Hello folks, Chapter 96 is here! I'm sorry this one took longer than usual to upload, my internet has been weird lately (ironically after the cable company updated the system) and I wasn't able to get on until today. Rest assured I'm still on schedule and I'll have 97 done by this Friday.
As for this week, it's finally time for the Gerudo's allies to meet to discuss the the negotiations with the Hylian Parliament, but will it all go smoothly, or is there some great threat looming over the horizon...?
"Well your child seems to be doing just fine for now. Let's take a closer look at you, now open your mouth."
"..."
It was the morning of the day Link and Nabooru were to have their meeting with their allies; the Zora, the Gorons, the Kokiri and Impa. Everyone was working hard to prepare for the tribes to come visit their home of Gerudo Town.
Dr. Sarami herself meanwhile was at the royal child-bearer's living quarters of Gerudo Palace, giving Link's child-bearers a proper examination of their pregnancies, and in the case of two of them, their newborn children. Leivuri's daughter Tulisi was doing great, as well as Ragome's twins Safael and Irala (don't ask her which one is which though), and the pregnancies of the other child-bearers were coming along nicely as well.
"Now say 'aaaahhh'." Sarami said, looking inside the girl's open mouth.
"..." the child-bearer Esolu made no sound, but held up her sketch book with 'Aaaahhh' written on it.
"Oh that's right, I apologize!" Sarami realized.
The one that had Sarami baffled though was the third of Link's initial child-bearers, a woman named Esolu. She was once a patrol guard in her younger years, but one day while on a mission in the desert she was caught in a wild sandstorm and lost for a while. When her team finally found her again, she wasn't too worse for wear, but she had completely lost her voice.
No one could figure out how it happened; examinations of her both physically and spiritually showed she had no injuries or magic curses that could have caused it. In order to communicate with people she bought a sketch pad to write out her thoughts, though she seemed to prefer drawing over simply writing words. However, when asked about what happened to her while she was lost, she refused to write or draw anything, adding more mystery to just what happened to her.
"Oh dear, I wish you'd just tell us what you went through that day." spoke Sarami, "Link is worried about you as well you know. Perhaps if we knew what you experienced then we could help you..."
Esolu glanced away and held up her sketchbook, showing a grumpy penguin with it's beak wrapped in bandages, letting Sarami know she had no interest in discussing it, and the doctor let out a sigh of defeat and went off to see to the other girls.
The mute Gerudo girl looked downcast, placing a hand on her pregnant belly and rubbing it. After taking a moment to check to make sure no one in the room was looking, she reached under her pillow and pulled something out from under it, a small little bulb-shaped metal object. She stared down and ran her finger along the small indents in it, as she recalled a memory from her past...
'Hey Esolu, if we did have a child, what would you want to name it...?'
Coming back to reality, Esolu sighed out. She put away the trinket back in it's hiding place, then laid back on her pillows, gazing out at the desert from the view of the balcony.
"Hey Link, whatcha readin' there?" Aviel asked her king and fiance as he sat at the dining room table with a piece of paper.
"A letter from Ashe that just arrived in the mail," Link spoke, "Looks like despite her giving up on her mission to kill me, she was able to get into the Hylian knights army after all. Says she had to beat almost all the other knights to do it, but it certainly impressed Captain Andreas enough!"
"Oh good for her!" Aviel said brightly, "It was really nice of you to help her out like that!"
"I couldn't help myself, I know what it's like to want to protect Hyrule." Link grinned, "When I was a kid I considered at one point becoming a knight, but I decided I wanted to go my own path in life."
"Well I'm totally glad you choose to go your own way. Cause of that you came into our lives!" she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "I don't know where we would be now if it weren't for you and Lady Nabooru!"
"Hm." Link pondered on that note, thinking about the dark future he had defeated Ganondorf in, and wondering what his fiance's lives were like in that time, but he quickly dismissed it, 'I don't need to dwell on that anymore, it's in the past... so to speak.', he turned to Aviel and smiled warmly, making the young lady melt, "Thanks for that Aviel, I wouldn't trade where I am now for anything."
"Hey you two, get a move on!" Nemisa called out from the door, "Ruto and everyone have arrived, and Nabooru wants you over at the central plaza! Aviel, you come with me." she added.
"Okay! Me and Nemisa got something we need to do! It's a big secret for you!" Aviel said, hugging Link then running off with her partner.
