Chapter 3 time, hope you guys are enjoying this so far! A big thanks to the followers, likers and reviewers who've been encouraging me to keep this going!
"Hoo-kay, so now that I've heard everyone's story, I have a few questions..." Nabooru said with her arms folded. She had just sat Link, Aviel and Nemisa down to hear out what exactly was going on over the course of the day.
"Before that though, can you please change into some clothes?" asked Nemisa awkwardly, as Nabooru was currently clad in a towel that only covered her from her chest down to just below her waist, giving the three a good viewing of her legs, one crossed over the other. Nemisa had her hand over Link's eyes to prevent him from gawking.
"As I recall Link," Nabooru started, ignoring Nemisa's request, "I had sent you letter of invitation to come here to Gerudo Town. That letter should have been enough to let you pass the guards, what happened to it?"
"I, um..." Link rubbed his hand behind his head, his eyes still covered by Nemisa, "...kinda dropped it at one point on the way over, and by the time I found out it was too late, and my personal blindfold over here showed no mercy."
"Heh, smooth move butterfingers." smirked Nemisa under her breath, earning herself a blinded glare from Link.
"Now my next question to Nemisa," Nabooru said, "What were you doing on guard duty today? I thought Losouk was was supposed to be stationed at the entrance today."
"Sister Losouk has fallen ill with the flu this morning, so I volunteered for the job. I can assure you if I had known about this male being your guest I would had been more accommodating for him." Nemisa stated firmly.
"You mean you would had beaten me up slightly less?" Link asked sarcastically.
"I'm surprised no one told you about my guest arriving." Nabooru inquired.
"I was given briefing notes, but they said nothing about a male coming to the town." Nemisa said.
"Notes...? Losouk...?" muttered Aviel in thought, "So that was what I found?"
"W-What do you mean, what you found?" asked Nemisa.
"Well when I was on my way to lookout duty, I noticed you had dropped a piece of paper." Aviel told Nemisa, "I was going to give it to you, but I saw the note was written for sister Losouk, so I brought it over to her home, I didn't try waking her up since she was sick, so I just left the paper there."
Nemisa's face paled at that moment.
Aviel just gave a goofy grin and rubbed the back of her head, "I didn't read it since I thought it might had been something personal for her, sorry about that."
Nemisa's hand slowly moved down from Link's eyes and was instead used to cover her increasingly embarrassed face.
"Anything to say Ms. Butterfinger McBlindfold?" Link asked with a smarmy grin.
"I withdraw what I said earlier." she muttered in a combination of anger and embarrassment.
"So next subject, why didn't anyone notify me about our prisoner?" asked Nabooru.
"As I recall in my briefing notes..." said Nemisa, "You were preparing for a big announcement later today, and we were told that you wanted absolutely no interruptions during your preparations."
"O-Ooh... that's right..." Nabooru said, recalling that morning when the guards had spoken with her about her plans for the day, she had been massively hungover from the night before and told them to screw off and leave her alone.
Nabooru's face paled almost as badly as Nemisa's a second ago.
"...Lady Nabooru?" Aviel asked.
"Ahahahaa, S-So it seems this whole thing was just a misunderstanding!" Nabooru laughed over-anxiously, "No harm done then!"
"Yeah except for the part where I almost got myself killed." Link muttered.
"Oh come on, this was nothing for you Link." grinned Nabooru with a wink, "Remember when you risked yourself back in the Spirit Temple for a kiss from me back when you were a kid."
"A kiss?!" exclaimed Nemisa, "Are males truly that shallow even at a young age?!"
"T-That's now really why I-" Link's explanation was cut off by Aviel butting into the conversation.
"Oooh, a kiss?!" Aviel said, putting her hands on her knees and looking intently at Link, "Tell me the details Ravio, how was it, how did it taste, did she use her tongue?!"
"I told you my name's Link!" the man addressed as Ravio exclaimed, "And we didn't do anything!"
Nabooru just watched the three of them banter, and soon found herself breaking out into laughter, halting everyone in their tracks.
"Ah-hahaha! I'm pretty impressed Link, you've only been here half a day and you've already made two good friends!" she said.
"Friends?!" exclaimed Nemisa in an annoyed tone, "I assure you I'm not friends with that m-"
"Yay, we're all friends!" exclaimed Aviel in a joyous tone, her arms turned to bird wings and she quickly hugged Link and Nemisa at the same time. Link's face was flushed enough from Nabooru being in a towel, but then was forced too close to Aviel's chest and Nemisa's angry face for either's liking.
"Well at any rate," Nabooru continued, "I would like to speak to Link in private at this time. Nemisa, Aviel, the two of you are dismissed to rest and prepare for my announcement."
"Thank you Lady Nabooru." the two of them said bowing.
"Bye Link!" Aviel added, giving Link a small hug with her wings before following a silent Nemisa out the door.
