The Legend of Zelda: Reconciliation

Hey all!

Well, so much for my chapter-a-week streak (not that it was really a streak). Sorry for the wait guys. This chapter gave me some attitude and I had to rewrite it quite a few times before I was happy with it. I apologize for the general lack of action in it, but there were a few little things that needed to be taken care of first, and the Towers deserve a chapter of their own rather than being tacked on to the end of this one.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the read and it was worth the wait!

Rose Zemlya

P.S. [UPDATE] Oh my God, I'm so sorry about the weird formatting. apparently no longer likes my little astrisks and has decided to not only remove them all but not let me replace them with any other kind of symbol. Which means I'm stuck using their HR button which I don't like at all. For anyone who read this without the stupid HRs, I'm sorry for the lack of distinction between sections - that's what I get for not previewing I suppose. Learned my lesson - it's fixed now. If anyone knows how to get my formatting back, please let me know.

Thanks, guys!

"The only thing people love more than a hero, is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying…. The truth is, in spite of everything you've done for them, eventually, they will hate you."

The Green Goblin (Spiderman Movie)

xxx

Chapter 6

"… well I heard that he killed no less than ten guards! Ten! Can you imagine?" The lady sitting in front of him snorts derisively (at least, I assume it's a him. The lady's sort of massive and she's blocking whatever view I might have had of the original speaker. She's vaguely familiar, in an unpleasant sort of way).

"Well what can you expect, exactly?" She demands in a loud, overbearing voice that makes me want to grind my teeth. "He's always been something of a bad egg, you know. Why, I remember this one instance, I was at the Castletown Market at the time, and my little Richard bounded up to him – he's such a friendly dog—" Oh yes. Richard. The little terrier attack dog that took personal offence to my existence. If I could count the number of times that little rat of a dog sank his teeth into me …. "—and he kicked my poor pup! A malicious little boy, he was! And afterwards he grinned like … well, not unlike those wanted posters they've put up." At her words I glance up at the poster pinned up on the wall despite myself. I've already seen it. I stared at it in shock as a matter of fact for a good five minutes (thanking the goddesses the weather had forced me to put my hood up) while the guard who showed it to me went on about what a shame it is when good people go bad.

On it are three rough sketches of Hunter, Neesha and me – except that Neesha looks crazy, Hunter looks dastardly, and I just look evil – and I'm not talking, cool, debonair, suave evil. Oh no. Not by a long shot. I'm talking insane, manic, I-sacrifice-babies-on-a-bloody-altar-to-appease-the-evil-hunger-of-my-dark-god-and-to-tell-the-truth-I-kinda-like-it evil.

"It's the Gerudo in him, I'll bet," says a second woman, standing beside the first. "And if it's not the blood, it's the environment. Did you know that he actually lives in the desert with those savages? It's no wonder he's turned violent." They all shake their heads.

I clench my jaw and my fists and stare straight ahead, boring a hole in the wanted poster with my eyes.

"Poor Princess Zelda," the man says. "I hate to say it," here his voice lowers to a conspiratorial whisper that the whole store can hear, "but I think there's a distinct possibility that we'll never see her again! Considering how mentally unstable he is, he may have done anything! It's been two weeks since he kidnapped her! Imagine what he's put our poor Princess through in that time!"

"I heard he proposed to her and she said no and that's what made him go crazy. I heard he meant to kill her. You know, one those 'If I can't have her, no one will' type of things."

"I heard that while he was away he fell into the dark arts and they're what drove him crazy."

"You're assuming that he even really went away," someone else throws in. "Think about it. All those disappearances lately? Maybe that whole … 'diplomatic mission' was just a cover and he's actually been here, the whole time. Kidnapping people."

"I heard that he killed his own uncle!" Every head in the room but mine swivels around. I'm having trouble getting my breath out between my teeth at the moment.

"What?" Both women gasp. "No!"

"Yes," says the man, clearly relishing the attention this little bit of gossip has earned him. "You remember him, don't you? Large man who ran the Archery Shop in Castletown?" Several people take off their hats and the women lower their heads for a moment in an infuriating display of false sympathy.

"Well that tears it," says the smaller woman. "I didn't know either one of them very well but I know that man loved Link like a son. Anyone who would kill his own guardian in cold blood deserves to have a price on their head! Whether or not he did kidnap the Princess!"

I slam my fist down on the counter, unlocking my jaw just enough to cover the noise by shouting at the shopkeeper who's in the back room gathering up the things on my list.

"Hey! What's taking you?" I demand. The crowd turns away from me – disappointed that I don't have some big, fat, juicy lie to add to the rest going around most likely. Vultures. Every last one of them. I'd like nothing better to rip off my hood and show them just how 'crazy' I can be, but that's going to get me nowhere. There's a reward of a thousand rupees on my head. That's enough money to be worth considering turning myself in, let alone trusting someone else to keep my secret.

