A/N: Ok, so, cool, huh? Herein lies the final chapter of Zelda's childhood. Yeah, here's the plan. PD's gonna skip forward to the future, after the seven years, but Zelda's gonna have flashbacks to the seven years between. Mudora'll try not to make it confusing at all.
Mudora is… torn. Remember when Mudora said something about rewriting Princess' Destiny? Well, he's been thinking seriously about this subject. There is so much, in retrospect, Mudora wishes he had done differently. Maybe even make it a first-person story. He doesn't know if he can finish PD without going back and fixing it. Yet, he would hate to keep his readers in suspense much longer… WHAT SHOULD MUDORA DO! Umm… Mudora, recompose thyself. Ok, ok, anyway, please help Mudora in your review!
Now let's finish up the childhood of Zelda!
A Princess' DestinyChapter 17: Parting of Ways
Lightning. Zelda saw her reflection in the waters of the Zora River again. It changed forms to become a young Gerudo girl. Zelda walked along the side of the river, watching this Gerudo reflection as it wavered in the water. Lightning struck again. She looked a little older, this Gerudo girl. Lightning struck again and she appeared almost fourteen years old. Lightning, and the reflection changed form entirely. It took on the appearance of Zelda's Sheikah guise, Sheik. Now it appeared much older than Zelda. Lightning. It was a girl of about sixteen in commoner's clothes. Lightning. Zelda watched the reflection become a scene of the young woman leading an army. Lightning. Sheik stood atop a building in the castle town. Looking out on Hyrule, he saw the world in utter turmoil. The plagues of the lands had fallen. Kakariko was drowned in a rainfall, Lake Hylia dried up, Zora's Fountain frozen over, and Death Mountain burning with intense heat. He stared out on the Lost Woods, and saw an infestation of monsters. Finally a light came from the Temple of Time…
The sun beat down on Zelda's eyelids, forcing her to open them against her preference. She was lying on her back on rock. She looked around for Impa, but didn't see her. She decided to spend this time discerning her dream.
She stood up and looked down from the elevated place where she and Impa had set up camp the night before. A dark cloud floated in a fixed position above the village far below. Every now and then light flashed from under the cloud and seconds later Zelda heard a rumbling sound, as thunder. The whole thing was a strange spectacle, no doubt an after-effect of the horrible dark magic from the night before.
Zelda was reminded of the Kakariko Village of her visions. Would this storm last as long as Ganondorf's reign? And what of that? The seven days had now passed. His time should be over.
Zelda thought of her vision. Seven bursts of lightning, the reflection in the river, the plagues of Hyrule… It was a reprisal, a re-instatement of the things she had already seen. Usually that meant she had yet to properly interpret the focus of the vision.
The seven lightning bolts she had assumed meant the seven days of Ganondorf's rule. But his rule wasn't over. How could it be over? No one takes a nation by force and loses it within a week's time!
So she had delivered the goddesses' message, but it was a riddle even to Ganondorf what it had meant. And it scared him into rushing. He had planned to draw up Lord Bongo to raise an undead army to protect himself from the goddesses' wrath. Had that worked? So much was left unresolved from the night before.
As if by cue, Impa came up to their settlement.
"Princess, you are awake," she greeted.
"No 'Good morning'?"
"Well…"
"Ganondorf is back, the seven days are over, and his rule remains."
"Yet…"
"Yet what?"
"There are still a good number of men in Kakariko. Those who survived and fled from the castle town were too injured and weak to fight last night. They still live, and can be taught to fight."
"Yes? But how do you fight a man with so much power?"
"Well, though he has the Triforce of Power he is not all powerful. And his forces are limited, as I have made sure."
"You what?"
"Princess, did you see my battle with the phantom beast, Bongo last night?"
"What there was to see."
"Good, because I want to talk to you about that. That song you played yesterday changed me."
"What do you mean?"
"It awakened me to a whole new portion of my life. Princess, I am a descendant of Hanara of Shadow."
