Near the tall window of the northern tower he stood, staring down into the rolling hills of the rich kingdom below. He pondered there the strangeness of fate, the great circle of his existence that even he, in all of his ancientness could not understand. In the passing nights the Thief King had become fully himself again, growing accustomed to this new body as the lingering thoughts and protests of Daphnes faded and his own memories replaced them. He knew for certain who he was. He vaguely remembered the dark, empty world within the mirror and he knew that this was not the first time he had crawled back out of some bottomless pit, nor was it the second or third. He grinned at the slight victory. No matter what prison he was forced into, he would always return. He was a God among the squeaking insects that called themselves men. But alas, it was not enough. He looked down now, the castle pleasantly silent, at the land that filled him with insatiable lust. The land that could be his, which should be his and yet never was. His grin faded. Just as he himself could never truly be destroyed, every time he awoke, every time he managed to free himself, he would rise again; the insufferable child. No matter how many times they killed each other, like a weed, the boy would never stay dead. Along with the princess, somehow they would stand in his way, and they would be triumphant. He and the girl were preparing themselves, even now, to rise against him. It made little sense to him. How had this begun? How could it be possible that simple children could defeat him over and over again, in all his might and magic?
The Gods must favor the weak. If they favor anything at all.
Turning from the window, Ganondorf made his way to the empty throne. Sitting down with an air of hubris, he pondered the will of the Goddesses. It had contorted his mind as the obscured memories of centuries long past began to return both in dreams and strange waking fits. He had dreamt of a time that he had been so close, had enjoyed his supremacy for years before the boy had come, carrying with him one of the ardently sought pieces of the holy triangle; the key to limitless power. Something had happened though...something that in all the time Ganondorf had been conscious he not been able to grasp. The memory of the kingdom being his felt as though it were a memory within a memory. These dreams and visions confused him. He had seen so many things in the time since he had awoken in this aged, mortal body: A mirror with runes, a strange world of darkness, his own death, a desert that was not his own, and then blackness. Always, the boy and the princess had been there. He laughed in spite of himself at the thought. It was never a God, never a great beast, never even a man that drew a blade against him with any hope. It was always the boy. Ganondorf knew, in his long existence, that he had cut the child down before. Though, aside from the rancorous ecstasy of doing so, even this seemed futile thinking of it now. For even as he ran a blade through the boy's heart, the little knight and his princess always managed to cast him down... the cycle endless. Power belongs with those who've the strength to wield it and yet these children had somehow been ordained as favorites by The Three. Despite his undying ire for the boy, he had at least a degree of respect for him. It was the princess that truly disgusted and enraged him. Such a feeble little creature and yet in her lay the power to deny him the Triforce and the chance to create the world in his image. He knew what truly lay in the hearts of men. There were dark things, malleable things, perversion, the abilities to commit unimaginable atrocities given only slight motivation. Greed is what moves men, the want of power, of notoriety, of immortality. Though, it did not matter, he had no intention this time of ruling the land. His ambition now, was solely vengeance. Hyrule... her lush meadows, her vast forests, shining waters and towering mountains had long taunted him. Now, as he had returned once again to her, Ganondorf wanted nothing more than to burn her into the sea, along with her inhabitants. He would do this out of spite. For he knew that nothing would torment the other bearers so much as seeing their world and everything they knew utterly destroyed. Then, regardless of whether or not he would remain standing, for him there would at last be peace. A bitter smile crept back into his face at the thought. Perhaps when he had finished with the land he would once again have the pleasure of killing the boy. For the princess, Ganondorf had a different plan. He would leave her alive; leave her to wander the desolate, ashen landscape of the razed kingdom alone with her failure. That, and that alone would truly satisfy him. At the far end of the room, the large, arched wooden doorway groaned open. The Sheikah, a long cloth wrapped object beneath his arm, stepped across the marble tile. Standing below the steps to the throne, he knelt as he presented the item to his master.
"My lord, the blade, as you requested." He said, his head bowed.
Ganondorf stood, descending the steps he took the sword from Tairyn's upturned hands. Unsheathing it, he examined it closely, scanning the steel for flaws. The blade was sleek, tapered and razor sharp. The guard of the hilt was fashioned in gold like the heads of two dragons. Tairyn looked up from where he knelt.
"I hope it pleases you." He said.
"It will do." Ganondorf replied, and the Sheikah rose to his feet.
He sheathed the sword, his eyes lifting to the obsequious figure before him. As his senses had begun to return to him, Ganondorf had felt something about the slave that had aroused mistrust in him. With a low bow, Tairyn turned to leave.
"Sheikah." Ganondorf called after him, as he sat slowly back down upon the throne; resting his temple against his knuckles, the sword at his side.
Tairyn turned.
"Tell me, why did you assist in reviving me? What was it that made you betray your people... your king?" Asked Ganondorf.
Tairyn blinked.
"I have harbored a distaste for the monarchy since childhood. I simply wanted to see them overthrown… and who better to do so than you, my lord?" He said.
Ganondorf shifted, gripping the hilt of his blade tighter in his fist.
"And you do not desire power for yourself? I find that difficult to believe. All men desire greatness. What is it that you really want, Sheikah?"
Tairyn looked on into the ferocious amber eyes of the hulking figure, his gaze unfaltering.
"I only wish to see a new world rise from the ashes of the old." He said.
The two regarded each other in tense silence for a moment before Ganondorf waved his hand dismissively, and Tairyn turned to go. Once outside the great door of the throne room Tairyn pressed his back against it, urgently trying to calm the fear that had seized him. The demon was beginning to suspect.
If I can only fool him a little longer… Zelda and the boy will come. The Triforce will be whole soon enough. There is too much blood on my hands to stop now. It must be made whole.
By the afternoon, Link and Zelda had ridden down the tops of the snowy peaks, the sun warm on their backs though their cheeks still flushed with windburn. They wandered now in respective silence through the thick forest of evergreen, both very tired and lost in their own thoughts. Link found himself thinking of what he had witnessed in the tower of the mansion. The princess... She seemed so fragile at times, but the undiluted power he had felt flowing from her had amazed him nearly to the point of shock. This girl never stopped surprising him. Compassionate, sagacious little Zelda. He had never known anyone more well-spoken or delicate; nor a braver or more formidable fighter. He was lucky to have her, despite the conflict she had begun to cause within him. He stared ahead in contemplation, his mind clouding over with thoughts that seemed to come from somewhere long buried within him. Along with his surfacing feelings for the princess, he had begun to experience a strange foreboding as well. He thought on this for a moment. Lately, it seemed that he had often felt the need to ask himself if certain feelings were his or if they belonged to another life. Though, he supposed that it did not matter, every self that had passed was a part of him. So many selves seemed to whisper to him in the night... some of their memories heavy and laden with regret. Though he could not grasp its source, he knew that the gnawing feeling had something to do with her. Unlike the princess, for Link there was no divine other; nothing that called him to the past except the quest itself. There were only the nightmares, sometimes clear and defined in all their horror, other times obscured by the veil of time. He wondered what exactly Zelda had seen in her own dreams. Link knew that she didn't tell him much unless it was pertinent to this mission that they had been sent to complete. He thought of the book. Even as there were not yet pictures in his mind to recall that matched the feeling he had, something greatly troubled him about the Sky Book. The unease had only grown when he and Zelda had acquired the pages. Some distant self clamored loudly within him. There had to have been a reason why the Zelda of the past hid the book and scattered the pages. Something, his soul told him, that was greatly detrimental to the girl who rode beside him. He wished he knew what precisely it was. He would burn the thing in spite of all his struggles if he thought it would bring harm on her.
