Ogadai stood rooted to the floor in shock. "How do you know my mother's real name?"
"I knew her, years ago, when we worked together in the castle during the occupation," Namu replied calmly, "and I was present at your birth. I identified you by the mark on your hand."
He frowned at the Hylian mark. "This? This just appeared recently. I was born in Kando. My mother fled there when the occupation started. My father had his crest tattooed on my hand, before he was killed and my mother brought us to the Refugee Village."
The members of the council glanced at each other, and one of the gray-haired ones spoke up. "I understand that your mother must have gone to great lengths to hide your identity from everyone, including yourself. But now that ignorance is putting you in danger." She laid a hand on her chest. "My name is Nabooru. I am the Gerudo chief priestess and spiritual advisor. I was also present at your birth, because it raised many questions about your destiny and that of our two countries."
"What does my being born have to do with anything?" Ogadai demanded. "Is this about my father's tribe? Does it have something to do with the Kando civil war?"
"Your father and bonds of blood do have a great effect on your fate," Namu said, "but not in the way that you think. What we are about to tell you will likely bring resistance and denial. But we cannot wait any longer. You tell us that your mother was cursed by a giant wild boar. This is the trademark of the one the Hylians call the Usurper King."
"I thought he was killed by a lone Hylian," Ogadai said. "The refugees from there would talk about their big hero constantly. All of the Hylian kids grew up hearing about how if they left the village or didn't listen to their parents, the Usurper King would get them…but that's nonsense."
"What did your mother tell you about her past?" one of the women on the edge of the group asked him.
"Not much…" Ogadai thought for a moment. "Just that she served some minor role in the castle, and left during the invasion."
Namu shook her head. "Your mother had a very high rank…she was bodyguard to the Princess, and her role switched to that of the Usurper King after the invasion."
"That's impossible," Ogadai snapped. "My mother can't fight. I've never seen her touch any weapon…except for her hunting bow, which she only used on game. If she did, she would have trained me."
"The strongest and the wisest often hide their true talents," another one of the older women stated. "And I can understand why she might discourage you from learning the art of war."
"Why is that?" Ogadai raised his voice, beginning to get irritated with this mystery. "If you're in such a hurry, why don't you just spit out what you want to say?"
"Fine." A thin woman sitting on Namu's left looked at him with a puckered expression of distaste. "You are the son and heir of the Usurper King."
Ogadai stared at her, uncomprehending. "What kind of heir does a dead king with no kingdom have?"
"Just because he was killed does not mean he has completely left this earth," Namu explained. "He was a powerful sorcerer even before he stole a piece of the Hylians' great magic. It is our belief – as it was your mother's – that your birth served several purposes."
"One was to break the Gerudo Blood Curse, which is the reason you see no other men here," Nabooru said. "Another was to leave an heir with a bond of Hylian blood, to place upon the throne should he gain it again. Another was to combine the powerful spirits of two people, so that this trait would be passed on to their offspring – drawing to it the symbol of Power that appears on your hand."
Blankly staring at his hand, Ogadai said simply, "I don't understand."
The thin woman sighed. "There is no way to rush this," she snapped at Namu. "You are going to have to tell the whole story from the beginning."
Namu considered, her chin resting on her hand. "We don't have time for everything…but I think I can cover the most important information. Ogadai, I want you to imagine Chusai as bodyguard to Ganondorf, the Usurper King. I know this strains belief for you, but I promise you that you will understand when the story comes to an end."
I befriended your mother early on. I admired her, the way she struggled to remain loyal to her Princess while serving the Usurper King. She was focused, headstrong, and highly intelligent.
Tragedy struck when I had only known her for a few weeks. The Hylians attempted to take their castle back, in a botched raid. After that, something in her died. On the surface she remained the same, but she no longer questioned her orders with the willful defiance she once had.
Over the next few months, her attitude toward the Usurper King began to change; while before she viewed him as a malignant cancer, now she seemed to treat him like an overbearing elder brother. Naïve fool that I was, I was thrilled to see my king and my friend getting along relatively well. Only later did I find out about the massacre at her family's village; the torture of her friends; the suspicious death of a comrade; the promenade where her people labeled her a traitor. Worst of all was the true story behind the siege…I had assumed that she fought by my king's side. Instead, he forced her to fight and kill her own people. He made her believe that she had to for her own survival, when in reality he could have eliminated all their foes using his stolen power. He made her believe that she owed him her life. Few knew of all the things he did. He stopped involving Gerudo in the most questionable activities when the few that went to her village questioned his actions there.
