***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**
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In Sotto Voce
By The Wolfess
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Chapter 19
The drums of Hyrule beat in the morning chill. Troops assembled in the field by unit, and the constant pounding served two purposes by calling them to order and helping to keep a steady pace when the march started. The entire Hyrulian army and its allied troops were ready to march to Gerudo Desert and bring the final battle to their enemies. Some were afraid. Some were excited. Most didn't know if they had prepared enough, and all wondered if they would come back home at the end if it all. Despite these misgivings, the soldiers were ready to give it their all on behalf of their country and their futures. Some would even do it on behalf of their queen, but many still felt dubious about the young monarch. They would not be fighting for her.
The Sheikah forces were lined up with the Zora as they had arrived two days before. The Gorons lined up with their Hylian counterparts ready to "rock and roll" as Darunia would say. The large rock man was standing up front with a giant hammer in his hand laughing with General Auru. Both seemed in good spirits. It might have been a façade put on for their soldiers, or perhaps just two battle-seasoned old friends enjoying these moments of excitement before a battle, but it seemed to have a bolstering effect on the soldiers in their units.
As was to be expected, Impa and Ruto sat together at the front of their conjoined army. They were not as enthusiastic as the Goron and Hylian leaders, but they were making the best of these moments with their troops.
"I'm a Zora, Impa! Of course I'm better at water magic than you," Ruto said. She sat atop her horse looking like the proud monarch she was. The Water Dragon's Scale glittered on her forearm with its own inner light. She took every opportunity she could to show it off, waving her hand in the air when she talked and gesturing to people when she gave orders. Sure, it was overkill—as if anyone could forget she had it—but the other Zora did look on it with amazement and wonder. They whispered about it, and about the one who now wore it, with almost religious reverence. Impa was sure that was what her friend wanted.
"Yeah, sure you're a natural being an aquatic race and all," Impa retorted, "but I'm also renown for my water magic. Just because I wasn't born in water doesn't mean that I'm not just as good as you are." She was smiling at the Zora with glint in her eyes. Ruto could hear the undertones of challenge in the Sheikah's voice and grinned back. She was not one to back down from friendly competition.
"Oh, you think you can challenge the Princess of the Zora while she bears the Water Dragon's Scale, do you?" She grinned and raised her arm in the air, turning her hand this way and that so that the scale glittered and turned in the sunlight. "Interested in a friendly wager?"
Impa reached up and patted the hilt of the Biggoron's Sword strapped to her mount. "Oh, more than interested," she said. "I insist on it in fact. I'm very confident in my skill and in the craftsmanship of this fine blade."
Ruto's fins flittered behind her in pleasure. "Well, then," she laughed. "Mighty sure of yourself, aren't you? Okay. It'll be a competition of numbers. Simple terms. Whoever kills the most enemy rabble wins. It must be a direct result of your water magic, however, not other skills you may have. Non-water magic kills do not count."
Impa clicked her tongue. "Steep terms, Princess," she teased, and then she nodded. "But I acquiesce to them. Since you determined the terms, I'll set the stakes. Loser must wait on the winner hand and foot—or fin—for a week. Every whim fulfilled by her new personal servant." She wiggled her eyebrows and smirked. "You up for it, pretty pampered princess? I'm feeling a full pedicure and massage coming on…."
Ruto cringed at the thought of giving the warrior's feet a pedicure, but she nodded anyway. "Oh, I do accept those stakes. I am so tired of walking, after all, and a Sheikah litter to carry me to all my destinations sounds lovely."
"Very well. May the better magic user win." The Tribal Leader reached over and shook hands with the Zora princess.
"Yes, and it will be me!" A few Zora in her ranks cheered.
The Sheikah matriarch was about to continue their cheerful banter when she heard the jiggling and clanking of someone in armor running up behind them. She turned to see who was making so much noise and saw that it was a Hylian solider bearing the solid blue tabard of the Queen's guard. When he got to her, he bowed low. "At ease," Impa said, turning her horse so she could see better. All traces of levity left her, leaving just the soldier within her in its wake.
"General Impa," the soldier said. He reached into the pouch on this hip and pulled out something wrapped in fine cloth with a letter. He held it out to the Sheikah woman. "A gift from her Majesty, Queen Zelda. Brought straight from her hand to yours as per her request."
"Thank you, soldier," Impa said as she took it from him. She knew that he would wait for her to open it so that she could give her answer to the queen through him.