For all their faults, the Hylian people love Zelda in a way very few rulers are ever loved. And even those who aren't Hylian specifically – with the obvious, and usual exception of the Gerudo – are more or less fond of her. Now that she's missing … they must be in a panic.

I've seen mob mentality drive people to do some pretty insane things …

I shouldn't be surprised Aghanim fell back on it.

And in the end, that's what this is.

It's Aghanim.

It's always Aghanim.

He's turning them against me. He's using Zelda to turn them against me.

He's trying to eliminate as many of my allies as possible. Cutting down my hiding places. Leaving me nowhere to run.

He knows he can't stop me, so he's going to make my life a living Hell in the meantime. I wonder how many of his other dirty deeds he has, and will continue to blame on me?

I wonder how long it'll take for the rest of Hyrule to hate me enough to hand me over to him, if they don't already.

I wonder …

The shopkeeper finally bustles back out of the storage room as the buzz of conversation resumes and I resist the urge to turn my head and answer every time I hear my name. They're all talking about me. Me and Hunter and Neesha.

"Sorry for the wait," he says, setting my things out on the counter for me to inspect. "I couldn't find the bombs." He points at them and looks at me. "You, uh … you know the price has gone up, right?" He asks. "The Gorons will no longer sell to us, so we have to get them through the Sheikah. That means paying a middle man."

"Whatever," I say, taking a quick look at it all. "I don't care. Whether or not they're expensive, I need them. Put it all in a box and tally it up. I'm kinda in a hurry," I add in a flat, unfriendly tone when he opens his mouth – no doubt to try and chat me up about what I think about the talk of the town. He shuts his mouth and turns away with a miffed expression to do as I asked.

All told, I can't get out of there fast enough.

xxx

A Brief Interlude

Neesha frowned at the poster and tried to twist her face into the same expression the pencil version of her was using to leer back at her.

"Give it up, Neesha," Hunter said, smirking at her attempts. "Those expressions are physically impossible."

"What do you think Link's problem was?" She asked, ignoring him and continuing to contort her face. If she could just get her lip to curl a little more …

"I think his problem was this poster," Hunter replied, leaning back on his bench and staring up at the roof.

"A bit violent for just a wanted poster, don't you think?" Zelda pointed out from across the table. She jabbed idly at the leever in front of her with her fork.

"They're better with salt," Hunter said, pushing the salt across the table to her. He made a face. "Lots of salt."

Not more than a half-hour ago Link had returned from his short trip to Kakariko to pick up supplies and drop Brayden, Rue and Karun (Rue had insisted on going with him, her curiosity at a mage that old piqued, and Karun knows the mountains better than either of them so he had been asked to tag along as well) at the path to Death Mountain. At first Nabooru had no intentions of letting him go, so they settled their arguments in the usual way and he won. Hunter had a feeling she'd let him win. She'd said afterwards that she hoped the trip, short though it was, would do something about his cabin fever which was driving her nuts. There was a reason he never stayed long in the desert during the rainy season.

If it was supposed to improve his mood, however, it had failed. He had returned tired, soaked, and pissed off, and wouldn't tell anybody why. All he'd done was drop off the boxes, slam the poster down on the table for everyone to have a look at, and then left as fast as he'd come in, muttering darkly to himself.

"Well … so maybe it's not the poster," Hunter said, "but I can practically guarantee you that it's got something to do with the poster."

"So let's go find out what, then," Neesha said, setting the poster down finally and giving up on trying to imitate it. "We're heading out for the stupid towers tomorrow, and it's going to be a miserable trip if he's sulking." Hunter and Zelda both rolled their eyes in agreement.

"What do you care?" Hunter asked. "You're not going with us."

"No," Neesha said, making a sour face, "I'm going with Acqul and Dune. And what fun we're going to have. First off, they're still not talking to each other. And second, Dune's bossy."

"Dune's a mother," Hunter says. "She can't help bossing you around. She still has trouble understanding that you're technically an adult."

"Technically?" Neesha demanded, glaring at him. "I'm sixteen, Hunter! I'm more than technically an adult." Hunter narrowed his eyes at her.

"Look, we're not having this argument again," he said. "I was just saying that that's the way Dune sees it, all right? You know the Sheikah have a much later coming of age. Just … humour her, all right?" Neesha gave him a withering look.

"Yes oh high and mighty Sheikah," she said caustically. "Your wish is my command."

"Ignore her, Hunter," Zelda said, cutting of his response. "She's just bitter because she can't go with you and Link tomorrow." She got up before Neesha's smouldering glare could erupt into something a little more physical. "Now, I vote for Neesha's suggestion. Let's go find Link."

"Where are we going to look?" Hunter demanded. "This fortress is huge."

