Breath of Life

By DarkBlacknoid

Author's Note: The setting is about one year after the defeat of Ganondorf and Hyrule Castle is being rebuilt. It's slightly alternate universe for I do not have Princess Zelda return Link back seven years. After Ganondorf is sealed away, Link asks the Princess if he can stay and he does so therefore they start the task of rebuilding Hyrule. Zelda gives him stewardship of Hyrule so he is sort of 'like' the King so who knows what I'll do with that J . Also, I do not own any of the Legend of Zelda characters or the places but I do own all created characters. On a personal note, this is my first Legend of Zelda fic and I hope someone enjoys it. Also, this story is dedicated to all those who have a dream.

Chapter One:

Peace Keeping

The yellow sun slowly crept over the horizon casting its young light of the new day through a window onto the still forms sprawled over the length of a mid-sized room. They were all Gerudo women packed in these tight and uncomfortable conditions of close quarters in a house contained in Kakariko Village. They were given the house to stay in until the Castle was finished.

Nabooru, Sage of Spirit and protector of her people, stood by ready for the day ahead. She crossed her arms and tapped her small silk shoe on the floor.

"Come on, girls! The sun's up! This is an important day today and we shouldn't keep Link waiting. Up, up, up!"

Her red hair flopped over her shoulder as she bent over to tug on a few sheets to drag a few of the closest girls out of bed. They groaned but obeyed. Soon they were all ready to leave after much hustling by Nabooru.

She had many important things on her mind. Today more than the last few days, she felt the most important. Link had asked her personally to help him with the designing and construction of Hyrule Castle's prisons. Though he had said to her that he hoped they would never have to use them, he wanted the best that anyone could offer. And everyone knew that the Gerudos were the best at their prisons. She was proud to offer her assistance but something told her somehow there might be an ulterior motive behind Link's decision. After all, Link was the only person EVER to escape the Gerudos on his own and maybe he wanted to give her some pointers. But whatever the reason was, she was helping with the peace of Hyrule. And after all the bad business with Ganondorf, she needed to do something to help her people. She had to find other ways to help them survive and peace was the best option. Besides, the Hylians were not so bad. Some of them were kind of handsome.

It was not always easy though. Hylians did not like Gerudos. Even now when there was a peace agreement fights would break out and bad words exchanged. If it were not for her being a Sage and helping to stop Ganondorf, her people would not have stood a chance of peace with anyone. The Zoras did not seem to mind too much and kept to themselves. The Kokiri children were quite sweet but you knew in their eyes that they were untrusting. Though she knew that Saria, Sage of Forest would try to reassure them. The Gorons were a friendly people. They did not seem to mind anyone.

The Gerudos marched from Kakariko Village along with the Hylians who gave them a few ill-favored looks. Nabooru just urged her people to ignore them and to keep their minds on the job.

As they passed onto Hyrule Field they saw the many "boulders" rising into sitting positions. While the building of the Castle still went on, the Goron preferred to camp out on the Field. They tromped up ahead towards the Gate with Darunia at the head. Nabooru heard him chuckle about something when she noticed Saria standing at the Gate greeting him.

The Gorons made their way inside Castle Town as Nabooru and her gang followed with the Kakariko Villagers closely behind. The Zoras then popped up behind the Hylians. They had swum up from the River. Finally there, Nabooru took a deep breath and let her pride sink in. This was the day that the Gerudos were most important.

They passed the slow Gorons and began walking through Castle Town. Up the path that led to where the foundations of Hyrule Castle were being built, Nabooru spotted Link, Impa and Princess Zelda talking and gesturing. With a proud, respectful smile, the Sage of Spirit approached quietly. Link turned his head.

"Nabooru, you're here. Great! We can work out the last plans on the dungeons while Zelda and Impa oversee the last touches on the foundations." He smiled as Princess Zelda and Impa greeted Nabooru then left to give instructions to Darunia, Saria and Princess Ruto.

Nabooru walked with Link over to the rock that served as his desk. A blue print of the Castle's dungeons was laid out on it. Nabooru's group of Gerudos stood silently behind her waiting for some kind of instruction. She noticed suddenly that her friends were without direction then turned to them.