Shooting a look at Ruto, who just raised an eyebrow in curiosity and shrugged, Impa examined the item without opening it first. It fit in the palm of her hand, and the cloth it was wrapped in was a lilac-colored, gold-trimmed handkerchief. Now that she looked at it closer, she could see the queen's personal insignia on the corner folded on top. This detail made her smile. Before the last battle, there were whispers about an old tradition in Hyrule. Young maidens gave monogramed handkerchiefs to their chosen champions, usually their love interests or spouses. It was called the Lady's Favor, and the warriors tucked them proudly into their clothing or tied them on their weapons before coming to their spots in line as a symbol of their devotion to their Lady. There was much whispering and drama about which soldier got which Lady's favor that day. Today, Zelda was giving Impa her Favor. It was the first time that the queen had ever given her Favor to someone, and it was also a very public symbol for those who saw it on her.
On one hand, Impa felt flattered and pleased. The two women had a sweet conversation the day before and Impa was feeling happy about the place they had come to. She loved the queen very much. On the other hand, Ruto's stern words returned to her memory with all the questions and the misgivings that came with them originally. If you and Zelda are going to try to change things, then you're going to have to be all in, Ruto had said. It's not just for you. If Impa accepted this gift, it would be the first public symbol of their courtship—and the tribal leader needed to be sure she was all in.
Quieted by the weight of significant now laid upon this simple handkerchief, Impa unfolded it to see what it was wrapped around. Inside she found a palm-sized hairpiece. It was shaped like a half moon and had marking on it like wings. Dangling from the bottom was a large blue jewel. Impa recognized it—Zelda had one just like it. After looking at it for a moment, Impa opened the letter.
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My Dearest Impa,
Please accept these gifts as a public symbol of my love for you and my promise to you. When we return from this war safe and victorious, you and I shall court. My intentions toward you are clear: I intend marriage, Goddesses and your beautiful self willing. If you would do me the honor of wearing these gifts, I will be the happiest person on the battlefield today. I wear this hairpiece's twin today, and will every day until we reunite, perhaps even until that day of dreams when we may unite in holy matrimony. I love you very much, Impa. I know that a lot has happened between us since we met, and much of it was terrible. The dark parts of our story have been midnight on a moonless night, but the bright spots? They are so bright I cannot see the darkness anymore. If I am a light to this nation, as you have said in the past, then you are the light in my heart. So despite the darkness in our past and in our future, I pray that you will accept these gifts anyway, and my love with them, and return to me safely.
Yours in body and soul,
Zelda
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There were tears in Impa's eyes as she closed the letter and tucked it in her pouch. She hesitated for just a moment before glancing at Ruto and taking off her hair piece. She tucked it away and put on the one gifted from the Queen. Finally, she tied the favor around the strap holding her breast plate in place, right over her heart, and turned to the waiting soldier. "Thank you for delivering this," she said. "Please let her Majesty know that I wear her Favor with pride, and I accept and welcome the terms of her gift. I will return to her if it is within my power. Please also…" she swallowed, hesitating. She had never said it aloud for all to hear before. Wearing Zelda's Favor will make her next words already obvious to anyone that sees her, though, so she continued. "Also, please tell her that my heart goes with her."
The soldier bowed. "Yes, General Impa," he said. He turned and jogged away, clanking as loudly as he had on his way to her. Impa turned to face forward again and looked down at the favor tied to her clothing. Smiling to herself, she rubbed the gilded edge of the cloth between her fingers.
"Sooooo…" Ruto trailed, leaning toward her across the gap between their horses. These words were no longer meant to be overheard. "Something big changed last night between the two of you, huh?"
Impa nodded. "Yes. She wants to court me when the war is over." Impa laughed a little and shook her head. "She thought it only appropriate. As the Queen, she should be the one to court me rather than the other way around."
Ruto frowned. "That is a huge step for the two of you, but it's a much bigger step for Hyrule itself. Are you sure, Impa? Is this what you want?"
The Sheikah nodded. "I'm sure, Ruto. I'm all in, like you said."
"Well, going through with this will make her the most progressive monarch in modern history. You're going to run into roadblocks, you know." The Zora shook her head, but a smile spread on her face. "If you're both as serious about this as you seem, then I'm happy for you. Here's hoping we all make it back from this safely so we can see how it pans out."
Impa nodded. "I second that."
Soon the horns of Hyrule blew. The drums picked up volume and speed, and everyone knew that it was finally time. "Here we go," Impa said to Ruto, who nodded gravely in return. They gave their signals to their troops and the march to Gerudo Desert began.
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The initial march was relatively uneventful. There were a few scouts to take care of, but the Hyrulian Army passed mostly uninhibited to the stone archway that marked the entrance to the vast expanse of the desert. Once there, however, their march was halted. The generals, including Impa, gathered for a tactical discussion. It was strange that they hadn't seen any enemy forces so far, and even stranger that the entrance to the desert was unguarded.