"Well," Neesha said, abandoning her glaring to pick up her plate and fork and follow them back to the doors, "would you say he looked more frustrated or more depressed when he got back?" They dropped their plates into the designated spot and thought about it for a moment.

"Depressed," Zelda said finally. "He was both, but more depressed I think."

"In that case, follow me," Neesha said. "I know where he is."

She led them easily through the labyrinth that was Gerudo Fortress, deeper into it than Hunter had been before. He was just about to open his mouth to ask where they were going when they came across a very frazzled – very pregnant – looking Gerudo, dressed in purple.

"Turn back now if you value your sanity," she growled as she passed them, pulling out her ponytail and trying to straighten it out. "He's got them all riled up. Little animals …" Neesha rolled her eyes.

"When does he not rile them up," she grumbled.

"Rile who up?" Zelda asked. In answer Neesha shoved at a door on their left. It swung open to reveal a large room, scattered with various simple objects, apparently toys of some kind. Hunter was vaguely disturbed by the fact that the vast majority of them appeared to be infantile versions of weapons or armour of some kind. He was pretty sure as well that the few that weren't were likely Link's additions to the Gerudo 'toy' chest.

"The nursery?" He asked in surprise. "Are we even allowed in here?" He gestured to Zelda and himself.

"Probably not," Neesha said with a nonchalant shrug. "It's not like you could ruin them anymore than Link's trying to, though, so I wouldn't worry about it. Besides, the majority of people who work on the nursery are the purple, and I'm a red, so I've got rank." She sounded inordinately pleased with that fact, as she always did. She moved to step into the room, then paused for the briefest of instants, throwing a narrow-eyed look around the room, that was gone an instant later as she stepped back instead and gestured them through. Hunter raised an eyebrow and looked at Zelda, who apparently hadn't seen the look Neesha had given the room.

"Ladies first," he said. She raised an eyebrow at him, but took his offer anyway. He slid next to Neesha as Zelda crossed the threshold.

"Something I should know before we step in there?" He asked her. She grinned.

"Just watch," she said. A moment later, however, Zelda frowned and turned around, peering quizzically at them.

"Are you coming?" She demanded, then looked around. "I don't see anyone in here." Neesha frowned in surprise.

"Are you sure?" She demanded. "Nobody?" Zelda gestured impatiently.

"There's nobody here, I mean it." Neesha turned to Hunter and gestured for him to go in.

"Nothing doing," he said flatly. "You first." They glared at each other, then simultaneously sighed.

"Fine, we'll go in together," she grumbled. They moved into the room.

The instant they had crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind them and the lights went out.

Someone let out a whoop and the sound of a mass of little girls tumbling out of hiding places filled the air. Neesha managed half a swear word and Zelda a surprised "Oh!" before they were overwhelmed. Hunter, on the other hand, had acted the instant the door had moved, trying to leap up onto the counter to his left, but two little somethings latched onto his legs and pulled him back down again. The next second three more threw themselves onto his back, effectively pinning him to the ground. Not more than a moment later there was the sound of someone striking flint from around the room and the torches flickered back to life, and when they did they revealed at least thirty little girls, ages ranging from what looked like as young as 3 to as old as 10 (with a couple of thirteen year olds – probably just shy of their rite of passage mission – dressed in purple standing near the torches attempting to look annoyed at the commotion and immaturity in the room, but unable to disguise the twitching at the corner of their mouths). And standing in the throng, looking down at his helpless prisoners, was Link, his hands on his hips in his trademark cocky stance and his face split nearly in two by the crooked smile they all knew, and occasionally loved.

"Tsk," he said. "A Gerudo and two Sheikah, caught and pinned by some little girls." He shook his head. "Either you guys are going soft or my girls here are the most talented group of Gerudo to be born in a while …"

xxx

Chapter 6 (cont.)

"So," I say, settling down onto the floor, my lap immediately filled by one of the smaller girls in the room, "what brings you three to the nursery."

"We were looking for you, actually," Hunter answers, leaning back against the counter and tossing a ball back and forth in his hands. "You, uh … you didn't seem all that happy when you got back."

"Well, that's because I wasn't," I answer vaguely, letting the little girl pull my hat off so she can play with it.

"We were sort of wondering what was wrong," Zelda adds, settling her skirts around herself as she sits down beside me. Neesha remains standing, leaning casually up against the counter instead.

"I showed you the wanted poster, didn't I?" I ask. "Pardon me if have a thousand rupees on my head isn't exactly a cheering thought." Hunter rolls his eyes.

"Link, under any other circumstances you'd be proud of that price. Nayru knows Neesha's spent half today running around and bragging about it to the other Gerudo." He ducks a swing from the aforementioned Gerudo who glares flatly at him. "It's not the wanted poster that's got your shorts in a knot."

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want to talk about it," I say.

