Examining his fallen second in command, Ganondorf was almost ready to whimper. This lost him his most trusted companion and guard. He flinched as he also realized this might have lost him his chances of staying out of the Spirit Realm, unless he took the assassins offer.
He opened his eyes to hear the sound of the booms subsiding and a soft padding noise instead. Ganondorf ignored these and reached down to grab Nabooru's blood soaked hand. He was surprised to feel a soft pulse.
"Nabooru…?" he asked softly. She looked up in pain at Ganondorf's face. "Did you mean everything you said?"
He nodded before kneeling close to her. He pulled her arms of her stomach to reveal the rest of the arrow went all the way through. "Don't worry about it" she replied, "this is my temple, it tends to automatically help in these situations". The soft padding noise ended.
Ganondorf turned to see a small lizard like thing laying on the ground by him and looking straight at Nabooru. It suddenly leapt and grabbed onto the arrow with its mouth before quickly yanking it out and galloping off. As Nabooru fell doubled over in pain a glowing light surrounded her, and when it was gone, the pool of blood had disappeared and she was left unhurt. Ganondorf stared to where the lizard had disappeared.
"Don't worry about it" she said, "Saria's is a mushroom and Darunia's is a small Dodongo, Ruto's of course is a fish and Impa's, you don't even want to know, there like little helpers that always seem to show up in an emergency that has to do with us while we are in the temple". Ganondorf almost chuckled, "was this all you were afraid of" he asked. Nabooru nodded, "the lizard wouldn't have come if you weren't here" Nabooru said. She smiled at him, but Ganondorf knew this wasn't a good thing, he had to be labeled as the number one sages worst enemy.
Nabooru slowly stood up and brushed some dust off her. Ganondorf also stood and slowly started towards the exit of the room. He turned and waited for Nabooru to follow. "So are we on a talking basis now?" he asked as they entered the hallway. Nabooru paused for a second before nodding to Ganondorf, "Yes, for now". Ganondorf looked down to both ends of the hall, "Can we go back to the fortress or were you planning on staying here?" "If you don't mind we will be staying here for a little while, I don't want them coming back" Nabooru said as she turned and headed towards the other living quarters. Ganondorf turned and followed her.
The morning passed by quickly and quietly, all of the duties and clean up she hadn't been there to do took her the majority of the day and when the sun had started to set she still had plenty of tasks for the following day. When the sun started to set Ganondorf had asked permission to go sit on the Spirit Temple's steps and watch it. Nabooru allowed him to as it gave her time to go check on the back hidden chambers. When she had finished checking on the nearer ones she walked out to the entrance and from the light filtering in she knew that the sun had almost disappeared, meaning nightfall would follow shortly.
Nabooru stepped outside and was surprised when she looked out and Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen. She looked about her with a sudden adrenaline rush and was immediately relieved when she saw him lying down in the sand off to the side staring at the sky. She walked towards him and sat down by him not really in any hurry to go back inside.
"You know I haven't had a chance to watch the sunset in a long time" he said as he stared at the fading traces of light. Nabooru considered asking him why but stopped knowing he was obviously talking about being in the spirit realm.
Not knowing what to say exactly, Nabooru stayed quiet and folded her hands in her lap as Ganondorf continued to watch the stars slowly appearing. "Did you really trust me that much" Nabooru said trying to think of a way to phrase her thoughts, "before."
Ganondorf cut her off, "if you were ever thinking that I didn't trust you before my little triforce quest when you were simply my second in command, then I don't know how we had managed to work together so well for so many years" he replied.
"No I meant", Nabooru started, "I meant", and suddenly the thing she was thinking about just popped out, "then what about twinrova, you said you trusted and cared for me but it certainly didn't seem like it then".
Ganondorf considered this before replying, "that was a mistake, you were always at the Spirit temple and I just told them to watch you. I had never thought you were sage material. I guess I was a little blinded by the fact that you were my second in command. The two witches saw you and knew you were the spirit sage, so they did as they felt best. They were under my orders, but they took matters into their own hands, I didn't want that for you".
Nabooru sighed, Ganondorf telling her all this was draining. "I felt such a loyalty to you before you went on that quest" Nabooru started. She stopped herself from going further, Ganondorf still was unaware she had once rebelled against him.
"I would have trusted you with my life" Ganondorf replied. Nabooru turned and laid her head on Ganondorf's armored stomach. She felt a little bad for not trusting him. Especially when he seemed to care about her so much.
