A/N: Ok, Mudora's thinking he'll go ahead and switch to first person now, and go back later to change Zelda's childhood. So, now we'll get right into the story. Tell me what you think of the new set up!
A Princess' Destiny
Chapter 18: The Pieces Assembled, Part One"Please, please sell me something!" She sat upon the porch of the Bazaar in Kakariko. How she had gotten here was still somewhat of a blur to her.
From a handful of years in training under her very enemies, to hiding under the protection of several races… Few actually knew she was still alive, except those to whom Impa had revealed. Even Impa believed she was in a far-off country. But she was not. Perhaps now she would be married to a prince and living out her life in a castle, a place like home. There was no such place now.
Now she was sitting under an awning, dripping water, in the gloomy Kakariko marketplace, begging for some food. Certainly, she had a little money, but were she to buy food now it would all be expended. Her stomached ached in severe pain. She could go now to her old master, Impa. Tell her where she had been the past several years. But no. Her one-time bodyguard would throw a fit, and insist that she leave immediately. And she couldn't.
Ganondorf had usurped her world, and for that he would pay. By the direction of the goddesses she was brought to this very place, hopefully to soon end that evil man's rule. For now, she just awaited the arrival of the goddesses' sign.
For the past few years, this is how she worked. The goddesses had stopped giving her direct visions and leaving her to work out the signs of their work in the world.
A Zora man began toward the entrance of the shop.
"Please, sir. Sell me some food?"
He gave a passing glance to the mud-soaked young woman, in rags and on her knees. He took a second look at her face, much more thoroughly. His eyes grew wide, and as she met his eyes, so did hers.
"Kauyo?" she said.
"Ze-Kathra?"
Kauyo was the one person who knew her secret. Two years ago they had met while she hid herself at the Zora's Domain. Then she had taken on the appearance of a plain Zora girl who she named Kathra. Yet, Kauyo found out. She even thought she could love Kauyo at the time. By now, she thought her heart had hardened beyond the capacity of such things, but seeing him again welled up old feelings. Feelings she hardly recognized.
"Kathra," he said slowly, hoping she would accept his usage of the name now. The beggar she now was had no need for a name, so she let it pass. "I was just… are you alright? What's happened?"
"There's no use dwelling on the past, Kauyo. I'm here now, and I really need to eat." Her cold manner toward him bruised the calluses of her inner self she had built.
"What happened to the goddesses' plans?"
"Those can wait until after a meal. And I already told you that I don't want you involved."
"Meet me on Death Mountain Trail in about half an hour."
This cryptic message led her to Kauyo's plans. In her absence, he had formed a rebellion. Hylians and Gorons had teamed up to form an army. Here she ended up spending the next year, changing back from a beggar, a refugee. Here she had become the now-known princess, leading a rebellion. If only she had known how it would end…
I let the memories pass as I stared out onto Hyrule Castle Town Square. How had this happened? I recalled the battle, the actual end of this army. Ganondorf didn't even step out until half the forces were already depleted. He stood upon the center of what was once a fountain in the middle of the square. The fountain had begun to spray blood, obviously just a theatrical effect the dark king had decided upon. Suddenly, all of the rebel corpses had arisen and fought their living comrades.
I tried to warn him. But Kauyo was so stubborn. He told me words of reassurance and kissed me in that way… Next thing I knew, I woke up three hours later with a splitting headache, with vague memory of being drugged.
I stared out at one of the few who hadn't arisen. A beheaded Zora man, whose head was stuck on the end of his own pike. Kauyo. I could no longer cry. When first I had seen how Ganondorf had desecrated his corpse, I had wept myself dry.
Now I was the only survivor. The warriors' had shed their armor, and their skin had quickly deteriorated. They still roamed the streets, groaning and wailing at their miserable state.
Ganondorf was having his Gerudo scouts search the hands of all the dead for the mark. He thought I was in the battle. But now I hid in the shadows on the rooftops. And he wouldn't recognize me even if he saw me. I had taken on my old guise of Sheik, the Sheikah.
This is what happened when people learned my identity. No more. Zelda would have to disappear once more. And forever. Why did they think they had a chance of stopping him?
They didn't. They knew they wouldn't survive. But they knew no one else could save the world from this monstrous tyrant. Even I couldn't. Hyrule was now hopeless. There was no one left strong enough to save it.
I may as well end it all, I thought, and headed for the Temple of Time. Now, I would cry out to the goddesses for answers. They had shown me what would happen, and had shown me hope in a Kokiri boy. But he just led Ganondorf to the Triforce, and the Kokiri was now dead. It was as if the goddesses planned to destroy Hyrule. Now, I would face my true enemy.
More than I hated Ganondorf for what he had done, I couldn't stand that the goddesses had allowed it. I rushed from rooftop to rooftop to the Temple on the east side of the city.
Suddenly, a hum in my head started, and grew in volume. I stood in front of the Temple now, but the sound in my head grew shrill and loud, until suddenly it stopped.
Silence surrounded the city. The noise had stopped when I stopped in front of one of the many statues of Ganondorf erected in the city. He obviously found humor in leaving the city in ruins, but building stone images to inhabit it.
The statue opened its mouth, and a voice escaped its stone lips. The voice of a woman.