"Go with Princess Zelda and help them finish with the foundation then when Link and I are done, I'll come back to get you. Ryut, you're in charge until I return." A Gerudo woman with shoulder length loose hair nodded and shivered a little when the wind blew. She was not used to being in charge. Though Nabooru obviously trusted her, Ryut was afraid of making a wrong decision, especially with so many foreign eyes watching. But nevertheless, she led everyone to Zelda. The Princess was kind and gentle despite the stories that were told to them as children. She remembered her mother telling her that all Hylian girls were snotty and had no respect for any well meaning person. Though at first sight, Princess Zelda could be considered a snob, her actions certainly told a different story. It made Ryut feel better about Nabooru's choice to help Hyrule. She was not quite convinced that it would work at first. And sometimes she still thought it would not work out. Especially when one of the Hylians would call her a harlot and a "no-good-desert rat". If weapons were not banned inside the walls, she would have used her trusty swords to teach those Hylians a lesson. But luckily, an incident had not happened in about a week.

After speaking with Zelda, Ryut followed Impa to a place where some debris still needed to be carried away to be dumped. The Gerudo woman and Impa then set to work to take the rocks and beams away to the dumpsite. Ryut could not help but pause a moment to watch the sun. It lingered slowly overhead. Somehow she knew this day would be a long day.

* * * *

A little after they had started removing the debris, a few Gorons and Hylians had arrived to help clear the area. The Gerudos and Impa were doing just fine on their own but they appreciated the help. When they had come, Impa left to check in with Zelda.

Once she left, one of the smaller Gorons came up to Ryut and poked her lightly or probably what he thought was light. She looked up at him and he smiled.

"Hi, my name is Link! No, I'm not that Link but my Dad did name me after him. What's your name?" Ryut lifted her brow and tried to hold back a laugh. Gorons might be strange creatures but they were kind of cute.

"I'm Ryut. Your Dad must be Darunia, Sage of Fire."

"Yep, that's him!"

"That must be neat…to have a Sage for a Dad." Link, the Goron, just kind of giggled then helped her with a large beam that had settled into a groove in the ground. For such a little Goron, he sure was strong. He held most of the weight as they eased it against a rock. He looked at her and shrugged a bit.

"Yeah, I guess so. He's my Dad." Ryut stood in the shade of a tree for a moment and wiped her brow. It was hot now for it was about noon.

"Boy, it's hot. I'm thirsty…are you?"

"No, I'm not. But one of the other guys brought up some water if you need some. It's over there in the jar." Link pointed to a clay jar sitting in the grass nearby and she headed towards it. A ladle was in it and she flopped down next to it and took a hold of the handle.

"Hey!" Ryut jumped dropping the ladle. She looked up to see one of the Hylian men come towards her. She recognized him as one of the men that lived in Kakariko Village. He always gave them dirty looks and acted as if he was always just itching to catch them off their guard. "It's not break time yet, Gerudo." Ryut could see the prejudice in this man's eyes. She narrowed her eyes and noticed her friends watching her; ready to defend her if they had to but she hoped they would not have to.

"I'm not having a break. I just need a drink. Are you hoarding this all for yourself?" Ryut shook off the shock of his approach and gripped the handle once more lifting the ladle out of the jar about to drink. The man then grabbed her arm jerking her up to her feet. The water spilled out onto the grass and the ladle fell.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing! Let go of me!" She smacked the man hard across the face causing him to let her go. Now she was really wishing to have her sword with her but now all the Gerudos were by her sides and the four other Hylians were by the Kakariko man. Ryut looked around and noticed the two older Gorons stepping back blinking but Link was no where to be seen.

"First you steal our horses, then our homes, and now our water!" The man from the Village shook his fist at them but now that they stood together none of them feared him. One of the men by him put his hands on his shoulders and tried to calm him.

"Come on, man, we can't stand those harlots any more than you, but we got to tolerate them for peace. They'll be gone soon anyway." Ryut growled at the comment and took a breath.

"Humph, some peace! You men don't even have a clue to what it's like!" By the time Ryut finished her outburst, Link came running up with Nabooru and the other Hylian Link. The small Goron pointed and Nabooru had an awful scowl on her face. She looked ready to pounce the Hylian men but instead she went to Ryut.

"Are you alright?" Ryut crossed her arms as she saw the Hylian Link go to talk with the men.

"I would be if we didn't ever have to see these awful Hylians ever again! I hate them! I wish we could go back to Gerudo Valley!" A few of the other girls chimed in with their agreements as Nabooru sighed.

"I know. And we will go back but not until we finish what we promised. Not all Hylians are bad. Look at Link." Ryut clenched her teeth and let her red hair slide over one eye.

"Yeah, but he wasn't raised Hylian. He was raised in Kokiri Forest! And all the Kokiri children are nice!" Suddenly, she side stepped Nabooru and yelled out at the Hylians. "Maybe you men should take lessons from the Kokiri like Link did!"