Ganondorf gazed down at her and tilted his head, "do you trust me now" he asked hopefully. Nabooru nodded, her conscience was killing her. Ganondorf stroked her hair before he sighed and was quiet. She didn't disturb him for the rest of the afternoon, it was never a good idea to bother him when he was deep in thought.
When the night air finally kicked in and the desert felt cold, Nabooru stood up and walked towards the Spirit Temple. "You leaving me?" Ganondorf joked. "I just didn't want to disturb you" Nabooru replied. He stood to follow her; and for a minute things seemed almost ok in the world.
Nabooru spent the rest of the week at the Spirit Temple. She had many duties to attend to and it surprised her how new messes kept popping up, especially when there were only two Gerudos in there to cause the mess. By the end of the week, Nabooru had gotten most of the duties done. She had given Ganondorf a little freer roam but she still kept a close watch. It took until the end of the week before she finally started talking freely with Ganondorf.
Every night, when the sun started to set Ganondorf would go outside to watch it. Nabooru would go outside when she finished with the days chores and sit there in the sand talking to her king until the night set in. Ganondorf had gotten closer to his goal, he wanted her full trust again. Right now it was the only way to be allowed to roam on his own, and it had the plus side of satiating his desire to spend more time with her.
Around the early evening as Nabooru was passing the entrance she was shocked to see the doors suddenly burst open. Nabooru loosened her guard as Ariel, a familiar helper around the temple walked in and cautiously peered around. Upon seeing Nabooru she ran up eagerly to hug her. Nabooru smiled as Ariel reached her but was again surprised to see the other girl jump to the side after something else startled her.
"Nabooru" she said in a soft voice, "is it true, is Ganondorf really, back?"
"Yes" Ganondorf said as he entered from the side making Ariel jump a little.
"Don't worry", Nabooru said seeing Ariel's small fright, "he's with us again, well I'm pretty sure he will be if he doesn't want to go back to the Spirit Realm" she finished.
Ganondorf sighed, "I had hoped getting my old lifestyle back would be easier…"
Nabooru smiled, "When Rauru feels he can trust you I'm sure he will let you free to roam." Ariel smiled at this and looked about the entrance to the temple, "need any help" she questioned eyeing Nabooru.
Nabooru nodded and Ariel ran off towards the living quarters. Turning to Ganondorf Nabooru once again grinned, "Soon, I'll make sure you can go back to having the authority over me, but for now just behave yourself". Ganondorf nodded and watched as she walked off to do some other unknown chore.
Not feeling up to going outside, Ganondorf retired to a back chamber of the temple and stayed there for the remainder of the evening. After finishing whatever she had been doing Nabooru went ahead and retired to her bedchambers. It wasn't until Nabooru had almost drifted fully off to sleep when she remembered her obligation to keep a close eye on Ganondorf. She sat up from the rough mat she had been laying on and went to the entrance of the room.
She had no idea where Ganondorf was and she didn't want to sleep until she knew he was safely asleep not harming anyone. She slipped softly into the hallway and padded past the room Ariel had claimed for the night into another hallway. As she turned a corner she had to stop very suddenly to keep from slamming into the large figure of Ganondorf.
"Where have you been" she whispered softly as she grabbed one of his hands and started to pull him back to the living quarters. Ganondorf followed her letting her pull him along. Nabooru led him back through to the entrance to the room she was sleeping in that night. "Now go to bed" she said in a playful tone while softly poking him in the chest and pointing at another room. Ganondorf looked to Nabooru then nodded leaving to the other room. Nabooru watched him leave her before she turned and went back into the room to sleep.
About two weeks after Ariel's return, Nabooru had finished just about every task she could so around the temple for the time. With nothing left to do she sat back down on the entrance's steps and watched the door hoping some messenger might bring her something. The odd thing was that other then Ariel, no other messenger of any type had come through with any reports. She had not been called to any sages meetings, but that was due to her having Ganondorf around and she knew they were waiting to see if he would try anything.
As Nabooru continued to stare and wait Ariel busied herself writing down something in an old book while Ganondorf walked into the room and watched the two of them. "Bored" he asked, and Nabooru nodded. Ganondorf walked to where she was sitting and he stood next to her. "Hey Naby", he started before stopping and correcting himself, "Nabooru, why haven't any reports of the fortress come through?"
