Wow, I'm finally at 50 chapters in this story! I'm really happy I've been able to keep at it for so long! I have all of my readers and supporters to thank for getting me this far! A big thank you to all of you!
"Well, we made it everyone!"
Link spoke up to Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Saria, Togau. Dr. Sarami, and Reirousa, who had all arrived at Goron City in Death Mountain, with the aide of the warp points in the Lost Woods. Located inside the mountain itself, it was a tall, multi-floored cave with numerous tunnels that lead to various residence and shopping locations.
"So this is what was through this warp point..." Saria said in surprise, "To think it lead all the way out here!"
"Wow, this place looks huge!" Aviel said, looking around above and below the cavern using her goggles.
"Yes, and now that we're here, we can speak to Chieftain Darunia and start negotiating terms with forming an alliance with the Gorons." Nabooru said with her arms folded, smirking lightly.
"It's too bad Kesuta and Korume couldn't come with us." Togau said, "What'd they say they were doin' again?"
"The two of them are attending a prayer session with their mother at the Spirit Temple to cleanse the place of Twinrova's foul power that the two witches were spreading out during their time there." Nabooru said.
"They'd need to get rid of the foul old lady smell too." Aviel said, sticking out her tongue.
"If anything, they need to cleanse the desert of all those Octoroks me and the soldiers have been dealing with outside of town." sighed Reirousa referring to the octopus-like creatures that primarily live in earth and spit rocks at people.
"Yes the area has been under an abnormal infestation with Octoroks as of late..." Nabooru said pondering, "They're easy to kill, but their numbers are still problematic..."
Deciding to worry about that, later, the group walked on through the passage. As soon as they stepped out of the hallway that lead into to the city, Link was immediately recognized and hugged by a local Goron who usually hung out right there.
"Ah, Brother Link! You're back!" the Goron cheered, lumbering forward with his arms out.
"Oh jees, whoever the Gerudo goddesses of strength is, lead me some of it!" Link exclaimed, as he found himself pulled into another powerful bone-breaking hug.
"Everyone! Brother Link has returned!" the Goron shouted out, alerting many other Gorons in the area.
"Hey, he really is back!"
"He looks a lot different now, but I still recognize brother Link!"
"Yaaay! How about a big Goron hug?"
"Wait wait wait wait! No more hugs!" Link exclaimed in complete horror as more Gorons were starting to gather around him, only for Nemisa and Reirousa to step in front of him.
"Hey, you wanna back off rock-biters?" Reirousa asked glaring down at the Gorons.
"Cease this assault on the Gerudo King or you'll answer to my fists!" Nemisa said to the first one angerly.
"Oops, sorry! Guess we get too carried away!" the first Goron said, pulling his arms away as Link fell face-first into the ground.
"Does this happen regularly with you, Link?" Nabooru asked with a chuckle.
"Ever since I helped them out with their Dodongo problem eight years ago." Link groaned, as Sarami took the time to examine him over, then stretching out his back to get it back into a proper place, "I didn't know back then that becoming Darunia's sworn brother would be so... dangerous."
"Yes, they do seem quite strong, but they're all so adorable!" Sarami giggled happily, as she pulled Link's arm to straighten it out she was taking her time to observe them all, "They look like giant teddy bears!"
"And they hug just like a bear..." Link groaned.
"Ugh, I normally like hugs, but I think they'd snap me in half..." Aviel said sweatdropping.
"So what was that person calling you brother Link? You're the Gerudo King now?" a Goron asked.
"That's right, I've been living with the Gerudo for a year now, and I was just crowned as their king." Link nodded.
"Well gosh, that's amazing!" one of the Gorons said, "After that bad man that sealed up Dodongo's Cavern to try and get our precious treasure, I bet you'll make a much better king then him!"
"So... these are the Gerudo?" asked one of the Goron, walking up to Nemisa, "You don't look anything like that bad man."
"And we thank Aifet for that everyday." Nemisa said rolling her eyes.
Link then spoke up to one of the Gorons, "So right now we need to speak with brother Darunia, is he in his usual place?"
"Well yeah..." one of the Gorons said, rubbing the back of his head, "But Big Brother Darunia is in one of his bad moods right now..."
"What happened? Did someone get into his secret sirloin rock stash again?" Link asked.
