Yay! I love the reviews! And I totally want to thank EmeraldDestiny and Liquid Earth for adding my little story to their favorites. I don't think I thanked EmeraldDestiny before. Sorry. My bad.
Isn't it amazing how the threat of studying really inspires one to write? Just an observation.
Alright, it's going to be a little more fun this chapter. For some reason, this came out lighter than the last. Sometimes I feel like I'm yanking you guys around with all the change in moodiness. What can I say, I have serious mood swings. So, hopefully, you all will like the fun-ness of this chapter.
Chapter Seven:
"The Y Factor"
The paths through the forests took longer than going across Hyrule Field, but Jennifer and Eric weren't complaining. Link's warning and the novelty of horseback riding still held sway; nevertheless, they managed to make it to Gerudo's Fortress in good time.
When Jennifer and Eric had reached Gerudo's Valley, they were immediately shot at. The arrows had missed on purpose. Someone called out to them.
"Who goes there?"
"I'm Jennifer, this is Eric. We were sent by Zelda, the queen."
"Liars!" cried another voice. Jennifer and Eric weren't expecting this.
"I have never seen these two before," the voice continued.
"Do you have proof of your claims?" A woman dropped down from the sky and asked them. She was tall and lean, wearing very loose pants gathered at the waist and ankles. A bandeaux top stretched across her chest, her eyes were gold and her hair blazed red with skepticism.
"Nope, sorry, we must have forgot our club cards," Jennifer said sarcastically.
Eric looked disapprovingly at her. Jennifer rolled her eyes before he responded, "Our errand is a crucial one. We have been touched by the hand of Destiny to complete this task." Not bad, Jennifer thought, very elegant sounding.
The woman in front of them narrowed her eyes.
"We are—" Eric began again, but was cut off by the handprints on each of their chests flaring up. The light shining from them made the woman in front of them bring her arm to her face to shield her eyes. The light faded and Jennifer could have sworn she heard a familiar laugh in the air. The woman lowered her arm, mouth slightly agape.
"Very well," she said. Oh, Destiny, you sly little….
The woman turned on her heel and led Jennifer and Eric through the long, winding Gerudo's Valley before emerging onto a desert plain. The Fortress loomed in the distance.
"I am Darafu," the woman said stiffly. "I apologize if we seem inhospitable. We must be careful—"
"—in these dangerous times, yeah, I get it," Jennifer said, distracted by the huge fortress.
"We understand," Eric said smoothly. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Darafu."
When they reached the fortress, Darafu took Chez and Faedra and motioned for Jennifer and Eric to go inside. They stepped inside to see more Gerudo women, all with gold eyes and red hair. They walked deeper into the fortress before reaching a tall woman, obviously the Gerudo leader. She was beautiful in an exotic way, sharing the physical features of the rest of her people. Other women milled around her. They stopped talking as Jennifer and Eric approached.
"Welcome, Destiny touched," she said, her voice low and smoldering.
"Is that all we're good for?" Jennifer said.
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Eric clarified.
The Gerudo leader smiled gratefully at Eric.
"I am Nabooru, leader of the Gerudo and Sage of Spirit."
"The Sage of Spirit?" Jennifer asked, eyes widening.
"Indeed."
"Cool," she said. Eric rolled his eyes inwardly.
"I'm Eric, and this is Jennifer. We are looking for the Five Powers."
"I see." Nabooru frowned thoughtfully. "I have not heard of these Five Powers."
One of the women turned to Nabooru.
"I have seen writings that mention the Five Powers," the woman said.
"Where?" Jennifer asked eagerly. Everyone looked at her.
"What did the writings say, Dula?" Nabooru said.
"I will show them to you."
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"So, you guys—I mean, girls—don't have any men around?" Jennifer asked, fascinated. "Shut up."
"I did not say anything," Nabooru replied, puzzled. She shook her head and said, "The Gerudo's are a race of women warriors."
"That's so awesome. But, how do you, you know, um—"
"Here, Nabooru." Dula pointed to writing carved into a wall. "I only noticed them a little while ago."
They were all in a long, low room underneath the Fortress. A large stone chair stood at the end of the aisle. The walls were intricately carved with pictures and symbols Jennifer couldn't even begin to decipher. Everything looked a little neglected. Dust lined the crevices of the carvings and cobwebs were strung across the corners. Nabooru called it the Old Throne Room.
Eric gave the dusty writings a blow and rubbed them. Dust scattered as Nabooru leaned forward.
"The First of the Five lies in the depths..." she began. She squinted and dusted off some of the carvings.
"…in the heart of a woman."
"The heart of a woman?" Eric whispered.
"Does it say anything else?" Jennifer asked.
"No."
"Nothing?"
"I am afraid so," Nabooru said.
"I don't get it," Jennifer said. "Where is the heart of a woman? Gah, I hate riddles."
"Well, what is in the heart of a woman?" Eric asked, half to himself.
"Love? Hate? Fear? Strength? The possibilities are endless," Jennifer said, frustrated. "I hate riddles."
"Maybe it's not an emotion," Eric pointed out.
"What else could it be?" Jennifer asked. "Have I told you how much I hate riddles? Crossword puzzles are my sworn enemy."
Eric smiled and said, "Maybe it's a place." He turned to Nabooru.
"Where is the heart of your territory?"
"Here."
"Here?" Jennifer asked skeptically.
"The Fortress was built around and above the Old Throne Room," Nabooru said.