"Stop blabbing that out!" Nemisa snapped at Aviel as she followed her out.
"Guess I better go greet everyone." Link chuckled.
"Brother Link! Glad to see you again!" laughed out Darunia as he came right up and pulled Link into a bone-breaking hug.
"GRK!" Link gagged out as Darunia held him upwards, feeling like his spine was about to snap in half.
"Darunia, put down my husband this instant!" Ruto scolded the rock man.
"Oh oops, sorry." Darunia said dropping Link to the ground.
"Whew, thanks for that Ru-" Link started, only to be quickly pulled into another bone-breaking hug by the zora queen.
"Hello my beloved Linky-poooo!" Ruto squealed out.
"GAAAACK!" Link shouted out.
"Link, hang in there!" Saria shouted in panic.
"Poor guy." Nabooru spoke with a bit of amusement.
Arriving to Gerudo Town via the warp point in the canyon was Link's friends from the neighboring tribes throughout Hyrule, all here to attend the alliance meeting that would last for the next few days;
The first of which was Chieftain Darunia of the Gorons, equipped with his Megaton Hammer that he used to strike down Volvagia. He was accompanied by his son Link (or as he was nicknamed Link-Goron), as well as a small number of his closest brothers. Darunia wasn't all that different from before, though Link noted he was now wearing a red sash around his body. Link-Goron still wore his green cap like the one Link himself used to wear.
Next was the recently crowned Queen Ruto of the Zora. After completing the ceremonial ritual to infuse her with the power of the water goddess Lophela, Ruto's father Hauvir stepped down from his position as king so Ruto could take his place. Ruto was wearing elegant purple silk queen's garments now, wrapped around her beautiful form. Link noticed over the time since she became a zora queen that she had grown another half-foot in height, and her body was a bit curvier then before, with wider hips and larger breasts. He wondered if her diet had something to do with it. He didn't mind though, she was absolutely stunning in his eyes. Accompanied by Ruto were two familiar zora; her bodyguard Zopem, and the old but kindly ambassador Oton.
Next was the Kokiri representative Vekai, one of the smartest of her people in Kokiri Village, and the personal assistant of their boss Mido. She wore the typical Kokiri attire, but she wore on her face a small piece of plant root that she had tied together to resemble a pair of thin-rimmed reading glasses. She had her forest fairy named Kede with her as well. Accompanied by Vekai was Link's other childhood friends Skull Kid, and the twin fairies Tatl and Tael. Skull Kid was quickly looking around the place with great interest, while Tatl was doing her best to protect her brother from the curious Gerudo citizens looking at the group.
Last but not least was Lady Impa; nanny of Princess Zelda and up until recently, the last of the Sheikah race. Her skin had a light tan to it, and her white hair was done in a braided ponytail with a single lock of hair hanging over her face. She was back in her original skin-tight jumpsuit from a year ago when they met at Goron City, and she was also back to having her lean physique, a huge contrast from the pregnant form she had a number of months ago. Link also noticed her breasts had grown a bit, presumably from her pregnancy, though he was a little concerned about how he was able to tell that sort of thing by a single glance these days...
Impa was accompanied by her two royal bodyguards, Sir Knave and Sir Lackey of the Hyrulian army like before. Knave was looking around nervously at the sight of all the Gerudo around them, due to all the rumors he had heard in the past. Sir Lackey meanwhile just stood tall and motionless. Link couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Lackey seemed odd to him, but the knight's helmet hid any defining features of his face to see what exactly it was. He didn't really mind either way though, as the two of them have protected Impa for so long, and willingly aided them all back in Kakariko Village, that he knew he could trust them both.
"It's a pleasure to see all of you again, and a fine welcome to our new Kokiri ally Vekai." Nabooru said, "I hope you find our humble town inviting."
"Woah, so this is the Gerudo's home? It's a lot nicer then I imagined!" Sir Knave said in awe, he turned to see some Gerudo ladies giving him a look, and they both shot flirty winks at him, making him gulp nervously and wave back to them.
Sir Lackey looked to his comrade and pushed his jaw closed, "Stop gawking Knave, or bugs will fly into your mouth."
"M-My apologizes!" Knave said standing upright.
"It is quite nice, though Queen Saria was right, it is incredibly hot compared to the forest." Vekai said wiping her forehead. She gestured to her fairy companion Kede who turned about face and started buzzing her wings at Kokiri rapidly to blow some air on her.