"Well, yes." the Goron nodded, "But I think there's something else bothering him as well, might have to do with everything going on out in that place we opened a while back..."
"Maybe if you talk to him it'll snap him out of it!" another Goron said.
"I'll give it a try." Link then nodded, "Come on Nabooru, let's go speak with him."
"Sounds good, I've been waiting to meet the Chieftain of this tribe." Nabooru said.
Link then thought about what the Goron had said about Darunia's mood and grinned slightly, "Actually, can you come with us too Saria?"
"Oh, of course!" Saria nodded.
"Well, while yer rubbin' elbows with the chief, think I'll start speakin' to the merchants here about their trade." Togau said, walking off to the stores.
"I wanna go check out that place over there." Reirousa said, gesturing to the smithery run by the blacksmith Medigoron, "See if he can fix up my Bombos Warhammer, it's been through a lotta wear and tear."
"I'm honestly surprised it's held up so well after you load powerful explosives into it." Nemsia said.
"I'd like to go speak to these cute little things waddling around here and learn a little more about them and their anatomy!" Sarami said as she adjusted her glasses.
"Alright then, Aviel can you watch over Dr. Sarami while we talk with the chief?" Link asked.
"You got it Link!" Aviel said with a salute, standing by the doctor's side.
"Oh no, I didn't come here to be a bother to yo-" Sarami started, but was cut off by Aviel grabbing her arm and smiling brightly.
"No problem! Now let's go!" she said cheerfully, taking Sarami off on her way.
Link, Nabooru, Saria and Nemisa meanwhile all headed down to the ground floor, directed by Link, to the entrance of Darunia's chambers. Upon reaching the entrance though, they saw a Goron sitting in front of the door, looking clearly bothered about something. Unlike most Goron, this one had slightly longer light-blondish hair, and wore a green cap on his head that very much looked like the one Link used to wear.
"Why is he wearing a hat like that one you have?" Nemisa asked Link.
"It's cause I know who he is." Link grinned, "Link, it's good to see you again!"
"Huh...?" the young Goron asked, looking up at Link, and his eyes widened, "Ah! Uncle Link! It's really you!"
"Link...?" Nabooru asked, "You mean this Goron has the same name as you?"
"Yep! Dad named me after Uncle Link!" the Goron smiled proudly, pumping up his fists, "I love the name, it makes me feel like a real hero!"
"Well you sure look like one! You look like you've toughened up a lot over the past year!" Link smiled.
"Heh, seems like you had even more of an impact on the people here then I imagined." Nabooru said to Link, then spoke to the Goron child, "So can we meet your father Chieftain Darunia?"
"I guess you can... but Dad's been in kind of a bad mood after everything that's been going on lately..." sighed Link-Goron.
"Maybe we can make your dad feel better then!" Link grinned, rubbing his hand on Link-Goron's head.
"Okay then!" Link-Goron said, pumping his fists, "See what you can do to put a big smile on his face!"
After the group saw Link-Goron go off on his way, Nabooru grinned to Link, "You don't really give yourself enough credit Link, I think you're going to make a great father someday."
"Ah ha ha... that's... well..." Link blushed, rubbing the back of his head, as he looked to Nemisa, who was averting her own gaze with a blush on her face, and then he thought about the three child-bearers of his waiting at home... "Maybe we can talk about that some other time..."
"Yeah, h-how about we just focus on meeting with Mr. Darunia already?" Saria asked frantically, pushing Link into Darunia's chambers. Nemisa followed quietly after them while Nabooru just went in laughing.
"Hey Brother Darunia?" Link called out. He looked through Darunia's chambers and saw the Goron leader sitting up, facing a wall. Link watched as Darunia reached into a bowl of rocks beside him, pulled one out and gobbled it down.
"Hmph!"
Link sweatdropped, looked to Nabooru, Saria and Nemisa and called out again.
"Uh, Darunia? It's Link, we just came by to-"
"HHMPHH!"
The four stood blankly as they saw Darunia not even so much as glance at them.
"Is... he usually like this?" Nemisa asked.
"He's normally a pretty jolly guy, but when he can be like this at times when he has enough of a stalagmite up his ass." Link sighed.
"This might be harder then I thought..." Nabooru said.
"What should we do then?" Saria asked.
