Meanwhile, with the group left behind, things were surprisingly relaxed.
"So. What are you gunna do if she's pregnant?" Damia questioned Sheik while Beau was off soaking in the water.
"Pray that it won't mess up her ability to draw the Master Sword from its pedestal...and try to sneak it from her so she won't end up fighting the demon king."
"I get the feeling it won't happen that way. But what happens happens as the Goddesses will it. Who knows, maybe she's supposed to get pregnant so that she can have a male hero. To be honest there has never been a female hero."
"But she can't go and fight while carrying a child, regardless of what we'll have! That's just...it's stupid to risk two lives like that!" Sheik had a point.
"It is. So just don't touch her once they return and hopefully she won't be or we'll know before the big fight at least."
He nodded in agreement. I just hope she agrees to it… "It's getting late, we should try to get something that looks like dinner."
"Yeah. Shame there isn't anything to hunt up here," Damia sighed as she dug through their bags, "more dried meat."
"Guess it's jerky stew again, hooray," Sheik remarked sarcastically, "Remind me to pick up more supplies when we're back down the mountain…"
"And learn a spell to preserve fresh meat. I'm so happy it's the Zora's Sapphire next, at least we'll have fish to eat."
"And won't melt from the temperature," Sheik added.
"Yeah. I'm worried about how Linkette made it up. I get she's the hero, but still, this heat is insane."
"She has Dale, and he's basically a Goron in a human skin, so...she's still in one piece."
Damia nodded, "speaking of heat, I'm going to go take a dip if you want to get started on dinner." She stood to leave.
"O...kay…" he really hoped he could do this with what little they had.
Damia walked over to go take a dip, blushing a bit as she saw Beau in the water. She decided to heck with it and stripped down, calling out to him as she went to join him.
"Ye…" his words died on his lips when he realized she didn't have clothes on and was swimming towards him. He stammered out that he'd gladly let her cool off and to just give him a moment to remember where he put his towel.
"Why can't we swim together? And maybe play a bit?"
"I-It's not...p-proper since we're not officially married," Beau explained.
"It's not like we'd be having sex and making children, I just want to play a bit with my bethrothed~"
"P-Play?" His voice shot up an octave as his face went beet red.
"Touch each other a bit, maybe kiss each other down there...It feels like forever since a guy…" She trailed off a bit, blushing and realizing it was probably the wrong thing to say.
He made this strangled noise and sunk lower into the water.
"Something wrong?" She finished approaching him.
"I-I'm...nervous...a-and kinda scared…"
"Why? It'll be fine," She was a bit bold and pulled him in for a kiss, gently touching him down there.
Beau freaked out a bit and did his best to step back without tripping. Damia made sure to keep her hands clear.
"Nevermind, Beau, sorry," Damia sighed, "I'll let you cool down in peace." She went to go back ashore to dry off and redress.
"Damia…" he called out sadly.
"It's fine, Beau, you want your space and to not do stuff," Damia started drying off and getting her pants and tunic back on.
"I...I want to wait until we're married," he explained, "so that we're not doing anything risky on the journey."
"It's not risky to play around. It's not like I'd be mounting you,"
He turned scarlet again from how blunt a statement she made, which also surprised him into silence. Damia just finished dressing, mumbling that she was going to take a short walk.
"Please, be careful," he managed to get out before she got out of earshot.
Damia nodded to show she heard him before wandering off, not realizing their camp was being spied on or that she was on her way to being kidnapped. Yelling was heard as Ganondorf appeared in front of her, snagging the princess and putting her under his spell.
"Damia!" Sheik was quick to jump to action since Beau still had to get his pants on, quickly descending upon the thief king with a (light magic infused) barrage of throwing needles.
Ganondorf managed to reflect them using his cape, opening a portal to run off with Damia, who's hair was turning black as the spell set it, and eyes turning red, all struggles stopped. He started to flee.
"Try and stop me without the Sage of Shadow by your side! I'll take the others too,"
"No you won't!" Sheik took out a short sword and threw a Deku Nut at Ganondorf's feet, unleashing furious swipes while he was stunned.
Ganondorf found himself being defended by Damia, who was completely his thrall now. Damia quickly knocked back Sheik's sword and went to deal a death blow with her own weapon.
