Author´s note:
Again, apologies for the long delay! Work gets in the way of creativity sometimes. But here we are, already 9 chapters in!
This chapter is a bit shorter, because I had to split it up with the next one. We´re closing in on that BotW 2 teaser now, aren´t we?
This one was a bit of a struggle, but I think it turned out okay! Let me know what you think!
Chapter IX
Unwanted, unnamed
Makeela Riju stood up from her chair, and just as Link was wondering how a such a small framed gerudo would be able to get the attention from almost a hundred people cramed into the now seemingly small palace courtyard, every soul fell silent as she gazed upon them all, her eyes piercing his for the shortest longest second before looking directly at the Princess.
Everyone was looking at them.
"Sav'saaba!" Riju said in a cheerful tone, sweeping the dozen tables set before her, before laying her gaze upon the Princess. Zelda sat there rather awkwardly, looking at him and then at Riju. The gerudo opened her eyes a bit more as if beckoning her to say the same. The silence was deafening.
"Safosba", replied Zelda in an attempt to speak the Gerudo tongue. The table where they were seating erupted in loud cheers and howls, not unlike a pack of wolves. Some were banging their fists and the thumping and clanking of cuttlery made Link jump. No one noticed. He made a mental note to ask Riju how a simple 'good evening' could make people go this wild...
"Princess Zelda", Riju stated loudly while a broad smile cut across her fine features. "It has been almost a century since we, the gerudo, have known true peace; and even longer since we have had a reason to celebrate!" The statement got Riju nods and sounds of aproval. A single voice at the end of the room, near the entrance shouted 'Vor'ba voe' which made many of the fiery headed women snort and chuckle. Even Riju found it amusing.
"Yes, yes. It´s been even longer since we´ve seen any voe, thanks for the reminder, Furosa", said Riju rolling her eyes. Link shuffled uncomfortably in his chair, he knew they weren´t talking about him, but he still felt aluded. The owner of the Noble Canteen smiled devilishly, making several women laugh. He leant a bit to look to the other side of where Riju was standing, Zelda had an unreadable expression.
Riju turned again to Zelda. "As I was saying," she said amused, "it has been a long time since the Vure of happiness made it´s nest in our home. For that we thank you, Princess". Zelda smiled politely at her and nodded. "A toast!", she said suddenly, raising an ornate golden cup. "To Princess Zelda of Hyrule", there was an even louder round of cheers, table pounding and loud howling from the other tables.
"And of course... ", 'here it comes', Link thought. "To Link! Our local heroine, she apeaced Naboris and performed great feats to aid the princess in the fight against that SEKESSAI!", he had never heard that one before, but by the deafening sounds that came out of everyone´s mouths it couldn´t have been a nice thing to say about Ganon. The shouting and howling reached levels that made Link think they could be heard all the way to Zora´s Domain.
"Zelda", she said motioning her glass when everyone had more or less settled down, gesturing for her to stand up. "Link", she did the same facing him, a very quick wink crossed Riju´s face. He chanced a glance to where Zelda was, she looked more relaxed, but he could tell she was feeling very self aware.
" Vasaaq Sa'otaaba!", she said raising her glass to the room.
"Vassaaq Sa'otaaba!", the whole courtyard replied in unison. He grabbed his own cup and raised it to them and turning to Riju, he did the same and drank. He welcomed the warm feeling down his throat. Numerous claps and whistles filled the room, he merely nodded at them and put his cup down. Everyone was looking at Zelda now.
Riju had leant sideways to say something to the princess. It must have been encouraging words, because her features softened and after looking briefly at her cup she drank... and drank... and drank. She had downed the contents of a cup that could easily fill a standard hylian cup twice. The explosion of cheers, whistling, howling and straight out noise that followed her putting the cup down was so loud that it had made him wince and laugh at the same time. He looked at Zelda, the noise had drowned her fits of cough, but she was also laughing, as if she had just completed some sort of rite of passage.
"Let us show these two hylians what gerudo hospitality means!" she bellowed, but never losing her regal way about her. As she was saying the last words, plate upon plate kept appearing in front of him, some of the food he had seen -cooked, even. There were many others that looked foreign to him. There at the table in front of him, one of the loudest, Dehneru had been looking at him intently, but when their eyes met she turned to her friends and started to laugh quite loudly. Link blushed.