"It's a trap," one of the generals finally said. Everyone was thinking it, but there was hesitation to say it out loud.
"Obviously," said General Auru. "Even so, what can we do differently? We cannot sit in Hyrule Castle and wait to be attacked again, and this is the only path to the desert. It's a gamble we all agreed upon, but a necessary gamble. What we need to figure out is how to best proceed with caution."
They debated for a while more but tried not to deliberate too long. They had a plan in place. All they had to discuss now was how to alter the plan to accommodate the increased possibility of an ambush. The generals had a rough map of the desert and an idea of what areas would be enemy keeps and strongholds. If they claimed the keeps closest to the entrance and held them, they could use them as a home base and command center. The area was in the southwest corner of the desert. It was separated from the rest of the desert by thin wooden bridges, so it would be theoretically easy to defend if they could successfully get their troops across.
Assuming they successfully occupy the target keeps, the Queen, her guard, and Link will wait in the most defensible one with an extra unit outside to protect them in case a retreat is needed. Meanwhile, The Hylian and Goron troops will go over the east bridge into the south-central portion of the desert. They will take the south central keep together, and then the Hylians will attack the north-central keep while the Gorons go to the southeastern-most keep, an area that also served as a key foothold to the tunnel and ridge systems that should be in the eastern side of the map.
While the Goron and Hylian troops take care of the southernmost keeps, the Sheikah and Zora troops will go over the north bridge. They will target the western and central keeps then make their way into the northernmost part of the ridge and tunnel systems. The Hyrulian generals theorized that there should be a keep at the point where the northwest desert, southeast desert, and ridges meet. If that's true, then the Sheikah and Zora troops will be able to get there first. It would be a key keep to take if they wanted to have a hope of making it through the gauntlet of the tight ridge passageways to make it to the Arbiter's Grounds, where they were sure the enemy will make their home base. The Arbiter's Grounds was the most defensible position in the whole desert.
At least, that was the plan. The possibility of this being a set up put a kink in their theories, to be sure, but the generals saw no other course of action but to proceed and hope for the best. With this in mind, they returned to their respective units and the signal was given to keep moving.
The keep in the southwestern-most point was made of a mixture of stonework, natural rock, and rickety wooden gates. There was a sizable bunch of monsters in the keep and the surrounding areas consisting of mostly Lizalfos and Bokoblin forces. The Hyrulian troops took care of that rabble rather easily with their combined strength. The monsters seemed caught off guard by the Hyrulians' appearance. It was a hopeful sign.
Queen Zelda, her guard, Link, and a unit of elite Hylian foot soldiers stationed themselves in that keep as planned. Meanwhile, the Hyrulian and Goron forces took the second keep to the southwest with equal ease and cleared out any stragglers. That unit then went over the East Bridge without event—they had feared the bridge might be rigged to blow and tested it before they crossed, but nothing happened. They left a brigade of troops there to guard the bridge and proceeded into the sweltering heat of the central desert.
Zora and Sheikah troops crossed the northern bridge with equal ease. Perhaps, Impa started to think, they had been mistaken and the enemy really was surprised by their proactive attack. How they could have failed to guard their entrance better, or at least rigged the rickety wooden bridges to blow, was a mystery to Impa. If anyone remotely competent was in charge, it seemed like a normal precaution. She could only dare to hope that perhaps they actually did catch the demons by surprise.
The desert heat was sweltering. The air shimmered with it. Pathetic wilting palm trees swayed in a wind that blew sand everywhere. They were growing beside what Impa could only assume was multiple small oases—muddy pools of water fed by rain that now just evaporated into the dry air. Impa questioned her decision to bring water magic to the desert. There was not much water to pull out of the air here. The best water magic wielders could create water of their own, but it certainly helped if they had something to pull from in the atmosphere. Perhaps fire magic with her Naginata would have been more effective. It was too late to go back now.
They crossed the bridge and found a horde of Bulblin occupying the area on the other side. The northwestern keep was closest to them, so they made their way there while fighting off the monsters flooding the middle of the field. They were most likely being fed by the north central keep, and Impa already knew that getting there was going to be difficult.
Impa gripped the hilt of her Great Sword, ready to draw at a moment's notice. Little droplets of water swirled around Ruto's wrist, ready to turn into a tidal wave of magical power. A brigade of monsters charged out of the two keeps directly toward them. Impa drew her Great Sword and examined the enemy ranks. For the most part they were the same rabble they fought before, but suddenly the Sheikah noticed something different. Mixed in these troops were something that Impa had never seen before that sent a shiver into her heart: undead stal-warriors. Alarms went off in her mind. How could undead warriors be here? No one could command the undead but the thief Ganondorf, and he was long dead. Wasn't he?