Nabooru shrugged, "I don't know, I was wondering the same thing myself". She turned to where Ariel was leaning against a wall, "Ariel, what was happening before you came?" Ariel looked up from her book, "Wouldn't know, I was staying at the post by the river of sand before I heard you had come back", she said. Nabooru frowned, "So we haven't heard from them in about a month and none of us have any idea what is happening over there", she said with a worried tone in her voice.
Ariel closed her book, "Would you like me to take a trip there and back to check on them," she asked. Nabooru nodded, "That would be nice".
Ganondorf folded his arms, "when shall we expect you back?"
"I know the way, don't think I would take too long" Ariel replied smiling.
"Good", Nabooru said though she was wondering if it would have been better to go herself.
Ariel walked off and returned without her book, "I will be finishing a few things before I go" she said as she strolled past Nabooru into a hallway.
Nabooru sighed as she stood up and turned to Ganondorf. "Nothing to do" she said as he looked down at her. He lifted a hand and played with her ponytail, "I'm surprised", he said with a mischievous smile, "you aren't going yourself?" "Well" Nabooru started, "I don't want to leave just yet, I would have to go back to the constant watching you thing and it is a lot easier for Rauru to contact me here" she said.
Ganondorf stopped playing with her hair, "so you are tired of me," he said still smirking. Nabooru turned to face him directly, "why would you think that?" she asked as she felt him wrap his arms around her. Ganondorf pulled her close to him still looking down at her face, "When that sage finally comes to his senses and I can walk where I please, I am going to have to ask you to again be my second in command" he said softly. She looked up at his face and smiled before resting her head against his chest, that would be an offer she probably wouldn't turn down.
After Ariel had left later that evening Nabooru was left to wandering about with nothing to do. As she was walking down one of the last hallways one could explore without hitting the protected back areas of the temple she found a lighted room and after stepping in it and looking about she saw Ganondorf bent over looking at something off to the side. She looked towards him trying to make out what he was doing when he turned and looked back at her.
"Hello", he said before turning around fully, "come over here".
Nabooru walked to where he was standing as he turned around and pointed to a set of long beautifully engraved swords with matching curved white handles. Next to them was a similar pair in black. Nabooru ran her finger along one of the white sword's blade before looking over at the stone table they were arranged on.
"Where did you find these?" she asked turning to look at Ganondorf. "There" he replied pointing to a cabinet set on a wall opposite of them, "the white ones were already on the table". "Wonder how I could have overlooked this room before" Nabooru said softly to herself. She looked past Ganondorf to her left, there was a room connected to the one they were standing in.
"Do you know exactly what this area is" she asked curiosity tugging at her. He nodded, "This room is a storage place for weapons, and that appears to be a fighting arena". Slipping past him Nabooru walked into the other room and looked about her. The floor in the middle of the room was all sand and the ceiling was vaulted. Four torches were lit in each of the corners and she could make out the slightest shape of a locked chest in the very back of the room.
"Hey Nabooru", Ganondorf called from behind her. She turned just in time to catch the two white blades that had been thrown towards her. "Care to have a go" he asked picking up the remaining black handled blades. Nabooru smiled as she stepped out into the center of the arena and held her two blades in a fighting stance. Ganondorf walked opposite to her and lifted the blades to a stance of his own. The four torches surrounding the room flashed and Ganondorf moved in to clash one of the swords against Nabooru's awaiting defense.
It was a playful fight and the first clashes didn't go anywhere. Ganondorf swung one of his swords for a harder hit and almost cut Nabooru's back as she tried to block it and ended up on the ground with his sword tip pointed at her. He reached down and helped her up as she held up her swords again and round two was started. It started out like the first one had with nothing hard until Nabooru pulled a spinning slash and almost clipped Ganondorf as he jumped out of the way in surprise. The two started again and this time the Ganondorf threw hard hits right off of the bat while Nabooru lightly blocked them and scooted out of the way. After a few more rounds of hitting and blocking Ganondorf backed up and let his sword tips down.
"Come on, I've seen you do better then that" he said as she held her swords lighter and waited for another attack. Nabooru waited for a second before raising her two swords once more and coming in for a slash that knocked Ganondorf obviously off guard as he barely blocked in time. She spun around and tried again as he met her even while she was behind him. After continuing with her light taps mainly meant to knock him off guard Ganondorf once again started attacking himself. The two clashed swords for a long time and finally in the late evening did Nabooru drop her swords and then, tired and sweaty did she call it a night.