"H-Hey now, don't call me queen yet!" Saria said blushing bright red, "I haven't officially been crowned or anything!"
"Ohohohoho, but you will be a queen someday! It's only fitting you should be treated like one! Believe me when I say you'll learn to love it Saria!" Ruto said with a wink.
As Saria was tongue-tied from embarrassment, her fairy companion Faete flew over to Vekai's own fairy, "Heya Kede, how's forest life been for you and Vekai?"
"Eh, seems like we spend most of our time looking after Mido the Frogmouth. I don't know how his fairy Dais puts up with him." Kede said, then added with a tiny whisper, "Though between you and me, I'm mainly just happy he's making Vekai smile more and more these days." prompting Faete to giggle.
"Uncle Link! Glad to see you again!" Link-Goron cheered out, running up to him, "You look like you've gotten a lot stronger now!"
"Yep, and it looks like you have as well!" Link grinned, batting Link-Goron lightly on the arm.
"Aw geez, thanks!" said Link-Goron modestly, before imitating his uncle by bashing him in the side with his own fist, causing Link to cringe from the young Goron's raw strength.
"Hey, just why are you named Link too?" Skull Kid asked, running up to Link-Goron's side.
"Yeah, and why do you have Link's hat...?" Tael asked.
"I had a green cap made for myself cause Uncle Link's my hero!" Link-Goron said proudly, flicking at the rim of his cap, "He saved my dad and our people from starvation years ago, and made Link his sworn brother!"
"Aww, that's cute Link." Tatl snickered to the young king, "You should have seen this time your Uncle Link put on a mask and became a Go-"
"Ahem, no need to be telling them that right now." Link coughed awkwardly, he looked to the straw child and grinned, "So how are you enjoying life in Kokiri Village now, Skull Kid?"'
"It's great! Everyone's been really nice to us!" Skull Kid nodded, "Ms. Vekai even gave me my own name! Everyone calls me Skuld now!"
"Skuld?" Link asked looking to Vekai.
"Since he's one of us now, I felt the need to give him a real name so he could fit in." Vekai said adjusting her root glasses, "I settled for Skuld, I thought it was cute for him."
"Occasionally we get a stray monster form the Lost Woods coming to invade the village, but me, Tatl and Tael kick it's butt all over the place, even if they don't have a butt!" Skuld said with a laugh.
"Well I'm just glad to see you're fitting in Skuld." Link nodded.
Ruto meanwhile took a glance over at Sir Lackey, who was trying to keep Knave from being taken away by a pair of flirty Gerudo girls. Something about the man intrigued her, and she sported a mischievous grin. She strolled up to Lackey and said, "Well hello there, Mr. Knight..."
"Greetings Queen Zora, is there something you need from Lady Impa?" Lackey asked while holding Knave by his tunic.
Ruto didn't answer him, but instead smirked lightly and leaned closer to him, "Well, well... never thought I'd see you of all people here! If I had known you were coming I would had brought over some of your favorite carrot cake!"
Lackey gasped out a little, but paused and cleared his throat, "F-Forgive me Queen Zora, but I'd ask that you not say anything else, for obvious reasons."
"Ohohohoho! No problem, I totally understand!" Ruto laughed out, "I'm just glad you're getting a chance to take part in all of this, and get a chance to see you-know-who!"
Sir Lackey sighed out as Ruto went off to go greet the others, while Sir Knave looked over at his companion in confusion,
"What was that about Lackey?" Knave asked as a Gerudo tugged on his arm.
"Nothing." Lackey spoke.
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you again Lady Nabooru." Impa said walking up and shaking hands with the head of the Gerudo, before taking a look to the king, "And good to see you as well Link."
"You too Impa... uh..." Link stalled as he looked around curiously, and a little eagerly, "I was just going to ask you... where is... um... you know..."
"You're wondering where our child is?" Impa asked with a knowing grin, "He's currently at Hyrule Castle right now, being looked after by the nurse maids. I didn't want to try and bring him out to a harsh climate like this at his age."
"Oh, that makes sense." Link nodded, "So it was a boy after all?"
"Yes, a full-blood Sheikah at that. His name is Shikki." Impa said, "Thank you again, I'm so happy to have been able to become a mother, and thanks to you the Sheikah have a hopeful future now."
