Prologue
2 Years Before Present
"Shara!" The Gerudo woman attempted to awaken her comrade; she peered out into the desert again,
"Shara! Kishara!"
"What is it dammit?" Kishara got up and glared at Dwynna, "I've just lain down, there is no way it's my shift already!"
"I'm sorry, friend, but I need a second opinion."
"On what?"
"Look into the desert, do you see anything?" Shara glanced at the desert,
"Yeah, I see desert, and, gasp, more desert,"
"Dammit Shara this is serious, look harder," Shara walked to the edge of the guard tower and stared into the desert searching for anything odd, her eyes wandered across the desert and stopped on a figure lying in the sand.
"Someone's out there, someone foreign, by the looks of 'em."
"So you see them then?"
"Yes. We should get them; they may be of use or value."
"Definitely." Dwynna began to descend the ladder while Shara opened the desert gate. "We might get lucky and they'll be foreign royalty,"
"Not lucky, that would be bad, we don't need a war, nobility, though, would be good." The gate opened and Dwynna was hit by a blast of cold desert wind. She spat out the sand that had been deposited on her lips and tied herself off, No use getting lost out there, she thought. Slowly, she made her way to the fallen stranger. She knew this desert well enough to be cautious; it was a treacherous piece of earth, always changing. Dwynna now saw that the stranger was a child, maybe ten or eleven, and she saw that the stranger was a boy, wrapped in heavy, exotic red and orange robes. She poked him with her boot a few times,
"Hey, kid, get up!" She got no reply; she nudged him a few more times, still with no response. "Damn, I'm carrying him back." Dwynna leaned over and picked him up; carrying him slung over her shoulders, she turned and began the short walk back.
"Wha…?" The child groaned, Dwynna smiled,
"Good, you're awake now follow me, kid." He looked at her groggily, "Come on, stranger, we need to get back to the camp."
"Huh?" He appeared confused. Impatient, Dwynna gave him a little smack on the head,
"Wake up, kid, get yourself together and follow me."
"Your friend is yelling something," he mumbled,
"What? Speak up."
"Your. Friend. Is. Yelling. Something."
"Thank you," Dwynna turned her head to hear Shara more clearly,
"sand… wolves… hurry…"
"Shit." Dwynna grabbed the kid and flung him over her shoulder again. Dwynna began running toward the gate.
"Run faster!"
"Thanks for the advice kid!" Dwynna smiled despite herself, the kid was charming in his own way. Her thoughts were interrupted when she was hurled to the ground. She grabbed for her weapon to discover that she'd left it in the tower, there's a lesson in this, she thought. Dwynna reached into her boot and drew out the knife she used for eating, "It'll work," she drew herself into ready position and faced off against the wolves. The kid was curled into the fetal position on the ground, sobbing from fear. One of the light, sandy colored wolves made an attempt at Dwynna; she dodged its jaws and spun around with her knife, gashing it across the face. The wolves immediately backed off a little and began circling her. Dwynna felt a presence behind her and lashed out with her boot, catching one of the wolves in the teeth. Once again the moved away and began circling in closer. He big one that had tackled her originally made a move and she jabbed with the knife, but he dodged.
"Yeah, you're learning aren't you?" Dwynna smiled, but it was quickly replaced with horror when she heard the kid scream,
"Shit! The kid!" Dwynna turned and ran toward the kid only to be blown backwards by an enormous eruption of fire. She collapsed into unconsciousness, confused, what the hell was that?
When Dwynna came to it was dawn, she was at the base of the guard tower. The kid lay a few feet from her. He's not even charred! That inferno was right by him! Shara leaned over and locked eyes with Dwynna.
"What happened Dwyn?"
"I don't know!"
"You didn't see anything? What was up with the eruption?"
"I couldn't tell. Who's the kid?"
"We don't know,"
"Did anyone else see this? Does anyone else know?"
"No, but we need to be up in the tower soon, or it's our asses. Wake the kid." Dwynna sat up and walked over to the stranger.
"Hey kid!" She saw him move, "That's a good sign," she muttered. "Get up!" He moaned and began sitting up, "Hurry it up kid, we need to get up the tower!" He got up more quickly now, standing up and rubbing his eyes. Dwyn grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the ladder. She grabbed a rung and looked at him, "Climb, kid." The stranger waited a second and began following her up the ladder.
"Did I get them?" he asked. Dwyn slowed.
"What?"
"My fire, did it get them?"
"That was you?"
"Who else would it have been?"
"Yeah kid, you saved our asses,"
"Asses?"
"Never mind kid, you saved us, that's all that matters." Dwyn climbed in silence for a few rungs she was almost to the top, "So, what's your name, I can't keep on calling you 'Kid' and 'Stranger' can I?"
"If you want to…"
"What's your name?" Dwynna smiled, he was kind of cute in his own way.
"Flaren." Dwynna smiled,
"How fitting."
Flaren collapsed as soon as he reached the landing, immediately going back to sleep.
"So… what's up with the kid?" Shara asked, Dwyn glanced at her and went about searching the stranger, Flaren, she told herself.