"Well fine," Hunter says caustically. "I'll just go get Dune to talk to you about it, then. Maybe she can cry."

"And here I thought you were over that," I mutter wryly. The little girl in my lap pulls my hat down over her face and giggles.

"Not likely," Hunter returns, rolling his eyes.

"We just want to help, Link," Zelda says, leaning up against my shoulder. "We're not trying to pry." Neesha snorts.

"Yes we are." I sigh heavily.

"I know," I say. "Sorry. Didn't mean to snap." For a moment the sounds of the girls in the room playing and laughing and shouting fills everything as we all fall silent. Even the little girl in my lap has curled up and gone silent. I think she might be about to fall asleep. "Can I ask you guys a question?" I say finally. "Hypothetically of course."

"Of course," Zelda agrees, gesturing for me to continue.

"Well … let's say there was this guy. Let's call him … uh …"

"Li?" Hunter suggests with a wry smirk. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Fine. We'll call him Li. And let's say that Li and his friends—"

"Can we call them Hunt, Nee and Zel?" Neesha asks, smirking at me. Zelda is unable to repress a giggle. I glare at them.

"I'm trying to be hypothetical here," I say flatly.

"Sorry," Neesha says, unapologetically.

"Do continue," Zelda adds.

"Right. So let's say that Li and his friends are … well, they're heroes. Whether they set out to be or not doesn't really matter. What does is that they are. They worked very hard and they sacrificed a lot and in the end they managed, through some freak chance, to save the world – or at least Hyrule – from a nasty fate. And let's say that while there may have been selfish reasons behind it in part, for the most part, they did it because it was the right thing to do. Because there was a job to do, and they stepped up and did it. And let's say that they never really stopped. That just about everything they did, they did for Hyrule. For its people and its allies. They gave up time and effort and other things they may have done with themselves. They even … they even gave up people they loved for it." Zelda twists around so she can look at me.

"This is a very depressing hypothetical question," she observes.

"Well it shouldn't be," I answer, "but what's sad is that I even have to ask it." I shake my head and frown at the ground. "Let's say that one day, a very bad man said some very bad things about Li and his friends. After everything Li and his friends had done for the kingdom, after everything they'd sacrificed, after everything they'd become … would you have believed him? The bad man? Given a choice who would you side with?" Hunter and Zelda are both nodding slowly.

"I take it," Zelda says softly, "the masses have spoken, and it wasn't what you were expecting." I shift the little girl in my lap so I can sit in a more comfortable position and nod.

"They have," I agree, "and it wasn't."

"How bad was it?" Hunter asks. "How much damage control will we—"

"We're, uh … we're a little beyond damage control," I interrupt him, shaking my head dismally. "Even for you two." I nod at him and Zelda. "They believed it. Every word of it." I can feel my jaw clench despite myself. "More than believed it. They've extrapolated on it, and now they believe all their stupid gossip and stories and everything else." I grind my teeth and stare up at the roof. "Farore."

"Well, Link …," Zelda says carefully, "that's just the way most people are. They love gossip. And this … I mean … this is the biggest scandal in a decade. A century even!"

"There is no scandal!" I cry. "There isn't! We haven't done anything for there to be a scandal over!" Hunter's shaking his head.

"Link, if you've learnt anything from Hylian politics," he says, his face serious, "it should have been that the truth doesn't matter. Truth isn't just relative, it's non-existent. Why would people believe the truth when the lie is that much more exciting?"

"Exciting?" I demand, glaring at him. "Sitting around and talking about how … how I've kidnapped Zelda, and I've maimed her, and I've tortured her, and I've done all kinds of horrible things that I wouldn't … I'd never …" I grind my teeth. "Or how about calmly sitting there at a table and discussing how I murdered my own Uncle in cold blood." Hunter's face loses some of its color and I feel bad all of a sudden but I can't stop. "Or how about the fact that I've been rotten to the core since the day I was born. And not just me, but you too, Hunter. And Neesha. All of us. The entire kingdom is convinced that we're nothing but soulless, gutless, backstabbing, murdering psychopaths, bent on carnage and destruction – and that we've always been like that!"

"Oh, Link," Zelda says. "They're not … that's just … you can't blame them if—"

"Yes he can," Neesha interrupts her suddenly. Her expression is annoyed. "Don't soften it for him. He's not some Hylian child who needs " There's a pause and I half expect Zelda to back down, but instead she grinds her teeth.

"Tell me, Neesha, are all Gerudo heartless, or are you special?" I blink in surprise and twist to look down at her. Neesha's angry expression slips for just a second and she looks taken aback, then the anger abruptly reasserts itself and she bristles.

"There's a difference between heart and weakness," she responds, glaring back at Zelda. "You can't strengthen one with the other."

"What are you getting at, Neesha?" I interrupt, cutting Zelda off before she can lose it. What the Hell's gotten into her? She's not usually so … flippy. I'm supposed to be the flippy one.

