AN: OoOo…Now we're on to some plot moving!
Chapter Three: A Message For Wisdom
Rauru's breathing was becoming more and more hampered each day. Zelda stuck close to him, in case fate would take him sooner than expected. It brought tears to her eyes every time blood would start to appear on his handkerchiefs from the constant coughing. It made her miss her father terribly at the same time, wondering how much time she had spent here in the Sacred Realm, time wasted when she could have only a few more years with him. No, her duty as the Seventh Sage was not a waste of time and she knew that, but she missed him so.
Rauru was sleeping, his chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm for now, but Zelda knew that could change at any moment. She was so tired though, having stayed up watching him for hours now. The dying fire created a sweet, lulling music that made Zelda's eyelids sink lower and lower each minute until finally she drifted off to sleep sitting in Rauru's high-backed chair.
She was overwhelmed with such a sensation of sorrow that it brought tears brimming to her eyes in seconds. She stumbled through the brush till she broke through to an opening of soft dirt and the enormous expanse of the night sky. There was an old woman kneeling at the foot of an unlit funeral pyre, crying bitterly. A figure was covered with a shroud and lay on top of the platform silent with death. As Zelda approached the pyre, a blue-clad figure came into view on the opposite side. The Figure stood still, a sad expression on Her face. The tears would not stop rolling down Zelda's cheeks and she could barely feel them anymore as she stared at the Vision. The blue veil lifted Her head and Zelda saw that She was crying too.
"We are connected, you and I," Naryu's voice was calm and musical as She stared deeply into Zelda's eyes. The Triforce mark glowed so brightly on the back of Zelda's hand now that it burned. Naryu cast Her hand toward the body and at Her command the shroud flew off to the ground, exposing to Zelda's eyes the form underneath. "We weep for the lost. We mourn the departed." Naryu spoke again with a sorrowful lilt to Her speech. Zelda drew in a gasp of horror as the cloth fell and the face of Ganondorf came into clear view.
"I will not mourn the enemy of my country!" Zelda's voice shook with anger, but the tears were still streaming down her face and the sadness had gripped her heart with an icy hand that closed tighter and tighter around it. "Ganondorf is the son of evil! I do not weep for him!"
"Will thou not weep for the innocent?" Naryu was standing next to her now, watching Ganondorf's body being engulfed by the flames that had appeared in an instant. The old woman still wept bitterly at his side, face buried in her hands. The woman looked up and let out such a scream of agony that the stars above seemed to shake at her call. Zelda wiped away more tears and was not sure if she had heard right…had the woman said 'my son'? The scene whirled around and now Zelda found herself in Rauru's chamber's again, but his bed was empty. Zelda thought she was too late until Naryu stepped forward again from behind her.
"Thou must lead them," She spoke softly, "the Sage of Light is not long for this world. He will come anon, but nay in time for the challenge at hand." Zelda turned and Naryu faced her.
"What challenge?" she whispered, "You showed me Ganondorf dead…if he's to come back…but I'm not ready to lead anyone." Naryu smiled and laughed, kissing Zelda on the forehead.
"Thou hast My Wisdom to guide thee, dost thy doubt My Power?"
"No!"
"Then believe in thyself child for thou wilt lead them to victory. All things will come full circle."
***
Nabooru loved the rush of power that she felt when she was with him. The raw animal energy, the strong muscles of two young bodies pressed together…it was maddening. Out of all of her sisters, she was the one he chose to be his consort. The long nights in his chambers played vivid images in her mind and she desperately tried to push them away. She didn't want to remember now.
Ganondorf had not only betrayed her when he claimed Aglalia as his new consort, leaving her rejected in front of all of her sisters, he broke any feelings of true romantic love her heart would ever know. He was a pig and she loathed him. But he had gotten what was coming to him three years ago and not once had she regretted it. After all, he made her what she was. If it weren't for him she wouldn't have left the Fortress to become a Lone Wolf, isolated away in the Spirit Temple and away from her sisters. But there were some things about her character she supposed she could thank him for, but she would die before she did it.
It was all Koume and Kotake that changed him, the witches. They had been the medicine women at the time, two old Gerudo that dallied in strange concoctions and of the sort and Nabooru had been weary of them since she was a child. Even her mother and elder sister's had warned her of them. The youngest maids were afraid and scurried out of the way when they were coming in their direction. They poisoned Ganondorf's mind and turned him away from his responsibilities as leader of their Nation, and from her, and to something so dark it would lead to so many wasted lives, his included. She even felt remorse for Aglalia, whom for all any of her or her sisters knew, had been killed by Ganondorf himself when he tired of her.
The two of them were evil, and had turned Ganondorf evil too for their own wild plots and ambitions. The King of the Gerudo's did after all, come only once every hundred years. Nabooru often thought that Koume and Kotake, having been the midwives for the King's birth, must have killed Ganondorf's mother after with their herbs. So many women died in childbed it was never questioned, but it was all for a plot so that they could raise him unopposed.
"You're a fool Nabooru," she mumbled to herself and threw her candlestick across the room with a loud clatter. She couldn't stop thinking about him though. It was like he had invaded her mind for the moment, tormenting her with times when she had thought she loved him. Nabooru clutched the sides of her head and shook it back and forth violently, trying to get his voice out of her head.