The two rode cautiously through the steep, icy cave. The way down they found, was quite a bit easier than the climb up had been. They sped quickly on over the frozen river. When they came once more to the torch-lit waterway, Zelda looked over her shoulder one last time, silently reiterating her promise to Rutolla. Back out in the field, the sun finally warming their skin again, they happily cast off their cloaks and resolved never to set foot in the northern mountains ever again. They rode on through the afternoon, keeping a quick pace throughout the upper fields of Lanayru as they both knew that time grew shorter by the day, and neither had any idea exactly when they would obtain this set of pages or the next. They stopped only twice. As they made their way toward a pass to the western mountains, a rather large band of Bokoblin had begun pursuing them across the plains. They shot their poison-tipped darts at the Hylian travelers, missing by only inches as the two greatly quickened their pace. The creatures would not let up. Link turned to Zelda as the cliffs drew near.
"... Can I borrow your bow?" He called.
The princess nodded, slowing Midge as she slipped the weapon from her chest and unclasped the quiver from her belt. She tossed them across to Link, who turned Epona toward the mob without another word. Zelda stopped her horse as she watched the boy ride swiftly toward the creatures. Moving in a wide circle, Link quickly picked them off. When he was finished, he drove every single poisoned dart he could find amongst their bodies into the earth. The second stop was made in a rocky pass northwest of the lake. In the shade of long overhang in the side of a cliff, the two split the second loaf of pumpkin bread as they checked the map to study the steep, rocky trail to the desert. By the time the sun had begun to set, Link and the princess found themselves camping on top of the low, treeless mountain range which ran through the western side of Hyrule beside a long a deep canyon that separated the expansive desert from the rest of the realm. As the stars began to fleck the heavens and the sun descended into an amethyst fog, Link and Zelda sat together near a fire, roasting what remained of the walnuts in the pan. Link laid himself backwards on the mat, staring up at the darkening sky. Zelda tilted her head toward him.
"You must be tired." She said.
The boy sighed and closed his eyes.
"So tired..." He replied.
Zelda leaned over and removed the covered pan of crackling nuts and sugar from the fire and set it on the ground to cool.
"I had figured as much, I know that you did not sleep last night… and all the riding…" She drew a breath, stretching her legs out in front of her.
Then she reclined on her side next to the boy, looking tenderly on his face, lit in orange by the fire light. He opened his eyes and languidly rolled his head in her direction, a semi-conscious smile on his lips. It was moments like this in which Zelda realized how lovely he really was. How wonderful it felt to know him, to be close to him. Her many selves seemed to quiet and join into one in his presence. Some part of her longed to put her arms around him and tell him how grateful she was that he existed. To tell him how she had been waiting for him all her life though she had not known it. However, she couldn't allow herself those feelings now. This was no time to think of such complicated things.
Perhaps... when it is over at last...
Zelda shut her eyes and quickly brushed the thought away. She looked to his leg, the bandages around his calve had become disarranged after the long day of riding. She pushed herself up on her elbow, noticing now the little scrape on his cheek and the slight bruise that had begun to form at the side of his nose. She softly brushed it with her finger tip.
"What happened here?" She asked.
The boy laughed softly.
"The dresser in the girl's room started throwing its shelves. One of them hit me in the face pretty hard. I'm actually probably lucky that it didn't break anything." He said.
Zelda sighed and pushed herself back to sitting.
"I am sorry. I didn't quite know what to expect when I agreed to that endeavor. At least you are not seriously hurt… I wasn't exactly there to aid you this time." She said.
Link pulled himself up beside her, resting his arms against his knees. He regarded her inquisitively, remembering the electric feeling that had swirled about Ashelia's room as the supernatural glow had encased the princess there.
"What was it like?" He asked.
Zelda thought for a moment, the memory dreamlike.
"In the beginning, it felt like a warmth that seemed to spread throughout my body. I was afraid at first… but then as I began the spell, all the fear faded and I felt suddenly very far away from that room. There was silence… like time had stopped completely. I was aware of my surroundings… I knew you were there, but I saw everything in different shades of light and colors. The room seemed to have disappeared… I saw the girl inside the demon. It was like dark, putrid smoke around her and as I focused on pulling it away from her…her own light became visible again… everything after is sleep." She said
She turned to Link again, staring sidelong at her in quiet wonder. Her eyes went again to his leg.
"I should change your dressings, they look to have become a bit disarranged throughout the day. Have you brought anything to clean wounds with, Link?" She asked, standing barefoot now upon the smooth rock.
A slanted grin spread over the boy's face at her question.
"Go look in the pocket on the right side of Epona's saddle." He said.
Zelda did as he asked, going to the Epona's side as the horse lay with Midge in a pocket of sand. She gave her a soft scratch behind her ears as she sat beside her. She pulled fresh linen bandages, a cloth and to her surprise, a bottle of Demeru's brandy from the saddle bag that lay to her left. She turned and made her way to sit again next to her friend; a pleased smirk on her lips.
"A gift?" She asked, and Link nodded.
Zelda gently pulled the drawstring on the cuff of his knee-length drawers and rolled it up as she had the day before, exposing the blood-spotted bandages wrapped around the boy's lower thigh. She gently unwound them, uncorking the bottle she poured the liquor sparingly over the bruised and angry stitching on the back side of his leg, Link wincing a slight at the burn as she gently blotted the scabbing wound. She repeated the motion on his calve and arm, replacing the dressings. In turn, he did the same for her. When he had finished, he lifted tired eyes to hers.
"So, how do you feel about actually drinking some of this?" Said Link, levity in his voice.
Zelda smiled, uttering a little laugh as she extended her hand for the bottle. Link handed it to her and shuffled a little closer. Zelda raised the bottle in a toast.
"To Demeru… and to Ashelia." She said.
She held the bottle above her for a moment and then, taking a swig, she handed it back to the boy.
He repeated the motion and took a long drink.
The two of them each took one more sip before they corked the bottle. In a pleasant fog they ate the cooled walnuts and after that they lay down, side by side, as they talked of the journey still ahead. After a few moments, Zelda heard Link snoring lightly on his back and, smiling, she drifted off to sleep herself.