"I'll try to talk to him..." Link said, slowly walking up to Darunia's side. He couldn't help but notice as he got closer he saw Darunia was holding a hammer in his hand, it was very familiar looking to Link, but wanted to focus on getting the Goron out of his funk first.
"Hey Brother Darunia, something got your goat?" Link asked.
"What are you even talking about, I don't even own a goat!" Darunia shouted, raising up and flexing his arms in a fit of anger.
"He was asking what's wrong with you!" Nemisa shouted in annoyance.
"You want to know that's wrong? I'll tell you!" Darunia shouted back to Nemisa.
"My brothers being scared out of the mines!
The hot springs are either becoming too cold or devoid of water!
Tourism and trade is going down because of it!
I got the Hylian Parliament giving us a hard time because of a lack of minerals yet they refuse to send us help!
So I'm just going to sit there and eat my woes away!" Darunia scowled, taking another rock and munching it down.
"Gee, what a jolly fellow." Nemisa said sweatdropping.
"Hoo-boy, looks like we're going to have to do something to get him out of this." Link said, "Hey Saria, can you give me a hand in a duet?"
Link pulled out his ocarina, and Saria realized why he needed her there. She nodded eagerly and pulled out her own ocarina. The others watched curiously as the two put their ocarinas to their lips and started playing Saria's Song.
"Ah, I love when they play this!" Nemisa said with glee, clicking her fingers and starting to do a light dance to the music.
"Just what is this going to do-?" Nabooru asked, until she saw Darunia sit up, seemingly in reaction to the music.
"Hmm?"
"Um... this isn't seriously going to-"
"HMM?!"
As Link and Saria kept playing their song together, Darunia's eyes widened, the music flowing through his ears. The bouncy magical tune of the forest that Saria created, and played for long periods in the Sacred Forest Meadow.
"That... music...!"
It was then the Gerudo leader Nabooru stood in shock of Darunia suddenly leaping to his feet, and within seconds, started dancing like crazy, sporting a huge grin on his face as he waved his arms and legs around wildly.
"Ooh... ooh! OOH!"
Darunai started shaking his body left and right swinging his arms in tune to the music.
"Yeow! Hot! Such a hot beat!" Darunia cheered out as he danced.
"You... got to be kidding me." Nabooru said blankly, as Nemisa was dancing gracefully around the room herself.
"YEOW! Hot! Hot! HOT!"
Eventually, Link and Saria ended the song and lowered their ocarinas, and Darunia slowly stopped in his steps as well.
"Yes! I really needed that!" Darunia spoke out with a huge grin, "Brother Link, so great to see you! You look like you've grown a lot over the past year!"
"Good to see you too, brother Darunia." grinned Link.
Sometime after that the five of them were all squatting down around a short table, talking about recent events going on, including Link becoming the new Gerudo King. The group wanted to ask Darunia about what he had been talking about while he was in that foul mood from earlier, but Link advised them not to at the moment, as it probably would just put him back in that bad mood again. Darunia served them some tea while he himself had a gourd full of dirt he drank down like water.
"Ha ha ha! I swear, after you stuck it to that damn Ganondorf bastard, seeing you outright replace him as the Gerudo King is hilarious!" Darunia laughed holding up his gourd.
"Wasn't how I planned it back then, but I'm glad with how things have turned out." grinned Link, holding up his tea cup, they clicked them together as a toast, only for some of the dust from Darunia's gourd to fall into Link's tea. Link stared down at his cup for a few seconds with a grimaced look, before pouring it out behind him discreetly.
"So, Lady Nabooru is it? I hear you treat the Gerudo as your family, and refers to each other as sisters? That's not too different from how we Goron refer to each other as brothers!" Darunia said.
"Yes, seems we have more in common then we thought." smiled Nabooru, "I'm looking forward to working with your people."
"This tea is pretty impressive," Nemisa said, taking a long slip of her cup, "It tastes somewhat familiar... can I have some more?"
"Ah, of course! Drink up little lady!" laughed Darunia, pouring her some, "We actually get this tea from Kakariko Village at the base of the mountain, they've been helping us with setting up our resort here."
"Ah, so that's where it comes from." Nemisa said.
"I believe the herbs used in this tea is made from chamomile, right?" Saria asked.
