Zelda's shoulder in greeting. She pushed him away and broke out into a run across the beach until she tripped on her white skirts and toppled into the sand. The shirt and pants in her arms went flying.

"Hey!" Ganon's voice followed her. "Don't push Stew! He's put in a hard day's work already to pay for your stay in that bed, sleeping beauty!" The morning sun put a halo on the back of his head and cast a deep shadow over his front as he held out his hand to help Zelda up. She averted her eyes and turned her body away from him.

"Go away!" Zelda shouted. Then, she saw it- a mass of black rock with bright orange veins running through it.

A shrine. They were active, now. Every single one! The gateway to everything Ganon was meant to be was open!

"Come here!" Zelda said, scrambling to her feet.

"But you just told me to go away!" Ganon complained.

Zelda grabbed at the Sheikah Slate on his belt. "Nevermind that! Just give me that!"

"Woah!" Ganon covered his crotch as she pulled away with the Sheikah Slate. "You don't have to be so forward with the merchandise, okay?!"

Zelda ignored him and trotted towards the shrine. She put the Slate on the raised pedestal by the entrance and all but shrieked in delight when the lights changed and the bars of obsidian-black stone peeled away from the entrance.

"Oh!" said Ganon. "Woah! I thought that was some kind of weird stove, or maybe a kiln or something." He grinned and laughed mindlessly. "How dumb am I, huh?" He clapped his hands together. "Well, we've figured that one out! Let's move on, huh? You were going to take a bath?"

Zelda grabbed his arm and dragged him to the single circle carved into the floor of the shallow cave. "Even if you don't believe me, you have to remember!" She looked into his bewildered blue eyes. "These shrines were meant for you to find! You're the hero, Link! I'll prove it to you!"

Ganon opened his mouth, but then utterly lost whatever retort he had when the floor started to glow and sucked both him and Zelda into the earth.

When the glow faded, they found themselves in a chamber with gargantuan ceilings. Constellations of orange and gold light ran in methodical designs across the smooth, glassy black stone making up the walls of the cavernous chamber alongside subtle, meticulous, and shallow bas reliefs that Zelda almost missed. Three platforms were built into the walls, and alongside the one on the right were three strange boxes stacked neatly on top of one another to equal nearly the height of the platform. The only other thing in the room was a series of white bars on the top of the left platform barring some glowing object that Zelda could not quite see the details of.

"I should go back to the horses," Ganon said.

Zelda ignored him. "It's huge," she said. "I'd never been in one of these before!" She covered her mouth and stepped into the center of the room. "This is… this is amazing! Are the others all the same?! What was this used for, exactly?! What does it ask of you, oh Hero chosen by the sword?"

Suddenly, Ganon grabbed Zelda's arm and shrieked. "Can everyone but me just do that?!" Ganon exclaimed.

"That hurts!" Zelda jerked her arm away. "And do what, exactly?"

"Did you not hear that?"

"Hear what?' She looked around. "Did the ground shift?"

"No," he said, creeping forwards and looking to the glowing object above them. It was like a blue curtain of light flowing over a glass box obscuring whatever was sitting inside. "Actually, yes. Yes, it was just the earth, and we should leave in case something collapses."

"You're lying," said Zelda.

"No I'm not," said Ganon.

Zelda crossed her arms. "Tell me."

"No. I want to leave. My steed needs me."

She tapped her foot.

"...Fine!" Ganon threw his hands in the air. "It's a voice. Actually, it sounds more like a low, monotone song emanating from a creature with two voices than anything. There! Can we go now?"

"A.. a voice?" Zelda held her hands up to her ears. "Can… can you ask it to speak again? Maybe a little louder?"

"It is," Ganon said, narrowing his eyes at the glowing box.

Zelda felt her face heat up. She was descended from the goddess herself, and had locked an evil spirit away with that power for over one hundred years! How could she be deaf to something that Ganon was not? How? Had her powers forgotten about her the same way her hero had?

"Runes? I don't have any runes," Ganon suddenly said, to nobody in particular. "I'm sorry we've bothered you. We'll be leaving, thanks." He put his hand on the small of Zelda's back and whirled her around back the way they came. A bright blue light spilled from the ring where they had landed on entry, and Zelda could see a long, transparent tube reaching down from above it.

"W-wait!" Zelda said. "Before we go, let's at least have a look around! You haven't even tried to explore! We could learn so much!"

"No," said Ganon. "There's nothing down here that I want to find out about."

Zelda jerked away from him again. "If you think I'm leaving just because that is what you-!"

Suddenly, the room shook and both Ganon and Zelda fell to the floor as the walls began to move and change around them, like it was some sort of puzzle. Zelda covered her head and clenched her eyes shut until the quaking ceased, and when it did, she opened her eyes and found the glowing cube sitting in front of her.

It was a throne or a palanquin of some kind- an ornate roof sat above it, and two stairs led to a small railed platform large enough for a single person to stand before it. Zelda looked upon it in wonder, and took a cautious step forward. The blue light eased up and revealed a shrivelled, darkened human corpse posed with its legs crossed beneath its broad, red and white hat. A faint Eye of Truth floated in the remaining light surrounding it.