"That's great, I can't wait to meet him when we go out to the castle!" Link said, "Two of my child-bearers gave birth recently themselves, but yours is my first boy!"
"Awww, I want to meet your daughters Liiiink!" Ruto exclaimed clinging to him.
"Okay, okay! We still got some time before the meeting, we can go see them in a bit!" Link said.
"Christine! Hey Christine! Where'd ya get off to?!" shouted out a voice, as Link turned to see Togau walking around town calling out around her, "Christine, get yer hairy butt over here right now!" she turned and saw Link, Nabooru and Saria with a large group of people, "Oh, howdy there yall, sorry bout the commotion while yer doin' yer delegatin' or whatever!"
"Togau, what's going on?" Link asked, "Who's Christine?"
"Oh, she's just one of mah goats who got out of her pen. Me and the ranch hands have been huntin' her down but we ain't found diddly-squat." Togau sighed, "Dunno how she even got out, but I'm real worried about her, especially what with her condition..."
"We'll keep an eye out for her Togau, but we mainly have to focus on our meeting this evening." said Nabooru, "For now, all of you take the time to enjoy our town, and we'll meet at the club tonight at four pm sharp. We have some alcohol to drin- I mean, we have some booze to guzz- I mean, we have a meeting to attend to!" she took a moment to wipe some drool leaking from her mouth.
"Sounds like yer gonna to have ta hold back Lady Nabooru's hair tonight in the bathroom again, Link." Togau said sweatdropping.
"Probably." Link sighed.
Impa spoke to her guards, "Well, how about we go looking around men? Just be wary around here with some of these girls, they may be peaceful, but let your guards down and they might just decided to-Wait, where's Knave?" she asked looking around.
Lackey sighed and gestured to three Gerudo girls having lifted Knave into the air and were in the middle of carrying him off.
"Uh, my apologies, but I think I'm being abducted Lady Impa!" Knave called out.
"Get back here!" Impa shouted going off after them.
"Isn't that guy supposed to be Ms. Impa's bodyguard?" Tatl exclaimed.
"Oooooh! How precioooous!"
Ruto's eyes were sparkling like diamonds as Link had escorted her to the royal child-bearer chambers where she got to meet Ragome, Leivuri and their daughters, with Esolu sitting nearby.
"Shii-shi-shi! Glad you like em Queenie!" grinned Ragome, "Carrying em was a pain in the back and delivering em was a pain the ass, but now that I got em I wouldn't trade em for anything in the world!"
"What are their names?" Ruto asked.
"My child is named Tulisi." Leivuri said blissfully as she held her child, taking her little wrist and moving to make her wave at Ruto, "Say hi Tulisi!"
The baby just gurgled in response.
"And mine are Sapey and Irai!" Ragome said proudly.
"Safael and Irala." Link corrected her.
"Yeah, what he said." Ragome spoke.
"Oh, I just can't wait until me and Link finally have children of our own!" Ruto said enthusiastically, "Then ours can play with yours! I need to track down a Pictobox so I can so many snapshots of them all too!"
"A-Are you sure of that? I mean, we may be the king's child-bearers, but I wouldn't call any of us royalty." Leivuri spoke with a blush on her face.
"Of course Leivuri-dear, even if you don't marry Link, you're still like family to us!" Ruto spoke.
"Being like family... To hear that from a royal queen such as yourself..." Leivuri spoke with a blush on her face, before she quickly buried her face in Tulisi's hair, "Kyyaaa! It's so embarrassing!"
"Ah Link's offspring, how fascinating." they heard a voice speak as they turned and saw Vekai was kneeling beside them, staring at the infants.
"Wha- Vekai? What are you doing here?" Link asked.
"I wished to learn more about Hylian and Gerudo reproduction. I don't know much about it since Kokiri had to relay on the Great Deku Tree to handle our population growth. Since the previous one passed on and that cute little sprout is still growing, it'll be some time before new Kokiri get born."
"Oh, you're too cute!" said one of Link's other child-bearers, giving her a small hug, which caused her large breasts to press against the Kokiri's head.
"Aww, of course you can stay with us for as long as you want!" said another one giggling as she too inadvertently was pressing her breasts against Vekai as she embraced her.
Link and Ruto both looked with amusement at Vekai, who was just knelling there with a clearly annoyed look on her face, though she wasn't quite sure why she was so irritated about it in particular.
