"I think men are disgusting," Sakina confided in Malon one evening at the ranch. They were both fifteen now. Malon's acne had faded and Sakina wasn't so gawky and skinny anymore. "Whenever they're in the Gerudo Valley all they do is talk about Nayru's Gift and whatever it is they're so proud of."
Malon giggled. "Mr. Ingo sometimes brings women home from Kakariko. And sometimes there are visitors at the ranch from Kakariko. I don't know; some men are kind of charming."
"You've been lucky. All the ones I've met are just annoying." Sakina shook her head irritably. She recalled that a few had made passes at her in the mess hall, asking who her man was and so on. "And they stink." Sakina added for good measure.
"Well, I can't attest to that one. I never get close enough for that to matter."
"And you hang around in a barn all day, so you'd really have no basis of comparison," Sakina said thoughtfully.
"Hey!" Malon laughed, shoving Sakina.
They both started giggling profusely when a firm knock came to the door. Sakina dove into a pile of hay and wheedled deeper in. Malon said a soft "come in" and the door opened. Sakina looked through the hay curiously and saw a strange man standing inside.
"I thought I heard you talking," the man said shyly.
"Oh, just the horses and me." Malon shrugged, looking towards Sakina's stack a few times.
"Well… um… I was just wondering what… well… if it's okay… if I stayed around for a bit?" The man wasn't the most handsome of his sort but was cute enough. Sakina realized who Malon must have been referring to as a charming man. He wouldn't be sweeping me off of my feet, Sakina rolled her eyes.
"Oh! Yes! I mean…." She looked towards the haystack again. "Could… could you wait outside for a second? I just have to tidy up." Before the man could say anything either way, she was shoving him out the door. She closed it behind him. Sakina burst out of the hay.
"I can't believe you're sending me away for that guy." Sakina joked, shaking the hay out of her hair.
"I don't know how I'm going to get you out is the problem! If Mr. Ingo sees you, we're both in trouble!"
"Well, if your man is really charming, he won't have a problem with assisting me out of here."
Malon giggled. "Okay, I guess we could ask." Malon opened the door and the man, who had been listening outside, practically fell in.
"Charming," Sakina smiled wryly. "I suppose you heard our dilemma?"
"Micol, this is my friend Kina. Mr. Ingo, as you know, doesn't like when I have visitors, and he doesn't like Kina. Could you sort of walk out and hide her?" Malon widened her eyes hopefully.
Micol was looking from Malon's hopeful blue eyes to Sakina's judging green ones.
"I…."
"Great," Sakina grabbed his shoulders and started to push him towards the closed door.
The door crashed open, and Mr. Ingo wildly stormed in.
"What's going on in here?" He asked furiously. "Why aren't you working?" His eyes were apoplectic with rage. Then he saw Micol and Sakina. "Oh, Micol, you're still here. Were you interested in that horse after all?" He greased his voice in a business-like tone.
"Yes, but… now I must be going. I have to… um… go and check with my business partner."
"And who is this lovely young lady?" Mr. Ingo looked curiously at Sakina.
Sakina glared at him, recognizing an all too familiar look on his face. He stroked his mustache in what he surely thought an impressive manner.
"I am a Gerudo fighter," she said smoothly. "I was on my way to Kakariko in search of a man when I stumbled across Micol here. He's coming back to the Valley with me."
Micol blushed, realizing what Sakina was referring to.
"But I-."
Sakina poked him fiercely in the back to keep him silent.
"Oh, I see." Mr. Ingo looked at Sakina a bit longer. "Aren't you a bit fair-skinned to be a Gerudo? You actually look strikingly Hylian."
Sakina whipped out her sword, causing everyone in the barn to jump.
"Are you challenging my heritage, sir?" She growled, holding Mr. Ingo at sword-point. "Because if you are, you are standing on very, very dangerous grounds." Sakina realized that her braid was not helping her look Gerudo at all. It was a forest-braid. Gerudos wore ponytails. But Mr. Ingo had seen enough to convince him not to ask anymore questions. "And by the way," she continued, "I think your girl, Malon, is it? She needs to get more of a break. She's too skinny." Sakina pushed her sword closer to Mr. Ingo's face.
"Of course!" Mr. Ingo squeaked. "You're right!"
"I know." Sakina replaced her sword. Sakina walked by. "Come, Micol. It's off to the best month of your life." Sakina gripped his arm tightly, fingers sweating. Mr. Ingo watched Sakina passed and then….
"What's that on your neck?" He asked quickly.
Sakina looked back at him, knowing her charade was over.
"A birthmark." She looked to Malon, who seemed to know that their nightly rendezvous were over.
"Interesting shape," Sakina knew that if Mr. Ingo wasn't so afraid of her sword that he would have gone further. Sakina was more frightened for Malon. "Your first time to the ranch?"