There was no time to think about it. The horses charged into the throng, stomping the monsters under hoof. Impa and Ruto both vaulted off the backs of their mounts. Ruto started a wave of water that streamed out of her hand as she flipped overhead, landing behind her horse. She whipped the water around, sending Bulblin flying, and paused long enough to smack the horse's rump. It galloped away from danger before the Zora princess created another whip of water and set upon her foes.
Meanwhile, Impa drew her sword mid-vault off her horse. She called a stream of water to gather along its blade as she touched down amid the throng of monsters and slashed the sword out from her body. Both the sharp edge of the blade and the water slashed at her foes. Taking the opportunity, she also slapped her horse's rump to get it to safety before gathering water along her blade again and setting it lose upon the undead monsters surrounding her.
Although small, Stalkin were much harder to kill than Bulblin. Sure, they broke apart easy enough and didn't hurt that much when their blows did strike, but then they reassembled themselves. Their numbers dwindled so slowly. Impa was a flurry of attacks. She threw her giant sword up in the air, jumped up after it, and threw it to the ground, where it created a water-laden shockwave that threw back the enemy forces around her. With plenty of room to move now, she used a combination of water magic and swordsmanship to cut her way through the Bulblin and Stalkin forces to the small keep that would be their foothold in this section of the desert.
Impa made it into the keep first. Ruto was not far behind her, leaping out of a pool of water she had formed in the ground. Enemy forces were either drowning in the water or stabbed through by small ice-laden barbs thrown from her fins midair. It was rather impressive to watch how she used water-an inherently life-giving medium-as a weapon so creatively. The Sheikah knew that she would lose their watery competition. At least it was something fun to focus on while they fought for their lives and their country.
Within the keep she found more of the same—at least, that was until she saw a Stalfos Captain standing in the center with its hollow gaze fixed on her. He stood as tall as three Stalkins standing on each other's shoulders and carried a jagged longsword with a round shield. His rotten skull almost seemed to grin at her. Impa held the Biggoron Sword tighter and grinned right back. This was much more fun than a bunch of mindless rabble.
At first, the two foes circled each other. Then the Stalfos started to advance. Impa let him draw closer while gauging the space around them against the space she would need for the maneuver she had in mind. When the Stalfos was close enough, he lunged and swiped at her with his sword, all mindless confidence. The Sheikah pushed off her foot to the right, rolled, and came up with her great sword leading.
The maneuver created a swirling kinetic energy around the sword that Impa rode like a wave, letting each movement build upon the energy of the last and roll into the energy of the next. Around her she gathered a stream of water that swirled with the movement of her body, gaining power and size. She rose in the air like a cyclone. When her energy was at its peak, she swooped downward, sending barbs of water shooting away from her body as her blade tore through the Stalfos and the other foes in the keep.
When her body stilled, the Stalfos and most of his troops were gone. The other Sheikah and Zora soldiers with her took care of the stragglers and then elected members of their ranks to stay behind and hold the keep for Hyrule while Impa, Ruto, and the rest of their army continued to the next.
While they were battling their way to the keep in the center of western Gerudo Desert, The Hylian and Goron troops in southeastern Gerudo Desert were having a hard time making it to the central keep. Hordes of Bulblin and Stalkin forces flooded out of it, as well as from the keep in the southeastern-most corner of the desert which was the Gorons' next target. Mixed in the enemy ranks were multiple Stalfos and even a couple flying Aerofos that attacked them randomly from above. They split their attention between the dive-bombing flying lizards and the powerful attacks of the Stalfos on the ground. The archers were have some success with the Aerofos. They shot one down and the second one had more than a couple arrow holes ripped in its leathery wings.
On the ground, Darunia was proving to be a force of nature. The Goron Big Brother sent bodies flying everywhere when he rolled through the enemy ranks at high speeds. When he was not rolling, he might be a slow walker but the weight of his swings with the giant Megaton Hammer was unparalleled. One swing of that Goron-forged weapon sent five or ten enemies flying across the field, and the fierce Goron Big Brother waved that thing around like a feather. With his help, they eventually smashed the Stalfos to dust and made their way into the keep.
There were three more Stalfos and one Lizalfos standing guard inside the keep. Darunia made short work of them, with a little help from the Hylian Captains. The Aerofos were the real pain. Stalfos practically turned to dust with each pound of Darunia's hammer, and Lizalfos didn't last much longer. Once they had taken out the enemy captains, it was only a little while later when they killed the last Bulblin in the keep and took it for themselves. Knowing that it was in a key position, if a very open and vulnerable position, they left a large unit of Goron and Hylian soldiers to guard the keep and moved on.