As soon as he door closed, Link and Nabooru turned to each other.
"Well you just keep getting yourself into trouble, don't you Link?" Nabooru said with a smirk.
"What can I say? I'm a magnet for it." Link replied with a grin.
There was a pause, and Nabooru leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "It's great to see you again Link, you look like you've grown up into a fine handsome man."
"I can't believe it's been seven years. You look like you haven't aged a day since then." Link nodded.
"Heh, good looks and a flatterer." she said, "I think you'll do well around here."
Link laughed nervously, looking to change the subject, "So you're the boss around here now? It seems like the girls really respect you."
"I suppose." Nabooru said, she stood up and walked over to where she kept her clothes, "After everything that's been going on over the past years some changes really needed to be made."
She then removed the towel from her body, prompting Link to look away frantically, while she changed into her usual pink Gerudo outfit. Link did his best to hold back the urge to turn his gaze toward her, until she did it for him, grabbing his chin and tilting his head up at her.
"Oh don't be so modest," Nabooru said with a smile, "You saw all of me earlier, didn't you?"
"I-I guess..." Link said, "I was just kind of expecting Nemisa to barge in and clobber me for it."
"Honestly with that girl I wouldn't be surprised." she agreed, "Well, you must be exhausted after your travels. Why don't we get you freshened up? I'd like you to be ready to attend my meeting with the town this afternoon."
"Sounds good," Link said, "I could use a good bath."
"You can use mine right here." she said, gesturing to the fountain bath, "I'll prepare you some clothes for afterwards."
"Thanks." he said. Nabooru strolled out of the washroom while Link started undressing himself. As he was just removing his tunic and shirt however...
"Lady Nabooru, I apologize for the intrusion, I believe I dropped something mine in h-"
Nemisa had just walked in through the door and saw Link standing there, clad only in his white tights and boots. Nemisa just stood there blankly, getting full view of Link's lean and athletic body, her face flushed a bright red as she looked for a few seconds, before reaching down and taking a small jewel that had been laying on the ground without a word, and shut the door.
"...I'm in so much trouble here." Link sighed as he continued preparing himself for the bath.
"People of Gerudo Town!" shouted one of Nabooru's bodyguards as she stood at the front the central palace, before her stood a sizable crowd of Gerudo women that made up the vast majority of the citizens, "Lady Nabooru has a great announcement for you all, one that she says will change our lives forever!"
The crowd cheered out, at least a few of them calling out for Nabooru by name.
Eventually Nabooru came walking in through the entrance, waving her hand to the cheering crowd, behind her stood Link, now clad in a red vest and green pants. Nabooru cleared her throat and started speaking out to the people. Link watched her as she spoke, he was pretty impressed at how far she had come over the years, she was highly respected by her people and stood as tall and strong as he remembered back when he first met her in the Spirit Temple.
Link himself however, was a bit unnerved by the crowd itself, especially after what happened earlier that day with the prison escape. He looked out and saw the crowd, some of them murmuring to themselves, presuming they were talking about him. Oddly enough, despite how the Gerudo typically looked, he saw a small handful of them had slightly different features, a few of them with skin as white as his, and some with pointy ears like the Hylains.
"...which bring me to my next subject." Nabooru's speech continued, "It's been six years since the tragedy that transpired, and we all still feel the pain of what happened..." Link was confused about what she said right then, but waited for her to get to her point. "...and our people suffer because of the strict laws imposed on us. While I have done as much as I have to change things around here, I feel we need something else in particular to aide us."
The crowd murmured to each other, wondering what she was talking about.
"Today my sisters, is the dawning of a new era for the Gerudo, where we shall prosper and thrive, for I have found the very thing our people truly need!"
She then took Link's shoulder, and pulled him up to stand alongside her.
"Sisters of Gerudo Town, I have found our future king!"
The crowd, and Link himself all paused for a few seconds, before letting out a collective-
"WHAAAT?!"
"What the heck did you just say Nabooru?!" exclaimed Link.
"This is Link, the future king of the Gerudo!" Nabooru announced, "I know what some of you are thinking, he may be a Hylian male, and I'm well aware of what some of you may think of them in general, but I can assure you this man is different, not just from most male Hylians, but from the former king Ganondorf himself, and with his help, we can reshape our town and bring us to prosperity!"
The crowd was clearly confused by this, they were all speaking wildly among each other about this turn of events. Link himself had practically lost his voice at hearing this.
'I'm... going to be the king?!" he thought to himself, 'Has Nabooru lost it?!'
His gaze then turned to see two familiar faces, Aviel and Nemisa in the crowd; the bird-winged girl's eyes were wide as dinner plates and her mouth was covered by her wings, while Nemisa's jaw was hanging down so low it was practically to her waist.