"I still don't know completely. His name's Flaren and he supposedly had something to do with the fire." Dwyn held in a grin, Shara hated it when she made something so important sound so boring.
"And that doesn't excite you?"
"A little," Dwyn grinned, unable to hold it in this time, which earned her a little knock on the head from Shara.
"Dammit, Dwyn! You know this is important, he's a Savant!" Dwyn tried to remember why this word made her so joyous,
"You don't seriously think that this is the Savant, do you?"
"And out of the sand flurry he came, garbed in the colors of the flame" Shara quoted, "pursued by creatures of the desert, he shall rescue one of us. You know the scriptures, Dwyn,"
"Sorry, Shara, that was your thing, please explain!"
"Out of gratitude, we shall bring him into our society. We shall teach him our ways and he will become our king."
"Ganon's not going to like this,"
"That's the thing Dwyn, Ganon is gone, we both know it! He went to the castle, he tried to kidnap the princess, and then some nobles came to town claiming he'd disappeared right in front of them. Actually, the bastards are lucky he didn't kill them. But the point is, he's gone. Nobody's seen him or any sign of him for months, nobody's even heard about him."
"Is it really worth the gamble?"
"And he shall usher in an era of prosperity throughout the desert. Dwyn! If it's true, think of the great things to come!"
"And if he's not the one?"
"Then he can't earn the crown and everything is fine!"
"What about Ganon?"
"He's gone Dwyn!"
"What if he comes back, Shara?"
"Then we feign ignorance of the prophecies and beg forgiveness!"
"I don't know Shara,"
"Don't know what," Flaren had woken during their argument,
"Nothing Flaren, don't worry about it."
"What's your name?"
"I'm Dwynna and she's Kishara, you can call me Dwyn."
"Can I call her Shara?"
"I don't know, ask her." Flaren looked at Kishara hopefully, smiling widely.
"Go ahead kid-"
"Flaren,"
"What kid?"
"My name is Flaren,"
"Whatever, kid."
"Dammit! My name is Flaren!" Dwyn and Shara could feel the temperature rise around them. Shara hurriedly apologized,
"Sorry ki-, errr, Flaren, I didn't mean to upset you I'm just bad with names."
"It's okay Shara, I forgive you," Shara looked at Dwyn meaningfully,
"I see potential Dwyn,"
"Potential for what," he asked,
"Potential for greatness, Flaren," Dwyn replied, smiling.
"Dwyn! Shara! Get down hear! The shift is over!" Nabooru called up to them.
"Be right down, Nab!" Dwyn called,
"Wait 'til you see what we found in the night!" Shara called down, and turned to Flaren, "Come down after me, but before Dwyn, alright?" she was answered with a smile and a nod. Potential she said! Not just any potential, but potential for greatness! That's not what they told me at the village, they told me I was freak, they said I could do only harm. They said that I would hurt people. No matter how many times I helped them, they still shunned me, still cast me out. How could they send me to what they thought would be my death. Lousy ungrateful-
"Flaren! What's wrong?" Dwyn asked, she could feel the heat rising from below, the same heat he emanated when he was angry with Shara.
"Nothing Dwyn," Flaren stopped thinking about "them", these were his people now, they saved him, they liked his fire, they wanted him! Dwyn was relieved when the heat stopped.
"You need to learn to control your temper, little man!" Dwyn smiled down at Shara,
"You need to call him by his name, Shara."
"Relax Dwyn, it a sign of affection."
"What happens now Dwyn," Flaren said looking up at her. Shara let go of the rungs and dropped the last few feet to the ground, she looked up at Flaren.
"Come on Flare, drop down, I'll catch you, I swear!" Flaren grinned down at her and hopped down into her arms, surprising Nabooru.
"And who are you little guy?"
"My name is Flaren,"
"Yeah Nab, call him Flaren, he tends to get angry about nicknames, at least, ones with 'little' in them." Dwyn dropped the rest of the way down to the ground, "he made his way almost to the gate last night before he passed out from exertion. I went out to bring him in, when we were attacked by creatures of the desert-" Nabooru looked closely at him, "he saved me from the sand wolves and Shara came out to bring us both back inside. The interesting thing is how he did it," Dwyn looked at Flaren, "can you show Nabooru here your power?"
"Sorry, Dwyn, I can't control it, I might hurt someone, I don't like hurting people." Dwyn glanced at Nabooru to see how she reacted, she seemed very interested.
"Flaren, as his name suggests, is a Fire Savant! Though, as he claims, he seems to have little control over his powers, but with discipline and training he may become a very capable member of our society."
"Agreed." Nabooru looked at the boy, Flaren, she reminded herself, he may become just the leader we need. "We will train him in our ways; he will become a Gerudo Thief!"
"So I'm one of you, then?" Flaren could feel the joy inside of him, these people wanted him!
"That's right, stranger; you are one of us now!" Dwyn smiled at him, "so do you want to tell us where you come from?"
"I… ummm… don't remember anything but the desert." Flaren lied, and he felt bad, but he wanted to start completely new, he didn't want anyone knowing about his past.