He was determined to look at his creamy heart soup and only at it. For some reason, he thought, he liked the attention he had gotten over the course of his adventure, but he still wasn´t used to it. Dehneru´s gaze was piercing his skull like spears, but he did not dare to look.
"So... how long are you planning to stay, Link?", Riju said. The sound of his name made his head jerk up. Again, Dehneru had been looking at him. One of her friends had said something, because they all started to laugh, she merely smiled at him. I want to get as far away as I can from here right now, he thought honestly. He felt his whole face go red, but he could get away with saying it had been the drink, or that the soup was hot.
"As long as the Princess sees fit", he said, mustering the most steely and collected voice he could. Riju huffed absently, Link saw her playing with the mushrooms on her plate. "Just what I thought you would say... but aren´t you forgetting, you are now a part of the Gerudo Guard? Taeke was just telling me the other day how necessary you had made yourself. We were actually hoping you would stay longer than that". This veiled order made took him off-guard. He saw a small hand beside Riju grab a spoon rather roughly.
"I am bound to an oath to my country, my Lady. Until my duty is fullfiled I will not leave Princess Zelda´s side. I truly am sorry, but there´s nothing to be done about it". He had read between the lines, and even though the most recent circumstances did make it very tempting to accept the invitation and stay indefinetely, he sensed this had to do with Zelda´s earlier outburst. Riju was being forward, as were her countrywomen, but this new developement had changed everything.
Saving her, had changed everything.
The gerudo Matriarch made a raspberry and shrugged.
If anyone had told him that the relationship between Riju and Zelda would be so icy, he would have not told her how cool and laidback the redhead was. He had made a clown of himself. But what was going on between them?
"Er... Riju? About that other thing...", he started. Perhaps the noise would be the best way to conceal the true reason behind their visit.
"Later", she said, coolly.
After a few minutes where the three of them limited themselves to eat and drink. Riju tilted her head sideways, to where Zelda was sitting and said something that made her genuinelly laugh. They both glanced back at him, which of course made him look at them blankly. These two are so confusing, he thought. Riju returned to her conversation with Zelda, leaving him to his own devices. To his left, Buliara was chatting happily with another enormous woman, he noticed how Riju´s personal guard laid her palm over the other woman´s thigh quite a number of times. They paid him no attention whatsoever.
When everyone had eaten their fill, Riju raised her cup again -which a maiden had just filled almost to the brim.
"Vawatai Sa´oten!", she said to them. They all replied the same and drank from their cups. He drank again, not knowing the reason behind this new toast. Buliara noticed he had hesitated. She elbowed him in what she had thought was a playful way, but in reality had broken one or two ribs.
"You must drink to this, hylian! You above anyone should know the great Vawatai watches over you!", he had no idea what she meant.
"What exactly is a Vawatai?", he asked shyly. Buliara´s friend looked at him in an expression that closely resembled outrage.
"It is not a thing, child!", replied Buliara´s friend in an upset and very heavy accent. "Vawatai means Serpent Mother!", Buliara nodded. Realization dawned on him and he merely opened his mouth in a perfect oval that made both of them snort and laugh at his expense. He had read something like that somewhere...
"She gave birth to the world, shaped the dunes of the desert with her long body and pierced the skies with her fangs so we could see the sun. The poison that drips from her fangs is what gave birth to us, the Gerudo. It is said her dark and hard scales protected her from the scorching sun, but at night she would freeze to death. One night a silly little voe from a distant land found her asleep and took one of her fangs, to use it as a weapon, for her fangs were as hard as steel and the poison that emanated from them could melt rock and sand.", Buliara told him religiously.
"The voe used the fang of our Mother to slay many of his enemies, burning and piercing through flesh and bone. The Serpent Mother could not find him, hard as she looked all over the desert for him. At night she would hopelessly soar through the sky in search for her missing fang, roaring and screaming in agony. Since that day, she illuminates the night sky with her single fang, as the sun reflects it´s light upon it. For eons our people have looked for her fang, in hopes that she will finally find peace...", the other gerudo trailed off...
"Aoane is right, this is why we do not trust any voe. They are all traitorous bastards". Link found it very amusing and rather sad, that they could never trust a man, based solely on their beliefs.
"But what if there were good voe?", he asked. Curious.
"There are none!", Aoane spat. Buliara smiled at him.
