"Darunia?!?"
"The Sage of Fire?" she elaborated.
"The Big Brother of the Gorons?" I clarified.
"Not anymore..." she sighed. "Why did this happen?"
"I don't know...I guess that what I did to Ganondorf must have changed everything else..."
"I've been thinking," she continued. "It seems that Darunia still is here, right? And he's not been changed fundamentally. He still opposes the Gerudo, as far as I can tell. If I didn't know better, I'd feel sorry for the Gerudo, having their leader slain..." She paused, seeing how awkward this was.
"Yes...I wonder..." I said haltingly.
"Wonder what?" she questioned.
"Well, you're the sagely one around here, so maybe you can back me up. It seems like the person of Ganondorf, in one form or another, will exist forever. At least, that's what Rauru said..."
"Yes, he did say that Ganondorf's spirit still lived..." she mused.
"So perhaps, there are others whose spiritual forces will exist in any timeline. Such as Rauru, who seems to be unaffected by the time travel, and what I did to..."
Zelda interrupted me. "Don't lay the blame on yourself. Hell, don't lay any blame. Lay praise. What you did was the bravest and most noble thing I could have imagined."
I looked at Zelda, studying her face---her formerly neat and tidy hair now hanging in bangs and loose strands from her face, the hairline just visible under the hood of her cloak. Her large, expressive eyes, glimmering softly in the torchlight of the tiny kitchen. Lips pursed in thought, hand on chin. I had always had immense respect for her, ever since she revealed to me in the sacred Temple of Time that she was the mysterious wanderer who had aided my quest. She showed steely courage in battle. She saved the world from the evil of Ganon by sealing the creature away in the Sacred Realm.
My respect for the 'helpless damsel in distress' grew even more when she accompanied me as I fled the castle after that fateful day. In all my plans I had made on the way to the castle, she never had anything to do with it. I felt I had dragged her into a horrible new life that she didn't deserve. Even though she had assured me that she came with me by her own will, I couldn't help but feel that she should have stayed, and continued with her life.
Then again, had she not been with me hours ago, I'd have been decapitated by the blades of Verletz's minions...
"Well, anyway, Rauru was unaffected, and you and I...so perhaps we are...like him. We are present no matter what course time takes. And Darunia is a Sage...his importance is surely great...so perhaps, he too is manifesting no matter what the course of time is..." I went on.
"But why is he just a soldier or whatever he is, instead of the Big Brother?" she asked.
"Well...I don't know..."
I yawned. "We can talk tomorrow...I need some rest."
"Oh goodness, of course you do. You DIED!" piped up Navi. "Guys, what's the deal with that?"
"Oh Navi, haven't you been listening?" I asked, brushing the fairy off my shoulder.
"Yeah, but it hasn't been making any sense!" she retorted, flying around my head.
"It's a long story," I remarked.
"I KNEW you'd say that!" Navi exclaimed, settling on the bedroll I had spread on the floor. "Sigh...let's go to bed..."
Zelda began to remove the outer layers of her outfit, finding that it was lightly layered and easy to move in, like the clothes of a stealthy rogue or nomad. We still didn't know why, precisely, we were dressed as we were, but perhaps some things we just wouldn't know...
I too began to undress, removing the cloak and cape that were part of my ensemble. In a minute or two we were in the comfortable under-clothes of the outfit, which looked basically similar. She slid under her blankets, but I hesitated for a moment.
"Zelda, before we go to bed, can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she answered, turning to face me. Propping her head up with her arm, she looked stunningly beautiful.
"When and how did you become such a good shot?" I asked. "And how did you manage to get the bow off my back and shoot without my noticing?"
She smiled. "Well, you were rather distracted at the time...but as for shooting, I practiced with Impa when I was younger in the castle, and of course, as Sheik...but mostly it was childhood skill. It just got that much better as I aged..."
"I never knew you learned archery," I returned, genuinely surprised. Any remaining preconceptions of this princess were flying out the window.