This is a strategy we have long used with captured spies and prisoners of war. First they are isolated from their comrades. Then, once they feel completely abandoned, they are welcomed among us…under certain conditions. Rarely do any choose isolation, and Chusai was no exception. When a human being is left alone, and has only one's enemies as companions, they begin converting them to friends out of necessity. I had wondered why the Ganondorf showed uncharacteristic kindness toward her after the siege, slowly weaving a bond of sorts between them. He rarely let her leave his side, ensuring that she did not have any exposure to dissenting voices, telling her what she should and would believe.
Everything he did served a purpose. I remember something early on that demonstrated how isolated she really was. At that time he already had four children, and they would visit him every once in a while when he was not too busy. They were especially drawn to Chusai, particularly her protective and benevolent nature. They brought joy to her eyes, not caring what role she played or who she served.
Idena turned three that day. She ran straight to Chusai, who pulled her onto her lap. "Hi, Auntie!" Idena chirped. It was a term of endearment; Gerudo children call Gerudo women 'Auntie' if they are close friends or blood relatives.
Her mother gently took her back. "Not Auntie. Lieutenant," she corrected, with the air of one trying to teach manners. But I could see Chusai sensed something else.
Ganondorf looked up from the map he was studying. "It's her naming ceremony today, isn't it?" he asked, with her mother nodding proudly.
We Gerudo have always lived under harsh conditions, and though I call her Idena she did not have that name until later that day. We use substitute names until their third birthday, when it is assumed they will live. The naming ceremony is among the most sacred traditions we have, and it is set among much pomp and circumstance.
"Chusai, you can have the rest of the day off." Ganondorf motioned for the rest of us to follow him.
"I'll come to the ceremony, then," Chusai said, intrigued.
He shook his head. "You should rest."
She looked quizzically at me as the other three left the room. "Am I not allowed?"
"Only Gerudo are permitted at these sacred rites." I was a little confused myself, since, as leader the Usurper King could have just as easily made an exception.
Chusai scowled. "I am an outcast among my own people and I serve your king. Do I need to be born Gerudo?"
"No…you just need to have a blood connection. If, say, you had a brother who took a Gerudo wife, and they had children… as the children's aunt, you would be considered one of us."
Chusai's mood darkened when I mentioned her brother, though of course I didn't know why at the time. "Children die so easily in the desert and therefore are very precious to the Gerudo. Often people are defined in terms of who their children are, not the other way around." I thought of other options for her. "Well…obviously if you had children by a Gerudo man…"
She stared at me as if I had said something obscene. "But there is only one to choose from!"
"Well…yes…we don't get as much choice as you Hylians do…"
"Forget I even asked." Chusai stormed out of the room and spent the rest of the day in her chambers.
After the ceremony was over, I knocked on her door and asked her how she was feeling. She opened the door reluctantly, but asked me if I wanted some tea. That was another thing I admired about her; the other Hylian royals had servants, but Chusai had always done everything herself. As she set down the tea in front of us on a little table, I noticed a stack of what looked like rolled-up canvas piled up in the corner of the room. "Are you taking up painting?"
She frowned at me as if I were a child. "They're portraits of the Royal Family. I caught Ganondorf taking them down. He said he was going to put them somewhere else, but I took them out of the frames and hid them here. I figured he'd put them in the fireplace."
"I don't think he'd do that. There are lots of older portraits up all over this castle. And he hasn't touched any of the other decorations."
She shrugged, fingering a silver necklace. Trying to change the subject, I said, "That's pretty. Is it a family heirloom or something? You always wear it."
"This dog collar?" She yanked at it with a grin that showed too many teeth to be friendly. "Nah. I'd like to take it off, but I don't think His Highness would be amused."
My eyes widened. "He gave you that? But…well, if it were me, I'd be honored…"
She snorted. "Just another nail in the coffin, another lock on the door…"
As I said before, Ganondorf gave Chusai a great amount of freedom after the failed siege, and was permitted to do things considered unspeakable for us. One day I was headed for my own chambers when I heard a heated discussion between the two of them behind closed doors.
"I won't. There has to be some other way." Chusai's voice was adamant.
