Chapter Eight: The Ground
Thank Din that her grandmothers taught her how to use a Gerudo scimitar she thought. Her breath came in quick gasps and shaky rhythms as she stood back against the door, legs trembling and sweat beading on her brow. She took a look at her ripped sleeve and bleeding arm, until now she was barely aware of it. She hated the sight of her own blood and her head became light for a moment in panic of what to do. That Stalfos back there got her, but it was only a flesh wound and if treated correctly might not leave a scar. It was a wonder in itself that she had even gotten past him in the first place for she always figured her skills with the blade were mediocre at best. With the small dagger she had been given, she cut off a piece of her robe and tied it tightly around her upper arm. It stung and was uncomfortable, but she had no choice but to live with it. She still wasn't quite sure this was all worth it, but she didn't really have a choice and this was the time to prove herself to everyone else and to herself.
It started out like this:
"The others will not believe that Megeara is Gerudo, though she has a small resemblance, her skin is far to fair and she bears the Hylian nose. But you Loraefin," only conversing in Gerudo now, Tiamra turned and stared at her, her golden eyes piercing into Loraefin's own silver-blue ones, "you might be able to pass as one of our sisters." Loraefin stared back at her.
"I suppose I could," Loraefin agreed, "but why would that matter?" Tiamra let out hint of a smile.
"You said you truly wished to learn about us am I correct?" Loraefin hesitated for a moment not wanting to walk right into something she wasn't willing to do.
"Yes," she replied slowly, "why?" and this time Tiamra let out a full grin, though it was easy to tell it was a mischievous one.
"You are about to embrace it far more than you planned for my dear."
Loraefin stared blankly for a moment without any idea what to respond. She pursed her lips and lowered her brow as Tiamra stared intently back at her. Luckily it was Megeara who broke the silence.
"What are you planning?" She asked, a hint of caution on the lilt of her words. "Of course Loraefin looks like a Gerudo, she's half after all. And hey, I'm still a part of this too, you can't exclude me because I take after my Hylian side more." Tiamra grinned again and took up one of the scimitars mounted on the wall and threw one to Loraefin which she absentmindedly grabbed out of the air quite skillfully.
"Of course not, I am not trying to exclude you. You are not responsible for your grandmothers' actions, do not think I hold that against you," Tiamra knew directly what Megeara's words meant. "And besides, you are in no condition to participate in this. Ah, good, your grandmothers taught you something about the blade, that makes this easier." Loraefin stared at the sword in her hand and was surprised at herself that she actually caught it.
"I guess those fencing lessons stuck more than I thought, it's been awhile," she swung the blade lightly and set it down on the table as if she were never meant to touch it at all. "What is all this about? Why is it good that I know the basics in Gerudo fencing?"
"You are going to need them if you are going to complete the Training Ground. It is impossible to defeat it without them," said Tiamra simply as if it was no big deal. After all, she completed the Training Ground when she was younger than these two girls were; she was scarce a full fifteen years when she did. "In other words," she sighed heavily; "you are going to need to prove yourself to the rest of the Nation here if you ever want to be accepted and that is the only way you can do that."
Megeara's eyes got very big and her lower jaw trembled ever so slightly.
"You're not…" she began.
"I am." Replied Tiamra with a snap of the flat sword on the rough wooden table. "It is time, we can't hide this forever. I realize that now, the time has come to make amends and start anew. I cannot keep something like this from my sisters for much longer now, it is right for it to come from me."
Pure and utter amazement ran up and down Loraefin's whole body. Never had she thought possible for this to be happening all because of their presence there. Tiamra was solemn and tired looking and for a moment you could see the enormous weight she carried on her shoulders, looming there as if it were to break her back.
"I don't believe it," Loraefin whispered, "are you serious? If you are kidding us that is a very serious matter to joke about." Stupid words, she thought, she knew very well that Tiamra was telling the truth. But that didn't mean it was easy to believe.
