Chapter 9 – Skeletons in the Closet
Summary: Nabooru gets an unexpected visit from someone who demands answers to uncomfortable questions about a past she'd rather forget...
A/N: This is a sequel to a previous chapter (#6). It's not necessary to read that one first since I've recapped the relevant plot points here anyway.
Another T-rated chapter (if this actually matters to you then I think it might be past your bedtime...)
Long delay in updating was due to...well, take a "wild" guess. I started a BotW fanfic (or two), so now this fanfic's on the backburner. I still actually prefer working on this fanfic tho since BotW, amazing gameplay aside, certainly isn't gonna win any awards for storytelling... Will Nintendo ever make another LoZ game with a plot as good as OoT? *Sniff*
O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Our daughter is missing!" screamed the frantic couple as they burst into Zelda's audience chamber. She recognized them immediately as the pair who had adopted Riva, the girl found in the wilderness being raised by a pack of wolfos who had been painstakingly educated and reintegrated into society. Zelda had checked on the girl regularly throughout the years to make sure she was coming along well. She had never once been disappointed with the progress the girl was making.
"Missing?" Zelda echoed, alarmed. She had grown attached to the vibrant, tenacious young girl and thus was concerned for her welfare, much as a loving aunt. "When was she last seen?"
"Yesterday when I put her to bed, Your Highness," the mother answered.
Zelda was well aware of the rebellious nature of many young adolescents, herself included, so she explored the possibility that Riva had simply run away. "Have you seen any evidence that Riva left home?"
"Why...Riva would never do something like that," said the father. "We've made such a connection with her over the years...she'd never just up and leave."
The mother, on the other hand, didn't look so sure. "Actually..." she ventured, "Riva had been asking a lot of questions about her birth parents recently...and I noticed that someone had been looking through my diary...specifically, the entries around the time that we adopted Riva..."
Zelda thought this over for a few moments. "Is there anything in your diary about her...well...you know..." she hinted.
"Yes...I think I did write something about that woman..."
"Something tells me she's gone looking for answers, then."
O.O.O.O.O.O.O
A cloaked young girl dismounted the horse she had...ehem..."permanently borrowed" (to put it nicely), stepping off into a place she had never been before—Gerudo Valley. Her mind was filled with purpose. Nothing would deter her from discovering the information she sought. However, she didn't know where to begin looking and wasn't sure of how friendly the people of this hardy, exotic tribe on the fringes of Hyrule were. Thus, she decided to take the cautious approach as she neared the Gerudo Fortress by climbing a steep cliff that formed one of the natural boundaries of the stronghold and surveying the land from this perch. She hoped to locate the one she was looking for without alerting anyone to her presence.
Riva remained silent and motionless for the better part of an hour, observing the all-female tribe as they went about their daily routines. Many had the interesting quirk of wearing veils over their mouths, presumably to protect themselves from accidental ingestion of sand whenever a desert breeze picked up. One thing Riva also readily noticed was their striking beauty and uncanny similarity to her own physical appearance. They all wore basically the same skimpy two-piece outfit consisting of a bra-like top garment and a peculiar style of baggy pants that was tapered at the bottom. Long hair was held back in a ponytail and simple slip-on shoes completed the ensemble.
Eventually, Riva's patience paid off as she got the lucky break she was hoping for. Two guards began conversing close enough to Riva that she could overhear. They made mention of the name she wanted...no, needed...to know more about—that name.
"The exalted Nabooru has ordered you to report to her immediately for a new assignment. I will be relieving your duties at this post."
'Exalted?!' Riva thought, shocked. Is Nabooru really such a bigwig around here?
Riva watched the departing Gerudo guard walk off into the distance. Riva had to change position several times to keep the woman in view, but she eventually observed her entering a sun-drenched building in the middle of the fortress.
After making sure the coast was clear, Riva carefully and quietly jumped from rooftop to rooftop until arriving at the building which presumably housed Nabooru. Riva peeked in through one of the windows (which was really nothing more than a hole in the wall) and spied a tall woman with lovely red hair and jewelry who, while looking quite similar to all the other Gerudo, somehow managed to look more...authoritative at the same time.
Riva dropped down, landing next to a desk in the center of the room. The woman instinctively went for a pair of scimitars on the wall next to her and held them at the ready. However, when she saw the age and size of her would-be attacker, she recognized there was no real danger in the situation. The girl didn't even appear to have a weapon on her. Clearly, she wasn't a foe.
"Who are you? Why have you come here?" the woman demanded curtly.
"I'm looking for the one called Nabooru. Are you her?"
"Who wants to know?" she retorted with her customary brusque attitude.
"It is you, isn't it?" Riva said in awe. "My...mother..."
Nabooru's jaw dropped in astonishment. "H-how dare you! I am no one's mother! You must be mistaken, child!"
"Quit the act, already! I know it's you! You abandoned me in the wilderness when I was a baby and left me to die! And now I demand answers! Why did you do that?!"
Nabooru was stunned. "How...how did you know all that?" she asked hesitantly, amazed to hear herself finally admit to what she had kept buried for so long.
"What difference does it make?! Just answer the damn question! Why did you abandon me? And who's my father, anyway? Did you even bother to tell him that he had a daughter or did you hide it from him like you did from everyone else?"
"I...I had my reasons..." Nabooru muttered, uncharacteristically on the verge of tears.
"Yeah?! Well, I wanna know what they are! I deserve to know. So tell me, dammit!"
"Some things are better left unknown!" Nabooru screamed, now crying into the palm she used to cover her face. "I recommend that you leave right now before you discover something about yourself that you can never be prepared to know."