"There isn't another way. You read the text yourself. Do you doubt its authenticity?" he asked.
"I can't believe you would even suggest such a thing. As for the text, maybe the scribe forgot something. He couldn't have written down everything my ancestor said before he was killed!"
"I'm not going to press you, Chusai. It's your decision. But I thought you would want to undo all the damage to both our peoples caused by your ancestor…"
Chusai unleashed a set of Hylian curses that made my hair stand on end. I was not afraid for myself, but for her. "I know what you're doing! Don't think I don't know! Zelda foresaw it, she could see right through you!" Immediately afterward, the door banged open and nearly smashed me in the face as Chusai left in a rage.
I turned uneasily to Ganondorf, who wore a serene expression despite her outburst. "Forgive me, my King…but could you not simply order her to do whatever it is you want her to do?"
He looked at me like if I had better sense, I would not have asked this question. After a long pause, he replied, "Sometimes, if you have someone create something against their will, they will rebel and destroy it. I want Chusai to work with me on…a project of utmost importance, and it requires a great deal of trust." Watching her stomp down the hall, he said with an air of supreme confidence, "She'll come around eventually. We are all fated to play a role in this world. She just doesn't realize it yet, and still hangs onto the shadows of the past…like those paintings in her quarters." He smiled at my surprised face.
He seemed determined to do whatever possible to gain Chusai's trust. When he learned I was teaching Chusai to speak Gerudo (and she was teaching my written Hylian in return), he began coaching her as well. I frequently saw him speaking cordially with her, very close, sometimes with his hand on her shoulder. My foolish heart filled with happiness; but Chusai only became more withdrawn.
Late one morning, perhaps two months before Ganondorf's fall, she didn't leave her quarters and he didn't ask for her. There had been a change of shift and I didn't know when she had come in. Finally I knocked on her door and she told me to enter.
I found her sitting at the table, either deep in thought or half-asleep, pushing her cold, untouched food around on her plate. "Are you feeling ill?"
"Not ill," she replied, lethargic.
"Well, you haven't been called to duty today, so I guess it doesn't matter."
Chusai rubbed her eyes. She seemed both sleepy and restless at the same time. "Yes..." She raised her gaze to mine, a strange, haunted expression on her face. "Namu, are we really here?"
"That's a little enigmatic for me. What do you mean?"
"Sometimes I can't tell if I'm dreaming or awake…so many strange things have happened…sometimes I forget who I am, where I am…I've made a lot of choices that I don't think were the right ones…"
"Your perspective's changed a great deal over the past year." I patted her shoulder. "If you ever want to talk about it, you come to me, okay?" She smiled thinly. "Did something happen recently?"
"I…yes, but I'd rather not talk about it just now." She drew her hand over her face. "I don't think I made the right decision…but somehow I feel that my mind is no longer my own…"
"Do you understand what I've told you so far?" Namu asked Ogadai.
Scowling, Ogadai replied, "I understand you've told me a sordid story about my mother's past…but it doesn't answer the question of the mark on my hand or prove I'm related to the Usurper King."
She nodded, more to herself than to him. "I just want to make sure you're following along. Also…I don't want you to think poorly of your mother. The Hylian Princess placed Chusai as a shield between her and the Usurper King, knowing that he would attempt to break her mind. I also don't want you to think that your aunties are evil people. We followed Ganondorf's lead because we had no other choice, and we have since tried to purge him from our history. Unfortunately, the damage he has done to Hyrule has haunted us for many years, as its people understandably hold a grudge against us."
The months after Ganondorf's death were very bad ones for us. At first we cursed Chusai's name for betraying him and us, locked away in the castle dungeons. But after a couple of weeks, a set of guards came to our cells and stated that the Hylian Princess wanted to speak with a select few of us. The guards watched us as if we were rabid, tick-infested creatures the entire time they led us to the room where Zelda awaited…along with Chusai. Your mother, apparently, had convinced the Hylian Princess not to judge us based on our former leader. It was then that she told us many of the things he had done.
Still, the rest of the Hylian populace wanted us eradicated from the earth. We spent the next few months hammering out a peace treaty that was acceptable to both sides. Chusai was the perfect ambassador…although we had to give up a great deal of our raider's customs, which consequently led to several bad years of hunger, there is no way any of us would be here speaking with you if not for her. At the end of the deliberations, I told Chusai she would always be welcome in our homeland.