"Go on, say something." Nabooru said with a wink, pushing Link out and forward. Link was unsure of what to say, but cleared his throat and spoke up.
"Um, hello everyone..." he said, "My name is Link, and um, I... I hope to be someone you can be proud of to be your... king? I will work hard for the people and... uh... I'll.. be in the care of you all." he finished, bowing to the crowd at the waist.
The crowd didn't say a single word. It was a pretty awkward moment for everyone involved.
Suddenly however, one voice piped up, It was Aviel, waving her wings, and cheering out.
"Yaaay! Our new king has arrived, a kind man that will help us all strengthen and thrive! Long live King Link!" she shouted.
There was an awkward pause for a few seconds, before a few others joined her in the cheering, then more, until good majority of the crowd was cheering out for their new king.
Link wasn't sure how it happened, but he had to thank Aviel for saving him in this moment. Nabooru herself had her arms folded and nodded to herself with a smirk.
'You'll do just fine Link.' she thought to herself.
"Nabooru, are you crazy?!" Link shouted at his friend when the two had made it back to Nabooru's private quarters, "You're making me the king of the Gerudo?!"
"Well of course, a promise is a promise." said Nabooru simply.
"This was the promise you made to me?!" exclaimed Link, "But I can't do something like be the king! I've never been a ruler, and I don't know anything about diplomacy or politics!"
"Heh, honestly with the way monarchies are run these days, those qualifications make you better suited for the job then most." she said shrugging.
"And besides that, don't many of the Gerudo here hate men?" Link asked, "I'm only thankful Aviel won over the crowd so I didn't get killed on stage or something!"
"Many of them do," Nabooru said, "But I'm positive they'll have a change of heart over time, I mean you won over Aviel and Nemisa already after all!"
"I highly doubt that about Nemisa..." Link muttered.
"And really, you're over-worrying." Nabooru said, "Being the king of a tribe like ours isn't as difficult as you might think, and I'll be taking on the role of your adviser, helping you with your duties and decisions. I didn't spend seven years just doing inspirational speeches and taking baths you know." she winked.
"But... isn't there any other man who could take the role?" Link asked. He was caught off guard when Nabooru leaned towards him and stared into his blue eyes.
"No one that I would pick over you." Nabooru said, "As Aviel said, you're a truly kind and compassionate man, I could see that even when you were a mere child. Being a king is also about making the people truly happy, and I think with your kindness you can help save our people from their suffering."
"You mentioned that before in your speech..." Link said, "What's this about suffering?"
"I suppose you must not have heard about what happened all those years ago?" Nabooru asked, she walked over to a pile of pillows that made up her bed, she sat down on them and gestured to Link to sit down beside her, to which he complied. He had to admit the pillows were really soft, and despite the temperature the desert was known for, they were expertly made so as not to absorb heat. He laid back on them and looked to Nabooru.
"I'm not really sure," Link replied, "I've been gone for the past seven years on an important journey, and I guess my friends either don't know themselves or haven't said anything."
"Well, you recall how Ganondorf was captured? Well some time after you saved me from Twinrova, the Gerudo had made a vow to save him from his imprisonment, and declared war on Hyrule Castle."
Link's eyes widened.
"The war was led by Ganondorf's first wife, the war commander Lady Imono. She had assumed power of the Gerudo throne after his capture, and demanded his release. When the Hyrulian king refused, they went to war. I tried to stop Lady Imono and make her back down, but she didn't take me seriously, probably because I openly opposed Ganondorf's rule to begin with."
"And things didn't work out I presume." Link said as a statement rather then question.
"Correct..." Nabooru said, her features darkening. "While our sisters were strong and skilled, the Hylian army had them beat in numbers, equipment and morale. It was... a very short and one-sided war.. We lost lost many of our sisters in those few months."
Link contemplated what she said and stared down, not sure what to say, but a nagging thought was running in the back of his mind.
"Afterwards, the King, along with his Hylian Parliament, initiated a decree that all Gerudo be banished from the majority of the land of Hyrule, and would only be allowed to stay in Gerudo Valley. Many of us who lived in Hyrule's land, even half Gerudo, were tracked down and exiled. Those who refused were imprisoned... or executed..."
Link didn't say a word, his hands were squeezing the pillow he was sitting on, but continued to listen to her.
"It's been a little over six years since the war. I've been doing everything in my power to fix things, and while I feel I've made good progress, there is a lot more work to be done. Unfortunately, one major problem I can't fix is the threat of our population's decline. I'm sure you're aware of the way of our people when it comes to birth?"
"I remember you saying that this is an all-women tribe," Link said, "And that the only exception is the rare male Gerudo, born once every one-hundred years, and that one this time was Ganondorf."