Riva stood steadfast, hands crossed in front of her chest, ready to wait for an answer even if it took all night. "I'm not leaving until you tell me."
She paused uncomfortably, as if searching for the right words. "Very well, then...but don't say I didn't warn you..." She sighed heavily. "Your father, he...he was a horrible man...he did unspeakable things to me...and that...that is the only reason you were conceived."
"No!" Riva's face curled into a look of disgust. "No! My father couldn't be...!"
"You see? I told you some things are better left unknown."
Riva turned to flee the room. Instead, she ran into a blonde man dressed in green garments at the door, accompanied by...Princess Zelda, of all people!
"What is the matter here?" Zelda demanded. She noticed Nabooru quickly turn her head to the side as they entered.
"It's none of your business!" Riva shouted.
"Actually, it is my business, as well as your parents'. They've been looking all over for you, worried sick about you. You can't just leave home without telling them where you're going!"
"They're not even my real parents so I don't have to listen to them!"
"Riva! Don't you dare speak that way about the people who've raised you so lovingly for the past several years. They've put so much time and effort into nurturing and educating you. That is no way to speak of them!"
Riva simply pushed past Zelda and sprinted to the fortress' entrance, back to her horse. She began mounting it with the idea set in her mind to run away again, but this time, it would be to some place so far away that she'd never have to see anyone from her terrible past ever again.
However, just as she was about to spur her horse on, she saw two people approaching on horseback in the distance. They were crossing the gorge which separated Gerudo Valley from the rest of Hyrule. As they came into view, she could tell who they were—her parents, shouting Riva's name in desperation. Something about the pained look on their faces brought Riva back to her senses. These...these were people who loved her unconditionally, who had done so much to better her life. How could she possibly leave them?
A moment later, Link caught up with Riva and grabbed her horse's reins to keep her from taking off. Zelda was close behind. After witnessing Riva's outburst in Nabooru's office, they were shocked to see Riva willingly dismount her horse and meet her parents in a warm embrace, begging forgiveness for having run off, an apology which they gladly and unquestioningly accepted.
Zelda walked toward Riva. "I really think you should give Nabooru another chance to explain herself."
"No way!" Riva protested. "I'll never be able to forgive Nabooru for what she did to me! At least now I know where my home really is and that I have no reason to leave it."
"Just give her one more chance. It's not like you have to forgive her, but at least give her a chance to explain."
Riva folded her arms and sighed in resignation. "Fine! But I want this over quick!"
O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Many years ago...
"I leave tomorrow for Hyrule castle," Ganondorf announced.
"I still think that what you're doing is terrible," Nabooru remarked. They were standing inside her office in Gerudo Fortress, maintaining a respectable distance from each other.
"One day, Nabooru, the Gerudo kingdom will manifest everything it could possibly be. It will stretch from our desert to Death Mountain and even to lands well beyond Hyrule...but if we don't take action now, we will always just be the tribe relegated to the harsh desert."
"But you shouldn't do it the way you're planning to—it's just not right!"
"It seems you forget who's in charge around here, Nabooru. You would do well to learn your place, and fast."
"Not if that means bowing to you," she muttered under her breath.
"What was that?!" Ganondorf stomped toward Nabooru until he was menacingly close, his impressive bulk dwarfing his subordinate's lithe, slim frame.
"I said that I will never bow to the likes of you!"
Ganondorf grabbed her arm and gave it an uncomfortably hard squeeze. "That had better be the last cheeky comment I hear coming from your lips."
Nabooru responded to this by spitting in his face.
That was the last straw for Ganondorf. He shoved her roughly against the desk. All her attempts to escape from his grasp were met with a tight choke hold around her neck which he held until she promised to behave like a good little lapdog.
"You will learn to obey me," he threatened as he proceeded to tear away her clothing. He was intent on teaching her a lesson that day which she wouldn't soon forget...
O.O.O.O.O.O.O
Present day...
"...And that's what happened," Nabooru said with great difficulty, hanging her head in disgust, on the verge of tears once again. "The details are unnecessary as I'm sure you know what came next. I was so shocked to find out the following month that I was with child that I simply panicked. I was young and stupid and didn't know any other way of dealing with what felt like nothing but a burden and constant reminder of that...that awful man."
Nabooru turned her face down even lower in shame. "If I could go back and change things, I would have found a good home for you instead of abandoning you to the fates. It must be the goddess' will that you have survived and even come back to me. I won't ask nor expect your forgiveness, only that you will not hate me for what I've done...and I will do anything in my power to make it up to you for as long as we both shall live."
Riva was overcome with emotion. She was moved to tears by this story from Naboo—no, that wasn't the right name to call her—from her mother. That's right—she realized at that moment how fortunate she was to have two mothers, and she would never take that for granted.
"Goddesses almighty...I had no idea you had to suffer through such a traumatic experience. I'm so sorry for saying those horrible things to you. I can't believe that horrible man did that to you. If I had gone through the same thing, I'm not sure I would have reacted any better." She hugged her mother in a sign of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Link and Zelda were standing outside the door to Nabooru's office in order to give the family privacy as they dealt with their issues. Riva eventually emerged from the room, a bright smile lighting her face. She turned to the duo. "Thanks for what you did, guys."
They nodded their approval to her.
Riva began walking onward, but before she had gone far, she looked over her shoulder and added, "By the way...you guys make a really cute couple."
Despite the already scorching desert temperatures, Link and Zelda felt it getting several degrees hotter all of a sudden...