He steps into a shallow pool of water that seems to go on, endlessly, across an otherworldly sky. He has followed him here; the being that swallowed the soul of the girl he loves. The being that is responsible for all of this and he knows that if he should fail, the world and everything in it will burn. He steps forward toward the towering, bulky creature. Its body covered in scales, its head in flames with engorged, black veins running throughout. Its presence overwhelms his senses, sickening him. It speaks of his death as it brandishes a jagged blade, a dark mimic of his own. The atmosphere blackens and the beast comes for him. The creature lands a hit that would have surely killed him had it been any closer and he stumbles backwards. He avoids another swing as he slashes furiously at the beast, its dark blood seeping into the pool. At last, the being falls and he moves apprehensively forward as the sky somehow deepens its blackness. Lightening begins to rain down upon them as the creature stands, and he watches in shock as it gathers a bolt in its blade. It hurls electricity at him as he quickly sidesteps, miming the creature's action as his own blade fills with light. It seems to go on for hours, and each time the being falls and he moves to end this terrible nightmare it jumps to its feet again, nearly taking his head off. Finally, it falls once more and he is quicker this time. He rams the sword down into the beast, holding it there until he is sure that he has killed it. To his horror, it stands again. The sword it has wielded dispels into cinders and its orange, pin-dot eyes fix in an expression of pure loathing upon his. It speaks then.
"Extraordinary, you stand as a paragon of your kind human. You fight like no man or demon I have ever known. Though, this is not the end. My hate… Never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again…" It seethes.
Then it slowly raises its arm, its claw-like finger pointing toward him as its face contorts with rage.
"Those like you… Those who share the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the hero… They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!"
The beast laughs then, uproariously, as it dissipates.
Link opened his eyes, sitting abruptly up on his pallet as the shock waves of the dream sputtered in his nerves. He breathed the hot, dry air for a moment before he turned to Zelda at his side, pausing as she combed her long, unbound hair. She looked to him.
"...Another nightmare?" She asked, sympathy in her voice.
Link nodded, looking down at the muddled blankets in his lap, his adrenaline still flowing. Zelda crept closer to him.
"Are you alright, Link?" She asked.
He turned his face to her.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine…" He said, calming now as he came fully awake.
She nodded toward the small fire that had burned to practically coals since she had awoke and rekindled it.
"I made breakfast. Impa sent a bag of vegetables and some dried beef along with us. I thought I should likely cook the mushrooms soon and seeing as I was up before you…" She paused, grabbing the skillet from beside the fire.
"Here…I just finished. I found utensils as well." She said, setting the pan beside him.
Two wooden forks sat in a puddle of what looked like gelatinous stew. Link let his head fall forward with a light chuckle. He lifted his eyes again to Zelda's
"Thank you..." He said.
As the morning drew on, the two of them ate and then quickly dressed. After checking the map one more time, they set out on a trail that would lead them to a bridge across the canyon and into the desert beyond. The two rode through the blighted landscape of rock and sand until nearly mid-day. As the sun climbed higher into the heavens, the two came upon the bridge, each tensing at what they saw. It was made, not of stone, but of wood and rope stretching nearly a mile across the banded chasm. Zelda sighed in nervous agitation upon her horse as Link dismounted to inspect the bridge. It looked sturdy enough, the rope was braided well and the planks seemed to be made of hardwood as he stepped out upon it.
"It seems alright. I wouldn't ride across but if we walk, we should be okay." Link called back to his companion.
Zelda hopped down from Midge's back. With another sigh, she took the horse's reins and led him anxiously toward the canyon. She looked to Link as she neared the bridge, her face troubled. Link raised an eyebrow.
"You scared?" He asked.
Zelda glanced to bridge and then back to Link.
"I'm fine." She replied, quickly.
Link looked up at Midge, and then softly laid a hand on the princess's shoulder. He tied the two horses together as they had been the day before and then returned to Zelda's side, gently lacing his fingers with hers.
"We'll go together then. Just try not to look down." He said, and the girl nodded.
They began to cross the bridge, Zelda nearly crushing the boy's hand as she felt it sway beneath her. Link couldn't help but laugh softly as she clenched his fingers, staring stiffly ahead. The two of them crossed together hand in hand until they had walked over the last plank and the two of them stood at last on the other side of the canyon. The intense heat and arid wind of the sands was already stifling as they pulled themselves again into their respective saddles. Link and the princess rode down the remainder of the rocky cliffs and out into the cactus strewn foothills. The vast, white sands stretched on seemingly forever and the two of them galloped over the terrain, the sun blasting them relentlessly. As they rode, Link began to notice small sprays of dust being thrown into the air behind them, and he stopped Epona for a moment and turned to investigate. Zelda followed suit, circling Midge around and coming to stand beside Link in the sand. Epona whined, and chewed her bit.
"Why have you stopped?" Asked Zelda.
Link continued to stare at the ground.
"I thought I saw something following us…" He said.
As he spoke, he saw the sand begin to kick into the air again and from the ground, there launched a fat, brown worm. Its jaw had three flaps, each lined with rows of teeth. Zelda let out a tiny shriek as the worm flew over her head, borrowing instantly back into the sand.
The two of them unsheathed their swords as they urged their horses forward again. Link looked aside to Zelda.
"What was that?" He asked, and Zelda looked nervously about her.
"A Moldorm… be on your guard, from what I have read, if there is one there are most likely several of them beneath the ground." She said, seeing three more trails of dust appearing ahead of them.
In a flash, five more of the subterranean creatures leapt from the sand. While Link managed to slice one in half, another bit ruthlessly into the leather of his gauntlet and another still into Epona's rear. The horse screamed and kicked for a moment before Link hopped down from her back, pulling the strange device from the Sheikah temple out of the saddle bag. He chased the trails of flinging dirt and fired the prong into the ground, ripping the Moldorm from the earth and eagerly skewering it. After he had killed the other three, still with the fourth hanging from his arm desperately trying to find blood, he went to his ailing horse. He gently rubbed her neck, speaking softly to her in reassurance before he went around to her bleeding rear; the wriggling creature burrowed into her flesh. Zelda came to his side, her small dagger drawn. She gently held Link's elbow as she cut the Moldorm from his arm and dropped its still writhing body in the sand. He laid a distraught hand on Epona's back as he looked to Zelda.
"Thank you… You mind if I borrow that?" He asked.
"Of course, I'll get the brandy. Be sure to cut across the back of its head, that's where the brain is." She said.
Link nodded, and then he turned, craving the worm from Epona's hide as the horse snorted, her lips pulling back in a grimace. Zelda handed Link a soft cloth soaked in the alcohol before she walked to the horse's face, gently soothing her as Link wiped the blood from the bite mark. The wound was not as serious as he had feared and after he had sufficiently cleaned the bite he climbed into her saddle once again, lovingly stroking her side as they began to ride. He warily scanned the ground, the heat nearly unbearable.
"I think I want to go back to the mountains..." Link said, only half joking.
As the day wore on and the two rode over gargantuan sand dunes, the moon fat and ghostly in the blue sky, four golden spires bearing the Hyrulean crest atop a great, round structure came into view in the distance. Zelda pulled Midge to a stop for a moment upon a tall hill of sand to regard the structure, a look of aversion on her face. Link stopped beside her.
"That's the Arbiter's Grounds?" He asked.
Zelda shifted uncomfortably in her saddle.
"It is…"
Link looked aside to her, noting the pained look she wore as she stared on toward the structure.
"What's wrong Zelda? Why are you looking at it like that?" He asked.
She turned her head to him.
"You do not know?" She asked, and Link shook his head.
Zelda sighed loudly as they began to ride forward again.
"It's an evil place... a structural testament to cruelty." She said.