My offer was sincere, but I was still surprised to see her turn up at my doorstep three weeks later, her traveling pack full of scrolls and parchment. With an urgent, strained expression, she asked if we could talk somewhere others could not hear us. It was hotter than usual that day, and she was wrapped in several cloaks, sweat glistening from her face. I asked her if she wanted to change, but she shook her head curtly.
Inside the same room where we are now, she spread out a large canvas, but instead of a portrait or landscape I could see tiny connecting lines and minute writing. She smoothed out the wrinkles and asked me, "Can you tell what this is?"
My eyes widened as they traveled over the canvas. "Why…it's a set of family trees, both Hylian and Gerudo, going back even before the Great Schism!"
Chusai nodded. "Ganondorf had this commissioned before the incident at the Hall of Records."
"But what on earth for?"
She handed me a very old scroll, which threatened to turn to dust as I unrolled it. "This is an account of the Great Schism, probably the last that exists."
I scanned it carefully. "Yes, very interesting, but I already know most of the story. Our two races, once two intermarrying families…the fight over guardianship of the Triforce…the murder of the Hylian King and the split of the two families into separate races…" Suddenly my body froze and my hands turned numb. "By the gods…Chusai…it's an account of the Gerudo Blood Curse!"
She nodded once, this fantastic discovery apparently old news to her. "The Gerudo woman my ancestor Kaliba Ordana was engaged to assisted in the assassination. He was a powerful sorcerer, and upon hearing about her part in the treasonous act, used all of his magic power to unleash the Blood Curse on the Gerudo. He thought that eventually they would die out, with only one male born every hundred years."
I felt a strange mix of emotions; I wanted to embrace her for finding this clue to our tragic history, and I wanted to kill her for being the descendant of the one who cursed us. Finally I felt apathy creeping in. "But I don't see anything about how to break it. It says that the next king killed him, to ensure that the Gerudo remained cursed forever."
"It does, and it doesn't say how to break it." Chusai took the scroll from me and pointed to a passage a little further down. "The scribe managed to get some crucial information. Kabila only cursed the women's blood; the Gerudo men are unaffected. But since so many families from the two races intermarried before the Great Schism, that means that a Hylian with even a drop of Gerudo blood in his ancestry can pass on the curse to a daughter, if he mates with a Gerudo woman."
My head began to spin at this point. "I don't see how this helps us. Everyone in Hyrule must have a bit of both in them."
Chusai shook her head, and turned back to the enormous family tree. "One of the first tasks Ganondorf began after taking the castle was to search for women without Gerudo blood, to break the curse…"
"He did? He should have told us…that would have been the one good thing he did!"
"He was not completely sure it would work. And there are only a few Hylian families with no Gerudo blood. A few of the nobles, some of the inhabitants of the far-flung provinces, and of course the Royal Family." Chusai's brows knitted as she frowned. "It is my belief that he was after Princess Zelda from the beginning. Not only would a male child between them break the curse, but it would also give him and his heir a claim of legitimacy to the throne."
"But she refused him."
"She did."
I felt like I had been told a long suspenseful story, only to be informed that the end will never be written. "Well, was there any point to this, then?"
Running her finger over the family tree, Chusai explained, "There are five other Hylian families that have no Gerudo ancestors. The Arcai and Zenuda in the hinterlands, and also three noble families, the Maso, Aina, and Ordana."
Ordana? "Chusai…have you informed the Hylian Princess about this?"
She did not look up from the canvas. "No. I no longer serve her. I resigned from my position a week ago."
I could not speak. Suddenly all the clues that my stupid head had missed came together. Her isolation. Ganondorf's sudden emphasis on trust, and attempts to get her to leave her past and people behind. The argument between the two of them about her ancestor. Her desperate need to keep our race alive. Her strange behavior and talk about bad decisions. And now, the unexplained layers of clothing. I opened my mouth several times, but all that came out was, "How far along are you?"
"About six months." Her face hardened. "I plan to leave this place once I am finished speaking with you. I intend to leave Hyrule forever…and keep my child out of the reach of his father."
"What! You can't possibly travel in your condition!" As concerned as I was for Chusai, I certainly didn't want to lose the chance at breaking the Blood Curse, either. "You've never been outside Hyrule's borders. Where do you intend to go?"