She picked up the blades and set them on the table as Ganondorf followed her back to the living quarters. She was surprised to see him follow her nearly all the way back to the bedchambers.
As Nabooru entered one of the rooms Ganondorf watched her from the entrance. She turned to face him, "yes" she questioned. He walked closer to her watching her follow his movements. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close not taking his eyes off of her. She didn't move and he held her for a few seconds.
Finally, he bent down and kissed her.
When he finally pulled away she kept her eyes closed and lowered her head. "Goodnight" he said as he pecked her on her forehead and let go of her. Nabooru opened her eyes to watch him leave her. She felt a whole sea of emotions as she went back to roll out a mat and sleep.
The following morning she woke up surprisingly early and after pulling on some clothing she got up and walked into the hall. She walked down the hall peeking in the rooms until she found the one Ganondorf was in. She slipped in to see him facing away from her and he quickly turned at her entrance.
"Good Morning Madame, did you sleep well?" he asked as he slipped on a belt and walked towards her.
Nabooru smiled, "are you going to be exploring again today?" she asked. He nodded, "you'd be surprised, it's like someone was hiding an army in here".
Nabooru didn't falter a bit, "oh, maybe". She turned and left the room. Ganondorf watched her saunter away before he left himself very curious about his findings.
The rest of the day Nabooru quickly finished her daily duties before waiting for Ariel to see if she would return. After waiting for a while she was surprised to find Ganondorf come up to her and pull her back into another room. In this room he had found another secretive chest containing swords and he was very keen on pointing out to Nabooru his discovery. The day ended similarly to the others and the following day seemed like a repeat. Ganondorf had sorted through the weapons in both places and found another hidden one.
The third day from when Ariel had gone missing left Nabooru a little anxious still wanting to hear from her people and although Ganondorf went on acting indifferent she knew he probably wanted to check on them more then she was. About five days from when Ariel had left Nabooru now felt worried as all of the other times previously when Ariel left she would normally return within a day or two.
As Nabooru leaned against a wall feeling quite concerned about Ariel's disappearance, she wasn't shocked to see Ganondorf interrupt her with his usual gusto. He walked into the room to grab her arm. Obviously he had made another discovery. The difference this time between the other rooms she had seen was that the doorway she was led through showed signs of once having a door and she wasn't surprised at seeing a broken down door a few feet from where she stood. She was led past the broken door to a single platform in the middle of the room where a sword lay.
Ganondorf stopped few feet from the platform and Nabooru walked to the center to look at it. It had a white handle with a small design that resembled the spirit medallion. She picked it up softly and turned it over and found the back of the blade to have engraved in Gerudo "the spirit". She held the one sword up and was pleasantly surprised to find it lighter then in looked.
She turned to Ganondorf who was still a few feet away. "Is something wrong?" she asked. He shook his head, "I am sure it was more meant for the Spirit sage to handle" he said watching her spin it in her hand. She smiled before walking towards Ganondorf and letting the blade dangle from her hand.
"Shall we go now" she asked looking at him. He turned and left the room with her following. Nabooru hid the blade before walking back to the entrance and to wait for Ariel.
After finding the many weapons around the Spirit Temple Ganondorf was now a little suspicious. Ariel's disappearance was minuscule to the worry that someone might have been planning a revolt against him in the Spirit Temple. It never even crossed his mind that it might have been Nabooru who hid the weapons for that purpose.
One week after Ariel had left Nabooru was no longer able to hide her worry. She met Ganondorf in the entrance hall and although he was trying to talk to her, couldn't stop looking towards the doorway.
Ganondorf sighed, "Would you like to go to the fortress yourself?" he asked as she finally turned her eyes back to him.
"Yes" she said, "get ready to cross the desert very soon".
"Nabooru" he started before she could walk away, "All of the weapons in here..." "Yes?" she asked. "How did you not find them before?" "Why would I have looked?" she replied as she jokingly lifted up her pant leg, "After all I'm always heavily armed." Ganondorf snorted as she walked back towards the temple, "Get ready to go please!" she called.
He looked to Ariel as he replied with a sarcastically enthusiastic "ok."
The real question still lingered on his mind and it made him a little angry, Who was trying to revolt against me?