Zelda approached the platform, her hand extended out in wonder.

"Don't!" shouted Ganon.

He was too late. Zelda pressed her finger against the pupil of the Eye, and the light glowed brighter before peeling away completely in long, thin strips, leaving the corpse utterly bare. She gasped and pulled her hand away, and then leaned in closer to study its withered, wrinkled features.

"She can't hear you," Ganon said.

Zelda turned to him, but then realized that his words were not directed at her. She looked back to the Sheikah corpse, and then gaped in awe when she saw its cracked lips open.

"You," it asked, "are the descendant of the goddess?" Its voice was dry and weak.

"Yes," she said.

"The Calamity is," Zelda heard it wheeze for air, "gone?"

"Yes," she said. "But who are you? What is this place?"

It spoke no more, and Zelda realized that it was probably using its power to speak with Ganon.

"No," said Ganon. "No, I never went into any of the other shrines. I never needed to- I didn't even know what they were!" He paused. "I'm sorry. It just seemed pointless."

Then, to Zelda's great surprise, the corpse opened its eyes. They were shrivelled and black, just like the rest of its body.

"I'm sorry," said Ganon.

The corpse only began to rattle.

"What's it saying?!" Zelda demanded.

Ganon shook his head, suddenly more somber than suspicious.

"We can learn so much from you!" Zelda said, reaching out to the corpse. "Hyrule is safe now, but there is so much we don't know! So much we have left to uncover! We could bring the Sheikah back all of their glory, along with that of Hyrule! Won't you help us?"

The corpse's skin peeled away into ash beneath its huge, black eyes, and then its bones disintegrated into gleaming dust like tears before the rest of it shattered apart into nothingness.

Zelda beheld the space where it had been sitting, both her hands outstretched to empty air. She looked to Ganon. He held his hands in front of him like there was something sitting within them, and then pressed his palm to his chest without a word.

"Let's go, now," he said.

"What happened?!" pressed Zelda. "What is this? What do these shrines do?"

"We're leaving," commanded Ganon.

"What did the Sheikah tell you?!"

"Nothing an idiot couldn't already figure out! Now, let's go!"

"Idiot?! Are you saying I'm an idiot?" Zelda shook her head, aghast. Her head knight had never talked back to her, ever, let alone called her stupid. "Since you're so smart and I'm so stupid, I guess I can't let you leave until it's explained to me!"

"Zelda!" Ganon bellowed, his face stormy.

She held up the Sheikah Slate. "I'm not so sure you can get out without this! Do you know?"

"Zelda!" Ganon repeated, visibly bristling. His face and bare chest both began to redden with his temper.

"What did the Sheikah tell you?!" Zelda repeated.

Ganon set his jaw and shook his head.

"Oh, do you not know?! Were you too stupid to listen when someone told you to do something the first time? Can you not remember plain instructions when they're laid out right in front of your face? Or do you just not like what people-"

"They're tombs, Zelda!" Ganon shouted, grabbing her arm and ripping the Sheikah slate away from her. "These shrines are nothing but tombs. Every single one of them." He glanced down at the Slate and then skulked to the ring of blue light. "I don't want to stay in here any longer than I have to."

"B-but surely," Zelda stuttered. "Surely we could find scriptures or maybe a settlement, or, or the lights in the walls! We can study-!"

Ganon shot her a look that could give his namesake a run for his money in inflicting terror. "There's nothing else in here. Let's go."

Zelda followed him to the surface without a word, and then lingered behind in the shallow cave entrance as Ganon stormed off to the stable. The clothes he had left for her were still sprawled on the beach where she had dropped them. She gathered them up and shook the sand from them.

"Say," Zelda said, tripping over herself to catch up with Ganon as he made his way to the stable, "You could do with some new clothes. Why don't we go to Kakariko Village? It's not terribly far, and while we're there, we might be able to find out-"

"Kakariko?" Ganon asked. "The place that's past that big rock with the split down the middle? That's where you want to go?"

Zelda smiled. "Well, I simply thought that perhaps-"

"Then I'm going in the other direction," Ganon said.

Zelda balked. "The other direction? To where? The desert?"

"So it's a desert that way?" Ganon nodded and glanced at the sun. It was nearing the middle of the sky. The sand crunched cheerfully beneath his feet. "Yeah. Yeah! Why not?"

"We," Zelda shook her head, "we're hardly prepared!" And besides, Impa was in the other direction. Surely she could remind Ganon of who he really was, and surely she could help Zelda begin rebuilding her kingdom. Her heart swelled- Impa was surely still alive, wasn't she? Some inexplicable conviction in her soul told her yes, Impa was surely still alive. Then again, her feelings had proved her wrong before, and very recently.

"We?" said Ganon. "There's no we. I."

"But-!"

"And no, I may not be prepared, but I feel confident that by the time I get there, I sure will be." Ganon patted the waiting Stew on the side of his neck, and then offered an apple to the laden stag. Then, he called to the merchant with the bowl cut that Zelda had blown off last night. "Oi! Beedle! Grab that other merchant there- I've got some serious bartering to do!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Author's Note: I'm a little stuck on my original story, so have this instead!