Link's brows furrowed at the harshness of her words as they rode down the dune. Zelda straightened, her eyes moving back to the towers toward which they rode.
"Long ago, this desert was home to a tribe of women called the Gerudo. Though immersed somewhat in a culture of thievery, they were a peaceful people that kept mostly to themselves. Every hundred years or so, a man would be born to them... and he would become their king..." Zelda looked aside to Link, thier eyes met.
"...This is the land that sired Ganondorf… A thousand years ago, there was a war between the Gerudo and the rest of Hyrule lead by one of their kings. I can't be sure, but it was more than likely the Ganondorf that we fought so long ago... the one who broke apart the Triforce. They invaded and tried to take the capitol, and the land for themselves. After the war was over and the Gerudo King had been captured, the King of Hyrule had the Arbiter's Grounds built on top of what had been a scared place to the desert people, as in insult for their treason. It was made to house and torture the worst criminals in the land, many of whom were the Gerudo still loyal to their king. After it was built, the Theif King was taken there to be executed… supposedly by a cursed mirror that sends people to the Dark World. That is why these lands are barren now… All the Gerudo who were left moved further into the west and away from the rest of Hyrule. It's rare to see them at all." Said Zelda, solemnly.
Link stared on at the towers that they were quickly approaching.
They rode on in silence for a time as the blazing sun dropped through the sky. As they drew nearer to the structure, the two of them noticed a house in the distance. They watched as a small, elderly figure outside of it hung sheets on a line to dry. The two of them, surprised to see anyone living in the sands, resolved to speak with the stranger. Perhaps they knew of a way into the Arbiter's Grounds seeing as they lived in the shadow of it. As they got closer, they could see now that figure was that of an old woman, her hair bound up in a golden comb as she swept the wooden porch of the little house. The two dismounted, and Zelda gave a friendly wave to the figure in the distance who continued to sweep as they approached.
"Hello!" She called, and the old women paused.
"I am sorry to bother you madam, but I…" Zelda stopped short, sensing something familiar.
The woman turned toward her, an odd smile on her withered lips. Her skin was dark and leathery, and upon her forehead sat a red jewel inside a setting of bone in a circlet around her head.
"Hello yourself." She said kindly.
Zelda stood there, trying the decipher her senses as Link joined her near the porch of the old woman's house.
"Pardon me madam… but I must ask, are you out here in this desert alone? This is quite a treacherous place for one to stay all by themselves." She said.
The old woman smiled and uttered a little laugh.
"You of all people should know that I can more than take care of myself, Zelda. What took you so long?" Asked the woman.
Both Zelda and Link stared in confusion at the strange old lady's words.
"How... how do you know me? Have we met before?" Asked Zelda.
The old woman laughed again.
"You know, the last time I saw you, you looked a lot like I do now… funny, that..." She said, leaning the broom against the wall and taking a step toward the befuddled travelers.
"You're a Gerudo?" The boy asked.
"Yep. The last around here I'm pretty sure. Name's Nabalia... You must be Link." She said.
She took a few shuffling steps toward him, looking him over a few times before she gently cupped his jaw in her wrinkled hand, searching his face.
"Zelda talked so much about you… I'm glad I'm finally getting to meet you… Hmm, you really are as handsome as she said you were… though I think she mentioned that you had some red in your hair then." She softly patted his cheek as the boy blushed, his eyes dropping into the sand.
Nabalia turned again toward Zelda, noting her expression.
"Are you confused, honey? You look confused." She said, and Zelda nodded.
"Well, come on then. Come in, sit down and have some tea. I'll tell you all about it." She said, taking Zelda's hand as she gestured to Link, who followed after them into the little clay dwelling.
Nabalia sat the two around a small table, eagerly pouring them each a large cup of chilled and sweetened tea.
"So, I'm guessing you've finally come back for the pages, right?" She asked.
Link nodded, still wearing a look of perplexity.
"Yeah… that's why we're here. I'm guessing that, you have them?" He asked.
Nabalia took a seat.
"Kind of, but I'll get to that in a second." She said, sipping her own cup of tea.
Zelda rested her chin in her palm, her brows furrowed.
"I don't understand. If you had met my previous incarnation, you would be over three hundred years old." She said.
"three hundred and eighty-six to be precise. It has been awhile. You don't remember me at all do you?" She asked.
Zelda shook her head, still unable to decided whether or not she, in fact, didn't.
Nabalia smiled wistfully.
"You were my best friend Zelda, long ago." She said.
They regarded each other in silence for a moment. Faint recollection began to stir as translucent memories crept through the girl's mind.
"... I do know you...from somewhere." Said Zelda.
The lady chuckled.
"Oh yes, you must've spent at least a few weeks a year out here, especially in the winter." She said, and she pointed to the timeworn but still incredibly ornate rug that covered the wooden floor.
"You picked out that carpet, most of the books on that shelf there were yours too."
Zelda blinked, looking over the quaint furnishings of the little house, a strange feeling of displacement rolling over her as if time had shifted focus. She looked back at Nabalia, who tilted her head a slight and her mouth curled into a slanted, cocky grin. It was then that Zelda saw her. Nabalia's grin widened.
"You know, you look almost exactly the same, you even have the same look on your face when you're thinking really hard. " She said, and Zelda breathed a small, uncertain laugh.
A silence fell between the three, and a sadness seemed to play on the Gerudo woman's face as she looked on at the youth, memories of days long past written in her eyes.
"It's good to see you Zelda... we had so much fun together... after your initial hazing, that is." She said, her grin returning
The princess reached across the table and softly gripped the old woman's hand.
"Tell me the story?" She said.
Nabalia sighed.
"It's a long one." She said
"I met Zelda when she was twelve years old. I was the middle daughter of the our people's chief. The king came to talk to my mother about reestablishing our relationship with the rest of Hyrule. Trade and all that boring stuff as I'm sure you know, Zelda. The king brought the princess with him to sit in on the talks. My mother wasn't too keen on Hylians, so in turn, neither were my sisters and I. For most of the month she was there, we tormented her. We made fun of the way she talked, the way she dressed, her nearly white hair, we pulled pranks on her...we were terrible. All through it she never said a word back to us, she never told our parents either; like she thought that she was totally above it all, which of course made us pick on her that much more. One day, after making the princess's life especially heinous, when I went to undress that night, I noticed that the dagger that my grandmother had given to me, the one that she'd had made especially for me, was missing. I threw a fit. I ransacked my room that night trying to find it. The next day I accused every one of my three sisters. We all fought like the children we were and ran off to our respective places to sulk. A day or two later while my sisters and I were talking outside the court chamber, Zelda walked up to us. She tossed my dagger into the sand at my feet and just smiled. We all went silent. I had no idea how she did it, but I'll never forget What she said..." The old woman cackled.
"I am Zelda, dagger thief and sower of discord, in this sweet little voice... I shook her hand and from that moment on we were the best of friends. I looked forward to when the king would bring her along to talk to my mother. When the new roads were finally built, I visited her. We were friends her whole life in fact.