"Is there a reason why your child-bearers are all so fat?" Vekai asked, poking at the belly button of one of the two Gerudo hugging her, causing her to squeak out.
"Hey!" shouted a Gerudo in protest.
"Sorry, Vekai can be blunt like that." Kede said sweatdropping.
"Yo Vekai, I gotta feed Safael real quick, wanna hold Irala?" Ragome offered, handing her over to Vekai.
"Oh, very well." Vekai said, taking the Gerudo child and holding her in her arms, the baby seemed to take pretty quickly to her. Vekai's stern expression quickly softened at the sight, "S-She's cute..."
"Hmph, I'm a little jealous..." Ruto pouted looking at Vekai and Iraka, recalling back when she tried to hold Maifeki's daughter Selil during Link's birthday party, and how upset the baby got about it.
"Here Queen Ruto, why not hold Tulisi?" Leivuri suggested, handing her to Ruto.
"Ah, um... I don't want to make my husband's child cry or-" Ruto tried to decline, but wound up taking the child. She held Tulisi in her arms, staring down at the baby. She didn't make a single sound, and Ruto was worried about her breaking out into tears like Selil did...
But instead, Tulisi nuzzled against her, and making small cooing noises. Ruto's eyes widened as she held the child in her arms, almost in tears of seeing this beautiful child taking to her so well.
"I think you're going to do just fine as a mother after all, Ruto." Link whispered in her ear.
"So what of you, Ms. Esolu was it?" Vekai asked handing Irala back to Ragome and looking over to the mute woman, who was sitting back drawing on her sketch pad, "How much longer do you have until you have your child?"
Esolu just glanced up at the Kokiri girl. There was a pause as she stared at her for an unusual amount of time. Everyone looked at Esolu in confusion before she shrugged her shoulders, and went right back to drawing on her sketch pad.
"Hey come on Esolu, lighten up a little." Link spoke, reaching out and putting a hand on hers, "I don't know what you've been through before we met, but I'd love to see you reach out to us more." he thought about what Sarami had told her about her problem with delivering her child potentially being something traumatic, "I'm worried about you and our child, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to the two of you..."
Esolu stopped her drawing and stared down at Link's gentle hand, with a light blush on her cheeks. Her writing hand fidgeted, almost as if she was about to draw something in particular, but before he could, a voice called out.
"E-Excuse me, my queen!" it was Zopem sticking his head out from the door, seeming to be averting his gaze so as not to gawk at the women in the room, "W-We must leave now, it's time to go the night club for the meeting!"
"Coming!" Link called out as he, Ruto and Vekai went on their way.
Vekai took a stop just before she left out the door, she turned back and took one last look at Leivuri and Ragome with their children, and smiled slightly at at the sight. She then heard a strange sound, and looked in the direction of the balcony window of the room, but she saw nothing.
"Strange, I could have sworn I heard something..." Vekai whispered.
"Vekai, hurry up!" called out Ruto, prompting the Kokiri to forget about it and follow after her.
"Hello everyone, and thank you all for coming." Nabooru stated as she sat among the crowd before her.
The group consisted of Link, Saria, Halei, Reirousa, Darunia, Ruto, Zopem, Ambassador Oton, Vekai, as well as Impa and her two knights Sir Knave and Sir Lackey. They had all gone to the Velvet Rogue, the night club where Nemisa did her exotic dances as Madame Scarlet. Link-Goron and Skuld were still out in town with Tatl and Tael, currently playing with the Gerudo children in the center park area.
The first time Link came to the Velvet Rogue was on his second night in Gerudo Town, where he and Aviel had been trying to hide from the mysterious rebel assassin known as The Slicer. It was there they met Nemisa under the guise of her dancer alter ego. After that they frequented there often to watch Nemisa's dancing.
For this night however, the club was rented out by Nabooru to hold the meeting with everyone. They were all circled around a number of tables that had been pushed together by the club staff, and they were sitting on comfortable pillow seats. Gerudo waitresses went around handing out water, juices and alcohol for the participants. For Darunia and his Goron brothers they were given mugs of sand from the ancient ruins of the desert to drink.
"Hmm... what a bitter but enriching taste..." Darunia said, swishing the sand around in his mouth like it was water, "I'd say it's... late fourth century?"
