Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, or any of their franchise products, including the Four Swords on which this is loosely based (very loosely thanks to the Minish Cap, though this on a side note).
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Chapter 7 – The Desert Flower
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Dekaru shielded his eyes with his hand as the bright light blinded him. After a few seconds, his eyes were adjusted enough to the desert sun after the long trip in the dark caves. The first thing he noticed was that the ledge of the cave went straight down for about twenty meters. He quickly scanned the sides of the mountain wall but saw no trace of his "prey". The wall seemed to steep to climb, so she could have only jumped down, but he saw no trace of a landing in the soft sand down the mountain. A loud yell suddenly made him look up and he barely could see a dark shape fall on top of him and causing him to fall down from the mountain. Luckily for him, the mountain wall went indeed straight down so they landed in the sand.
"ARE YOU INSANE?" he shouted after he spat out some sand and looked angrily at the laughing girl.
"Don't be such a crybaby, Dekaru," the young Gerudo girl said as she stretched, "it doesn't suit you."
"We could have died!"
"I know this mountain," the Gerudo shook her head, "I've been here countless times and other than the first time, I've always jumped down."
She looked around for a bit.
"Although, I must admit, I usually land a bit further."
"How did you get up there anyway?" Dekaru asked as he looked up to the dark cave, now seeming just a very dark shadow.
"I used my daggers to climb up. You remember my daggers, don't you?" the girl smiled.
"Yeah, I do," Dekaru said grim.
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As Dekaru looked at the girl with a fierce look, he remembered the events, six years ago. His father and grandfather had gone in the Temple of Souls to fight some evil Zelda had unleashed. He and his brothers and sister had to remain outside, out of harm. And then this girl jumped on top of him with her daggers drawn. That was his first encounter with Romani, daughter of Nabooru, princess of the Gerudo. Well, now she was queen of the Gerudo, although she was only twelve, since the Gravedigger had killed her mother all those years ago. Her skin was the deep brown colour of the Gerudo, and her red hair was braided and hung down to her backside. Her green eyes looked seriously, as they always do, even when she laughed. Dekaru wondered if they had ever looked any different after that day her mother died, and if his looked the same.
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"Anyway, how are we supposed to get up again?"
"I'm sure the other Gerudo will find us soon and let down a rope ladder."
"What?" Dekaru's eyes grew wide, "that could take hours, and we might die! We don't have any water!"
"Dekaru," Romani sighed, "I brought you out here to show you something, not to let you die. So why don't you just relax for a second and come with me?"
Dekaru grumbled as Romani turned around and started walking into the desert.
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She stopped a few times to orientate herself and then headed towards a point along the mountain ridge.
"Couldn't we just have stayed near the mountain instead of going into the desert?" Dekaru asked.
"No," Romani replied, "our point of orientation isn't visible from too close the mountain. We need to be… ah, there it is… it's not far now."
Dekaru said some words his father wouldn't approve off if he had been still alive and continued to follow the girl.
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After a short while Dekaru saw an oasis in the distance.
"There it is," Romani whispered, "what do you think?"
"It's… it seems big…"
"It is," Romani replied as she started running towards it, "it's the largest one in the area. You wouldn't believe the flowers and animals there are there."
"There are flowers and animals there?"
"Lots of them," she panted as she arrived at the edge of the oasis, "look!"
Dekaru stopped to catch his breath and saw a small brownish salamander flee under huge flower with red and blue petals.
"What is that flower?" Dekaru asked.
"That's the Desert Flower," Romani explained, "well, it has another name, but we all call it the Desert Flower because it only grows in the desert. There's a saying with the Gerudo, "a Gerudo only listens to the man who brings her a Desert Flower". Well, I thought it was just a saying. You know how men don't really have a lot to say in a relationship with a Gerudo… well, nothing at all actually. But apparently, when her love interest went into the desert and brought back a Desert Flower, a Gerudo woman would treat him as her equal and stop bossing him around, because he proved his worth."
"I never knew that." Dekaru said.
"Well, not a lot of people remember it," Romani shrugged, "the location of the oasis where they grew was lost somewhere in the past and it's only been recently rediscovered."
"Who discovered it? You?"
"Hah, I wish," Romani smiled but then turned serious again, "no, I found the oasis on my own too, but the one that rediscovered it was Ganondorf when he was about my age. It's hard to understand how someone so evil could find something as beautiful as this, I guess."
"When my dad came back to Hyrule," Dekaru said, "he told us that Ganondorf wasn't really evil… well, he was, but that it was because the Tri-Force made him evil, just like it made Zelda evil."
"Hmm… Still, all that is in the past and isn't important right now. Want to see the water spring?"
"There's a water spring?" Dekaru asked.
"Of course there's a spring. How else do you think the oasis got it's water?"
"I don't believe you," Dekaru shook his head, "show me."
"Did you hit your head on a rock or something when I jumped on you? Everyone knows an oasis has a water spring."
Romani took his arm and dragged him along, through the bushes and the trees, up to some rocks that looked over a large water spring.
"See?" Romani gestured over the water, "water spring."
"See?" Dekaru nodded, "payback."
Before Romani could even frown he pushed her off the rock.
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"Help!" she shouted, "I can't swim!"
"Oh shit," Dekaru said as saw Romani go under again and dove in.
When he came above water again, he looked around to see the girl but couldn't find her.
"Romani!" he shouted, and prepared to dive under again.
"Here!" came the reply.
He turned around and saw her sitting on the edge of the spring, laughing.
"You little…" he started and swam towards her.
"Yeah, yeah," Romani sighed as she stretched and laid down, "you know you love me."
"Yeah, right," he muttered and sat next to the girl, trying to dry his green tunic in the sun.
He was hot. He should have worn something lighter, like Romani's purple pants and top. His heavy shirt was protective enough in the Lost Woods, but here in the desert Romani's see-through purple blouse was just perfect with this heat. Well, that was something to remember for the next time. Oh, he knew there would be a next time. As annoying as she could be sometimes, he enjoyed being around with her. He had once heard from Mikau and Darmani that their mother said she knew she had a crush on Link the moment she saw him the first time, when she was eight (he was too young when she was captured by Zelda). This must have been how she felt, he thought. He smiled at her and she returned his smile, but a sound made them look up. From out the bushes, two Gerudo emerged.
"Queen Romani?" they asked, "are you ready to leave?"
"Yes, I am," she told them before she turned to Dekaru, "so… are you leaving or will you stay now?"
"We're leaving again…" Dekaru had to admit, "We're going to go to Mendrova, on the other side of the desert. But don't worry, we'll take another route to get there."
"That'll be for the best, the desert can be a dangerous place. Just… promise you'll return, okay?"
"I promise…"
Oh, he would return here someday, that was for sure. And he would bring her a Desert Flower.