"Sheik!" Beau had gotten his clothes on at this point and reached out his hand. It looked like it was a futile (and dramatic) attempt to reach him, but somehow the weapon was deflected.
What…? Sheik didn't dwell on the miracle, he just gave a quick "Sorry!" as he pushed a pressure point on Damia to make her pass out.
Damia passed out and was quickly grabbed again by the recovered Ganon, who fled.
"Coward," Sheik muttered as he was helped up by Beau.
"Any damage?"
"Nah. Guess Nayru decided to intervene there." Which is very strange since I thought I made sure my own magic cannot be accessed as Sheik?
"Uh, yeah…good timing on that divine intervention!" Beau nodded sheepishly. "Makes sense since she's kinda linked with time, right?"
"Her and Hylia…" Sheik squinted as he observed Beau's reaction to his previous statement, "Beau, is there something you're not telling me?"
Beau stammered for a good minute before he actually spoke a coherent sentence, "I, uh...I've been blessed by fate to have m-magic, specifically healing a-and...Nayru's Love."
This explains so much. "Ooh. Do I even wanna ask is your cousin has similar powers?"
"Yes and no? He has a gift from the goddesses, but it's, uh...Din's Fire. No healing, only his flames and halberd."
That...also explains so much. "Probably for the better, your magic basically nullifies his."
Beau just nodded and looked ready to cry.
"Hey, don't worry, we'll get her back...I'm not sure when, but we will. Promise." Sheik tried to assure him.
Beau nodded and hugged him while choking back a sob.
And this is happening...Sheik awkwardly patted him on the back.
So the duo had to wait for the trio's return, which would be bittersweet. The next morning had Aiden and Dale doing a quick wedding in front of the Chief of the Goron's and signing the paperwork, stashing it in a bag. Dale was sure to hug and twirl his new wife like there was no tomorrow when it became official. Aiden just laughed and gave him a kiss, reminding him of the performance she needed to do. He kissed her back and let her do that, but made sure to sit in the front row and gush to any Goron sitting next to him that the performer is his wife. That earned him kudos as the performance started, Aiden showing off her fire wielding abilities as she performed and danced with flames, playing several instruments and singing. Even Linkette, who was a bit down still, seemed to cheer up slightly as she watched the show, which lasted a good hour. Aiden bowed, out of breath, while everyone cheered.
"THAT'S MY WIFE!" Dale announced above all the cheering when he wasn't busy adding to it.
Aiden received the Ruby once things had calmed down and handed it to Linkette, who promptly passed out to have a vision.
"Do we start back now or wait for her to wake up?"
"We pro'ly shouldn't waste time, c'mon," Dale slung his friend over his shoulders and started the trek.
They reached the sad duo by around lunchtime, Linkette having woken up, but tolerating being carried as she felt tired anyway.
"Where's Damia?!" Aiden was quick to notice her missing friend.
Beau whimpered at that.
"Ganondorf struck while she was alone and...used his magic to persuade her to join his forces. As it turns out, given the statement he made, she's supposed to be the Sage of Shadow - which means we can't complete this without her." Sheik explained while trying not to show how upset he was at this development.
"No…" Dale gasped.
"We'll just have to get her back. Easy peasy! We'll confront him and rescue her!" Aiden was geared up and ready to go, as was Linkette, who'd roused herself a bit to look ready to fight as well.
"We have no idea where he went," Sheik pointed out, "and it's not like any of you know how to track someone who can teleport."
"Well he'll come back and attack us again, right?"
"He heavily implied such," Sheik explained.
"So we knock that smug look off'a his face th' moment he's here!" Dale exclaimed.
Am I the only one that - well Beau is not fight happy… "We still have a mission to complete regardless. If he showed up on the way, we'll do what we can to get Damia away, but until then we have to gather strength to be able to go toe-to-toe against him - as a group." Sheik stated firmly.
"Right," Came the agreement from the eager to fight trio. It'd be more believable if Linkette hadn't yawned right afterwards.
"Is she okay?" Sheik looked at the fight happy couple.
"She passed out after gittin' th' ruby, I think she's still recoverin' from it?" Dale shrugged.
"Let's eat a quick lunch and get going again," Aiden suggested.