"The wizard has nothing to do with everyone's distrust of you," Neesha says flatly, turning back to me. "Blame him all you want, but all he did was give them the opportunity. To believe him over you is a decision they made themselves. No mind control involved. They wanted to believe you'd done it and that's all there is to it."

"What?" I cry, climbing to my feet to glare at her, sending the little girl in my lap scrambling for a safer seat (which she promptly finds in Hunter's). "You can't be serious, Neesha! I've always … I've never … after everything I've …." I throw my fist into my palm to vent my frustration with the whole situation. "Neesha, I've – we've – put our lives on the line for this Kingdom, and those people, too many times to count! And we've never asked for anything for it! I still don't! I don't want anything for it! It's what I am! It's what I do! And now they've … they've just …"

"Turned their backs on you," Neesha supplies in her oh-so-helpful manner. "They've turned their backs on you. They've rejected you. They want nothing to do with you, or the rest of us." She clenches her fists and glares at me. "And who the Hell cares? Why the Hell does it matter? The battle lines have been drawn, Link, and people will fall where they will. The only question that matters is where you'll fall. The rest of them be damned." She narrows her eyes at me, and crosses her arms, shifting her weight to one hip. "Does it really change anything?" She asks. "Will you still put your life on the line now that they've abandoned you? Will you still risk yourself and everything you have for them? Are you willing to go to war for a people who want nothing to do with you?" I glare flatly back at her.

The spiteful part of me wants to say no …

But that's really not an option and I know it.

"Yes," I hiss. "I'll still fight for them. It doesn't change a damn thing."

"Then quit sulking," she says flatly. "Those people have forgotten that you're their Hero. You're not gonna remind them of it by acting like a baby, now are you?" I make an annoyed noise and drop back down into a seated position. Neesha's grin returns and she looks down at Zelda.

"And that, Little-Miss-Princess," she says, "is how it's supposed to be done."

I pull myself from my sulking over the lost argument long enough to exchange a glance with Hunter.

Memo to self: find out what the Hell's going on between Zelda and Neesha before whatever it is comes back to bite me in the ass.

xxx

"Oh I went to the desert to find me a gal,

For a wife I'd have traded the world,

But the dessert, it turns out, was just not a pal,

And Gerudo, they aren't really girls.

For girls are so pleasantly perfect,

Their hearts are so perfectly nice,

Their looks are so nice, that I'm sure that,

Whatever you paid's a low price.

But Gerudo, they're mean and their nasty,

Gerudo, they're bad and it shows.

Don't let a Gerudo get past ye,

For she's all thorns with nary a rose.

So if you're off to the desert to find you a gal,

All perfume and makeup and curls,

Best to quit now with what's left of morale,

For Gerudo, they aren't really girls."

Hunter finishes up his song and directs a smart-ass grin over at Nabooru. "What do you think? It still needs a bit of work, but I think it gets its point across all right."

"Mm-hmm," she answers, eyeing the dark clouds brewing on the horizon with a deep frown. Hunter frowns at her lack of attention then follows her gaze. He cocks his head at the clouds.

"What are you so worried about?" He demands. "They're not heading towards us. The wind's taking them northeast. It'll skip us entirely." She rolls her eyes.

"Yes, Hunter," she says caustically, "and what lies to the northeast of Lake Hylia?" He thinks, then his frown deepens.

"The mountains," he says, suddenly looking as concerned as she does.

"I'm not so worried about Neesha and her group," Nabooru continues. "They'll be in the Tower long before that storm hits. It's Rue and hers … they don't even have an exact location of the hermit. They'll just be wandering." Hunter shakes his head.

"They'll … be all right," he says. "Uncle Bray and Karun are used to the winter, and they know how to travel the mountains. They'll see it coming and have time to find shelter."

"Hmm," Nabooru says, her expression no less concerned. "Rue's arthritis is going to kick in. Riding a horse in the desert is one thing, but climbing a mountain in a snowstorm?" I don't need to see her expression to know what it is. Her eyes will be narrowed at the clouds and she'll chew on her bottom lip for a moment. "She pushes herself too far." It's half-whispered, but the wind carries. Hunter blinks in surprise, taken aback by the sudden show of concern. He cranes his neck around to shoot me a questioning glance to which I shake my head and mouth the word "later" at him.

If he can't figure it out, I'm not wasting time now to explain it to him.

For the Gerudo, there is no family except your sisters. The other familial units just don't exist for them: father, brother, uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa, cousins, and, perhaps most interestingly for a race comprised entirely of females and me, mother. These words mean nothing to them. They pay just enough attention to blood lines to keep any kind of inbreeding at bay, but it is for that purpose only. However, this doesn't mean that these roles aren't occasionally filled.

