Chapter Seven: Honey Cakes and Purple Jam
"That is quite an impressive story," Tiamra said again, drumming her fingers on the table absentmindedly. "I should take it as a high compliment that you went through all this trouble to come and find us I suppose." She got up and paced around the room briefly folding her hands behind her back. "But all the same, it does cause certain problems I would rather not have been troubled with."
"What problems? We assure you that was never our intention and---" Megeara began.
"Of course not, I know that," interrupted Tiamra, "but my sisters here know nothing about the banishment or the tale and those who are old enough to remember have been sworn to silence and have no doubt bothered to forget by now. I only know because I am leader here."
"Why do none of the others know about us?" Loraefin's eyes narrowed a bit hurt that they had forgotten them, almost betrayed.
"It was for protection, we may leave it at that," Tiamra answered, her voice in a commanding tone. She sighed tiredly and sat down closing her eyes. "The others have been asking questions about you two, they are curious. It is not often we have…visitors here." They sat in silence for a moment contemplating the situation.
They were there, seated in front of the Gerudo leader herself. Their grandmothers would surely have done something terrible to them have they known. It was exciting to say the least. This was a part of them, not only their genetic makeup, but their spirit and soul. So many years have they wondered about this place, the mystery and curiosity burrowing deeper within their minds since childhood; was it any wonder that they had disobeyed their elders and went to find out for themselves? The Gerudo had such a draw, such a power, it was hard to ignore and brush aside as if it were nothing. To rediscover the lost side of themselves, that was what this had been about all along, perhaps to even rekindle it. It was amazing.
"What am I going to do?" Tiamra sighed thoughtfully and stared at the wall in thought. She was tall for a woman, but the Gerudo usually were. Her once long hair had been shorn to the length of her ears and its coppery red gloss glimmered in the bit of sunlight that penetrated through the open door. Tiamra had strong arms and the muscles were well defined, though they still had the soft appearance of a woman and were in no way as profound as a man's were. Her face was most handsome indeed with her deep-set light brown eyes, so light that they were almost golden, and her typical, but very becoming Gerudo nose. It looked very much like Loraefin's own nose. Tiamra's temple pulsed briefly and she turned back to them, her eyes sharp and focused. "What would you have me do with you? You have trespassed into our fortress and my sisters are well aware of it. And what am I going to tell them hmm? That you are the children of our own bloodline! We have kept the banishment secret for these long years, even before I was but a babe in my mother's arms! I know very well that you meant no harm but your coming can ruin those years of silence!" Tiamra raised her voice without knowing it until she was almost at the level of shouting. She stared at the two young women before her and saw the dismay in their eyes and her voice faded back to its calm and steady rhythm.
"Well what would you do, kill us?" Loraefin retorted after Tiamra had fallen silent again. "By the Goddesses it can't be bad as all that. The Gerudo banished our grandmothers and you never expected that perhaps it would come back to you? It wasn't like we asked to be found and captured." She added a bit of sarcasm to the tail end of her speech.
"You do not understand what it is like to be responsible for the welfare of your people," Tiamra's glance was cold and icy and her voice distant. "And you do not know what it is to be Gerudo."
Her words stung as if going into an open wound. Megeara's eyes narrowed and her back stiffened.
"You're right, we don't know what it is to be Gerudo, but from what I have seen here heaven be thanked!" Her voice was carried as well as any Gerudo warrior, strong and firm. "We came all this way to learn and now I can see that we should not have wasted our time! Now I do not doubt why my grandmother left!"
"You are truly a foolish child!" Tiamra boomed, lifting herself up to her full height, which towered over Megeara and Megeara was known in Murieope for her height. "I should have left you in that cell for a few days to teach you respect!"
"And who's to say you deserve any!" Loraefin rose to her feet too, but she was dwarfed by Tiamra's size. But that didn't stop her though the Gerudo scared her, but fear sometimes works in one's favor. "What are you so afraid of that you cannot even tell your own people about the injustice that was delivered here so long ago! It took a lot for us to come out here and I think at least we deserve a little respect for even bothering to try and learn about our heritage that as I can now see is an embarrassment!" Her usually dormant temper flared and she trembled at the unknown power of it. The resentment and betrayal she had carried deep within her spewed forth in a white heat. She knew she was not embarrassed to be Gerudo, but her anger blocked truthfulness in her words as she spoke them to fast too be weary of them.
"I doubt you even have the makings to be a Gerudo! Your grandmothers were traitors to the Nation! Who is to say you even had a right to come and seek us out?! You were never needed nor wanted!"
"Like it or not we are part of you!" Megeara hissed, her body slightly trembling from her anger. "We are the result of your actions and whether you accept us or not so be it! But we have every right to be here!"
"I've had enough Meg, we're leaving, kresca su," Loraefin's voice was low and grave as she stood and helped Megeara up to her crutches. "I'm sorry we came, maybe our Gerudo half was not something to be so proud of!"
"Magodrl," Megeara whispered harshly under her breath and gripped Loraefin's shoulder tightly.
Suddenly Tiamra broke into laughter after all their tempers had flared. She looked at the girls and there was no trace of anger in her eyes.
"I take it back," she laughed, her smile beaming brightly as she embraced the two girls, "I can see you have the Gerudo temper!" Megeara wrenched away from the hug and stared at Tiamra with a bewildered look on her face.
"What are you talking about?" She flared once again, "let Loraefin go! We said we were leaving!" Tiamra let the short girl who was too outmatched to get free of the embrace go and smiled further still.