As Nabalia finished the tale, Zelda leaned her cheek upon her hand, the spectral reminiscence taking loose shape in her mind. A tiny, warm light lit in her heart as she looked on at the Gerudo lady's ancient face. She smiled in earnest as the feeling spread through her.
"Ma'am… May I ask you something?" Link inquired and Nabalia turned toward him in her seat.
"If you knew Zelda back then, do you know why she hid the book and the pages in first place? I've been wondering since we started looking for them." He said.
Nabalia, sat back into her chair.
"That actually has a lot to do with you, Link." She said, her face becoming rather sorrowful as she thought.
"Zelda didn't like to talk about it much, I don't know exactly what was written in the book or on the pages she hid all over the place, but when she came to me afterward… to ask me to hide the second set for her… she did tell me why. It had been Link's dying request that she keep the knowledge the book contained a secret from the world. It was his last wish… and she was determined to see it through, so that his death wouldn't have been in vain." Said Nabalia.
Link thought for a moment, the nightmare he'd had a thousand times over coming suddenly to mind; the same nightmare he'd woke from the morning all of this began.
"…My last wish?" He echoed, and Nabalia nodded.
"Yes, as I said, she didn't really like to talk about it, but she did tell me once what happened. I suppose you both know who little Zelda there actually is?" She asked.
They each nodded, the princess tensing as Nabalia continued her story.
"There was a siege on the palace by a sect of my people who worshiped Ganondorf as a God and wanted to revive him. They had insurgents in the castle, and so they knew that they could use Zelda to do it. I remember her being gone for a long time and hearing there was some kind of trouble in Hyrule. I feared the worst for a while, until I got a letter from her telling me she was being chased but she was hiding, though she couldn't tell me where. After they found her, they took her back to the castle and used her to crack the seal on the sword sealing the Demon King, Ganon. They did, cracked the pedestal right in half, and then they tried to feed the princess's essence to the Demon King. By the time Link got there, Ganon had been fully resurrected in the raging state he had been in when he and Zelda had last sealed him away. Link fought, and he fought well, but the demon was seething with rage and the power of the Triforce was running rampant in him. He mortally injured the poor boy. Even so, Link managed to subdue the demon and deliver the final blow. As Ganon lay dying, Zelda awoke and trapped his soul in one of the mirrors hanging in the temple, sealing him there. By the time it was over, Link was already bleeding to death... He died shortly after."
As Nabalia spoke, Zelda sat across the table, using every ounce of strength to repress the clawing grief of her previous self as she threatened to take her over. It felt as if her soul was cracking, another self wailing a ghost of a lament that had lay sleeping within her for centuries. She thought of the dream. The starlit gardens… the Link who had stolen away with her in the night... the blood on her hands. She swallowed hard, knowing that the information that this woman had to impart was far too important to allow any interruption.
"What… What became of the mirror then? I believe it is that mirror of which you speak that Tairyn used to possess my father..." She said.
"Tairyn? Is that his name?" Nabalia laughed, and she paused for a moment.
"When Zelda was much older, when she had become queen of the realm, during one of my stays she showed it to me. She kept it under her bed… At the end of her life, I got a letter from her informing me that she didn't think she had much time left, and that she had a request of me… I was at her deathbed with her eldest son, and she asked me to keep the mirror for her. Of course I couldn't refuse. I thought it was only proper, if not a little ironic...Afterwards, I had this house built and then it sat here as I did, waiting for Zelda to return… A few months ago, of all people, a Sheikah man came to my door. He was looking for a way into the Arbiter's Grounds, looking for the Dark Mirror, or the Mirror of Twilight as its sometimes called. I laughed at him of course. The Mirror of Twilight has been gone for centuries; shattered by Queen Midna of the Twili, or so I've heard. Needless to say he got pretty angry. I thought he was going to kill me for a second because he drew his dagger and held it to my throat. Then suddenly he had the strangest look on his face... he knew. Anyways, he pushed me and I fell… I tried to stop him, but my legs aren't what they used to be, and off he went… that's when I knew you'd be coming."
All three of them sat in silence for a time, soaking in the centuries that the ancient woman had laid out in front of them, the two travelers utterly exhausted by it. At length, Nabalia spoke again.
"Well, before you showed up I was about to make some dinner. I'm sure you two haven't been eating all that well traipsing around all over the place. We can talk about the pages after that." She said.
"Nabalia?" Said Zelda, softly.
"Yes?"
"Do you have by chance, a basin where I could run some cold water on my face?" She asked.
Nabalia smiled cordially, and pointed toward the door.
"A couple paces to the left of the house, there's a well." She replied.
Zelda stood. Thanking the old woman, she disappeared through the front door. Link let his head fall back over the chair, breathing a long sigh and watching as Nabalia moved to lay a spitted bird with a few onions and potatoes cover the coals in the hearth. She sat back down next to the boy with an odd grin set about her face. Link straightened himself, turning toward her as she poured him another cup of tea.
"Thank you for all the history you shared with us… it was… surreal to hear it told by somebody who was actually there. Everything I know, I've seen in dreams." He said.
Nabalia chuckled.
"Well, when you're as old as I am, everything is history and stories." She said.
Link's eyes flitted down to table and the back to the little old woman.
"May I ask you something?" He queried.
"Anything." She returned.
"I don't mean to be rude, but I have to know… how'd you managed to live so long? I know the Zora can live for centuries, but, I've never met a Gerudo. Most Hylians only live to a hundred and thirty at most." Said Link.
Nabalia took a long drink from the porcelain cup, setting it gently down again on the table.
"When Zelda asked me to keep the mirror on her deathbed, she told me I might be waiting a few centuries. I figured, why not? Do a friend a favor and get a few extra years. She passed along some of her power to me with her last breath."
The Gerudo lady glanced toward her open door and then back to the boy.
"I never met another one like Zelda. It's wonderful to see her again… it's lovely to finally meet you as well…" Nabalia paused.
"She missed you very much… the Zelda I knew so long ago. It was tragic… I don't think that she ever really got over it... You were born into knighthood that time, right in the guardhouse. You two took your lessons in the very same school room. She had never known a time without you with her… I used to get so jealous when she'd talk about you. I wanted to meet you just so I could fight you for her. Never got a chance to though..." The old woman turned her head to look into the eyes of the boy beside her.
"… She was in love with you, you know." Said Nabalia.
Link dropped her gaze as his breath caught a slight in his throat.
"Why are you telling me this?" He asked softly.
"Because I thought you should know… I don't think she ever came out and said it then." She replied
At that moment, Zelda reappeared in the doorway; the hair about her face soaked and hanging in strings.
Nabalia turned again to Link.
"The next set is in the ruins of the city in the sky. Zelda said something about summoning a...something, back then... I think... It has been three hundred years so, forgive me. You two will have to figure out on your own how to get there now."
After dinner, as night had begun to fall, Nabalia directed the two youths to cellar below the house. On one rocky wall the sat a heavy, riveted iron door.
"Had a Goron make this door for me. I haven't been down here once since the last time." Said Nabalia, pulling a weighty key on a rope from a hook beside.
The key squealed in the lock as the mechanism inside clanked apart. Nabalia pulled at the handle, it didn't budge so she pulled it again. She sighed.
""Link, would you mind?" She said.