"Well, my father and the royal tutors taught me healing magic, and such...they said it was a proper woman's role. But I didn't like sitting and studying, so I got Impa to train me in fighting a little. I had read the scrolls of the prophecy...the battles and the Hero of Time fascinated me. I never knew I'd be traveling with him..." she smiled.
"Go on," I offered.
"So I wanted to learn to fight just like him. Impa said I shouldn't bother with learning to swing a sword, but she did say it was okay if I learned archery, at least I could hunt and pass the time with that skill. But my parents didn't approve. My father made me stop, but I kept doing it in secret..."
"Wow." I was dumbfounded. She was truly amazing...and full of surprises. "Never a dull moment with YOU around, either!"
She laughed that I had remembered her remark, and I laughed too, and for a happy moment all the worries and fears of our situation disappeared.
"Oh, go to bed, you two!" Navi laughed.
I turned to her. "You know what to do, Navi. Keep watch. You can sleep later today." Navi usually stayed awake when I slept, to keep watch. She could easily awake me if trouble approached, and in this case, I was more worried about trouble than ever before. Besides, fairies don't need lots of sleep. An hour or two in a dark fold of my clothing during down time was all that she needed before.
"Aww man, I hate sleeping in your pocket! It's so bumpy!" she whined.
"I'll try to be gentler, okay?" I rolled over and shut my eyes. For the first time since I had killed Ganondorf, I thought not of death and war and uncertainty, and the fate that awaited me before I drifted off to sleep. This time I thought of Zelda's face, glowing softly in the candlelight, eyes twinkling as she laughed with me. What an amazing friend, I though as I slowly nodded off, exhausted.
My dreams, or what would be normally called dreams under normal circumstances, were not nearly as pleasant. I had another vision, and it was a truly horrid one. I saw through my own eyes the path that I took through the rest of the Forest Temple. I saw the dark blood of the Wolfols that I had fought again, and the inhuman living plants that assailed me. I saw once again in horrid clarity the battles with the evil entities, the Poe sisters. I saw their piercing spectral eyes burn through me and strike my very soul. And at last, I saw the battle I had waged with the evil phantom of Ganon. A puppet of the real man, to be sure, but as wicked and as dangerous as the real Gerudo himself. I saw the creature seated on horseback, galloping in and out of reality, through the paintings inside the room. I saw him raise his spectral spear in anger, and I saw him send bolts of dark energy towards me. I saw myself, the holy Master Sword raised on high, deflect the energy back at his vile form. I saw him writhe in pain, and I saw myself slaying him with my own sword as he struggled to continue.
And before I knew it, I had awoken. It was pitch dark in the small room, as the candles had gone out. I groped in the darkness for a lantern, which I remembered was sitting on the table last I checked. Sure enough, I found it and quickly I had light to see the room.
In the soft glow of the lantern I saw Zelda's still-sleeping form on the floor. She looked so peaceful and rested that I softly sighed with relief, fearing that she was also having a vision in her sleep. I was glad that she, at least so far, had not had to endure the visions of the other timeline.
I looked around the room for Navi, but didn't see her anywhere. I decided to check to see if Darunia was still asleep, but before I reached the door I heard the soft tinkle of Navi flying.
"Hey!" she stage-whispered to me. "What's up?"
"Nothing," I whispered back to her. "I'm going to see what's become of Darunia. You can go to sleep now."
"Yes!" she flew about, excited.
"Shhh! Zelda's still asleep!" I warned.
"Okay. Finally..." Navi retired to my pillow and extinguished her glow, effectively becoming invisible. Leaving her to dream the dreams of a fairy of her ilk, I opened the door quietly and looked for Darunia.
Darunia was nowhere to be found. I imagined that he was reporting for his military duty in the "resistance," which I still did not understand. Briefly I considered repaying Zelda for the breakfast that she had made for me previously, but I quickly ruled that out. What good would a meal for her be if she had been killed while I was out? There was no way I'd go out into the unknown and potentially dangerous city, much less leave Zelda defenseless and asleep.