"My sisters," she said softly in Gerudo, "welcome home."
***
By the gods this had to be one of the most boring days Link had seen for awhile. He thought that maybe once he got out to the market, something would pick up from there but no, here he found himself back in Kokiri. At least he was home to fix himself lunch. Link rummaged through the cabinets, looking for anything that would satisfy his craving. He craved a big piece of bread with a hunk of melted butter he decided. And some strawberries, he wondered if he had any of those left. Link got out the loaf of bread and a sharp knife and began to carefully slice a good portion of it away. The knife slipped away from him suddenly and he cut himself against the blade. He was surprised to say the least, being a competent swordsman and then slicing himself with a bread knife.
"Shit," he mumbled absentmindedly and put the cut up to his lips. There wasn't much blood so Link ignored it and sat down to enjoy his lunch. Though it did satisfy his hunger, he couldn't bring himself to enjoy it as much as he tried. He guessed he was letting that dream get to him more than usual. Cheer up Link, You'll find a way around fate somehow. Navi was still sleeping in her little room above the bookshelf. He hoped she wasn't coming down with anything too bad, but then again, do fairies even get sick to begin with? Finding himself alone, one of the few times this happened he mused, Link got up to the bookshelf and pulled out a rather tattered book from the second shelf. He sat down again and opened the cover and when he did so a pen fell onto his lap. Link smiled and flipped through the pages, coming finally onto a blank one and began writing on it.
April 8th, 721 AA [After Ascent]
Well, Navi is asleep so I finally found some time to write. Things have been…harder lately. Not that I'm unaccustomed to rough spots here and there, but I was finally relaxed again, you know, getting to get a taste of normal life? Ah, normal life. We've gone through my life before, so we don't need to waste any other pages retelling it. Oh, almost forgot, I helped a mother deliver her baby the other day. The baby's name is Lucille. She is so sweet and innocent, I hope that my daughter (daughters if I'm lucky) will be like that…If I ever get married. Who'd want to marry me? I'm all screwed up. Sure, as much as I'll never admit it out loud, I do notice the girls at market batting their eyes at me, but not one of them knows anything about me. Din, help me if they did, then they'd know how completely screwed up I am. Am I eighteen, am I twenty-five? Who knows! I'm just worried about the future…it's a cruel thing to let me and me alone worry about this for the next year. I'm mentally tired, that's it. The bad thing about it though is I can't get away from it, I always have it on my mind and it can give me the worst headache. I'm also worried about Fin too. There is another way I know it, I beat Ganondorf once, and I will do it again. She doesn't deserve to die, none of them do. I've lost to many friends over the years; I won't lose this one too! Damn Ganondorf, that's all I can think to say. Maybe I'll get around to cleaning Io's stall today and put some fresh straw in if the Kokiri haven't already beaten me to it. We'll see I guess.
Link shut the book and put it back on the shelf silently.
***
"Did you steal this from the castle kitchen?" Malon smiled wryly in an attempt to lessen the tension between her and Rook. Rook grinned as he handed her a slice of bread with jam on it.
"Nay, me mutha' baked it this mornin'. She's a bonny good cook indeed," he bit into his own bread, trying not to make a mess of himself with the purple jam. They didn't go to far from the ranch and were sitting on the great retaining wall out on the field. From there you could see a lot of the field, the entrance to Kokiri, the castle, and the ranch, but Rook figured Malon saw enough of that everyday. He took the blanket that was thrown across his horse and laid in out on the grass and put the bundle of food he had brought for them down on it. Malon was very pretty this afternoon in the brown work pants and white shirt she had on. And it brought out the color of her hair with which Rook was infatuated with. How had he gotten this beautiful creature to agree to come on a picnic with him? He wondered.
"Well tell your mother thank you Rook," said Malon happily enjoying her meal. "And that's a lovely horse, is he yours or one you take care of?" Her blue eyes rested on his own inquiringly for she was always up to conversing about horses.
"Aye, ol' Wes here is me and me brotha's horse," he beamed and glanced at the beast. "He's a fine brute he is and Scott is out at the docks nowadays, no I guess you could call him mine now, though Toby is getting' to be a big lad enough." He laughed good-naturedly and his voice was sweet and comforting.
"The ocean is quite a way from here, do you get to see your brother often?" Malon asked as she couldn't help but grin at Rook's laughter.
"Oh no, Scott's grown and is startin' a family already! He's twenty-one now and found himself a beautiful lass who's given him a beautiful daughter and anotha' on the way. Aye, I always thought he got married too soon, but I have known folks who were wedded at sixteen and are perfectly happy. It's not all that uncommon." He rummaged around the bag he brought and fished out some honey cake and milk and handing some to Malon. "Here, this is one of me mutha's specialties."
Malon took it graciously and tasted it. The soft texture of the cake melted into her mouth and the honey tasted so good and sweet to her tongue. "I can see why you say your mother is a 'bonny good cook'," she laughed and took another bite of the cake, enjoying every morsel of it.
"She'll be glad to hear tha'," Rook beamed. "I should have ya come over fer' supper sometime and then you'll really think so." He wrapped his arms around is knees and started to rock back and forth a bit while he sucked out the remaining bits of cake in his mouth with his tongue. "You need to meet my mutha' she'd like you Malon."
Malon gulped hard on the last bit of her cake and stared at Rook who was in turn staring at her now. A slow smile grew across her face and she could feel the blush tinting her skin. How could I ever have disliked him? She thought.