"Of course this is all but a legend, there are one or two good voe out there, I´m sure". She said, almost longingly. Aoane looked at Buliara in disgust.
"How can you say this?!", aparently a good voe was a scandalous thing to say. Buliara merely smiled and cupped Aoane´s face in her hand.
"I believe in no Goddess other than you, vure". This seemed to make Aoane forget Buliara´s blasphemy. The gerudo captain leant in and kissed Aoane. Shortly after, they excused themselves and left the table.
It seemed as if it was new information, but for some reason he kept thinking he, somehow, already knew about this Serpent Goddess...
"They have been like this for as long as I can remember Buliara", he heard Riju say to his right. "Buliara only loves Aoane more than her country". Link did not know what to do with this information, this new soft and tender side of her personal guard was something he did not expect, but it didn´t come as a surprise either.
"I think I know how that feels", he said. Thinking of the person sitting beside the Matriarch. Riju smiled at his remark.
"I can tell", she said playfuly. She turned again to speak to Zelda. It was well past midnight and the feast seemingly kept going for the longest time. He had talked about every possible thing with Riju and talking to Zelda proved difficult, so he got bored pretty fast. He had been fighting the yawns for almost half an hour, until Riju told Zelda rather loudly.
"It seems like we are lulling your guard into another hundred years of sleep", a remark that earned her a fit of giggles from Zelda. He finally gave in and yawned so hard his eyes began to water.
"I´m sorry, Riju. It´s just I´m not used to long lived feasts". He said half yawning again.
Both women laughed and Riju whispered to his ear:
"Don´t worry, my guards have orders of not leaving her side at all times. You can excuse yourself if you want. We will meet tomorrow at the Sandseal Rally, at sunset". He looked at her, processing all of what she had said in just two sentences.
"Your word", he said.
"Listen, we had nothing to do with the attack on the princess", she said hurriedly. "I am as shocked as you are, but I do not wish to talk about this right now, you never know who´s listening!", she suddenly placed her hand on his upper thigh and squeezed hard. "Don´t look!", she whispered angrily. She kissed him in the cheek and nonchalantly returned to her merry conversation with the princess. He hoped she hadn´t seen that last part... He felt a little something resting on his thigh, where Riju had placed her hand just seconds ago. Without looking down, he clenched his fist around it, it was a piece of paper.
With one last drink at what was left inside his golden cup, he excused himself and left to the applause of what was left of the feast. Dehneru, he noticed, was still there, with just one of her friends. Both followed him out of the courtyard with their eyes.
His heart was racing, but he didn´t dare think of anything that wasn´t blonde hair and green eyes.
Blonde hair, green eyes. Blonde hair, green eyes. Blonde hair...
As he made his way to the now deserted main square, he let the chilly breeze snap him out of the sopor he had felt earlier. The piece of paper Riju had given him now rested inside his top, as he did not want anyone inquiring on why he was walking with a clenched fist. Not that he would bump into anyone past midnight, but he didn´t want to push his luck.
Byrta was nowhere to be found when he arrived at the inn. He was glad, as he did not and could not possibly bear another woman making any sort of advance on him, whether they knew he was a voe or a vai.
The first thing he did as he closed the door behind him inside his room was get rid of the top, which at this point was starting to burn his armpits, hehad a newfound respect for the Gerudo warriors, as they had to fight and perform their duties in something that was so uncomfortable. The only light inside the room was the one cast by the Serpent Mother´s single fang, or rather the Moon. Everything had a blue tint and gloom about it, even his skin looked blueish and eerie. The curiosity won over exhaustion and he read the message.
Aoane will be waiting for you outside your room´s window. We meet tonight. Burn this as soon as you read it. Buliara is with us.
His heart was fighting to burst out of his chest as he put on his sandboots, and changed into his champion tunic. He wasn´t having this conversation disguised as if it was part of some sort of charade. He dared not burn the message inside the room, as to not leave evidence. So he tucked it inside his boot, making a mental note to burn it later. As he popped his head out of the window, surely enough, the huge gerudo that had been sitting with Buliara, Aoame, was waiting impatiently, her back was turned against the window, seemingly mounting guard. He leapt out of the window as quietly as he could. The sheikah outfit would have helped him with that, but it was just too chilly to wear it, the ruby circlet would have to make do for now.
As his feet made contact with the stone floor, he saw Aoane flinch and turn around so quickly that all he saw was a flash of light, the blade of her scimitar barely touching his throat.
