The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 35: The Right Choice
By, Frank Hunter

In the end, much as it broke his heart and, he knew, it would also break Amili's, there was only one choice for Rigo to make. Only one chance for real peace. The Chalice had delivered itself into his possession. Wonderful. It would only make his job that much easier. He still had to do with it the only thing that he could to prevent death and devestation.

He had to return it to Zelda.

As the sun began to wane in the sky, Rigo returned to the Hylian camp, satchel in tow. The lookouts retrieved him on the borders of their campsite, and brought him back in to Colonel Tydus's command tent, the headed off, presumably to inform the Colonel he was back. The tent was set back in the camp, closest to the ravine and the river. Rigo could hear the sound of rushing water nearby over the goings on in the camp around him.

Tydus was off somewhere, running drills or performing inspections or doing whatever it was he did in order to occupy himself. Rigo didn't really care. He knew the man would be back before too long, eager to know what had happened, and to begin planning his next move. Rigo just hoped he could point him away from the pueblo. He sat down on the open floor of the tent cross-legged and thought briefly about falling into meditation. He hadn't done it in so many days that he had begun to miss the relaxation of it. But no. It would be better to remain vigilant here. It wouldn't do for someone to come in and find him distracted. Who knew what some brash, opportunistic soldier might do if they thought they could get the drop on him. Or what Tydus would do for that matter.

He opted instead to just talk to Nabooru in consciousness. Venting a bit would be therapeutic enough.

Why did this have to get so difficult? he asked.

You love to complain, don't you? Nabooru teased.

I figured you knew that by now, Rigo countered.

I figured you'd grow up eventually, Nabooru retorted.

RIgo sighed. It's not like Amili even knows where the Waters are.

That's true, Nabooru agreed.

She's liable to get every single Gerudo killed just looking for them. And that's if they even exist. Rigo got up and started pacing, eager to expel his frustration.

I mean, Zelda seems pretty sure about it, but you know what? I bet for all her talk, she has no idea where they are either. It's probably the same as any of those lost Hylian legends, where all the details have gotten so scrambled you can't tell what's real anymore. I bet no one knows where to find the Waters at this point.

There was a long silence there while Rigo fumed and mused over the stupidity of it all, before Nabooru finally answered.

Well, she said, drawing the word out. I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Rigo scoffed at first at the sincere tone of her devil's advocacy, but then he stopped and considered her answer. He mouthed over her words, and in his reflection came to a drastic realization. Stupid! He'd been so stupid! Why he hadn't seen this before? Zelda had told him where the Waters were. She'd said they were tucked away in the goddess' Sacred Realm. The Sacred Realm, the world behind this one, a myth, yeah, but one more based in reality than most. It was hidden away and the gate was sealed for good measure, but there were individuals who still went there, who dwelled there, and most importantly, who knew how to get there.

Those individuals were the Sages, and he had one of them riding around in his bloody head.

Nabooru, Rigo started, hesitant but curious beyond measure. He'd stopped pacing and just stared into the tent wall as though the spirit were there, smirking back at him as she always did. Do you know where the Waters of Nayru are? he thought at her.

Nabooru didn't miss a beat. Of course I do, she said. I practically lived in the Sacred Realm after the Spirit Temple debacle. It'd be hard for me to miss something like that.

Rigo was caught up in the tide of his utter disbelieve. You…you know how to how to get to them?

Yeah, where the gate is, how to open it. Hell, I could even raise the Fountain if I wanted.

Rigo blinked. And you didn't think that might be worth telling me before!?

You didn't have the Chalice before.

I mean out on the road! With Pureet! That little detail would have factored into my decision, Nabooru! If I'd known we could actually raise the Fountain of Nayru, maybe I would have stuck with Amili! What the hell's wrong with you?

Why does the truth of the Waters' existence make any difference to your mission? Nabooru asked patiently. You still want to stop a war, yes? To do that, you need to keep your friend from entering Hyrule altogether. Does it matter if she knows where she's going or not? The Colonel could still kill her just as effectively either way. Do you want that blood on your hands? Do you want to bury your dead friend at the foot of the Fountain?