He looked to her and then to the door. It took both hands, but the boy pulled the door open and now the three of them stared into a long, dark cavern. Nabalia lit a torch and handed it to Zelda.
"Follow me." She said.
For a long while, the trio walked down under the earth towards ever stretching darkness. After about a mile, they came suddenly to a large underground chamber. Nabalia stepped inside first and Zelda held the flame aloft, illuminating the torches along the perimeter of the room. Nabalia looked at Zelda, nodding to the torches on the walls. Zelda twitched an eyebrow.
"...Oh." She said, with a little gasp.
The princess lit the torches on the walls up one by one. They could see now a huge slab of stone, different from the rocks around it, standing at the far wall. Zelda laid the torch down as she came to Nabalia's side.
"We're under The Arbiter's Grounds. That piece of wall back there is all that's left of the Dessert Colossus. It fell down here as the prison started to rot and cave in." Said the old woman.
The three moved toward the weathered stone wall. From her pocket, Nabalia pulled a piece of chalk. With it, she drew the shape of a door. Link and Zelda looked to her in confusion. Nabalia smiled and took Zelda's hand. She led her to the chalk outline.
"Open the door, Zelda." She said.
Zelda looked to the old woman and then back to the door. Hesitantly, she put her hand on the surface of stone. The place her hand lay began to glow golden, and the hard facade of the door turned soft and stretched until a doorway appeared. As Zelda looked inside it appeared to be a corridor into space itself. Both the boy and the princess were silent with awe.
"...Who wants to go first?" The boy said at last.
"You're not going, Link." Nabalia said.
"What?" the teenagers snapped.
The old Gerudo woman looked to Zelda and then to Link.
"She needs an anchor to this world, Link. Someone who cares for her to draw her back from the place we're going." She said
"Then why don't you stay here and let me go in with her?" The boy returned.
Nabalia side-eyed him.
"I've been in there before, kid, I can guide her better than you can." She said.
Link was silent, searching both of their faces. After a moment, Zelda stepped up beside him. She took both of his hands in hers and and tightened her fingers ever so gently.
"I can do this." She said.
Link sighed.
"I know. There's just nothing I can do out here." He said.
"There's also the matter of when she comes out of the spirit world." Said Nabalia and the two turned to her.
"She won't be coming back through this door. She could re-materialize anywhere above ground between this spot and my house. She's going to need help when she comes back. I'm not going to lie to you, this is very draining."The old woman said.
Zelda watched the the boy become very tense. He looked on with unease for a moment at Nabalia before turning to Zelda again.
"Be careful." He said, and they gently released each other's hands.
She looked at him for a moment longer and then the princess turned to stand next to the Gerudo woman waiting in front of the gate.
"You ready?" She asked, extending her hand.
""Yes." Zelda replied, taking the wrinkled hand in hers.
Holding her breath, Zelda and Nabalia stepped through the doorway and the princess gave a little shriek as they free fell into the darkness.
Link lingered there for a few moments before be picked up the torch and began to hurry back toward the cellar.
She is falling through memories. At first it seems as if her mind is crowded by strange geometric shapes and characters of various languages but as she descends deeper her vision begins to bleed back into her absent wakefulness. She falls... her mind filled with images of the past as she rushes by, each seeming to fade and blacken as lifetimes flow past. She sees, for an instant, innumerous histories, her lives and deaths spinning by her at the speed of light. Then the fall seems to slow. She is in the dark now. Feeling a sense of forward motion, she waits. She hears faintly in the distance two voices. One whispers softly as the other weeps. The image begins to light itself before her. Two shadowy figures upon the floor of the temple deep in the palace. She does not want to watch… does not want to see what she knows is coming as the language becomes intelligible and yet she cannot look away. A version of herself, the one whose portrait hangs upon the wall of the library she has so loved, lies in a crumpled heap beside another figure. It is the other Link. Soaked in his own blood, he grips her previous self's hand with what little energy he has. She does not want to look but she finds that she has no choice as she is suddenly swept into the moment, the form of the boy sprawled limply beside her as she cradles his head in her arms. She softly touches his cheek.
"Link?" She whispers.
He opens his eyes, and he smiles weakly as she pulls him closer.
"Zelda..." He rasps, and tears flow down her cheeks as she sees the sheen of blood that covers him.
"... are you hurt?" He asks.
She shakes her head, trying hard to mirror his expression.
"No... I'm alright... Link... can you stand?" She asks
The boy shakes his head. His breathing is quick and strained as she holds him helplessly in her arms. He looks up at her.
"I...Zelda... I think I'm dying." He says, his words barely audible through nearly colorless lips.
She looks down at him, her breath leaving her. She shakes her head, panic gripping her heart.
"No... No, you can't. Please... there has to be something that I can..."
She feels him grip her hand gently.
"Zelda… listen to me… okay?"
She draws him closer and she stifles her frantic tears for a moment to hear him.
"...I need you to promise me something..."
She strokes his hair, and he swallows back the blood in his throat.
"...The Sky Book…you have to hide it, Zelda...Please... Because... I know if you don't… then people will keep coming after you… they can't know who you are, Zelda…they can't know what comes at the end of that book..."
Her tears are desperate now, as she presses the side of her head to his..
"Please...please don't die... You are... my best friend... I have no idea...how to go on living without you..."
The boy grips her hand as tight as his spent body will allow.
"I love you… I always have... that's why… you have to do this… so… I can die... knowing that you're safe… please, Zelda… Promise me."
She pulls him tighter to her, his blood soaking her dress to her skin, and she swears to him that she will. With the last of his strength, he gently caresses her face. He does not let his arm drop as he pulls away, but softly folds it against his chest, his gaze fixed and cloudy as it falls from hers. He shuts his eyes and he breathes raggedly in her arms for a few moments more before he is finally still. Hesitantly, she lays her fingers to the side of his throat. There is only stillness beneath his flesh. She sits in silent devastation for a time, the world ceasing to make sense as she holds him close to her. She kisses him softly then, at the corner of his mouth; their first and last. Her ruin is inconsolable. The image scatters like sand in the wind and afterward she is afloat again; stars and time flowing past, speeding headlong toward the ground.
Then there is darkness.
When her vision returns, she is lying upon blue sands. A wind that is neither cool nor warm sweeps over her as Zelda, the vision all but paralyzing her, lifts her eyes and surveys her surroundings. Night stretches around her in watercolor clarity as she shifts an unfeeling, weightless body upright. There is nothing but silence, and the enormous moon that hangs above her. Galaxies visibly churning throughout the sky. She feels as though she is weeping, though no tears come forth; her heart struck with fresh, impossible grief. She sees suddenly in front of her a figure in a white, linen dress; red and blue markings adorn the hem and sleeves. The figure is insurmountably beautiful, her long hair the brightest red as she leans down to pull Zelda upright from the sand.
"Rough landing?" She asks, the crooked smile returning.
The princess stands, mournful and disjointed as her many selves coalesce and separate. Their voices are nearly deafening here. She steadies herself and turns to the girl beside her in this dark, dreaming world, her voice flowing through her being.
"Nabalia?" She asks, and the red-head curtsies.
"Princess." She says.