"I knew you were no vai, hylian". She spat defiantly. He felt the blade make the lightest cut on his skin. She seathed her scimitar and merely muttered. "Follow me".
He did as he was told, as they made their way through the seemengly empty alleyways and streets. The faint sounds of the feast could still be heard if you paid close attention. The only Gerudo they found in their way was Furosa, talking in a jazzy tone to a younger woman. They of course had waited around the corner until both of them had disappeared a few minutes later. Aoane merely shook her head and muttered something under her voice.
As they reached the main east wall he wondered, where were they actually going, but dared not speak, he was afraid Aoane´s reluctant attitude towards men could end in an outburst that would signal any potential followers.
They jogged across the desert for what felt to him like hours, and if he really thought about it, they had. It dawned on him that Aoane thought they were being followed too. Somehow, they ended up nearing the ice house. They were careful not to disturb any of the lizalfos that had made the ruins near it their home.
Buliara was keeping guard just outside the stairs that led to the subterraneal cavern that was the ice house. She eyed them for a second and she smiled fondly at him.
"They are waiting for you inside, Link."
"But-", he stuttered.
"Just get inside, boy". She ordered. He obeyed.
The silence that had grown inside this tiny room that they all kept calling 'Ice house' had started to take it´s toll on her. The effects of the drinks were wearing off and not even her white coat-cape kept her from shivering from time to time. Riju and her exchanged worried glances every now and then. As Riju had written to her in a separate piece of paper concealed inside her letter 'You have to play your part, or people will grow suspicious'. The old hilt and blade that had penetrated her own skin lay on the floor, they dared not start a fire, in hopes of drawing as little attention to themselves as they could.
The sound of footsteps startled them both. As a pair of sandboots made their way down to them, they both held their breath. But Zelda almost instantly knew how those boots belonged to.
"Link!", whispered Riju. She sounded relieved, as she flung her arms around him. Her Appointed Knight glanced towards her across the room. He was as relieved as they were. Riju pulled off from the embrace and seemed a bit out of breath. She knew all too well the effect Link had on people, but she longed for an embrace so, that she felt her face blushing furiously.
Playing the part of a jealous driven teenager had been a little too easy, as she often found herself feeling... just like a teenager. She supposed it wasn´t fair for Link, as he had been left out of it all for the sake of the plan.
"I don´t- Wasn´t Buliara supposed to-", he sighed as he looked at Riju and Zelda, he was shaking his head. "It was all planned, wasn´t it?". Both of them smiled apologetically at him.
"Sorry", said Zelda. He waved her apology off, smiling at her.
"Don´t be. I should have figured as much. So... what now?", he said to no-one in particular. He sat down and for the first time she saw him toy around with the ancient hilt. Both women followed suit and sat down, forming some sort of triangle.
"I´m sorry I mislead you, Link. But I had no way of knowing if my letters would reach you unread. As I´m sure you´re aware by now, Buliara, as well as every Gerudo, knows nothing about the blade, and it would be wise for it to remain so." They both listened to Riju intently. She didn´t want to miss a word, inflection or subtext, this was their chance.
"I looked at your sketches, Princess", she said holding out her hand to Link, he gave the hilt to her, and if my suspicions are true. I think I know who this belonged to. For this blade is Gerudo." Link tensed up and she felt herself clenching her jaw.
"The question is not if this is a Gerudo weapon. What you should be asking is from what time, and whom did it belong to? You see, as I´m sure you already know", she winked at Link, "We do not believe in the same Goddess you do, we do not acknowledge Hylia as a Goddess, but rather as a hero. But a mortal one nonetheless.
The Gerudo worship the Vawatai, or the Serpent Mother". Zelda drew in breath, ready for the first barrage of questions, but Riju cut across her.
"Since your letter and drawings arrived I have been doing some research of my own. Are you aware of the legend of the seven heroines?" Zelda shook her head, but to her surprise, Link had muttered a quiet 'yes'. "As I expected you to", she said knowingly.
"The seven heroines, are not seven, nor are they all heroines. It is told, that back in the era of Myth, when your beloved Hero of Time, roamed the earth. So did the first known female leader of our tribe, Nabouru. Naboris, was named after her. At that time, the Gerudo worshiped the Vawatai in an almost obsessive way, it was a cult of sorts." Zelda dared not even blink. "At that time, there was this place, a temple. This place of worship was known as Vawatai'iistaava. Which roughly translates as the 'House of the Rising Sun'". Link looked at Riju in a dumbfounded expression.