Rigo gritted his teeth. Options ran through his mind faster than a desert sandstorm. He could have led Amili there, true. He also could have made off with the Chalice and taken the Fountain for himself. He could have used the knowledge as a bargaining chip with Zelda. Could have, could have, could have. It was all a moot point now.

Where is the entrance? he asked her.

What does it matter? she answered. You don't know the geography of Hyrule. You wouldn't recognize the location even if I said it.

Just tell me! he demanded.

It was in that moment, before Nabooru could answer, that Tydus chose to return to his tent. The Colonel ducked in under the flap and found Rigo there in the middle of the small space, wearing a glower on his face. Rigo turned to face him, his anger with Nabooru carrying over, and fixed Tydus in his glare. Tydus stopped in the doorway and raised an eyebrow at him before seemingly remembering that the tent was his. He pushed his way inside, past Rigo and over to a small table, on which there were rough maps of the valley and the Gerudo complex. The whole setup was disturbingly like Amili's in the pueblo.

"What happened?" he asked Rigo, curtly.

"Huh?" Rigo answered, not following at first. Trying to bring his thoughts back to the moment.

"In your parley, boy," Tydus scowled. "Don't waste my time. Are the Gerudo leaving or not?"

Rigo shook his head to clear it. "It's not that simple," he said.

Tydus scoffed. "No, then. Did you kill the woman at least?"

"No," Rigo said. "It's not her. It's a different Stewardess."

Tydus shrugged at him with a deeply patronizing look on his face. "What's the difference?" he asked. "You kill the woman, you take your tribe, you leave. That was the arrangement."

"I'm not gonna kill her!" Rigo said. His voice was escalating now, the discussion heating up fast. "She hasn't wronged anyone! You're too…callous to understand."

"Callous?" Tydus asked.

"I'm being civil," Rigo said.

Tydus looked amused. "Be that as it may, you're not giving me anything I can work with. Did you get anything out of this meeting at all, or are you just telling me I should throw you back in the Stockade and go forward?"

Rigo considered. Nabooru might have been right. Maybe it didn't matter if he knew where the Fountain was. Or, maybe that knowledge would have changed everything. But that was before. At this point, his options were seriously limited. He wasn't leaving this camp, this tent, with the Chalice now that he was here. They wouldn't let him just walk away unless he had something to offer. So it was finally time to give the plan a try. He was the King after all, Pureet had reminded him so, and it was his decision. He made it.

"I got this," Rigo said, and he unshouldered and held out the satchel Pureet had brought him. He refused to make eye contact with Tydus as he did, anticipating the man would move in quickly and snatch the treasure from him. But Tydus didn't move. He just stood there, stoic and unyielding. He loomed over Rigo.

"What's that?" he asked.

Rigo squinted up at him. "What do you mean 'what's that'? The hell do you think it is?"

Tydus crossed his arms. "The cup?"

Rigo nodded. "Yeah."

Tydus was unaffected. "So despite a wasted day, despite all your failures, you brought me the cup?" He took Rigo's silence correctly as an affirmative.

"And you expect…what, now?" Tydus asked.

Rigo hesitated. "I expect you to honor your side of the bargain."

Tydus laughed. "Bargain?"

"Yes." The boy gritted his teeth. "My agreement with Queen Zelda. I'm to trade the Chalice for my freedom. That was the deal."

"No, boy. It wasn't. We agreed the cup would be a good faith gesture. Only after you've served your purpose and arranged for the Gerudo to leave would it become relevant. You haven't done any of that, so what use is this little trinket to me?"

Trinket? Amazing. He still didn't believe the Chalice was a real artifact. And he was now twisting the agreement to suit his own purposes.

"How do you not understand this?" Rigo asked, his frustration mounting. "This Chalice is the entire reason for the Gerudo army to be here. If you take it and leave, they'll have no cause to enter Hyrule!"