"No," she growled. "And if you abuse this girl, it won't be my last."
Malon closed her eyes and crossed her fingers.
Sakina knew she wouldn't be going back. Mr. Ingo would be writing to Ganondorf, telling him all about this encounter. Malon was soon to experience the worst beating of her life, leaving her bedridden for two days. Micol would only ever return weeks later to visit Malon in secret. And Sakina didn't return at all for Malon's safety.
As her sixteenth birthday drew steadily nearer, Sakina grew more and more silent, knowing that she would be leaving her new home in search of somewhere to belong. Link hadn't returned and probably wouldn't return in time to do any good. The Zoras had been frozen and the Gorons had mysteriously disappeared. Apparently in Kakariko, nearly seven years back, a boy had played some weird song that had destroyed the well.
I have to give everything up, Sakina realized. There is nothing left for me here. There's nothing I can do.
Every day she prayed that Link might come back. She resolved that her sixteenth birthday would be the last time she would wait, because seven years was far too long a wait. The Gerudo friends Sakina had were working her harder than ever before, keeping her skills up to scratch. Kynthia and Zahmora visited her every night. Naoll visited her more than anyone else. Nokomis followed her around for a good chunk of the day. Sabu and Misae were always giving her advice and Neona slipped her extra pieces of bread at supper. They all knew the day was coming that she would have to leave the Gerudos.
Heltzaku and her friends had more of a bounce in their step as though they were losing a wart or boil after seven years of bearing it. No children had been born to anyone in all the years that they had invited men and Heltzaku felt humiliated that she had let the women's hopes up.
"Nabooru said something was wrong with our temple before leaving," Naoll explained to Sakina. "She never came back. She thought that's the reason none of us can have any children right now. Ganondorf did something to it."
"Speaking of Ganondorf," Zahmora said, sitting next to Sakina while watching the spear practices go on. "Supposedly Heltzaku received a letter from him the other day. He said something about you, actually, and recommended that once you hit sixteen that none of us are around. That sort of makes me want to keep you just to see what he does."
Sakina smiled.
"Sixteen years old. I can still remember when she was nine." Nokomis sighed.
"Well, come on, that was hardly seven years ago." Kynthia spat. "I'd hope your memory wasn't so poor that you'd forget seven years ago."
"Kynthia, won't you just let me reminisce? You do realize we're gonna be losin' our Kina in two days."
"One," Sakina corrected. "I'm sixteen tomorrow."
"See? One day! That's even worse!" Nokomis threw her hands into the air. "Can I ruffle your hair?" She pleaded.
Sakina couldn't restrain a smile. Nokomis took that as an okay and did so.
In the middle of the night, Sakina lie awake and stared at the ceiling, trying not to think about the next day. She was going to lose everything, once and for all. Ganondorf had made sure of that. Why he'd wanted her to live so long she didn't know. Maybe it was the eternal suffering she had to endure. He just liked the sense of it.
Sakina jerked up suddenly as her door creaked open to admit seven Gerudos. Naoll, Nokomis, Zahmora, Kynthia, Sabu, Misae and Neona, her friends among the Gerudos. The last friends she would make. The last friends she would lose. Sakina forced herself not to cry.
"Hey," Naoll was in the front, bearing a small candle. "We aren't really supposed to do this, but…."
"What's going on?" Sakina asked.
"Every Gerudo has her sixteenth birthday celebration before she's sent off to find a man." Nokomis said eagerly. "We saw no reason you shouldn't have one too."
"After all," Kynthia smoothed out Sakina's hair lovingly. "You are one of us as far as we're concerned."
The women led her into the bath chamber and Sakina saw that they had put rose petals in the water. After she bathed, the women combed out her hair and put it into a graceful half-braid. The rest of her hair hung loose around her figure. She saw that her friends had made her four new outfits. One was lilac, and that was the one they made her wear.
"We voted and decided it definitely makes you look lovely," Sabu said, squeezing her shoulder. They had her wearing two arm-circlets and large hoop earrings. The other outfits they had created for her consisted of the usual green she wore, a red outfit for extreme temperatures and a blue garment for easier swimming.
Misae gave to Sakina a newly-crafted bow. Neona gave Sakina sharp new arrows. In her traveling pack they had given her food, water, a blanket, her old dagger, and some little pieces of jewelry that each of them had given to her.
Sakina couldn't stop the tears this time. The other women, usually so hard-faced, had tears leaking from their own eyes.
"Oh come on," Nokomis laughed through her own tears. "Nobody cries at a birthday celebration!"
The rest of the women laughed at this.
"Sakina, we're going to run across you one day, I just know it, eh?" Zahmora punched her arm lightly.
"Yeah, we'll see each other again," Sakina breathed shakily. Sitting together in a heap on Sakina's bed, the women talked one last time as a group including Sakina, before the sun rose and Sakina was bid farewell.