"Doesn´t Vawatai mean-?". Riju merely spoke over him.
"The story Buliara told you, do you remember it? Vawatai is just a story the elders tell our children to hate on every voe, but in the original tale, which my mother told me and her mother did before her and so on the events play out a little different", Riju cleared her throat.
"Vawatai was a fearsome and very beautiful Gerudo warrior that lived before any other era. She had the ability to transform into every living creature that roamed the land, but she favored serpents and lizards, because she could sneak up on her enemies.
In the story, she pierces the skies and through the hole he tears on them a glowing light emerged. In the process one of her fangs fell to the other side, lost forever. She tried and tried to transform back to her Gerudo form, but everytime she tried one of her limbs went amiss, the first attempt she was missing an arm, the second one she was missing a leg, on the third one it was one of her breasts. It pained her so much that she refused to transform a fourth time.
Eons after that unfortunate event, a wanderer found and captured her.
This voe kept her as a pet for many years. Vawatai had been a serpent for so long that everytime the voe tried to touch her she coiled and hissed. The wanderer had grown fond of the serpent, because he thought it had brought him good fortune. He brought her with him everywhere he went. Vawatai had grown to trust this voe, and even welcomed his petting, they had formed a bond so strong that the wanderer slept with her beside him. One night, as fate had it, she dared transform again, for she had fallen in love with this man of dark skin.
One night, as the voe slept placidly, she slithered inside the sheets of the bed. As she transformed the pain found her again, but as she felt herself she couldn´t find any missing limbs of bodyparts. The wanderer then woke up, shaken to find this bronze-skinned woman laying beside him. She spoke to him in a foreign tongue, yet somehow, language was not a barrier, for he knew who this woman was.
They spent the night together, this made the man fall deeply in love with her, and cemented the love Vawatai already felt for him.
As time went by, she learnt his language and forgot what fear, and pain were. Their child now grew inside of her."
Zelda found herself lost in the story, and by the looks of it, Link was too. Riju spoke again.
"One chilly night- At least according to my mother, Vawatai gave birth. It was an ordeal that had lasted all night. She had lost so much blood she was unconscious when her son was born. Dark skinned like his father, and red haired, as his mother. The man did not name this newborn, wanting to wait for her love to wake up. He had gone looking for a healer that same night. He dared not leave his son alone. He finally found two of the most powerful healers in the desert. They were fabled for their powerful magics and secret ways. They all headed back to their tent to look after Vawatai.
She died with sunrise, the healers had failed their mission. The wanderer grieved and wept like no one has ever heard anyone do so. The pain was enormous that he could not look at his own child, and he blamed him for her love´s death. He left that very morning, leaving his child at the care of these two healers. Unwanted, and unnamed.
The tale ends here, but my mother used to tell me, that the moral of the story was that one should know that even if you desire something so much within your heart, it doesn´t mean you should go ahead and do it, because you can lose yourself in the process".
Later on, the place where that birth took place became a sacred place for us, this 'House of the Rising Sun', later became a temple of worship. It was said that any lost soul that found their way in, would find purpose in their life again. Their spirit, so to speak.
You might know the place, Link. For it is the resting place of the eighth heroine. The lost sword symbolizes her lost fang..."
"Well, I don´t understand", said Link rubbing his chin. "She clearly lost something the last time she transformed, but if nothing was missing, then what did she lose?".
"She lost her soul", Zelda stated. It was obvious to her. "This must be the legend of Ganondorf´s birth, isn´t it?".
"You mean Ganon, don´t you?", said Link. He had a smugness about him that Zelda couldn´t quite figure out.
"No, I mean what I said. Ganondorf". Zelda felt dread take over her whole body.
"Are you saying this blade belonged to Ganon... dorf?", Link said cautiously.
"I´m saying, Princess; that I think you were very lucky to survive".
The three of them exchanged troubled looks.
"But we slayed him", said Link. Crestfallen. Defeated.
"We played his game all along", replied the princess.
"This isn´t even half of what I discovered", said the Gerudo Matriarch. Zelda suddenly thought she looked older as minutes went by.
"Now, about that blade..."