They just sneered at her and then walked off with a heavy chip on their shoulder.

Nabooru frowned deeply turning away from everyone as Link came to Ryut. He still wore his silly green Kokiri cap even though he was the steward of Hyrule now. Even though, she respected and revered him for being the Hero of Time, Ryut still kept a stiff lip. He reached out and patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry. They won't bother you again. And from now on, if anyone ever treats you badly they will be imprisoned. You have my word on it. We all did not work so hard to save Hyrule and have peace to break it up again just because we look different or have different ways of living. I'll put up a sign letting the people know, okay?" Ryut felt a bit silly. He almost was talking to her as if she were a child, but then again she was acting like one. She nodded kindly letting herself relax again and took his apology.

Link smiled and his blue eyes brightened. "Alright. Now that that's settled, we can start working on the dungeons, Nabooru." He turned to where he saw the Sage of Spirit standing last to find that she had gone. "Nabooru?" He ran a few paces up the small slope and looked around for a sign of her but found nothing. The Gerudo girls claimed they saw nothing but he was not sure if they were telling the truth. The Gerudo were all very close.

He had asked all around the building site and Castle Town but no one had seen her leave. Finally, he came to the gate, which they had repaired, long ago. The sun now hovered slowly in the west. Link stood upon the lowered gate and looked around the endless fields of Hyrule. No sign of Nabooru. Link sighed and leaned against the wall crossing his arms and feeling the west wind against his face.

"She'll come back."

* * * *

"Boy, I haven't done this in awhile." The land below her sped by as Nabooru used her magic to get away. When she had awoke this morning, she thought it would be a new start for her people. She thought it would be a way for them to get to know the Hylian people and become their friends and allies. But they were only shunned and tormented by the Hylians. They were mocked, hated and picked on constantly. Even if it was not actually seen, she knew what people were thinking by the way they would look at her and her people…and she had had it! She knew that things were starting to bubble and build inside, that's why she had to leave. If she did not, she was afraid something bad would happen.

Besides, it had been awhile since she had been to her temple out in the calmness of the desert. The Spirit Temple was her getaway since not many people were allowed to enter she had it all to herself. Soon the magnificent Colossus loomed up out amongst the desert dunes like a diamond in the rough. She landed softly and quietly letting the orange glow dissipate from her body and then she shivered. It was nighttime now outside in front of the Temple and the west wind was blowing. She knew there would be warmth inside but she did not move. Nabooru stood ridged for a moment with fists clenched and a tight jaw. Suddenly, a scream came rolling out of her mouth.

"It's not fair! Why us! Why! We didn't do anything to them! We helped them and this is the thanks we get!" Nabooru kicked at the sand and it floated in the wind over her body getting in her eyes and clothes. The Sage sank to her knees. She felt like quitting on the Hylians…on Link. What was he really doing to stop these people from harassing them? The wind continued to blow the chill into her body and her hair covered her face. It was her red hair. Red hair was the symbol of a Gerudo and the Gerudo were forever strong like they had always been. Nabooru took in a deep breath sifting some sand through her fingers.

"I am a Gerudo…I am a leader…I am a Sage. What am I doing? I can do this. No matter what Link's doing I can take care of my own people. Even if I have to kill a few people to get their respect, I'll do it!" She pounded the sand a bit and got to her feet. Her proud Gerudo smile came back though her teeth were chattering. "I know I can do this." With that, Nabooru strode up the steps of her temple like a Gerudo Queen.

She paused before entering. Something was different. One of the possessed jars that she had left inside the front room to alert her to intruders was smashed on the ground at the entrance. The jars do not move unless someone walked near enough for them to sense them. Instinctively, Nabooru reached for her sword but found it missing. She cursed to herself remembering the order of no weapons allowed inside the walls of Castle Town. Her senses were stretched out towards the door. She could hear nothing and could see nothing but that might not mean anything. Tentatively her silken shoes moved toward the door making no sound. Her body was tensed, ready to attack anyone that might be meaning to harm her. This would be a bad day for anyone to attack Nabooru.

The Sage stepped inside looking all around the room in the dim light set off from the fire in the back of the room. She could barely see the stairs but she knew they were there.

She inched towards the steps when suddenly her foot caught something cold. Nabooru sprung back and yelped.

