Some three hours later, Ganondorf roamed aimlessly through one of the lower tiers of the city, having long since lost both the

Some three hours later, Ganondorf roamed aimlessly through one of the lower tiers of the city, having long since lost both the insane tour guide and her guards. He did not want to return to the castle, but felt too restless to stop.

Finally exhausted, he sat down in a little public courtyard with a small well in the middle, the local watering hole. But with the late hour and the chilly weather, few people left their homes. No one needed the cheery guard fires with the entire city surrounded by walls. He pulled up the bucket from the well, loud screeches of protest echoing from the pulley in the silence of the night. After drinking his fill, he sat down again, dejected.

What now?

As he sat, his mind began an argument with itself. You heard the King. Your clan is gone. There is nothing more for you to do here.

But I don't want to go back with the Hylians. Din said my people came here.

They might have been born into other families. But they won't give up their clans to follow a failed King! Especially not back to that pile of rocks!

I tire of the Hylian Goddesses and their blasted Hero. I don't want to serve as their demolition man. Perhaps I could ask to be accepted into one of the other clans…

As a breeder?! They'll never take you as a Gerudo, only as a foreigner. You can't call your wife and children your own.

But I made a promise…He reached into the pocket and took out the mangled toy soldier he had found in the ruins of the fortress, a pitiful artifact of a more hopeful life.

To whom? The dead? Your promises are worthless. There is no one left to hear them. Ganondorf angrily ground the tiny statue under his heel, then wiped his eyes. For Myrissa's sake, be a man. Why are you blubbering like a child? You are the immortal embodiment of Power.

I want to be among my own people.

The other Bearers are your people now. They have known you longer and better than any of the Gerudo.

"I don't want any connection to them!" He shouted aloud in protest, then glanced around, embarrassed.

You have even less connection to these people. Have you noticed their lack of strong warriors? How many children do you suppose go through adulthood training?

Perhaps they could use a more…traditional king…

Don't even consider it. Weak as they are, if you can't take over Hyrule, you can't take over Reylisia.

So…what now?

All signs seemed to point back to returning to Hyrule, but he did not want to admit defeat even now. He sat in the chilly air, staring up at the stars, hoping for inspiration to hit him.

His ears picked up the sound of footsteps, very small and quiet. He turned to see a thin, small girl – perhaps six or seven years of age – walking toward the well with a bucket nearly half her size. As she approached the well, she glanced at Ganondorf's headpiece, then nodded with a hint of uncertainty. "Hello, Uncle."

He nodded back. 'Uncle' was a polite term of address for an unrelated older male. No reply was expected of him, but when she began pulling at the ropes, he offered, "Would you like some help?"

"No, thank you. I can do it myself," she said with a child's stubborn pride. A ghost of a smile returned to Ganondorf's face at the famous self-sufficiency of his people.

"Is there a reason you're getting water in the middle of the night?"

"Ma's sick." She hefted the bucket over the side with an air of one who is too busy to make small talk.

"Well, it would be rude of me to just sit here." Ganondorf picked up a rusty bucket at the side of the well, and filled that one too. After a few protests, she allowed him to follow her home.

"My granny's really good at telling fortunes," she informed him. "Would you like your fortune told? It's only five myar."

Ganondorf had no idea how many rupees made up five myar, but he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was trying to drum up business. Likely her family needed to find another source of income, with a sick head female. And, of course, a Gerudo never admitted weakness or asked for assistance from an outsider, even a Gerudo from another clan. "Certainly," he said.

At a small adobe home, the girl pushed aside a heavy fabric curtain that served as a door, and walked in with an announcement. "Granny! There's a man here who wants his fortune told!"

Like most Gerudo homes, this one had a relatively large main room, with entryways leading to sleeping chambers. The lack of a rug on the floor told him that the family had indeed fallen on hard times.

An elderly woman, more likely a great-grandmother, approached him. Ganondorf sensed her confusion upon seeing his headpiece. "Hello, my friend. Are you in need of spiritual guidance? I can assure you that the Great Goddess has chosen me as a medium. Why, our neighbor asked me for help with finding a lost goat, and I found it along with another one besides…"

Ganondorf nodded absently as she rolled out her verbal resume, listing a number of miracles she attributed to herself. This was usual, though not necessarily believable. She invited him into her sleeping chambers, which she had converted into a part-time office. In one corner stood a large shrine to Myrissa, the incense filling the house with a dusty, sweet scent. On a table in the middle lay some old bones, iridescent tail feathers, and a gem or two, all hallmarks of the Gerudo fortune-teller.