"No, it is time. This has been hidden for too long; it needs to come out. No longer do my sisters need to be sheltered from what our mothers and grandmothers did, we have no reason to feel guilty, what needed to be done was done." Loraefin and Megeara opened their mouths in protest but Tiamra quickly snapped, "do not try to argue it with me, you can only see one side of the story as I can, remember that." Tiamra spoke sharply for a minute. "But, we do need make amends, the Goddesses teach us that forgiveness is one of the divine qualities all great people must possess." Loraefin gulped hard and let her vision go hazy for a moment.
"The…the Training Ground?" She stammered. "I remember Usa telling me about when she went through, she said it was the hardest things she's done in her life…next to childbirth with my Uncle Joshuan and Turnan, she says they were the ones that almost killed her." Loraefin stifled a giggle at the memory of her Grandmother telling the story. Tiamra could only smile and humor the girl.
"The Training Ground is very hard, every Gerudo must complete it in order to step into her womanhood, it is the greatest right of passage we have in our traditions." Tiamra picked up both swords and put them back onto the wall. "In order for the Nation to accept you, you must prove yourself to them as a worthy and cunning fighter, as every Gerudo maiden must do." She turned to Loraefin and smirked. "Are you still a maiden by any chance?" Loraefin dropped her jaw in shock.
"Yes! But that's none of your business!" She said sharply and ended the conversation.
After she had caught her breath, Loraefin searched the room to see where she was. It was deafly quiet; not even the air seemed to move around her as she stepped gingerly away from the door. Her hands were fisted tightly around the handles of the two, sickle shaped blades she was given at the beginning of this. The sand and dirt crunched underneath her feet and echoed throughout the room as she walked. There were passages leading off to either side of her, but she ignored them and kept straight to the top of the room. Without warning, fire flared up from the ground blocking her path. She stumbled and tripped backwards as she tried to catch herself, landing hard on the ground. The fire disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and the room was quiet once again. Loraefin exhaled shakily as she stood again and dusted herself off. She looked up and noticed a silver gem suspended from the ceiling and then something out of the corner of her eye caused her to look away from it. On the wall beside her was something that Link had shown her once and there was an inscription above it etched on a plaque.
" 'In order to progress, use this weapon to aid you in collecting the silver stones. A Gerudo warrior must have knowledge on many skills. Beware of shadows on the floor'," Loraefin said out loud to herself and took the Longshot off the hook on the wall. "Beware of the shadows…Bre'kenaar." she mumbled again and tried to get a feel for the weapon in her hand. In was heavy and somewhat awkward to move easily. "Well, better try this out," she lifted the Longshot to the small target above the gem and pulled hard on the handle. Suddenly she felt herself being shot up and over the flames as she instinctively reached out and grabbed the jewel above. The Longshot let go of the target and Loraefin landed hard, but at least on her feet. She grinned satisfactorily at the gemstone in her hand and went in search for the others so she could get out of there.
It was a gigantic crashing noise that made Loraefin spin around suddenly to see the boulder rolling straight for her. The girl's eyes went wide at the sight and at the last minute found herself conscious enough to throw herself into the nearby corridor and out of the way. The rock rolled by but the girl lay there unable to move on the floor.
"I'm not going to live through this," she moaned out loud, gulping hard. "Dus gol Te' ida? I'm not good enough for all this, I'm not a trained Gerudo warrior. How can they expect this from me?" She found enough strength to roll herself over and slowly started to push herself up but as she did so she noticed that her shadow below her was much larger than it should have been. It was purely reflex and no skill whatsoever she would later tell herself, but in almost an instant she flung herself back onto her backside just in time to catch the Wallmaster on the tip of her sword. It screamed and the weight of it pushed the hilt of the blade back against her body painfully, but as quickly as it had shown up, it was gone in a mist of purple smoke that seemed to hover above her for a moment. At this moment it dawned on her that it can only get harder from this point on.