"Okay, then it must be here," Eric said, looking around.
"But where? We can't just dig up the Throne Room," Jennifer said. Suddenly confused, she turned to Nabooru and asked, "How come you guys—girls—don't use the Throne Room?"
"Only our King uses the Old Throne Room. One male is born every century, and he becomes our leader," Nabooru replied.
"He does? That sucks."
Eric had started walking around the Throne Room, inspecting everything and anything that could be a hint to the location of the First Power. Jennifer walked pensively over to the throne.
"Well, I'm an American," she said pointedly. "And we don't believe in Kings. We believe that our leaders answer to the people." She paused before adding, almost as an afterthought, "However that works." She had reached the throne and looked up.
"And as a woman," she continued, smiling pleasantly, "I believe that the heart of a woman is way, way above the brain of a man."
Jennifer grinned and climbed up onto the throne. Carved into the ceiling above the throne was a symbol she had seen many times in Hyrule—a triangle with four other smaller triangles inside. Jennifer reached up and touched the middle, upside down triangle.
Suddenly, the slab of stone that served as the seat of the throne slid out from under her. Jennifer slid down a long hole and landed heavily at the bottom.
"Oof!" She started coughing and waving her hand if front of her face. Her graceful landing had caused ages-old dust to sprinkle the air.
"Jen! Are you okay?" Eric called down the hole. Jennifer looked up at him, eyes blinking furiously.
"Yeah, fine," she replied. "Just peachy."
"Do you need me to come down?" He sounded worried.
"No, that's alright. I need you to help me get back up again, anyway," she called up the hole. She noticed that his brows were furrowed in concern.
"I'm fine, Eric, really. Stop being a worry-wart," she said, exasperated. He still didn't look too convinced, but Jennifer just rolled her eyes and looked forward.
Once again, the walls were covered in strange carvings, but this time, they seemed to be leading down the corridor Jennifer had landed in.
"Actually, I could use a light. You didn't happen to bring your handy dandy flashlight, huh?"
Eric shook his head. Jennifer gingerly took a step forward and torches along the walls immediately lit up.
"Whoa," she said.
"What? What is it?" Eric yelled.
"Nothing, God," she said exasperatedly. "I think I just solved our lighting problem, though."
The torches had revealed a corridor of earthen walls and a cut out in the wall at the end of the corridor. A stone lay in the cut out. Jennifer walked towards it.
"Jen. Jen! Where are you going?" Eric asked.
"I got it under control," she said absently, most of her concentration on the stone at the end of the corridor.
Light flickered on the walls from the fiery torches. Jennifer's nose wrinkled at the dust and dank smell of the area. When she reached the cut out, she cautiously reached out and grabbed the stone. When nothing happened, Jennifer smirked, pleased with herself.
She examined the stone, but everything about it seemed to be ordinary. It wasn't even a pretty stone; it was gray and plain. Jennifer held it up and noticed that the egg-shaped stone was little bigger than her fist. The only thing that gave it away as being a Power was the small "1" etched on it. Jennifer walked back towards the hole and looked up at Eric.
"Now you're gonna have to figure out how to get me outta here," she said.
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The Gerudo's fetched a rope and pulled her back up the hole. As soon as Jennifer's foot left the ground of the corridor, the torches went out. When her feet reached the ground of the Throne Room, the slab of stone slid back into place as though it had never moved.
Jennifer handed the stone to Eric, who dropped it like a hot potato, crying out.
"What the…? Ow, why is it so hot?" he said, nursing a finger.
"It doesn't feel hot to me," Jennifer said, picking up the stone.
"Only you may touch the Powers," Dula said suddenly. Jennifer and Eric had almost forgotten she was there. "You are the Key."
"Huh?"
"Of course," Eric said. "Why else would you be here?"
"Hey," Jennifer said. "That cuts me deep, you know, real deep."
Eric grinned.
"I mean, why else would you be needed for the quest?" he said, shrugging.
"Besides my obvious wit and charm? To be the Key," Jennifer said. "I never thought of it that way before. I guess it should have been obvious."
"Well, now you have the First Power," Nabooru said. "What do you intend to do next?"
"Um, well, we were sorta just making this up as we go along."
So… Jennifer is the Key. I don't know about you, but I thought it was pretty obvious by now, so rather than having some big clichéd reveal at the end, I just revealed it now. A little anticlimactic, but if I had waited any longer, I think it would have been just plain stupid. Besides, her being the Key comes into even more play later on (duh). Well, I thought it worked pretty well. What do you guys think? PUT IT IN A REVIEW! Seriously, I've had over 250 hits, and only 15 reviews... it makes me kinda sad. Remember, reviews work wonders for an author's morale! Reviews equals Reader Love equals Faster Updates.
Before I go, "uña y carne" is a Spanish expression meaning something along the lines of inseparable. As a student studying Spanish for, oh, about 7 years now (Dios mío, has it been that long?), I tend to do that. But I'm a blonde, white girl (yep, I'm a guera), so I'm still horribly self-conscious about my Spanish speaking ability… sometimes I feel like I'm disgracing the language. But I think it's totally cool you're Portuguese, EmeraldDestiny! Portuguese is sorta like Spanish... and Italian... and a little like French... and a hint like English. All the languages sorta overlap. You know what I mean. ;) All I have to say is, thank God for cognates, 'cause that's where half my Spanish vocabulary comes from.
Later, gators.
BB