If there was ever a mother of the Gerudo, it's Rue – whether or not she wants to be – and that's a job from which she'll never retire. She's the oldest Gerudo in memory (including her own), and likely one of, if not the oldest in history. To see a Gerudo older than sixty is rare. Exceptionally rare. Their lifestyle and philosophies just aren't conducive to that kind of longevity. But Rue … Rue's been around for forever. She's sat through the reigns of two kings and there isn't a girl in the fortress who hasn't gone to her for one thing or another. I've never seen her come across a woman who's name and history she can't instantly remember, and even the stoniest of Gerudo – like those in Jinni's old camp – pretty much rely on her in ways none of them like to admit, and Nabooru's no exception. You wouldn't necessarily know it to look at her, but she respects Rue in a way she respects few others and I think she's closer to the old woman than she likes to let on.

She and I both.

Hunter shrugs and turns back around, picking up his conversation with Nabooru again. I shake my head to dispel the worried thoughts Nabooru's observations have spawned in my own brain and turn to rest my chin on the top of Zelda's head instead, eyeing the Tower of Farore, embedded in the frozen waters of Lake Hylia, leering down over it. It looks decidedly unfriendly, and yet we continue our course, urging our horses on over the ice and towards it. We gave up on the idea of stealth as soon as we got here. There's nothing between the shore and the Tower but ice, and as such no real was of sneaking up on it, so we're just going to make a beeline and hope for the best.

Besides, the element of surprise only lasts for so long anyway. I doubt anything will try to stop us from entering – Aghanim wants me dead and Zelda captured anyway, so why prevent us from heading to our doom? We're walking into a trap, but we're doing it willing and aware, so there's that much at least.

All in all it's kind of depressing, really.

I tilt my face down and kiss Zelda's hat.

"You know," I say quietly so that Hunter and Nabooru won't hear me, tightening my grip on her waist, "there's an easy way to fix all this."

"Fix all what?" She asks.

"This whole situation," I answer. "To get you back on the throne and kick Aghanim out." Zelda sighs heavily.

"I knew somehow it would come to this," she answers. "I already know what you're going to ask Link, and you already know my answer." I growl into her hat in frustration then pull my face away.

"Why not?" I demand. "Zelda, think about it. If you getting married is all it'll take to get you back in power … then shouldn't we do that? I mean … it's the quickest, easiest way, and it's the one that will probably involve the least amount of bloodshed. Bruiser's already …" I cut myself off and look to the side. It takes me a moment before I can continue. "Look, I just … he's the first but he won't be the last, Zelda." I say quietly. "We need to end this before we've got another war on our hands." Zelda wraps her hand around mine and squeezes.

"I know, Link," she answers. "I know. But you need to understand that it won't end just because I'm back on the throne. And it's not that easy. I can't just … there's so much paperwork, first off, and I don't even have access to the proper forms any more. And on top of it, you're a wanted criminal. And a Gerudo, and the treaty's been nullified. Link, if I married you now I wouldn't be back on the throne, I'd forfeit it for life and then the Kingdom really would be Aghanim's." I continue to frown down at her and she sighs. "Go ahead and ask then," she says. "Go ahead and ask, so I can give you my answer and we can focus on the task at hand if that's what it'll take." I brace myself for the inevitable conclusion.

"Marry me."

"No." I give a morose sigh and bury my face in her hat again. For a moment, neither of us speak. Then:

"That never gets easier to hear, you know," I murmur.

"It never gets easier to say, either, if it makes you feel any better," she murmurs back, still holding my hand.

"Why not?"

"You know why not. We've gone over this a thousand times, Link. Nothing ever changes."

"Hmm." The problem is I do know. And I even half kind of agree. There are a million reasons we can't. There are political reasons of course – Gerudo are still too mistrusted for the nobles to agree to having a Gerudo on the throne of Hyrule, if we do get married Zelda loses almost all of her authority and power almost immediately due to ancient laws that make very little sense considering how many female rulers Hyrule has had, not to mention the sheer number of nobles who just don't like my face. Zelda and I getting married would immediately polarize the political situation in Hyrule which could lead at least to political infighting (more so than usual) among the nobility and at worst to an outright civil war if it went far enough – but these are nothing that with a little luck and a little hard work we couldn't get around in one way or another. I could stop being temperamental with the nobles. That'd be a start. And laws can be changed and edited with enough patience and support, and so on and so forth.