***
Well, Link thought, at least I found something rewarding to do. He hoisted the big beam of wood onto his strong shoulders and took the hammer and nails in his other hand and walked with Sabooru back to the skeletal structure that was to become the new library for Kakariko. He was sweaty and his hair was all rumpled from it, but he didn't care, he was happy to be getting out of Kokiri and hey, at least he was getting a tan onto that white body of his.
"Drop it here Link," Sabooru pointed to the pile of beams at his feet. "These will be for the support for the ceiling, hand them up to me when I get up there." Link nodded and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his arm. Jiro was up there already and he told Link that he could just hand them to him right now and with a snigger added, 'Sabooru will take all day to get up here.' Link laughed and continued on with his work.
"Hey Link, I didn't know you were helping build the new library," a voice behind him sounded and Link immediately knew who it was.
"A hero's job is never done Misa," Link grinned. "Nah, I had nothing else to do, plus I'm trying to work off this little tire I have," he pinched his stomach, "ever since Ganondorf has been gone, I've gotten lazy and this is what I get." Misa laughed out loud and his voice was a good sound to Link's ears.
"Yeah, I can see what you mean, you're starting to get fat Link. Be careful or you'll end up like dad." The young man didn't look like he was seventeen; he had a very fair face that matched his very fair hair and eyes. He wasn't as well built as Link, he looked more like some features of his body hadn't caught up yet or had gotten a head start. But he was always smiling. Link looked down at himself and definitely decided that he was getting a little more filled out. His abs weren't as defined as they used to be, but he was still just as strong and he had come to like not being scrawny with the look of only muscle on bone like he once was. Though he did suppose that training was in order again. Link ran his hands through his blond hair and ruffled it further. It swung back over his eyes at which he blew it away with an irritated puff from his mouth.
"I need to get my hair cut, it's almost long enough for me to tie back now," Link complained and handed the last of the boards to Jiro. "It's getting to the point where I can't see anymore."
"Come over sometime and my mom will cut it for you," Misa smiled, "just like she used to do. It'll be better then that one time you tried to cut it yourself."
"Don't remind me," Link grinned and put his hand on his head. "So, what are you doing today? How's Susan?"
"Fine…Beautiful," Misa sighed and kicked a clod of grass, "she's the best thing I've got going for me." He raised his large hand to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun. "I was just on my way to go and pick up some flowers for her from Old Mrs. Hearne's garden when I saw you. But I'll let you get back to work, I see you're busy. Stop by sometime hero, my mom misses you. Strange I know." He flashed his big smile and started to walk away.
"Tell her I miss her too, I'll try to come by soon Loser," Link laughed and called after him with a wave. Misa turned half way around, still smiling, and waved back.
Link worked the rest of the afternoon until the sun hung low in the sky. The library would be finished within a week or so, and Link said he'd come back to help get it done. As a local hero with nothing else to do he figured it was his job and at least a positive way to spend the day. As he was about to leave, the Master Carpenter, Mutoh approached him and asked one last favor of him for the next day. The Library still needed its trimming on the walls, and for some reason the townspeople decided that they wanted it to be made from the hard, red sandstone that was it the west of Hyrule, particularly in Gerudo Valley. Mutoh was a bit irritated that they had to even bother with it since stone from Death Mountain would have worked just fine, but people nowadays wanted to be 'sophisticated' instead of practical. Link agreed and it was arranged that he would head out with the wagon tomorrow to fetch the stone for them. Did anyone ever expect the country's hero to be doing such things?
AN: Well? How's everyone liking it? I hope you do, cause I had a fun time writing it. The Gerudo are really interesting to me, I always thought that they'd have a culture and the thieving part was just exaggerations and racial bias to them. Hm…I'm incorporating racial bias into Zelda…anyone thinks I think of these things too much? Lol. Hey, please review! I have this story completely finished, but I update quicker if I know someone it actually reading it! Thank so much!