"Who?"
"Hanara of Shadow was one of the original sages. He lived in Kakariko Village. He watched over the Shadow Temple, and was a good friend of the Knight, Sheik."
"So?"
"So, that means the blood of the Sages runs through my veins, Princess. And that song awoke me to my destiny."
"Your destiny?"
"Yes. Now I am a Sage, Princess. I am Impa of Shadow. And as long as I am Sage of the Shadow Temple, Ganondorf shall not claim the dead. He has a limited army of skeletal warriors, no longer children, but no more. There is only one who can bring the dead back from the other side, and that is Lord Bongo."
"Lord Bongo? But I thought he was now working with Ganondorf."
"I have sealed Bongo's spiritual essence. He now is a fixed phantom inside the bottom of the Kakariko well. He can no longer cause any threat to Hyrule, as long as I stay close enough to maintain the seal."
"Close enough?" Zelda asked.
"Yes. It will strain my limited ability with this new magic if I go too far. Even now I am straining."
"Then we should go to Kakariko!"
"No. I may be able to, but you are not. Ganondorf has posted a regimen of Gerudos in the valley, and they will arrest you and take you straight to him if they see you."
"But I must…"
"No, Princess, the time has come for you to protect yourself. I must stay near Kakariko, ever out of sight, to maintain the seal on Lord Bongo. I can no longer even give up concentration to teach you the Shadow Arts. You must leave Hyrule now! This is no place for you!"
Tears. Impa was always Zelda's stone-faced bodyguard, but now… She knew she couldn't protect Zelda, and Zelda could tell that Impa only hoped that Zelda could take care of herself. Impa now had no idea what would happen. Too many responsibilities were cast on her shoulders.
As Impa's tears fell down her cheeks, Zelda vowed that she would not have to worry. Zelda would be one less burden for Impa. She could now care for herself.
"Impa…" She didn't know what to say.
"Princess, I am sorry. I didn't ask…"
"This is all in the hands of the goddesses, remember?" Zelda said. She couldn't keep back the tears in her own eyes for long. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. The name 'Zelda' will not be uttered in Hyrule again. Not until Ganondorf's rule is over."
"Good. Here, take this," Impa said. It was a rolled up piece of parchment. "It will give you as much aid as I know how to give at this point. Go now. Over the East Mountains, and out of Hyrule."
Zelda took the parchment and grabbed what other things she had; bandages, Sheikah weapons, some rations, and the Book of Mudora. With that, she started walking away from Impa. Impa watched her go.
Zelda walked as long as she could, until the tears finally caught up to her. She ran off, around some rocks and stopped for a moment, crying. After she had cried for a moment, she turned to look around the rocks, but Impa was gone. She was alone now.
She opened the parchment. Written on it were a few Sheikah spells. One was circled, and labeled, "Art of Disguise". Zelda made all the hand signals referred on the page, and gathered each energy, then she equally distributed the energy through all parts of her body, as instructed. Finally, she thought of how she wished to appear. She thought of that Gerudo girl in her vision momentarily. Releasing the energy, she looked down at her arms. They were dark tan.
Had it worked? She grabbed some locks of hair and stared at them. Bright red, like fire. She felt her ears. They were large and round, as opposed to the thin, long ears of the Hylians. She was now a Gerudo. The spell didn't toll on her body too much at a time, for a first time use of one of the shadow arts.
The name Zelda would leave Hyrule now. She had promised Impa. But her visions of Hyrule were too important. She had to know when and how Ganondorf would cease to rule the land. She now had to remain.
So right under Ganondorf's nose she would go. The Gerudos knew the ways of the Sheikah. Zelda would learn from them, then return to finish what she had started.
She needed a Gerudo name, and Gerudo clothes… those would come later. For now, she would journey around the outer edge of Hyrule to the Gerudo Desert. There she would take on apprenticeship under the warrior women and become an incredible Sheikah. There, her journey to defeating Ganondorf would begin.