Zelda turns, and gazes out across the darkly illuminated phantom world. The spires of what appears to be the Arbiters Grounds rise from the endless dunes; distorted, looming and formidable.
"This... is the spirit realm?" She asks.
The Gerudo girl steps up beside the princess
"That it is...the midway point anyway..." She pauses, pointing toward the structure in the distance. A beam of light seems to shine up from its center into the sky.
"See that over there? That's the gateway to the pages. You created it... when you came here last." She says.
Zelda turns to face the youthful figure beside her.
"Created it?" She asks and Nabalia nods again.
"Yep... Hmmm, how do I explain this? It's like a temple built out of your thoughts and feelings, everything inside of it is part of you... you can control what happens in there... Come on, I'll explain a little better as we move, we don't have much time."
Zelda, her mind whirling, follows the red-head and they make their way through the cyan-colored sand toward the tall sliver of light as unseen creatures seem to move beside; faint whispers pervading the strange world through which they now walk. After what feels like hours they stand at the entrance to the enormous labyrinth; the vertical beam brighter now above them. Before the two is a great door that seems to shift like water. Zelda steps unsteadily forward, the wavy matter of the door reacting to her presence and flashing a spectrum of color as she approaches. She notices a faint glow from beneath her flesh. Nabalia steps up soundlessly beside her.
"Concentrate, Zelda. Remember what I said, all of this is a part of you. You can manipulate it as long as you stay focused. So come on, open the door." She says, her voice echoing across the silence of the realm.
Zelda nods, and turns to the churning, liquid granite. She imagines the door solid, and slowly, the ethereal seal molds and takes the form of an arched, delicately carved stone doorway. Before them, in the blackness, appears a phantasmal staircase that ascends into the tower. Zelda looks apprehensively back, feeling the interiors of the vast spiritual castle reaching for her, longing to join with her.
"... What is in this place? What is it that I should expect?" She asks and Nabalia starts up the faintly glowing stairway.
"I don't know... it might look a little different this time... brace yourself." She says
Link sat anxiously in Epona's saddle, his breath visible in the moonlight. He and his horse stood at the base on an enormous mesa overlooking the sprawling expanse of desert below him. From it, he could clearly see both the little clay hut and the decaying Arbiter's Grounds beyond. Shivering, he hopped down beside Epona and reached inside the bag for his cloak. He stood beside his horse for a time, the silence infinite. Link gently stroked her side as they stood on the steep slope of rock. It seemed to him that quite a lot of time had passed since Zelda had crossed the threshold of the gate. He was trying his best to stay calm, knowing full well that worry was useless. At the moment though, he himself felt useless. All he could do was wait and somehow, that was much harder to do than walk through a door to nowhere. Frustrated and feeling rather helpless, he looked to the sky. The moon and stars were brilliant in this place. Though he stood, fretful and shivering on the side of a hill he couldn't help but admire them. He heard a sort of crackling noise then, and in the distance he saw a brief but blinding flash of yellow light. Quickly he mounted Epona and sped off toward the flash.
The room, if it could be called that, beyond the stairway is endless. It is as if the two are standing in the night sky, various shapes and figures lit in ribbons of electric greens and blues float aimlessly in all directions, waiting for shape and logic. Nabalia steps inside first, beckoning the princess to follow. Zelda stares in awe at the neon dreamscape.
"Well, this is pretty much as I remember it... at least for now. Do you know what to do?" Nabalia asks.
Zelda shakes her head, her thoughts scrambled, thousands of voices fighting for recognition in her weary head; memories demanding to be recalled. Nabalia turns to her.
"Okay, you need to make the room into what you want it to be. Focus really hard, tell it what you want it to look like. All of your memories are here, so this place will just take the form of whatever your most recent experiences are" She pauses, looking about her.
"Don't forget to put in a door either." She adds.
Zelda straightens, attempting to calm her splintering mind and she shifts her focus to the space before her. She wills the dimension to take shape and gradually, it becomes a room. Seeming to fade into existence before their eyes, what looks like a great cavern of glass appears, taking the form on an ancient temple; held indelibly in the in the soul of the princess for centuries. A doorway rises at the far end with yet another staircase as the rooms glimmers with the natural colors of the waking world. Nabalia steps across the stone, her footfalls suddenly audible.
"Good girl, now come on."
Zelda follows, the glow about her becoming brighter as the two press on. They traverse the towers of the spirit castle, Zelda dreaming the way forward into existence as the walls seem to whisper to her. They seep into her, the haranguing eons of experience. Inside another spectral stairway, Zelda falters, and the once solid staircase begins to sag like melting wax. Nabalia jumps.
"Zelda!" She cries.
The princess jerks to attention again, the effort somehow exhausting though the stairway gathers itself back into place. Nabalia turns to her.
"You have to keep focus, I know it's hard, but you must. You're what's holding all of it together." She says.
Zelda draws a shaking breath and looks to her companion.
"I'm sorry. There are so many thoughts to reconcile... it feels like they are coming all at once." She says.
"I know... I figured it would be a little harder for you this time... Come on, we're almost there." Nabalia replies.
They continue the climb up the stairway as another voice, stronger than the rest, urges the princess on. The next room they come to takes the shape of the temple under the palace. Zelda stops short. Dark blood seems to spring from the floor, spreading in a scarlet pool over the stone. Nabalia whirls around.
"Stop that right now..." She snaps but Zelda does not hear.
The princess feels a burst of panic, and it is then that she can suddenly remember everything; layer upon layer of being that no words could ever describe... and the boy... he is there always, but ever briefly. A thought horrifies her, how many times has this tragedy repeated? How many times had his youth and life been sacrificed to restore the never ending shift of balance? How many times has he died saving her? She feels as though her very soul is crumbling as the world around them begins to tremor.
"I can remember... I can see all of it! It's horrible... The cruelty of it... One boy... always so young that he hardly even knows himself... forced to carry the fate of the world... He saved us... He saved us all and he asks nothing in return... only to bleed to death on a stone floor, or to die alone in obscurity...and I... I am..." Overcome with the compounded remorse of her many lives, she sinks to the ground.
Nabalia rushes to her side. Zelda, her consciousness wavering, speaks again. Her voice is refracted by many others as luminous cracks appear in ephemeral walls.
"He and I... We've been there... in that world so many times... We cannot truly die, and yet we are so fragile... so much blood spilled... time... death... it is an illusion... everything is endless... and still... it does not make it any easier... so many goodbyes..."
She feels as though she is fracturing and Nabalia watches in terror as her illuminated form seems to shift through the features of a thousand golden-haired maidens, in despair upon the quaking floor. The Gerudo girl quickly falls to her knees before the princess.
"You have to focus! Center yourself! That's how you got through here before, you have to focus yourself into one!" She cried.
Zelda shakes her head, weeping now in the face of eternity.
"I can't! There are so many voices... so much grief... Who am I? Who am I really? ...and Link... Am I... only the bait to lure him into battle? All of this supposed power... and yet... I can never save him."
Suddenly the corner of the room breaks away, revealing a brilliant scatter of stars and empty space. Zelda seems to be fading and Nabalia grips her shoulders, panic in her voice.