What's really in our way are personal reasons – reasons that have nothing to do with whether or not we love each other, much to my frustration. There's the fact that there's a fifty-fifty chance on any given day that Zelda and I currently aren't speaking to each other. We're both a little too hard-headed and obstinate sometimes for our own good and neither of us really likes to back down and admit we were wrong (let alone apologize). The fights never last for long, but they're still there and until we can learn to deal with each other at our worst then I can't really deny that becoming permanent roommates might not be a good idea. Which isn't to say it's not a risk I'm willing to take, it just means I won't really fight Zelda on it because she's right. Then there's the freedom issue. I like my freedom. I love my freedom. But if I marry Zelda, I won't have that anymore. The right to do what I want, when I want. If I marry Zelda, I become not just King of the Gerudo – who are a people who take care of themselves and as I've pointed out to them time and again they really don't need a King – but King of Hyrule, which is a whole other story. I'm not chained to my throne in the desert, but I'll be chained to the throne of Hyrule, and chained tighter than I am to the Master Sword, which is saying something.

Hyrule needs a ruler who will be there for her whenever there's a need – and there often is. And I just can't be. I can't run two kingdoms at once and be the Hero of Time. Too many conflicting duties. Hyrule's ruler would need to be Hyrule's ruler above and beyond everything else, and I can't. I'm the Hero of Time above and beyond everything else, and being King of Hyrule would just get in the way of that.

Hyrule needs a ruler who wants to be Hyrule's ruler.

And I don't.

I like sleeping in the bunk bed at the archery shop, and riding Epona all over Hyrule and not having to talk about politics every time I meet with a friend who's involved in that kind of thing. Zelda said it best when she said that being King of Hyrule would stifle me in a way nothing else ever has, and she doesn't want to watch that happen to me, any more than I want it to happen to me.

And again, she's right.

But it doesn't keep me from wishing we could. I've had and lost Zelda so many times that I want something certain, something permanent. It's not that I'm unhappy with our relationship, or that I'm afraid of us ever leaving each other, and it's not like being married would even change anything between us (though I can't help but think the physical aspect of our relationship would improve dramatically) … it's just … so much in my life has a tendency to do the exact opposite of what I want it to do and go the exact opposite of the way it was supposed to … it would be nice to have just one thing that doesn't change no matter what happens. One thing that's unaffected by the rest of the world.

Even if it's just a piece of paper that says we're married.

Zelda lifts my hand to her lips and kisses it through her scarf.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"'Sall right," I say with a sigh, lifting my head again and rubbing at my nose where the fur tickled it. "I'll just keeping asking. Sooner or later you'll say yes just to shut me up, right?" She laughs but doesn't answer, which is probably for the best.

Ahead of us the Tower of Farore looms larger and we cross into its shadow at last.

All thoughts of marriage and laughing and everything else are driven from my mind as I turn my head up to look at it. My eyes narrow.

"This is it."

xxx

A Brief Interlude

Darunia glanced over as Neesha rode up beside him, her face contorted into a mask of annoyance. He grinned at her.

"The icy silence getting to you?" He asked. Her face twisted some more.

"Silence? I wish it was silent! Farore! They're worse than Link and Nabooru!" She slouched down into her scarf and muttered something under her breath.

"What was that?" Darunia asked.

"I said if Aghanim's agents don't kill them in there I will. Assuming they don't kill each other first that is." Darunia laughed.

"I believe you," he said. "A firecracker like you? They wouldn't see it coming." He shook his head. "It's too bad fate paired you up with us," he said. "I bet Link and Hunter could use your help."

"Nah, they've got Nabooru," she said, waving him off with a gloved hand. "And she's a White, and worlds better than me. They're fine."

"Maybe so, maybe so," said Darunia with a wide smile. "But I've seen the three of you do things together no one ever thought you could. You discredit yourself too quickly, young lady." He leaned closer to her and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "You know that Nabooru, just the other day, said that in a few years with the proper training she thinks you might be able to give her a run for her money?" Neesha blinked at him.

"She did not," she said flatly. "Nabooru wouldn't say that." She didn't sound as though she really thought Nabooru wouldn't say that. In fact, Darunia was pretty sure it had sounded like a question.

"She did so," Darunia said seriously, straightening up again. "Would I lie to the sister of my sworn brother?" Neesha didn't really think Darunia would lie to anyone if he could avoid it, sworn brother or not.

"Well if you're not lying then she is," she said, but a pleased blush was peeking out over the scarf around her face, and her eyes sparkled with a sudden ambition.

Firecracker indeed, Darunia thought to himself with a knowing grin. He enjoyed being around the young Gerudo. She was about the age of his own son, and though the similarities between the two were few and far between, she made him feel just a little more confident that he would see his son again. It likely had something to do with her own unfailing certainty that she was invincible – a quality of youth that was at once flaw and strength – it was hard to be uncertain around that kind of faith, whether born of naïveté or not. Neesha looked over at him again.

"Did you really tell Aghanim to jam it when he broke the treaty with us?" She asked. He grinned at her.

"Well those weren't my exact words …" he said.

"What were your exact words?" She pressed. Darunia looked embarrassed all of a sudden.