"Don't come any closer!" Her voice was full of confidence and she did not fear whoever was there but no one answered. She blinked and chopped at the air in front of her. No one was there. Curious now, Nabooru moved her foot out and made contact with the cold something again. She stepped closer when something crunched under her foot. It sounded like clay. Nabooru let a smirk cross her face. Reaching down with her hand, she touched the object her foot nudged and found out that it was an arm…a very cold arm that belonged to somebody.

"The fool must have gotten himself knocked out." She let out a laugh. Being careful not to step on the person, Nabooru made her way up the stairs to the torches and grabbed one. Going down the stairs, the fire illuminated the area better and she could make out the features of the intruder. It was not a surprise to her that it was a man but what did surprise her was what he looked like. Gripping the torch tightly, Nabooru crouched by the man with a slight trickle of blood on his forehead where she figured the jar had struck him. Those little jars could really hurt sometimes. Her yellow eyes looked at him anxiously. The man was dark-skinned with sandy brown hair. He also had little ears unlike the Hylians that had large pointy ears. Looking at his face, he had well-worn, yet handsome features. Though what was curious, was around his eyes were black tattoos. They outlined and surrounded his eyes and from the bottom of his eye down his cheek ran long streaks that almost looked like black tears. She did not recognize his style of clothing but it was simple and worn. He had a blue cloak, an over shirt, belt, pants and dusty old boots. She took in a breath.

"He almost looks like a Gerudo…if only he had red hair." Nabooru looked at his boots, wondering if it was possible that she could tell where he had been when she saw some blood around the rim of his boot and on his pants. Some puncture marks were on his the rim of his boot and she wondered. He was injured and it was not from her jars.

"I wonder what caused that." She took a step back from him as a little fear took her mind. What if he was a murderer and he was running? Nabooru shook her head. It did not matter what he was. She could handle herself. After all, she was the Sage of Spirit. Besides, he must not be that dangerous if a mere possessed jar could take him down. She had to smile at that thought. It was kind of silly.

Nabooru stood and looked at the pathetic man and thought about what she should do about him. She was intrigued about him. She wanted to know where he came from, who he was, and why he was there in her temple. He certainly was not Hylian from the looks of him so maybe he might be worth keeping around, she thought.

Deciding upon that, Nabooru went after some water from the pool outside so that she could clean his foot wound. Coming back, she placed the torches in a pattern around them so that she could get a steady light down in front of the entrance. She noticed how cold it was so she went off to her room inside the temple to get some pillows and blankets. Carefully, she lifted the man's dusty head onto a silken pillow and covered him with a nice warm blanket.

"It's a good thing I found you or I think you would have ended up dead." Nabooru knew he could not answer just yet but it was occupying her. With a wet cloth, she washed the cut on his forehead. His skin was cold to the touch almost like a corpse, but he was still breathing.

Nabooru had a tough time getting his worn boot off his bloodied foot but eventually it popped off and she threw it aside. A lot of dried blood was covering the wound so it was not a recent injury. It looked to be like teeth or claw marks of some kind. She did not recognize it, however.

"Weird." With that, she went on with the gruesome task of cleaning it up as best she could.

During all the excitement, everything else had slipped from Nabooru's mind. Hyrule, Link, the Gerudos and the rebuilding had all disappeared into the background. At this point, she could care less. Hyrule would have to do without her for a just a short time.

* * * *

"Thanks again Darunia. We couldn't have done this without you and the Gorons." Link was saying farewell to the Sage of Fire as the day's work was over again and everyone went back to their homes to rest for the next tiresome day. Darunia's heavy body raised up in a glorified laughter.

"We're all in on this together. No one's more important than the other, I say." The Sage gave Link a large pat on the back nearly driving him into the ground. Link coughed and rubbed his back.

"Heh, yeah, of course." Big Brother passed on by to go roost in the Field when out of the corner of his eye, Link caught the Gerudos and Hylians of Kakariko heading out. He ran up to them.

"Hey, Ryut!" She stopped along with the others. All of them looking quite tired and disheartened.

"Yes, what is it Link?" Ryut looked uneasy watching the Hylians walking by making sure they would not try anything.

"Anything from Nabooru?"

"If I would have known something already, I would have told you." Her tone was sharp but tired.

"I didn't mean anything…I was just checking. I'm sure she's okay. I'm sure she'll be back." Ryut nodded at that and tried to put on her proud face.

"I KNOW she'll be back. She won't abandon us." With that, Ryut turned and proceeded to Kakariko. Link watched them a moment until they were out of sight. He sighed a bit then turned back to Castle Town. Zelda was waiting for him outside of his small home near the Temple of Time.

"Any sign of Nabooru?" She asked and Link shook his head while taking off his hat.