"Zelda, You have to snap out of this! You know who you are! If you don't concentrate, your consciousness will scatter and you'll die in here!"
Another chunck of the room breaks away and Nabalia jerks her head toward the gaping hole and back to Zelda, her eyes wide.
"Think of the boy, Zelda! The one that's alive now! The two of you have always been and always will be, he's never utterly lost to you! This is your fight, your destiny, together! You have to finish it!" She cries.
The princess is blank, and the stone tile of the floor begins to chip away. Nabalia throws her arms around the fading figure, the threat of failure burning her. Then, all at once, the trembling ceases. Nabalia stands again as Zelda seems to become solid once more. The walls of the room brighten, seeming to ice over in soft hues of lavender. Zelda is motionless, gathering the fragments of her many lives, she reaches within for silence and it is then that the clamoring voices cease. The glow around her becomes a blinding radiance, as the room begins to shift. Instead of the high, stone ceiling, the sky rolls out over the sea, stretching in all directions. The Gerudo girl, shielding her eyes, watches as the figure of the princess seems to split in two. Zelda is calm, alight in her current form. She is herself, and not, as she looks at the shimmering other, into her own divine soul. The two are one, staring back into an infinite mirror. The figure smiles, as does the princess as a warm wave of understanding washes over her. A voice whispers.
"Though the forms of mortality are many... love endures... its shapes you... and draws you back... rise, Zelda... You must awaken... He waits for you."
Zelda, her identity momentarily stripped, watches as the figure raises her arms. From the churning waters of the ocean upon which they now stand, a great pyramid arises, the beam of light shining into the open sky. Slowly, the glimmering figure dissipates, and Zelda is whole again. Nabalia helps her to her feet, this plane seeming solid as earth now. They stand at last before the steps, the pages floating at the very top, stiff and out of place in this world of spirits. The two girls look at each other, a wide grin on Nabalia's face and they race each other to the top. Within the blue beam of light the pages hover, bound in shimmering silver as Zelda reaches out her hand. Nabalia grips the other and she pauses for a moment, turning to the apparition of her long-lost friend.
"You did great...Thank you… for everything. I'm sorry I lied to you too..." She says.
Zelda's looks at her in confusion
"What do you mean?" She asks.
Nabalia lookes away and then back to Zelda.
"I've never really been in here before. The last time you went in, I was the anchor that time... I just wanted to have one last adventure with you. I'm not coming back with you, Zelda." She said.
The princess huffs in protest.
"Why not? You have to come back with me." She says but Nabalia shakes her head.
"No, my times's up. I already gave you back what you gave me. I know...that you're not my Zelda, but you are Zelda all the same. It was good to see you, old friend." She says.
Nabalia smiles warmly and kisses Zelda's cheek before she points a finger over the princess's shoulder. Zelda regards her for a moment before she turns. Finally, she grasps the pages in her hand. When she spins around again, Nabalia is gone.
Link rode quickly toward where he'd seen the flash of light. In the distance now, he could see what he realized with horror was Zelda lying still in the sand. He urged Epona on, nearly jumping from her saddle when finally they came upon the girl. He called her name as she lay motionless on her back, Zelda's eyes half-opened and staring visionlessly at the sky. In her hand she gripped a silver case. She was hardly breathing. In a flurry, Link undid his cloak and scooped the girl into his arms, her head lolling back over his elbow as he hurried to wrap it around her slender frame. Zelda did not stir. She only clutched the pages, staring vacantly into the sky. Frantically, Link pulled her upright and shook her.
"Come on girl, wake up… come on Zelda." He said.
She still did not stir. Near to hysterics, he shook her a little harder, the cold nearly biting.
"Come on! Don't you dare die on me! Zelda… "
She blinked then. There was nearly no blue left in her eyes, only black dots that seemed to stare through him. Trembling, she reached up and laid a hand to his cheek. Tears slid down her face, and Link uttered a breathless laugh of pure relief.
"…Link… I... you were..." She murmured.
He rested his chin on her shoulder as she weakly wrapped her arms around him.
"It's okay… You're out... you're back were you're supposed to be.." He said softly.
Zelda shook her head as she began to cry. He held her until she pulled slowly away from him, getting her bearings now and turning her attention to her friend.
"Where... Where's Nabalia?" She asked.
"I don't know. The only one I found was you." He returned.
Zelda shakily got to her feet. Scanning the horizon now, she called her friends name. There was only the quiet desert night. It was then that Zelda realized that the Gerudo woman had passed quietly away, her task fulfilled.
Zelda and Link crossed the bridge in the early hours of the morning. After a drowsy ride down into the craggy foothills, they made camp in a small sandy pass a few miles from where they had stopped the night before. As the fire blazed before them, each of them lingered in their own minds. Zelda seemed particularly haunted by the events of the night, she had not spoken a word throughout the ride. A length Link broke the silence.
"Talk to me, Zelda..." He paused, glancing to her and then again into the fire.
"...You scared me pretty bad back there..." He said, his eyes moving back to hers.
Zelda looked on at him, her senses sharper than they had ever been though her body seemed heavy and non-compliant. The memories of what she had witnessed in the realm of spirits were dulling, and quickly slipping from her waking, mortal mind. Though, phantom grief rang in her like a loathsome bell.
How many times have you ever even seen your twenties, Link?
She sighed, staring into the fire ahead.
"It was... very uncomfortable…to say the least. I felt like my consciousness was pulling in thousands of different directions. Navigating that place... it was like trying to stay awake when you're desperately tired..."
She paused, glancing to the boy.
"I... I watched you die as I descended into the spirit world... I watched the final moments of your life before this one… I saw so many things... I..." She paused.
She closed her eyes for a moment, drawing a deep breath.
"... I am disturbed by the pattern my memories have begun to make…" She said.
Link said nothing; his face soft in the glow of the fire. Zelda looked to him, her eyes bright. The two were quiet for a time, and Link could hear the princess sigh softly beside him. At length, she spoke again.
"It's strange... All my life I have been so confined to myself… despite the luxury I grew up in. I have never really felt attached to anyone or anything. But you, Link... I have never met anyone so fearless, and yet so kind...so gentle... empathetic and noble... You live and the world is better for it." She said.
The boy was nearly speechless, his blood feeling suddenly very hot beneath his skin.
"…Do you really mean that?" He asked, and she nodded, her eyes finding his.
'Yes... So, please don't die?" She said, with a soft, nervous laugh.
His gaze fell from hers.
"Zelda..."
He sighed, looking down, he examined his hand beside hers before he brought his gaze back to her achingly beautiful face. In that moment he nearly told her everything. In the end though, logic won and he was silent.
"...it'll be alright." He said.
They sat close and stared into the fire for some time. Then, emotionally and physically drained, Zelda laid down beside him. Bidding him a tiny, meek goodnight, she slept. Link sat there staring at the surrounding rocks for some time after, the silence filled with the quick tempo of his restless heart.
Khai was right… I am in love with her… I'm an idiot.
He let out a long sigh, and looked across to the sleeping Zelda once more. Then, he slipped down onto his bedroll beside her. He lay there for a time on his back before he finally closed his eyes. After what seemed like hours, he finally drifted into sleep.