"Nabooru," she heard him say clear as a bell in her mind. So clear that she looked frantically around the room for him, thinking he was there. No, he was locked away in the Dark Realm for all eternity, he couldn't get out. But somehow she felt the longing for him again, the feeling of his hands on her…Nabooru jumped up from her chair and with one strong swipe threw off all of the books in her shelf in a tempered rage, leaving her panting and drained. There came a soft knock at her door and the blue-skinned figure of Ruto poked her head in to see what the commotion was. Nabooru was standing in the center of the room, eyes wild and seething through her clenched teeth.
"What do you want!?" Nabooru snapped, going to a wall and ripping off the Gerudo tapestry, rolling it and throwing the content in Ruto's direction in the doorframe, aiming far away enough were it would not hit her, but startle her all the same. Ruto indeed did jump back with a shriek and glowered at Nabooru from halfway behind the door.
"Calm down you psychotic Gerudo! I'm only here to bring a message from Zelda!" Ruto opened the door a little wider when she could see Nabooru's expression loosen a bit.
"What does she want?" Nabooru sighed and flopped down into her chair after she had turned it right side up again. "Has Rauru bit-the-big-one yet?" And at this she grinned mischievously because she knew very well that Rauru was still with them, if he had passed on she would have felt his energy leave. Ruto returned her sarcastic grin and crossed her arms in disgust.
"Really, I don't know how you can joke about things like that," she snorted, "and no, Zelda just says that she needs to speak with all of us right away so you better come." And with that Ruto turned and huffed away down the corridor.
They gathered in Rauru's chamber because now he was unable to lift himself from bed. It was not a matter that his body was weak, for in the Sacred Realm they had no bodies, only mental representations, but his mind was so sickly that he could hardly do anything anymore. Nabooru was the last to come in; having taken her time thinking that Zelda's message was no more than her usual 'Rauru is getting worse' summoning. Obviously he was getting worse she wanted to yell at her, he was dying, what did she think would happen!? Nabooru had that thought running in her mind as the walked into the room and immediately felt the energy from the other Sages and knew that this was not of the normal gatherings.
Her movements slowed so she did not make an effort to take her usual place on the opposite side of the room and hung around by the table by the door. Zelda could feel the ebbing tension from the Spirit Sage and finding herself unable not to care, tried to push the feelings Nabooru was unintentionally transferring away for later evaluation. There were more pressing matters at hand now.
"How is everyone?" Zelda's voice shook and her white, slender hands fumbled in her lap nervously. Impa obviously did not have to see how Zelda was acting to know how she was feeling. Emotions and thoughts between them could flow as easily as water when they let their barriers down. And even then, Impa was always able to know how Zelda was feeling, as a Sheikah and as the only mother Zelda had ever known.
"We are fine Zelda," Impa reached out at touched the fair-haired beauty with her mind, trying to ease the tension she was feeling. Zelda welcomed her friend, her mother in and felt stronger with her added strength. When she opened her eyes again she took a deep breath and began.
"I've had a vision, while sleeping here at Rauru's bedside," Zelda gestured, "the Goddess of Wisdom visited me." Ruto gasped over dramatically and raised her pearl toned, blue and white hands to her lips. Nabooru just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms impatiently. Zelda always did take her time getting to the point.
"What did She say?" Saria's eyes had gone wide.
"She told me that I was to lead after Rauru has passed on and---"
"Well we all knew that Zelda!" Nabooru snapped and unintentionally slapped her hand down harder on the table than she meant too. Zelda ignored her.
"She also told me that Rauru is not long for this world either---"
"We knew that too! Come on---"
"Shut up Nabooru!" Ruto shrieked and Nabooru was just in the right mood to fight over anything, disrespectful behavior for a Gerudo, but right now she didn't much care. She was about to retaliate but suddenly felt herself being forced down into a chair and could not rise again.
"Enough Nabooru!" Impa's voice boomed and Nabooru knew now that she must bite her temper. Impa released her mental hold and Nabooru still sat sulkily in the chair and would not get up. Zelda, now that the commotion was over, continued.
"She also showed me Ganondorf…he was dead and a woman who I think was this mother wept at the side of his funeral pyre. Naryu asked me if I would not weep for the innocent. I didn't understand, I still don't. Then She told me that I was to lead you all in a great challenge, but wouldn't tell me what. She said, 'Thy hast My Wisdom to guide thee…believe in thyself and you wilt lead them to victory. All will come full circle'." Zelda sat silently and let these words mull over in everyone's mind.
"Then you must believe in yourself Zelda, and trust in the Goddesses power fully," Rauru had been still the entire time, in fact no one had really noticed he was conscious at all until now. Zelda turned to him and stared questioningly.
"What do you mean Rauru?" Her voice wavered and her hands still trembled slightly.
"I mean that the Goddesses would not send you a vision if you were not meant to follow it. Do not try to analyze what the Sight means, just hold it close, and when the time comes you will understand. Trust me," he took a long pause, trying to gather his strength, "I know what I speak of."
"But the vision can't be true, Ganondorf's mother is dead! I know because I lived in the Fortress my entire life! She died in childbed with him!" Nabooru spoke again, this time a little calmer than before.
"I said do not try to analyze!" Rauru cut her off and then went into another fit of coughing. Impa rushed to his side and placed a hand over him, feeling for his energy, which was erratic and guttering like a flame. She looked at Zelda and then to Darunia who was standing nearby and told them again what they already knew. It would not be long.
AN: Just a friendly reminder to REVIEW!!!!!!!