She bid him sit down on the one cushion in the room, and gestured toward the statue in the corner. "Would you like to make an offering to the Goddess?"

This was his cue to give her the five myar, or more if he desired a more detailed fortune. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly undid the clasps of his headpiece and pulled it out, letting his hair fall in a mass around his shoulders. He felt strangely light-headed, and not just from the lack of weight on his forehead.

The old woman tried to hide her shock, but could not conceal her shaking hands as she took it from him and set it upon the shrine. "Very well then," she said with a weak smile. "I will do my best to ask the Goddess how to handle this small problem for you."

Picking up a small wooden wand, she pushed the items on the table around and around. "Ah, ah…the spirits are particularly stubborn today…but no matter, we'll get this sorted out.

Little beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and Ganondorf could tell she had no idea what to say. Likely she only dispensed the usual advice regarding marital disputes and disagreements between friends. All very helpful in normal Gerudo society, but nothing compared to the type of answers Ganondorf sought. He found himself not caring. In giving up his headpiece, he had opened up possibilities to a new identity, whether the woman could help him search for one or not.

"I see…great things in your future…ah yes…" Unable to concentrate, she fell back on the old tactic of saying what she felt her customer wanted to hear. "Great riches, and power, and a large family…"

Nodding mechanically, Ganondorf waited for her to finish so he could leave. Suddenly she stiffened and he looked up, opening his mouth to ask her if she was all right.

"My lost child," she said in a deep, sibilant, ethereal voice. "So many trials you have suffered! Fear not, for I have a higher purpose for you. Tonight, I shall send you a sign."

Ganondorf leaped to his feet, practically shouting in the old woman's face, "What kind of a sign? Where?"

The old woman shook herself as if waking from a trance. "I'm sorry…what? Was it something I said?"

-&-

Link had never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

He sat up to his neck in hot water, in a huge pool with painted frescoes and jeweled tiles set in the walls. Large doors let in the morning sunlight. It would have been relaxing if not for the fact that he was not wearing anything, and neither was King Ridiyah next to him.

He understood the custom of a communal bathhouse. That was not what bothered him. However, he had a sneaking suspicion that the King was deliberately trying to make him feel vulnerable, and sensed that the young warrior did not like being separated from his weapons or his clothing. Link suspected that Ridiyah wanted to separate him from Zelda, for what purpose he did not know. And the only way to do that was to go to the men's baths, where women weren't allowed.

Both Hylians had stayed up all night waiting for Ganondorf, but he never appeared. Early in the morning, the King approached them asking if they would like to relax in the baths. Link protested, on the grounds that he didn't know enough Gerudo for a meaningful conversation.

The King pulled a little pill-like object from his pocket and put it in his ear, giving one to Link and motioning for him to do the same. He did so, and started in astonishment as he heard the King's voice speak in perfect Hylian. "Do you understand?"

"Of course." Link took the device out of his ear, examined it, then placed it back in. "A translation device? Why didn't you use it before?"

Ridiyah made a little bow of apology. "We rarely deal with people so far from here, whose languages we do not know. And since sorcery is mostly a thing of the past, this device had been hidden away in a storeroom."

So in the baths, Ridiyah peppered Link with questions about his training, his methods, his strengths versus Ganondorf's weaknesses. He asked about Hyrule, what kind of country it was, how Zelda ruled. Link decided very early on to give as little information as possible, and not mention the Triforce at all. But Ridiyah seemed able to glean information from him even when he gave none.

Darn it, Link thought furtively. I'm no good at these mind-games. No wonder he separated me from Zelda…she and Ganondorf are much better at this sort of thing than I am…but what on earth does he want from me?

"You know," Ridiyah said slowly, "if you like, I can allow Ganondorf to stay here. I doubt any of our people would want to go to Hyrule…begging your pardon. We don't have a very good history with it, as you well know."

Confused, Link asked, "But…you don't seem to like him at all. Why would you welcome him here?"

"Well, he'd be considered a foreigner…and really, he is, as he's never lived in Reylisia. But he'd be more comfortable around Gerudo, surely? Why don't you let me take him off your hands? He seems to have caused your people a great deal of trouble…we can handle him much more easily."