"Princess of Destiny!" it boomed. I looked around the city at the Gerudos searching the hands of the Re-deads, as Ganondorf had named his undead army. None of them seemed to notice the loud, commanding voice. Apparently I was the only one who heard.
Afraid of alerting the Gerudos to my presence, I directed a telepathic message to the stone mouthpiece of the goddesses. I skipped all the small talk, and went straight for the accusations.
How could you let all of them die like that! I asked in a range of emotion.
"This was not our doing, bold one. This was the work of Ganondorf."
It occurred by your lack of action!
"And what is our 'action' but your own? This occurred by your lack of action, chosen one."
By this point, I was infuriated. How could they point this at me! I did all I could!
"Then it is at no man's fault but those involved," the statue said. "Those who refused to listen to our wisdom, spoken through you. Their folly caused their own fall."
As much as it pained me to hear such things said about Kauyo and all involved in the resistance, I had to admit that it was true. If they had listened… A single tear that I didn't know I still had slid from my eye and wet the bandage mask over the bottom portion of my face.
The goddesses continued in their singular voice, spoken from a stone image of Ganondorf. "This army we guided you into, to become a leader thereof, was to be a defense for the people. Yet, as all rebellions do, it could no longer wait and launched into war; a war it could not win."
These blatant truths concerning the deaths of those I loved cut me deeply.
Then what do you expect of us? I said, somewhat irreverently. How can Hyrule be saved, if it has none that can save it?
"Hyrule could not be saved for a time. Just as our beautiful creatures destroyed our creation in a feud to control the power of the Triforce, now the Power of the Triforce has destroyed them in a feud to control our creation. A time of punishment had to be enforced, equal to the crime."
Are you saying this shall continue for a hundred years? How can you!
"Silence, impotent child! Can you create earth, life, and law? Can you maintain it in a balance of Power, Wisdom, and Courage? Can you be so just as to allow one man to atone for the sins of a nation, and another to rectify that man's? Can you use your enemies to judge your people, while protecting those who will judge your enemies? Your father thought all would be right by a piece of parchment, that all would be acceptable if your people made peace. He left us out of the equation, and for that, we have made right our land!"
What are you saying? That you approve of Ganondorf?
"You will not speak to your eternal mothers in that way, child of prophecy. We have already stated that we approve not of Ganondorf, but have made use of him to show our creation the monster of greed they so long held tight to. Our enemies' time is at hand. Ganondorf, and those monsters he has awakened from the slumber we cast them into shall be brought to the earth, and below."
After a hundred years of retribution? I was careful to stretch my thoughts in a much more pleasant tone.
"No child, for though his reign shall be shorter, it has been much worse than the hundred years war. During his reign, no man could move against him without being silent as the Sheikah. But the time for action is at hand. Our chosen Hero was born late as a testament to our judgment. Had we wanted to end Ganondorf's reign before it started, we would have chosen your father, or one like him. But instead, we chose otherwise. Now our Hero is almost ready."
Your Hero?
"Yes, destined one. He is our hero, and the Hero of Time."
The Hero of Time!
"Yes. Now it is for us to pass to you our secret, that which we have held from the beginning. The secret of the temples, of the Sages, and of the Hero of Time. You shall know our plans, and be the messenger of them."
The Sages? There are already Sages, and it is no secret.
I suddenly saw in my mind the image of a fantastic sword, with a blue, jewel-encrusted hilt and a beautifully elegant blade.
"Do you know what this blade is, Zelda?"
I have never seen such a sword.
"It is the Master Sword, the legendary blade of old. None have yet lived who were capable of wielding this weapon. The one who will is called the Hero of Time."
Neither is the legend of the Master Sword a secret.
"But do you know what the Hero's purpose is? When evil overshadows the world, a voice will give an awakening call from the Sacred Realm for all those destined to be Sages. There is but one of the original Sages who now lives: Rauru of Light, who dwells in the Sacred Realm."
There is another Sage already active.
"You speak of Impa of Shadow, do you not? She still has not come into the fullness of her existence as a Sage. The awakening call shall affect her as well as the others."
Others?
"Aside from Rauru, there are six more Sages, one who will lead them all. The one to lead them is to be the one called by us, the goddesses."
And who is that?
"Princess of Destiny, if you are not clever enough to figure this one out, perhaps you should return the Triforce of Wisdom unto us. Just as we have waited seven years for the Hero of Time to enter his ability, we have waited seven years for the leader of the Sages to fulfill her own. You are the one chosen to lead the six Sages in the final conflict. We perceive that you are now ready. The rest of the Sages shall make their way to the temples of their people, and you shall guide them. Two have already entered the temples, the Sage of Shadow being one. The other hasn't yet even perceived that she is in the temple of a Sage."
How am I to guide those I do not know to places I have not seen?
"We shall guide you. The temples cannot be that difficult to find. One in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house of the dead, and one inside a goddess of the sand. As for the Sages, you shall know them for their manner. They are very different from the others of their people, for they have all been touched by the Hero, though they knew him not. Now, if you will do all that we ask in order to save your land, go to Kakariko. There you shall meet with your former attendant. When you have learned what is to be done there, return unto the Temple of Time. There, all shall be fulfilled."
With that, the stone mouth closed again into the self-satisfied smirk Ganondorf's likeness possessed, and the voice ended. I had my confrontation, as I had wanted. But it didn't end as expected. Now, I was to leave, as the goddesses had commanded.