The Temple of Time loomed before Sakina. She didn't want to go in this time. She knew Link wouldn't be there, just like every other time. Instead, she sat by the pool and laid her head down on her pack, allowing herself to rest. She thought one last time upon her lost friend. He hadn't deserved to go like that. Maybe he was dead after all. Ganondorf, the cruel master of Hyrule, in all likelihood had told Sakina that he was alive to torment her more.
"Happy birthday," she whispered to the Temple sadly. "Link, happy birthday."
Her eyes drooped shut with exhaustion from staying awake all night with her friends. The loneliness she felt couldn't be compared with anything but the pain of the brand on her neck. No more disappointments. She had hit rock bottom and further and nothing could draw her out. She curled into fetal position and half-hoped she would die right there, that maybe, just maybe, Link would come out and tell her she'd had a horrible nightmare, that they were still in the forest and that they both had fairies now or some such nonsense.
Sleep overtook her body. She dreamed of Link from times in the forest to times of fear.
I wish you would just leave me now. She said to the memory. Why can you have so much of me while I have only this of you? Curled in the position she was in, she remembered curling around Link at nine-years-old, his soft breath in her neck and sometimes on her hair. But that had been so long ago. "We're going to be together forever."
Sorry, Link, I have to leave you now. Or maybe it was you that left me seven years ago on these very steps.
Boom. The doors had opened as Link walked in…. Oh Link. Why did you have to go in?
Boom. The door opened as Link walked in….
Sakina felt distinctly a shadow pass over her face. She wasn't fully asleep but close enough that she assumed that it was a small cloud over the sun. Then again, the sun was always overcast here. It smelled like a man, a scent she never welcomed.
Sakina jerked up and whipped out her sword as fast as she could, putting the distance of the weapon between herself and the stranger. The man was taller than her by half a head with blonde hair back in a ponytail. His ears were pierced as was common for a male warrior. She was surprised that he hadn't fought back with the sword that hung loosely in his hand. His muscles were probably greater than hers, and maybe he knew it. Large blue eyes looked at her with some surprise.
"Who are you?" She asked, backing away carefully.
"Who are you?" He echoed.
"I believe I'm in more of a position to be asking questions."
He cocked an eyebrow at her and moved his sword so quickly that she barely had time to react. Their swords were locked.
"There, now we're even," he grinned.
Sakina forced her mouth to stay in a grim line. "I still asked you first."
"Hm, who am I?" They paced around one another.
"Oh, a pox on this. I don't have time for silly games." Sakina dropped her sword to her side, realizing that this man was probably a harmless jester.
"What happened to the castle?" The man asked, motioning over his shoulder. "It looks like it's been ruined."
Sakina's eyebrows shot up. "Is that a joke or have you been out of the country?"
"Not quite the latter and certainly not the first," he explained. "It's safer to say, I suppose, that I've been sleeping under a rock."
"Scarcely sounds comfortable." Sakina nearly smiled but caught herself. "Good luck pulling the cramps out. I have to go."
"You haven't told me why it's messed up!" The man said indignantly, pointing towards the castle. He put the sword to her throat. "There, now you have to answer."
"Hardly," she shoved his sword away with her own. "Do you know who Ganondorf is at least?"
"Yes," the man said darkly.
"There you go," Sakina said brusquely. "He won." Sakina grit her jaw.
A fairy shot out of the man's pack. Sakina's mouth dropped.
"Are you Kokiri?"
"Yes?" The man was staring in fascination at his shadow.
"You can't be!" She cried. "Kokiri don't grow up!"
The man put a hand to where his head stood. "Um… I've definitely grown. What do you think, Navi?"
The fairy fluttered towards Sakina and a lump rose in her throat.
"Navi?" She whispered. Sakina thought she had cried all the tears that she had left, but apparently there were still more. "Link?" She finally managed, unsure. Sakina's legs felt as though they had transformed into jelly.
The man stood more upright. "How do you know who I am?" He asked defensively.
"You don't remember me, do you?" Her lower lip began to tremble. She dropped her sword with a clatter to the ground. She clapped her hand to her mouth to keep her lip from shaking so much.
Navi floated around her head a bit but said nothing.
Link got closer to her and looked worriedly.
"Kina?"
Sakina laughed through her hand. She squeezed the bridge of her nose to keep from crying.
"Sakina?" Link tried again.
She nodded, breathing slowly. Finally, she had herself under control, at least as much as she could for being caught so off-guard.
"I… I thought… I thought… you were… d-dead." She swallowed.
Link didn't speak. Sakina couldn't take it anymore and flung herself over Link, causing him to drop his own sword as she hugged him. He squeaked but hugged her back.
"Almost as tight as Darunia, huh?" She laughed from over his shoulder.
"Not quite," he said into her hair. "But good enough for me."