Link did not trust Ridiyah's offers of help to him and kindness toward Ganondorf any further than he could throw the enormous man. Something weird was going on. Was Ridiyah trying to get them to leave? Why not just say so? Why leave Ganondorf behind? Did Ridiyah intend to kill him once they left? Why not do so anyway, since Ganondorf himself had identified Link and Zelda as his adversaries? Did Ridiyah want to use the failed Gerudo King for some twisted purpose? Did he have his eye on Hyrule too?

Link concentrated, trying to commit the entire conversation to memory, hoping Zelda could pick something significant out of it once he saw her again.

-&-

Ganondorf wandered aimlessly through the streets, slowly weaving his way back toward the palace. What is a sign from a Goddess supposed to look like? Am I going to start getting weird dreams, like Zelda? Maybe I should ask her…no…then she'll want to know why I'm asking and I really don't want to explain it…not to them…

The sound of running footsteps jerked him out of his thoughts. He heard one person, plainly in a hurry, and…something else he could not identify. He heard a clattering sound like metal on stone, and a strange jingling. Both sets of sounds grew louder, and he paused to locate the source.

Suddenly a Gerudo woman tore past him, the same one he had seen before, missing her headpiece. He turned round to see what she was running from, and a huge dog burst out of the shadows, gleaming in the moonlight; made entirely of metal.

Instinctively Ganondorf stepped between the woman and the dog, spreading his hands apart to stop it. The mechanical dog, puffs of acrid green smoke spurting from its joints, leaped onto Ganondorf and bowled the big man over as if he were no obstacle at all. Stunned, Ganondorf pulled himself up and took off after the two of them.

The woman moved quickly, but slowly forward, dodging left and right to avoid the dog. For its part, the Clockwork Hound barreled through crates and laundry hung out to dry, taking no notice of her attempts to break his trail. The woman jumped onto a roof but slipped, hanging onto the edge. The Hound crouched in anticipation for its prey.

Ganondorf leaped upon the creature's back, wrapping his hands around its neck. The dog threw itself backward with tremendous force, and he fought to hold on. "What are you doing?!" he heard the woman shout. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Indeed, the dog seemed to lose interest in the woman for a moment, and concentrated on attempting to bite its attacker. Ganondorf remembered the insane guide speaking of its poisoned teeth, and punched it hard in the side of its mouth, dislocating its jaw. He shook his hand in pain; whatever this thing was made of, it was extremely tough.

He picked it up and hurled it bodily into a wall. It merely flipped back onto its feet and came for him, light glinting off its poisoned teeth.

The woman hurled herself into its side, throwing it off its trajectory into an alley. She grabbed Ganondorf's hand and pulled him along with her. "You fool!" she snapped. "It knows your smell now! The sorcery in that thing's nose can find you a mile away!"

"Sorcery?" He looked over his shoulder at the creature, gaining quickly. The woman's eyes went wide as he summoned a ball of magical energy and hurled it at the dog, hitting it square on the nose. It howled as if in pain and pawed at its snout. Ganondorf summoned another ball of energy, clenching his hand and forming a spear of purplish light. He thrust it into the Clockwork Hound, which thrashed around for a few moments, then lay still.

He turned to the woman, who stared at him with undisguised astonishment. "You…you know sorcery?"

He nodded, and did a double-take as he noticed her clothing. The fabric had a familiar pattern, bold blue lines interspersed with yellow. "Is that…that's Dragmire weaving!"

She stepped back, snarling. "What's it to you?"

He followed her eagerly, taking no notice of her angry demeanor. "I'm Dragmire too! The King told me there weren't any left! I come from Hyrule…"

She drew her scimitar and shoved it in his face. "All Dragmire left Hyrule after the Great Famine, save one, and we do not speak of him."

"But…why don't you have a headpiece?"

"Why don't you?"

Ganondorf stretched his hand forward in spite of the scimitar, so very close. The woman's bossy demeanor seemed strangely familiar. "…Nabooru…?"

Her eyes widened. "How do you, an outsider, know the name of my ancestress?"

He stifled a cry of joy. This woman must be Nabooru's reincarnation! "Nabooru, it's Ganondorf. I remember you, even if you don't remember me…"

She slashed him across the face and he clutched his cut cheek in surprise. "Stay away from me!" she commanded, then spoke a few words of a spell.

The entire world seemed to melt around him, and he fell to his knees in a fit of nausea. By the time it passed, the woman was long gone.