She shut her eyes. "There is nothing else to be done. I brought this upon myself, and now I must fix it."
I thought quickly. Obviously there was no point to her going back to the castle; the Hylians would immediately guess the child's heritage, and then both their lives would be in danger. To say nothing of the shame I could see creeping across Chusai's face. "Why not stay here? You would finally be one of us…maybe it will be a girl, and his ghost will not hunt for the child."
Shaking her head, she said, "There's more…though the Royal Family has been the guardian of the Triforce for centuries, its power is not hereditary. However, since the child's father was a Bearer, and the mother also has a forceful personality…there is a possibility that the child's personality will draw the piece to him. And then his father will come to claim what he has lost…"
I sat in one of the chairs, my head spinning from all that Chusai had revealed. Finally, after several minutes of silence, I said, "I want you to stay here until the child is born. There is still a possibility that nothing will come of it, and you are more than welcome to live with us. In any case…I do not want to lose you as I have so many of my friends to the uncertainties of childbirth."
Chusai stood silent for a few moments, then suddenly embraced me, eternally grateful.
Here Namu stopped, and Nabooru spoke. "After Chusai spent several hours in labor and a difficult childbirth, we discovered that our worst fears were confirmed. Not only were you a boy, but also you had the mark of the Triforce on your hand! Yes, even from birth. Your mother came up with the false Kando crest and had you tattooed after the both of you left.
"I consulted the Goddesses at the Spirit Temple. They told me, 'The child has two parents'. I took that to mean that you would not necessarily follow your father's path, and that we should not panic. As we discussed it in this room, Chusai came walking in, her hair still plastered to her head with sweat, the black dye already turning brown. We rose to support her, telling her that it was too soon. But she stood fast and addressed us all:
'This child has no father. I am naming him after his ancestor Ogadai Ordana, the first of our family to serve in the castle. In the next few weeks I am taking him far away from here.'
"We convinced her to stay for a couple of months, hoping she would eventually settle here. But one day we awoke to find she had departed and taken you with her. We never saw her again."
Rocked to the core, Ogadai looked down at his hands, the Hylian symbol indelible on the back of one of them. He ran his hands through his red hair, his connection to the women before him…and the hated one that his Hylian friends always spoke of with venom.
"I can see we have given you a great deal to consider," Namu said gently. "I will bring you to the room where you can stay for the night. My daughter will bring you something to eat…I am sure you are hungry."
On the contrary, Ogadai had never had less of an appetite in his life.
In the neat but small, sparse room, Ogadai buried his head in his hands. All his life, even though his mother rarely spoke of him, he had imagined his father as a humble but brave Kando farmer. He had spent many afternoons playacting as this father, pretending to die a heroic death as he fended off legions of enemy Kando, sacrificing himself for the sake of his wife and son. It was too much to bear, the thought that he was the bastard son of a hated dictator and disgraced palace official, marked with a symbol that had only brought suffering to his friends. Pain mixed with sadness mixed with rage, as he imagined tainted blood running through his veins. He did not know if he wanted to cry or punch a hole in the wall.
He jumped at the knock at the door. A young woman entered carrying a tray of bread and meat. She too had the gaunt look of all the others, but her eyes sparkled upon catching sight of Ogadai. She hurriedly set down the tray and embraced him. "Tosa! Iya matto nai!"
Ogadai froze, caught completely off guard. "Uh…nice to meet you too?"
She released him with a quizzical expression. "Gerudo ma kali da?"
"Gerudo? Um…no, I don't speak it."
"It is okay. I also speak Hylian…my mother taught me." The woman grinned. "My name is Naomai, and I am Namu's daughter. I am so happy to finally meet you, Little Brother!" She pinched his cheek like an eccentric aunt. "How handsome and strong-looking you are!"
Little Brother? Ogadai's heart leaped. "Are you…are you my…half-sister?"
"Sister, half-sister, it's the same thing to us." She laughed.
"Us? How many of you are there?" He trembled at the thought of this undiscovered treasure. His mother had always told him that they two were alone in the world. Now he had sisters, family…
"Six. Me and five others. They all want to meet you!" She narrowed her eyes in a conspiratorial fashion. "Mother says you should rest…but you really must make sure you see them before you go! Will you come with me?" she grasped his arm.
Dizzy from the sudden climb from despair to ecstasy, he said, "Yes…yes, I want to see…my family…"