"If I leave and they remain, I don't know what will happen, do I?"

"I just told you-"

"You're an amateur in the ways of warfare, boy," Tydus said, cutting him off. "I've been doing this a long time, much longer than you. I can see what you're orchestrating here. You're trying to be clever.. You're trying to get me to turn my back on an armed enemy. It's not going to work."

Rigo barked an apprehensive laugh. "You think this is a ploy? All I want is to leave, you stupid boar! I don't want to trick you! I don't want to do anything with you except to forget about you!"

If Rigo's passion moved the Colonel, it wasn't apparent. He still stood in his statuesque way and glared at the young Gerudo. Rigo's eyes pleaded with him.

"Take the Chalice back to your Queen. Send a scout back with it if you have to, you can stay here. Give her the chance to decide. If she wants to go to war once she has it, then so be it. But this should be enough to make peace, Colonel." Rigo threw his arms up, his determination getting the better of his emotion. "Think of your men's lives at least, and the losses you're likely to take just trying to breach that fortress! They're men with families, and their deaths are entirely unnecessary. I can't tell you any more plainly that I don't want to fight you. I just want to end this." He held the satchel out again. "This should do it."

Tydus regarded him still, the posture of his shoulders giving away a tired skepticism. But his silence, his absorption of Rigo's plea, gave the boy hope that he was at least listening to what was being said, if not yet accepting it. Maybe Rigo could turn him around after all.

"Let me see it," Tydus finally said, gesturing toward the bag.

"Fine," answered Rigo. He pulled open the flap on the leather satchel and took hold of the Chalice by its thick, sculpted stem. He let the satchel fall to the ground as he removed the artifact and held it out before him to show Tydus.

The Colonel's expression slowly shifted as he looked at it, from his skeptical indifference to open wonder right before Rigo's eyes. The beauty of the Chalice mesmerized him. After a long moment of quiet admiration, he moved closer to Rigo. Rigo stood his ground, working hard to look calm now and in control despite the presence and draw of the Chalice. Reluctantly, he let Tydus take it in hand to examine it and took a step back to give him the space. The fascination in the Colonel's eyes was so odd. Rigo got the impression that he wasn't a man who became overwhelmed easily. Angered, absolutely, but not infatuated, not like this.

"This…" he muttered absently as he looked over the Chalice. "This is…real, isn't it? This is the Chalice of legend."

"I think so," Rigo said.

"It's…beautiful," Tydus admitted.

"It is," Rigo agreed.

"And this…this is the key to the Fountain of Nayru? This is how the Waters would become unlocked?"

Rigo answered again, trying to snuff out a laugh beneath his response. The Colonel's absolute fixation was just too amusing. "As I understand it, yeah," he said. "If we get that back to your Queen, the Waters are safe. They can't be touched."

Tydus nodded slowly. "Of course," he said. "It would be protected under royal guard." He turned the Chalice around and stared into the blue emblem on the side, which rippled in the dim light of his tent. "But then," Tydus went on. "The Chalice would never be able to serve its true purpose."

As quickly as it had come, Rigo's amusement crashed and burned. His stomach turned, and that look of infatuation in the Colonel's eyes became less childish and immediately more dangerous.

"…what?" he asked, but he didn't need to. He already knew what Tydus was getting at.

"If the right men were to raise the Fountain," the Colonel went on. "If the right man was to lead them to it…they could become indestructable."

Oh, no, Rigo thought. No, no, no!

"The right army could become the ultimate defense for the Kingdom of Hyrule. Their leader could become its King. Uncontested. Unbeatable, and immortal."

He looked up at Rigo, fanaticism in his eyes now, the Chalice glowing in his clenched fist. "I've never seen the realization of a legend before. I should thank you, Rigo," he said. "I always believed the Waters of Nayru were no more than a fairy tale. But you've proved me wrong. This is too magnificent to be anything other than what it is. Now that you've brought this to me, now that I've seen it, I know what needs to be done. I know my destiny. And destiny must be fulfilled."