I sat down heavily on the bed, sighing. Lacking anything better to do, and not knowing when Darunia would return, I sat and thought.
I thought deeply, really for the first time, about what I had done to Ganondorf, and the world.
Ganondorf. The name lodged in my mind. I had been thinking, on the horseback ride into the woods that took place years, or days, ago, about what I had done to him.
I had defeated him once in human form, but he was really not human. He became a monster. And as a monster, he destroyed the castle, and nearly killed me. And in the end, I could never kill him. But in that one moment, I had killed the evil in one bloodthirsty blow...
I felt more doubts surge in my head. Dishonor. Ambush. A dagger in the dark, killing with no knowledge...Ganondorf probably never knew what hit him. He was dead when he hit the ground...
I reflected that I had killed him, not in combat, but from ambush. I had, quite literally, stabbed him in the back. I guess that any way that I could have stopped the evil would have been fine, but it seemed...somehow wrong. He was only human. A defenseless human being. I had defeated plenty of monsters, and bested humans in combat and trials, but his was the first human life I had taken. Ironic that such an evil, bloodthirsty man became the victim, a martyr, and I became the evil one. I thought for a brief moment that what I had done was no better than what he was planning to do...
Was what I had done the coward's way out? Could I have beaten him had he had a chance to fight back? I couldn't do it the first time, when Zelda and the Sages banished him to the Sacred Realm, and the second time, I defeated him through force of surprise alone.
I doubted...Goddesses, the doubt was terrible. I doubted myself, I doubted that I was truly able to defeat the evil, I doubted just as I had doubted just a few hours ago when I allowed myself to be defeated by the Gerudo patrol.
I hoped, in a rather unserious way, that perhaps some day I could defeat him honorably, and show that I could defeat the evil that lurked behind our lives once and for all by facing it head-on. To show that I was truly worthy of being the Hero of Time; by defeating my greatest enemy on my own.
I don't know how long I sat there, locked in a cage with my own thoughts. It seemed like ages, but in the end it couldn't have been more than an hour or two...
And at last, I heard the door creak open and saw Darunia enter.
"Ho! Up so early?" he offered warmly, which seemed rather odd for a person who had tried to kill me last we met.
"Yes, but don't make too much noise," I said.
"Oh, so she's...she's still asleep?" he asked awkwardly, not knowing Zelda's name. "Say, what are your names, anyway? I never asked last night..."
"Oh, I am called Link, and my companion is Zel..." I stopped.
Zelda and I would undoubtedly still be infamous as the hostage of the deranged killer of Ganondorf and the killer himself, respectively. I had forgotten this, and furthermore wasn't used to living as a fugitive. But what was said could not be unsaid...
"Link...? Zel...Zelda? That's strange...well, I'm sure you get questions about those names all the time..."
It didn't register for a moment, but I realized that the Goron knew the names Link and Zelda, but didn't seem angered by the fact that we might be those two. For a moment I panicked...
"What a strange coincidence, eh?" he went on.
With that, I realized that he didn't think (or wasn't letting on that he thought) we were the actual people, but just named the same. I suppose that not many people had actually seen me or Zelda before we fled, so I figured the risk of someone recognizing us by sight was pretty small. Still, I'd have to be careful.
"Yeah, maybe that's why we joined the, er, Sylvains." I answered, trying not to sound unsure but probably failing. "Maybe that's why we became such good friends. But I shouldn't have told you...I probably should use an assumed name while I'm here."
"Sure," Darunia said, nodding.
"So, where have you been?" I asked.
"Oh, just reporting for mess hall. My shift starts in about fifteen minutes, so I can't talk much. We'll take you to the resistance leader later today when I'm off-duty."
I figured I'd be able to ask some questions to the 'resistance leader,' whoever that was.
"Oh! Almost forgot. I talked to the leader and he said you were welcome to stay."