The Goron and Hylian troops split. The Hylians made their way to the small keep north of the keep they just took. Meanwhile, the Gorons headed southeast to the keep in the bottom that would serve as their first foothold to access the narrow, winding rock passageways along the ridges in the east.
The flow of battle continued in this way until a red sunset washed over the western sky. When darkness fell over the desert, torches were lit by both the Hyrulian keeps and the monster-held keeps. Troops on both sides seemed content to settle into their keeps for the night rather than try to fight in the dark. For the most part, at least, it seemed that night would bring an icy truce. The wind that blew across the once-broiling hot sands was frigid as Snowpeak mountain, making the ill-prepared Hyrulian troops shiver around their campfires.
"Here," Impa said, handing a cup of hot broth to Ruto. She sat down and held her own cup close. "It's not much, but…well, one Gerudo Boar only goes so far when spread out between so many soldiers." Ruto sipped the hot liquid and leaned into her Sheikah friend. Impa draped her free arm around the Zora. Body heat would keep them both warmer through the long night.
"I assume you gave the best meat to the most wounded," Ruto remarked. Her eyes still gazed at the fire. She looked as tired as Impa felt. Impa nodded, and Ruto sighed. "I wish you kept a little for me…but it was the right call."
"They're tired, but in good spirits. We're making great progress so far."
Shivering, Ruto held her broth closer to her body and let the hot steam sink into her scales. "Too good, I think," she remarked. "I have a bad feeling about this, Impa."
The Sheikah nodded. "I've had a bad feeling about this since we first saw the Stalkin. I fear that we are going to meet a greater evil than we are prepared to battle."
Ruto tilted her head. "What do you mean? What's special about those bags of bones?"
"Only one power in Hyrule can resurrect the dead," Impa said. The campfire danced in her red eyes, making them dark as blood in the night. "Do you remember when we took that ride in Hyrule Field with Zelda and she spoke about the turning of the next Divine Cycle? What if she was right? What if the great evil we are fighting against is more than just the Dragon Knight and a glorified poe?" Impa looked at Ruto. "I think the Stalkin prove that Zelda was right. The master leading this army is the Gerudo Thief himself: Ganondorf. And if Ganondorf is waiting for us in that keep, it doesn't matter if every monster on this field has been slaughtered. Link doesn't have the Master Sword. We will perish."
There was nothing to say to that, really, and they both knew it. This plan hadn't counted on the possibility that Ganondorf had returned. They were not ready for that and would be forced to flee. In the heavy silence that followed, Impa untied Zelda's Favor from her armor and held it with both hands. Holding the soft fabric up to her face and closing her eyes, she could almost see the queen in her violet gown with stars in her eyes. Could almost feel the fabric of that dress beneath her fingers. She sighed. Her hot breath rose into the cold air, and Impa prayed that no matter what they found in the final keep, Zelda would survive to fight another day.
"Come on," Ruto said, interrupting Impa's reverie. She swatted the Sheikah's arm lightly stood up. "I doubt either of us are going to sleep much tonight. Let's help the watch keep the Stalfos at bay."
"I need to catch up to your numbers, anyway," Impa said with a laugh. She retied the Favor securely and followed her friend into the dark. "I don't really want to carry you around Zora's Domain and I'm pretty sure you're winning."
"You should be so honored to carry me," the Zora princess jeered. Exchanging friendly banter to alleviate the weight of their earlier conversation, they made their way outside the keep to wait for the sun to rise.
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Author's Notes: So, it's been six years since the last chapter was updated. I don't know how many people are even still interested in seeing the conclusion of this story, but it's finally done.
Those who read the original version should plan to re-read it has a lot of major changes and additions. You will also note that I have changed the rating to M. This is partially due to content in later chapters, but also because in revising this story I realized exactly how many very serious topics have been covered, including suicide, mental illness, graphic violence, etc. The new rating fits the content better and allows the story to go where it needs to for its conclusion.
All of that aside, I do have to dedicate the final chapters of In Sotto Voce to two people: first, to whoever it was who uploaded In Sotto Voce to TV Tropes. I stumbled upon it by accident and it was the inspiration that motivated me to pick this back up again. Your analysis is incredibly in depth and I was blown away. Thank you. And, if you're reading this, you can officially take off the "dead fic" trope!
Second, to the person who reached out to me on Tumblr to let me know how much they enjoy this story. It was important for me to realize that this story meant something to some people and I needed to finish it. It means something to me too. Hopefully the conclusion can live up to your hopes for it.