"Why yes, I believe that's around the time those ruins are said to have been built." Nabooru nodded.
"Ha ha! A good year!" Darunia grinned, chugging down his mug, "So where's the grub itself then?"
"Oh just cease your appetite for half a second. We have a meeting to do now, it can wait." Ruto said.
Darunia glanced to see Ruto had been given a large box lunch from Zopem, and she was busy slurping up a whole fried eel like it was a pasta noodle.
"...really now?" Darunia asked raising an eyebrow at Ruto's blatent hypocrisy.
"The princess is trying to maintain her power right now due to her powers of Lophela awakening!" Zopem stated to Darunia in her defense.
"Well my mighty Goron power requires a feast as well!" Darunia stated, "If I don't get some food soon I might just take a bite out of the stone floor here!"
"Hey, club policy: No eating the floor!" a waitress stated.
"Can we just begin now?" Link called out in frustration.
"Well first, I'd like to give thanks again to all of you for agreeing to this alliance." Nabooru spoke, "We're going to be meeting with the Hylian Parliament two months from now, and we Gerudo appreciate all your support to us."
"That's right." Link nodded, "While our primary goal is to abolish the Gerudo Banishment Law so that the Gerudo can join Hyrule as a whole kingdom, we also want to provide our assistance to the kingdom with the skills and resources we have here, and make Hyrule greater as a whole."
"Look at you Link, acting all royal and professional, how cute!" giggled Ruto, making the rest of the group laugh out loud, and making Link blush lightly.
"Uh, how about you just handle it Nabooru..." Link said.
"Of course." Nabooru snickered, "Now first I feel we need to discuss everyone's individual situations going on in their areas." she pulled out a large map of Hyrule and spread it out on the table that everyone was sitting around, "We'll start with Ruto and the Zoras."
"Thank you Lady Nabooru." Ruto said, "Well as of right now our biggest situation is that the Hylian royals have been pestering us lately about claiming territory of ours. It seems they're taking interest in that old marine base just off of Zora Coast." she took an empty shot glass and slid it over on top of the location of the base on the map.
"You mean the same one where we took out those Zola pirates to get back your Smooth Pearl?" Link asked.
"Indeed, it seems now that the Zola are all gone from that place the Parliament have said they want to take control of it." Ruto sighed out, "It wouldn't be a problem except that they also wish to convert Zora Coast into an army base to help fortify their ranks. That place is not only essential to our tourism, but it's also the location of the water goddess Lophela's shrine!"
"The Hylians have said they would not disturb the shrine itself, but they intend to shut down the stores and events we do in the area." grumbled Zopem, "It's an ideal place for tourists to go to because of the warm waters and tropical atmosphere, and we refuse to allow them to convert it into some boot camp!"
"I've been told the Parliament wishes to travel out to kingdoms overseas to do business there, so I suppose having the marine base to uphold the law in the area would be a good idea. But it does seem wrong to make the Zora give up their land for it." Impa spoke.
"They've been very aggressive about it to as of late. They keep sending Queen Ruto letters and representatives to meet with us about it." Ambassador Oton said, "I'm certain they're taking advantage of our new queen being so young and inexperienced in comparison to the late Queen Louruta to try to push her into agreeing. Hauvir isn't exactly too pleased about this himself."
"Ugh, it's been a lot of pressure." Ruto said, "It's not as if I didn't expect some hardships as queen, but taking advantage of my youth to make things harder for my people... oooooh!" she vented out with a pouty face, as Link and Saria tried to comfort her.
"Don't worry, me and Halei will look over the details and see what we can do for you." Nabooru spoke with a nod, "So what about you Darunia? Have anything to discuss?" Nabooru asked.
"Well after we destroyed the Igneo Talus in Goron Mines and that dragon child took off things have been way better." Darunia said, "Ore and jewel production has been up and tourists are flocking back to the hot springs. Honestly the only real problem we Gorons have as of now is getting a real voice in the Parliament. I've brought up ideas on what can be done to help Hyrule, but I keep getting ignored. Unfortunately our simple natures as Gorons tend to make people not take us too seriously."
"And that's why you decided to set up that little hot spring resort in your town, right?" Impa spoke.
"Exactly, I thought if we presented ourselves as more than just miners then we could have more say with the royal family." Darunia nodded.