"Oh, thank you!" I responded.
"And...oh, you must be hungry! The general store carries some human food...you have money?"
I remembered I had some Rupees with me when I had left Kokiri Forest for the Temple of Time. "Yes, I do."
"Well, don't worry. You're safe here. We are pretty tolerant people. There are other Sylvains around, not many, but some, here on duty. You'll fit in. Just don't start any trouble..."
"Oh, of course not."
Closing the door to Darunia's quarters, I began to navigate the corridors and passageways of the Death Mountain city. Eventually arriving at the main hub of the city, the chamber in which catwalks and bridges spanned the gaps overhead and below, a giant sculpture of a Goron pot stood. Remembering the location of the general store here from my last visit, I headed toward it, hoping my actions in the past hadn't been so potent as to change its location.
The halls that I had walked and the main hub were strangely and eerily empty, and as I walked I wondered where the crowds of Gorons who were here the last time I had been this way were.
I soon stopped in my tracks. As I crossed a bridge that spanned the gap in the central chamber of the room, there was a soft sound of a body landing somewhere behind me. Turning, I saw on the rock ledge behind me was a familiar figure.
Clad in a skin-tight body suit, wearing the headgear and shawl of the Sheikah, long blond hair covering one eye, giving the face an air of mystery and danger.
Sheik, the one who had aided my quest the first time I undertook it, and who revealed to me later that she was Zelda, all along, disguised by magic and guile.
But this couldn't be Zelda...could it?
I approached the mysterious ninja slowly, and he began to speak.
"Time flows like a river, too fast to comprehend but slow enough to navigate."
I nodded in agreement, not actually telling him (or her?) that I had heard this from him before.
"You have taken the oar and steered the boat of your destiny down a different path than you had before," he added.
I was taken aback. How did he know this? Did he, like Rauru, posses the knowledge of the other time? Was he another one of the spirits who would be there, no matter what changes had been made to the flow of time?
He confirmed this thought. "I see your surprise. I am the spirit of the Sheikah, and I will be here to guide you no matter what you do. The Princess who took this form was merely the course that I took when you acted as you did the first time that you undertook the quest you take now. You too, Hero of Time, are as I am, a pebble in the river of time who may cause ripples that are different, but always there."
I began to unravel what Sheik had said, and began to understand. "And the princess? And the sages? Are they too pebbles in the river?" I questioned.
"Yes, Link. They have been scattered across the land, but still the destiny of the Sages burns within them. But as before, you must aid them so that they can realize their destiny. As you know, the Sage of Fire still resides here as a lowly and unimportant soldier. But with your help his rightful position of leadership will be restored, and his destiny as a Sage will be fulfilled."
"And the others? I must find Saria, Impa, Nabooru, and Ruto, and help them become Sages?"
"Yes. And if you do this, then you will be able to defeat the spirit of Ganondorf. He now resides in the form of Verletz, but when you confront him with the true force of the Sages behind you, his true form will be revealed, and you will battle..."
"I see. I know what I must do." I answered.
"Remember this. There was a fork in the river of time. Once you chose the left path, this time the right. There is an island in the river, but you can still see, through cracks in the foliage, the other side, and yourself paddling along there."
"You mean...my visions?" I asked.
"They may appear that way, yes. You see glimpses of the two timelines. There will be places where there are no trees at all, places where you will be as though looking into a distant mirror. Those times will be important, young one, mark them well."
I nodded.
"And when the island ends, when the timelines coalesce, you will meet yourself and reunite. You will sail down the river into whatever future awaits you."
I paused. "You're saying...as I go along my journey...I'll keep having visions. But when I have completed my journey, then...the two timelines will merge into one? What does this mean?"
"Place whatever interpretation or value you decide upon my words, hero," said Sheik, backing away. "We will meet again."
