Chapter Five: Discussing Past and Pedigree
Zelda sat in the large, high-backed chair by the window in the library pouring over the ancient texts of Sages past. It was eerie reading something that you had written in a different life centuries ago and somehow remembered writing it. Farron, Mage, G'nada, Connor…she had been all of them. Zelda flipped page after page of notes written by Connor, the one before her to bare the name of the Seventh Sage and whose memories were the easiest to summon. He had been an interesting man with quite a sense of humor, constantly teasing Krena, the Sage of Fire, in his writings. Zelda flipped the pages shut and stared into the fire, letting her mind wander. Nabooru at that time was crossing through the library on her way to her room, but she stopped to see what Zelda was so intently staring at. The fire flickered in the hearth and even Nabooru felt its hypnotizing powers.
"What are you reading?" Nabooru asked finally, realizing Zelda was not going to break out of her reverie otherwise. Zelda looked up suddenly, startled.
"Oh, nothing really, just some old notes," she yawned as Nabooru took a seat on the arm of the great chair with arms folded across her chest.
"Hmm," she mumbled and brushed the long, brilliantly red hair off of her shoulders with a careless hand. Zelda shivered when an unsettling wave seemed to sweep over her again. "You cold even by the fire? It's because you're so skinny, you have no meat on your bones to keep you warm." Nabooru cracked a laugh and stood up stretching with the firelight playing off of her curves.
"No, it's not that, I've been feeling it for the last few days. Don't you feel it? It's cold, unsettling," she looked up at Nabooru who cocked a brow and looked at her as though she was crazy.
"No, wish I did though, nothing happens here and I'm dying for something to do! I thought maybe when that girl Link brought around came something would happen, but maybe she was nothing after all like we thought. She had spunk though. Tiamra told me she completed the Ground in one piece, that was a surprise." Nabooru smirked and continued, "I also have heard that our young hansom hero has gotten to be pretty good friends with the girl, I'd be wary of her if I were you Princess, she may be trying to take your man."
"Don't be silly Nabooru! Link and I do not belong to each other!" Zelda blushed furiously though she knew it to be very true. Nabooru laughed at her and smiled a mischievous grin.
"You mean that after he saved you no kiss? Nothing? You're father didn't arrange a marriage or something? Isn't the princess supposed to marry her hero?" Nabooru was still laughing.
"That's so old fashioned Nabooru! My father would never marry me against my will!" Especially when her heart belonged to someone else.
"How would marrying Link be against your will? Wouldn't be against mine, I've seen his hands," and with this Nabooru picked up a book off the shelf and idly thumbs through it.
"Nabooru!" Zelda scolds, taken aback at her crude discussion, "I can't believe you just said that!"
"What? Link's a man, don't tell me you don't know how all men pride themselves on the size of their package? He probably has a lot to brag about."
"Nabooru!"
Nabooru knew when it was time to stop. Poor Zelda was trying to keep her royal demeanor composed and was having a good run in doing so. Slowly she watched Zelda relax and change the subject.
"Loraefin was a nice young woman, but I think Link was wrong, I couldn't feel anything about her," she watched as the Gerudo woman nodded in agreement. "I admit her," Zelda paused to try and find the right words, "breeding was different, but other than that."
"Breeding indeed," Nabooru scoffed then paused to reflect, "as much as I disliked that…whole…issue…it will be rather interesting to see how they will make their way in Hyrule now. Rumor has it it's not going well."
"I know, my father has mentioned it. It's such a shame," Zelda brought her feet up and tucked them underneath her dress to warm her feet. "Why can't people just be accepting?"
"Because they are different. Not only that, but they defy centuries of culture and traditions. I'm not surprised at the way they are being received," Nabooru stated matter-of-factly. "Mixing Gerudo and Hylian just doesn't work, because they have Gerudo blood, they will always be branded so and you know how the Gerudo are seen as." There was a bit of resentment in Nabooru's voice and Zelda could feel her emotions bubbling. The Gerudo were seen as thieves, she knew, and she knew how the Hylians treated them. They were the women who came in the middle of the night and made lovers out of sons and husbands only to steal away again at dawn with a child in their womb. And with the coming of Ganondorf, they were pushed even farther away. As a princess, Zelda was greatly disturbed by her peoples' ignorance on the subject. Surly they were educated enough to know how silly it was to dwell on one's race? But Nabooru was right; both races took traditions very seriously, as much as she did not agree with it, Zelda understood how the people in Hyrule reacted toward the people of the newly named Eidua Valley. Zelda thought it best to change the subject again.
"I worry for Rauru," Zelda sighed and again stared into the fire, "he has gotten so weak, he may have only several months left before we lose him."
"But then he comes back so why worry?" Nabooru of course felt differently, she was worried too, but would never admit it out loud. Zelda could feel her emotions though as if Nabooru was nothing more than air.
"We're stronger as a whole Nabooru, with one missing who knows how much more vulnerable we will be," Zelda said.
"Vulnerable to what? That chill you get? I think you must be imagining it."
"Perhaps, but still, I don't like the thought of losing one of our own."
Nabooru took her leave and continued on to her bedchamber like before, leaving Zelda to sit and ponder. When Rauru did leave them, who would assume leadership? Would it be necessary for them to continue to stay in the Sacred Realm or would they be free to all return home? Deep down Zelda knew that it would be she who would bear the weight of leadership in time and she wondered it she was ready for it. After all, she had been the Seventh Sage for generations, but had she learned all she needed to know in this one?
AN: Like I'm always saying, please review! I'll love you forever!