"Believe me when I understand your situation. Thanks to the old ways of our people we're still judged as bandits and killers." Nabooru said, "It's hard to change the way some people think of others based on past notions. It's just something that's going to take time and patience to fix. It can't be undone all at once, and certainly not through force or manipulation."
"True that." Darunia said, "I can see why Brother Link took so well to you and your people, despite everything Ganondorf and his followers had done to Hyrule."
"We can only hope the Parliament can be just as open." Impa nodded. She took a glance over at Lackey who nodded, "Though convincing them to withdraw from taking Zora Coast could be tricky..."
"Um, could I say somethin'?" spoke up a voice, as everyone turned to see Reirousa at one seat.
"What was it Reiroursa?" Nabooru asked.
Reirousa looked around a bit self-consciously at everyone looking at her, "N-Never mind, forget I said anything..."
"Come on Reirousa, what was it?" Link asked encouragingly.
"W-Well I was just gonna say, I was looking at the map here and..." Reirousa pointed at another coast side location on it, "This spot right here might be a different place to set up the new dock for the Hylians. It's more isolated thanks to the cliffs nearby, so they wouldn't have to worry about surprise attacks by pirates or whatever. They could even set up watchtowers on this hill, there's nothin' like that over at Zora Coast."
"Why Reirousa, that's fascinating!" Ruto exclaimed, "Do you think this could work Oton?"
Oton looked down at the map and used a ruler to measure the spot, "Hmm... I think I know this area, the terrain's a bit rough there due to an abundance of jagged rocks and coral... it would require a lot of manpower to level it all out."
"Oh uh, forget I said anything..." Reirousa muttered, feeling the urge to get up and leave.
Ruto looked to Reirousa and spoke up, "Well wait a minute, what if we could find a way to clean and smooth the area out then? Would it be viable?"
"That could work...?" Oton said scratching his chin, "The location would certainly be far more practical then Zora Coast. It would also reduce the chance of the Hylians having to deal with the Jellectrics that typically migrate through that area... but it's just a matter how we would deal with the rocks."
"Rocks? Sounds like something Darunia and his Gorons could handle, right?" Nabooru grinned looking at Darunia.
The Goron chief's eyes lit up in realization of what Nabooru was getting at, "Ah yeah, leave that to us!" he laughed, "Me and my brother can smooth out that area, beach rocks make great seafood too!"
"In fact there's a chance that aiding the Hylian army with setting up their base could help bolster the Goron's reputation with the royal family, and their voice in the Parliament!" Link said.
"Exactly." Nabooru nodded with a smirk.
"Well how about that, and a nice job pointing out that location Reirousa." Ruto said with a grin, "You're quite a mapping strategist, aren't you?"
"Eeehh... it's just something I picked up on when I was younger." Reirousa spoke, feeling a small sense of pride from being complimented like that, "Back when I lived in Gerudo Fortress I used to get lost a lot in there, plus I didn't really like meeting or dealing with people... So I started drawing maps to help me get around the place and avoid others. Think it gave me a knack for plotting out routes and stuff."
Link grinned at seeing Reirousa getting to open up and show her talents first hand to the people of Hyrule, despite how anti-social she usually was. Even after moving to Gerudo Town, she was very reserved, and only ever spoke to her old gang the Sandstorm Vipers. It really did feel like she had grown a lot since coming to their town.
"Alright, time to bring on the first round of food!" said a waitress, coming in with multiple platters of appetizers for everyone to eat.
"Bout time!" Darunia said flexing his arms.
One of the more muscular waitress came up and set down a plate before Darunia. He took a big, long whiff of steam into his nostrils, some drool starting to leak out from his mouth as he gazed down at a freshly warmed red desert rock on his plate.
"Ha ha, thanks for the meal!" Darunia said, grabbing and gobbling at it.
"Are those things really that good?" Reirousa asked staring at one of the Gorons eating a rock as well. He noticed Reirousa staring and broke off a piece to offer to the Gerudo, she tried to bite down on it only chip a tooth, "ARGH DAMNIT!"
"She's smart at planning, but not so much in common sense it seems." Vekai said sweatdropping.
And that ends things for now. Next time will take some time to relax and have fun. Will Reirousa finally be able to admit to Link her feelings? Find out on Friday!
As always, thank you for all for your support! Drop me a like, follow, comment at your leisure. You can also PM me with any questions you have in mind and I'll be generally quick to answer them.