And with that, he disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
As my eyes adjusted to the bright flash I saw more movement---once again, the city was bustling with Gorons moving all over. Here and there were others dressed as I was currently. I guessed, based on what Darunia had said, they were members of other "cells," perhaps the Sylvain Liberators. I hadn't the faintest clue what the Sylvain Liberators were, but Darunia had thought I was one...
As I headed towards the shop I thought about what had happened. The doubt I had been feeling began to lift, now that I knew what I had to do to save the world---find the Sages, and remain undercover. I reflected at the amazing feat that Sheik had accomplished---seemingly stopping time and removing the bustling crowds for a while before I saw him.
As I reached the shop I knew that his emanation of Sheik was surely more powerful than Zelda's form of him...I didn't quite know the consequences, however.
Entering the shop, I saw the Goron behind the counter to be the same one that had sold me things the first time I had been there. I guess some things just don't change, or perhaps this had simply not changed due to random chance...
"Greetings, stranger! Haven't seen you around these parts before! New member of a cell?"
"Err, yes..." I managed without sounding too suspicious.
"A Sylvain, eh?"
"Yes...just joined."
"Glad to see another fighter join against the occupation. How'd you get up here? Were ya assigned?"
"Yeah..." I stammered, totally out of the loop.
"Great. We can use all the help we can get."
"Just glad to be here," I added, sounding rather impatient, trying to end this awkward conversation.
"All right, sorry to keep ya waitin'. What'll ya have?"
I picked out some extra arrows for myself, and to eat bought a few loaves of bread, a dozen strips of salted pork, and the prize jewel, a jar of strawberry jam. For Zelda, this probably wasn't such a luxury, but for me it certainly was.
Placing my purchases in a leather sack, the Goron calculated the total. "It'll be 210, please."
I reached into my wallet and removed several glittering Rupees. Extending my hand to the Goron I saw a look of unabashed shock spread over his face.
"These...what are you doing with these?" he asked, clearly dumbfounded.
"They are your payment, sir," I said a bit sarcastically.
"These were all destroyed! How do you have any of them?" he asked, amazed.
I realized that somehow, the currency of Hyrule must have changed. I made something up quickly.
"Umm...well...when they came to take mine, I buried them until it was safe."
"And they didn't catch you? Wow...that's unbelievable! Here, just let me look at one..." Too excited to bother with my answer, he took a Green Rupee and looked at it, like a jeweler examining a diamond. "By the Goddesses...this is incredible! Please sir! Let me keep this one! You can have all your purchases! No, wait! Here! This must be worth ten times as much as what you've bought! Here!" He thrust into my hands a large fistful of strange paper rectangles with words printed on them. They seemed to represent numerical values of currency...
"Err...I thank you sir, but please, try to keep this quiet..." I said, confused.
"Oh of COURSE! If the Gerudo hear of this we'd both die."
I began to leave the store. "Thank you," I said as I left.
"Thank YOU," the Goron replied, polishing what had once been pocket change to me.
This is weird, I thought to myself as I left.
As I quietly entered Darunia's house I lit my lamp again, after hitting my leg on the bed. I entered the room where Zelda and Navi still slept and realized I'd have to make some breakfast in here, and I'd need light.
Putting the strange paper money in my pocket I knelt at Zelda's side. She still slept as peacefully as ever, and it warmed my heart. I don't know what I would do if she had been suffering through the visions and nightmares I had been.
I decided to let her keep sleeping, but I had to light up the room for cooking. I gently touched her shoulder. She didn't stir at all. I wedged my hands under her back and below her legs and gently picked her up. I looked into her sleeping face and smiled. Zelda had been dragged into a horrid future and a desperate quest, but at least she slept peacefully.
Feeling her weight in my hands made my happy, I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's the cliché of the hero taking the princess off in his arms, off into the sunset, or the husband carrying the bride over the threshold. I don't know. I felt guilty, knowing that she'd be in horrific danger, but I still felt glad that she had come along.
I laid her out on the Goron's bed and pulled the sheets over her body. She sank into the covers and smiled in her sleep, and I smiled back.