Nabooru nodded, "Naturally in order to keep our population alive, we have to seek... assistance from men outside of our tribe, namely Hylians, as they are the closest to us when it comes to physical traits and reproductive systems. Unfortunately with the banishment, our people have barely been able to meet with any good men to have children. Between that, the many we lost in the war, and our inability to get vital supplies with merchants as much as before, I dare say if nothing is done, the Gerudo could face the threat of extinction someday..."
Link's eyes widened
"It... it sounds like the Hylian Parliament had given your people the death penalty." Link said.
"That's not really an exaggeration." Nabooru nodded, "While many of the the Gerudo hold resentment towards the Hylians for this, I personally don't hate them for it. I fully understand that our people were at fault in all this."
Link paused to reflect on that comment and continued to listen to Nabooru.
"When I made that promise to you seven years ago, I knew you would make a fine king in the future, but I never would had guessed at that time that my people would suffer so greatly, and how much I would need your help."
Link just looked down, hearing about all that the Gerudo had gone through, and the reason for it, it tore him apart. He knew there was something that had to be said to his old friend in that moment.
"Nabooru... I..." Link muttered, "I'm sorry, but I can't be qualified to be your king."
"What?"
"I can't be your king and help your people, not when I'm the one who made them suffer so much to begin with..."
"I... don't understand, how could you have done that?"
"You know why Ganondorf was arrested, right?"
"Yes, it was because he had planned to break into the Temple of Time and claim the power of the Sacred Realm, I remember those old witches discussing it before."
"Well, I became aware of Ganondorf's plan shortly before I saved you from them. I met with Princess Zelda in her castle and told her what was going on, and she reported it to her father the King... that's when he had Ganondorf arrested for his attempt."
Now it was Nabooru's turn for her eyes to widen.
"I know I had to do it to stop Ganondorf's plan, but I never would had thought of the pain it would bring your people, to this extent." he sighed deeply, "I'm flattered that you would hold me in such high regard to make me your king, but I can't call myself qualified for it, especially after being responsible for your suffering... and if the Gerudo ever found out the truth, they could never call me their king."
"Link, I..."
"Thank you for everything Nabooru." he said standing up, "But, I have to leave now before it's too late, before your people all find out the pain I brought them. Please give Aviel and... Nemisa my regards..."
Before he could go out the door however, Link felt two strong arms wrap around and hold him close. He could feel two soft mounds pressed against his upper back, and someone leaning their head against his.
"Link..." Nabooru whispered, "I don't want you to think for even a second that you're responsible for anything that's happened here. What you did saved many people the land over, and Hyrule as a whole. If anything, I have more respect for you now then ever."
"But-"
"If I blame anyone for what happened to us, it's the bastard Ganondorf himself... Well, him and a few others..."
"A few others...?" Link asked, wondering who she meant.
"Its the choice you made, a choice you made with your heart, to protect the people of this world, that makes you more qualified to be our king then anyone I know. I don't want you to feel obligated to do this after the guilt you're feeling right now, but I'd like you to at least consider it."
Link paused, as he thought about Nabooru holding him as she did. His thoughts wandered to Aviel and her energetic bright smile, even Nemisa with her stubborn but admirable drive to protect her people. His thoughts then turned to the crowd he had seen, including those who were clearly half Hylian, but as Nabooru had said, likely banished from their homes and forced into exile.
"I... I'll think about it." he said.
"That's all I ask of you Link." she said with a smile, holding him close, she then brought him back over to the pillows to lay down, he laid back with his hands behind his head, in deep thought about what he should do about all this.
"For right now though..." she said, leaning over close to him, "Regardless of the choice you make, there's something I wish to do for you tonight."
"What's that?" Link asked.
Link's question was answered not by words, but by Nabooru giving him a soft kiss on the lips. His eyes widened from the surprise, as she held it for what seemed like forever. She broke the kiss slightly, and the two could feel their breath against each other.
"N-Nabooru..." Link blushed.
"Come on," smiled Nabooru, "Allow me to help you with the burden you're carrying on yourself."
She then kissed him again, her hands moved up and rubbing at his chest. He could feel her tongue force its way into his mouth, while Link's hands moved up to grip her sides. He could then feel her moving his vest off with one hand, as well as his pants with the other.
"N-Nabooru..." his face flushed, quickly getting the hint of what she intended to do, "I-I've never done this before..."
"It's okay," smiled Nabooru, "Stick with me and I'll teach you everything you need to know."
She kissed him once again and the two fell against the pillows. Nabooru's skillful hands went to work on him, as Link's inexperienced hands clumsily went by pure instinct.
And the two of them ended up sharing a wonderful night together...
Whew, well there's the end of the chapter. Sorry if I gave my male audience (probably my only audience) a case of blue balls there at the end, but I'm trying to keep this story PG-13 (plus I suck at writing sex scenes). I also hope I didn't get too heavy handed with the drama there at the end, I promise the next chapter will have a lot more humor and action to it.
Next chapter will be coming soon!