Year of the Great Kingdom 583
The soldiers agreed to allow Telma's mother to take her to her father, but demanded that they follow her, to ensure that there was no deception. Mama Vai managed to communicate to them, that Telma's father had been a Hylian farmer who lived near the citadel on the eastern side of the canyon. She thought that he had mentioned something once of "potatoes", but she did not know what these were.
The two men knew of all the farms that supplied the tower. Only a small handful grew potatoes for the garrison, and of those, only one man was "dirty enough" to have visited the Gerudo and have dealings with them. They camped that night, beside the road, while the two soldiers continued to watch them closely. "Do voes not sleep, Mama?" Telma whispered, as she tried to lay close to her mother for comfort. "They sleep." She answered quietly, "But these voe do not trust us. Ignore them and stay quiet."
The following day, the four slowly made their way across the Regencia Plain and – turning northward now- approached the Dalite Forest. The sun had drifted below the red mountains in the west, but enough light remained that they could see a crude hut built against the forest's edge and a thin fence line encircling several acres of plants. "Do you remember his face?" the soldier asked, as they approached the house. The Gerudo simply nodded in reply.
The men did not allow her to approach the door. The second soldier guarded the two women, while the first banged his armored fist against it and cried out, "GORMUND! Come out! In the name of Lord Aryn!" A startling crash of plates and cutlery, followed by a string of curses echoed from inside the house, until a short, pudgy, disheveled man opened the door and stepped outside. "Yes? Yes? What is this about?" he began to ask, until he spotted Telma's mother standing a few paces away.
"By the… is… is it you?" he stammered, squinting through the failing light. Mama Vai simply drew a deep breath through her nose and muttered, "Voe" to him. Completely ignoring the soldier standing beside him, the strange man suddenly erupted into a frenzy of joyous surprise, "By the Goddess!" he shouted, "My desert flower! Why have you come here?! If I had known I would have…" but the amber eyes of little Telma, peeking around her mother's leg, stopped him short. "W-what… who… who is that?" he asked with a trembling stutter.
"You give your blood… our Goddess' blood to these people?!" shouted the soldier by the house, startling the farmer, "You should be hanged from the tower! You soulless traitor!" Gormund's eyes bulged in fear as he suddenly realized what was happening. "I…I… well I certainly never… would never… That is to say, we cannot…" he quickly babbled, miserably trying to diffuse the situation. Mama Vai simply looked to the man guarding her, who inclined his head and waved her forward. Clearly Gormund knew this Gerudo, and the child was his.
Telma's mother pulled her forward until they reached the terrified farmer. "Voe." She said, in a soft voice, "Look." Again, she pulled Telma's hair back and revealed her pointed, Hylian ears. The man continued to shake with fear, but his eyes locked onto the child with an expression of shock. "H-how… this… this does not happen!" he muttered to her.
"Voe… this vai's blood… not… not… -(in Gerudo) argh! What is the word?! – not… 'pure'. This vai… not Gerudo… not Hylian." Mama Vai tried to explain, but the farmer looked up at her and asked, "What problem is that of mine? You took what you wanted! I was told we would never meet again! You got what you asked of me! Go away! Go back to your desert hell!"
He turned to dash back into his home, but the Gerudo cried out to him, "Vai will die!" He stopped and stood frozen, staring at the open door of his house. "Vai will be… killed… in great desert… to prevent… offense. Please voe… take vai." She finished, with her voice choking at the end.
"Barbarians." Muttered the soldier by the house, who now stepped beside the farmer and leaned close to him, "See what happens when you 'sheath your sword' anywhere your stupid little mind pleases?! Either take your bastard daughter or send her home to die – but make your choice now! I have to see the Gerudo back through the pass." He warned.
Telma's father curled his hands into fists and slowly relaxed them again. Never in his life would he have feared that such a thing could happen to him at his quiet little farm, yet here she was and here was her daughter. He had ridden his small cart of potatoes through the pass – it had been a bountiful harvest that year, and the garrison was over-stocked. He wanted to try selling them in 'Outlast Village' on the other side of the canyon. He felt that the Gerudo might be intrigued by the strange vegetables and pay extra for them.
By complete coincidence, Gormund had arrived on 'a day of meeting', when some of the young Gerudo would take mates in Outlast, and sire the next generation of warriors. The women did not care for his 'dirt food', but a powerful, young warrioress had propositioned him for 'his services' and the astonished farmer could not refuse. She led him to Agnes' Bar and took what she needed from him.
After a night of fierce passion, several sweet words, and one firm promise to never meet again, Gormund returned to his damp farm in Hyrule.