"Ah," he said, "they were a fair bit harsher than that." He hesitated, but she refused to turn her gaze away, so he sighed and gave up. "I believe I said something along the lines of, 'Aghanim, you filthy stinking bastard, if you think you can just break a treaty that took a decade of war to create with a people who have only just recently proven themselves to be absolutely one hundred percent trustworthy than you've got another think coming. If you don't immediately forfeit your position and hand power back over to Zelda, the rightful ruler of Hyrule, and reinstate the treaty with the Gerudo and lift the ban on them, then no Hylian will be welcome in Goron City or Death Mountain under the same penalties as you have imposed on the Gerudo. Furthermore, all trade between the Gorons and the Hylians will be stopped, as we do not trade with petty, puffed up, parasitic little keese, which you have proven yourself to be. The Gorons recognize Zelda as the legitimate heir to the throne of Hyrule during King Daphnes' sickness and will answer to no other – especially filthy, usurping little insects. Furthermore, I think you are an ugly, thieving, conniving, underhanded, double-crossing, back-stabbing, heartless, dung-eating son of a bitch and look forward to the day you meet your end on the tip of the Master Sword, which is not to say that you are deserving of such a death, unless of course the Hero kills you in an alleyway and leaves to the dogs with whom you have so much in common.'" He takes a deep breath and looks thoughtful. "Except I remember swearing," he adds. "Slip in a swearword every two or three words and you'll pretty much have it." Neesha was staring at him with wide-eyes.

"You said all that?" She demanded. "Really?"

"Tell me, little one, are you in the habit of disbelieving everything everyone tells you?" He said with a wry grin. "Yes, I really said that. I lost my temper, I'll admit it, but I meant every word just the same and wouldn't take it back for the world."

"Wow," Neesha said, impressed. Then, "Thanks." Darunia blinked in surprise.

"For?" He asked.

"For sticking up for us," she answered, turning her gaze ahead. "For not siding with him just because we're Gerudo."

"Pshh," Darunia said, waving her off. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And so would any other Goron worth his salt. Not even Karun complained about what I'd done, and he's the most diplomatically minded Goron I know. I think we've all found a certain sort of kinship with your people that we never could with the Sheikah or the Zoras. A lot of people gave up a lot of things for that kinship, Neesha, and I won't see it ended because of a two-bit, no-good, decrepit old fogy." Neesha flashed him a rare smile that he sensed, rather than saw, and for a heart-wrenching moment she really did remind him of his own Link.

As though that thought reminded them both of where they were and what they were doing, they turned their heads forwards as they crossed into the shadow of the Tower of Din. Even Acqul and Dune fell silent as their horses crossed into the dark spot, and they hadn't shut up since Acqul had suggested that perhaps Dune should not be riding point with Darunia as she was so blatantly blind to things that were obvious and right in front of her face she wouldn't make a very good scout, and to which Dune had replied that it was better than riding with Acqul who would likely just abandon them all if he even thought there was danger ahead.

The Tower of Din loomed silent and ominous in front of them as the snow began to fall.

It was time.

xxx

"What do you think, Brayden?" Karun asked as the latter climbed back down from the ledge, taking his time on the treacherous footholds. Brayden shook his head.

"It's coming straight for us," he said. "I don't think it'll be as big as the blizzard we had a few weeks back, but it'll be a blizzard none the less. We need to find shelter before it hits or we're done for. The mountains are no place to be in a storm."

"There was a cave a few hours back," Rue suggested, gesturing behind her with her walking stick. "We could hole up there until it's over." Brayden shook his head.

"We won't make it, the storm's moving too fast. We need something now." Karun and Rue didn't doubt him. Already the snow had thickened from flurries to something a little thicker and the wind was picking up.

"We press on then," Karun said, his face troubled. "Nothing for it. Keep your eyes sharp for signs of a cave or even a good overhang. Anything that could serve as shelter. We'll take the first one we come to." Brayden and Rue nodded and they set off again, moving quicker than they had before.

Ten minutes later, however, they had still found nothing – not so much as a crack – and the snow had worsened exponentially. They were forced to stay closer together for fear of losing each other in the thickening whiteness, to say nothing of the fear of stepping off the path and over a ledge.

"This is no good," Brayden finally shouted over the wind, turning around to face the other two. "We're going to have to – what's that?" Their heads jerked around to stare in the direction of the new noise – a loud rumbling, akin to thunder, and growing louder by the minute – though they could see nothing through the snow.

Karun's eyes widened and he shouted something. Though the rumbling was too loud for Brayden to hear, the word was unmistakable.

Avalanche.

Karun reacted instantly, leaping forward and pulling Rue to him. Goron bodies were hard as rocks when they had to be, but Gerudo and Sheikah bodies were not. Brayden moved towards him, understanding his intent, but the next moment it was too late. Karun and Rue disappeared under a surge of white and the next instant Brayden felt it slam into him as well.

For a moment, everything was white … and then it all went black.