"No. Nothing." He warily walked into his house throwing his hat in a corner and slumping onto his bed. The house was barely big enough for two people but Link felt comfortable in it. It had been a long day. Since Nabooru had left, he asked Ryut to be the overseer of the beginnings of the dungeons until Nabooru came back. He could tell she was delighted in light of what had happened earlier that day but still she was concerned for Nabooru. And so was he. However, he knew Nabooru was strong and confident. Like Ryut had said, she would not abandon her people.

Princess Zelda followed Link in and she looked just as tired as he did but she did not rest.

"Are you hungry?" He sat up at her question and looked at her fatigued body.

"Let me help you with something to eat, then we can both get some rest." Zelda smiled as they worked together for dinner. When they finally sat down, Link almost felt too tired to eat but kept awake long enough to do so. Looking up after he was done, he noticed that Zelda had hardly touched her food. He blinked.

"Something wrong with it?"

"Huh?" Zelda looked up at him as if she were awakening from a dream. Link peered at her concerned for a moment.

"Are you okay?" He watched her open her mouth to say something but hesitate, then her brow furrowed. He then looked at her sternly. "What is it?" She paused a moment longer putting down her fork and playing with her hair. That usually meant she was nervous. He waited for her to speak.

"I didn't tell you at first…because I thought it was just a silly dream." She started. Link lifted his brow and stood up coming to her.

"Zelda…I've come to think anything you dream…is not silly. Now…tell me…what is it?" Link crouched down taking her hand and looking up at her in support. She paused again, twirling her hair.

"It was a few weeks ago…I dreamed of Hyrule…and there was a shadow approaching it…but it looked like the shadow of a man. It came slowly…very slowly…then in a loud voice it called, 'I've come for the life! Take the fire that burns! Oh, Hyrule, can you be the paradise?'…then a great fire consumed everything and darkness lay over the land…and the shadow of the man was left alone in the darkness. All alone…and he cried out again in a mournful voice, 'You are not the Paradise, you have burned. Why has the death taken you?'" Zelda fell quiet a moment looking out the window cloaked in the dark of night. "Then I woke up to find the Triforce of Wisdom on my hand shining as if it were reacting to something…I asked Rauru about it and he said that none of the others Sages had reported anything unusual. We checked the Temple of Time and the seal was still quite fastened. So…I don't know what it means. It might mean nothing." Her blue eyes met Link's blue thoughtful eyes. He was scanning her face and her eyes then he took a breath.

"Have you had any more dreams since?" Zelda shook her head of golden hair and looked down.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before…but since Ganondorf was sealed away and things were starting to look up for all of us I…I just didn't want another omen or prophecy of death coming our way. I hope it really is just nothing. Because nothing has happened to make me believe that something is happening." Link nodded and squeezed her hand.

"I understand Princess. Don't worry about it. We've all been under a lot of stress, I bet you were just dreaming up old dangers…that's all." He smiled at her and stood up helping her to get to her feet. "Come on, I'll take you to your room." Zelda's face brightened as Link escorted her up the stairs. After Ganondorf had been defeated and the rebuilding of Hyrule started, Link had told her that he would feel better if she were close to him or somewhere that he could protect her better. So they decided to share this small complex. It had enough privacy for the both of them and she was still close to her original home—Hyrule Castle.

Link had left to get some rest as Zelda got out of her work clothes, throwing them on the floor. She slipped on a nightshirt and tumbled onto her bed. The day had been a stressful day and her mind still wandered to that dream. Was Hyrule really going to burn? And if it was, what was going to happen to the people? And it was strange that it was supposed to burn…would that mean it had something to do with Darunia? She turned over to face the window out of her south wall. The crescent moon was slowly rising into view casting a lovely blue light in her room. A sweet breeze floated into her nose and she breathed deep taking in the pleasure closing her eyes. Zelda thought of Farore's power over the wind and how much Nayru must love her creations. Then Zelda's eyes opened just slightly. Din had power over fire. Perhaps she would know what her dream meant. In a whisper, Zelda spoke a small prayer to Din to help her discover what her dream meant and prevent Hyrule from burning. Then slowly she drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

*So what did anyone think? Any good? Are you interested? I promise more of the other characters will come around in later chapters. In the next chapter however, we will find out about the Gerudo-looking man Nabooru found in the Spirit Temple and what he wants. Think he's dangerous? Think he has something to do with Zelda's dream? He might have nothing to do with it. Well, if you're asking yourself those questions, then keep an eye out for new chapters. J *