"Yeah, that's the name!" Darunia nodded, "You sure got a knack for tasting that sort of thing, and playing the ocarina now I think about it! You play that catchy little song even better then brother Link!"
"Not surprised, she's the one who taught it to me." Link acknowledged.
"Wait, so does that mean you're the one that's always playing that tune?" Darunia grinned, "All of us Goron love hearing that song through the warp point tunnel! When I hear that song I just can't stop dancing a jig!"
"Um... I gathered that." Saria said embarrassingly.
"So you're learning to prepare tea for tourists Darunia? That's pretty unlike you." Link said in an impressed tone.
"Well with the hot springs resort we opened, I felt I had to learn the skill." Darunia nodded, giving Saria another cup full.
"Never knew there was a hot spring resort in Death Mountain either." Link said.
"Yeah, we set it up while you were on that seven year journey of yours. We're hoping to reach out to the Hylian Parliament like you guys, and between the hot spring and our mining operations, we've been progressing with getting more attention by them." Darunia said.
"But from what you were saying things aren't doing too well?" Nemisa asked.
"We've had our fair hare of troubles, especially lately..." Darunia said, "But nothing to worry yourself about, we Gorons are strong and hearty! Not even the fierce volcano monster stood a chance against my might!"
With that, Darunia gestured over to a wall of his chamber. Mounted on the wall was a monster's skull with long horns and a pair of clawed hands. While the creature was nothing but bones now, Link was quick to recognize what exactly it was, and his jaw dropped slightly in shock.
"Darunia, is that... uh... thing hanging from the wall there the monster you're talking about?" Link asked.
"Yep, that is, or should I say was, the deadly terror of Death Mountain, the fire breathing dragon Volvagia! Course, now he's just a deadly pile of bones!" Darunia laughed.
"Wow, you struck down a dragon?" Saria spoke in surprise.
"Yep, couldn't have done it without the Goron's treasure though, the Megaton Hammer!" Darunia said, holding up the named hammer with a big grin, "Years ago he was invading the mines and causing my mining team trouble so I recovered the hammer from the Fire Temple and went and crushed the thing like a gecko!"
Link was rather shocked at this news. He remembered running into Volvagia in the Fire Temple when he was in the dark future, and helped Darunia defeat it using the Megaton Hammer. He was glad to hear the monster was already taken care of, and was impressed Darunia did it himself.
'Guess I shouldn't be surprised after seeing his battle ability that other time now that I think about it...' Link thought to himself in realization, as he thought of when they met again in another point in time...
It was then a Goron came rolling in, relieved to see Darunia was in a better mood. He walked up and whispered into Darunia's ear for a few seconds. The Goron leader nodded, then turned to Link and the group.
"Well enough about me bragging about myself, a little matter has come up, so how about I show you and your people all to the hot springs brother Link? We can start talking negotiations about our relations and trade tomorrow!"
"That's not a bad idea." Nabooru said, taking into account Darunia's rant from earlier before Link and Saria snapped him out of it, "I'd like to take the day to see around here first so I can get an idea of what we can do to better help you and ourselves."
Upon meeting up with Aviel, Togau, and Sarami, Darunia led the group out into an open area of the mountain, surrounded by hills on all sides. The location had a very inviting wooden house with cloth for doorways, and they all feel a gentle warm mist rising up from behind the house. There were even large pink flowered trees planted in the front that brightly decorated the area. By Saria's observation, whatever they were doing to keep the trees alive even up here in Death Mountain was working well.
They all went in and the group took their time to observe the decor, which was quite accommodating, with straw flooring, decorative scrolls and vases in the rooms, fountains designed like rocky hills, and there were neatly kept futons set up in private rooms behind sliding doors.
"Heeey... this is kinda nice..." Aviel said looking around.
"This is the Happy Goron Hot Springs resort!" Darunia said proudly, "We actually kinda created this place on accident. While we were mining through the caves, a sudden cave-in flattened out the land here, and rain started to collect into pools. We didn't think much of it at the time, until travelers coming thorough the area started finding the warm water soothing for some reason, so by their request we turned this area into a hot spring."
"Nice, now I understand where the tourism is coming from!" Link said.
"This place reminds me of some of the houses back in Kakariko Village." Nemisa mentioned, running her hand along the wall, recalling the sushi restaurant she and her friends had been too in the past in particular.
"Yep, the people there started coming out here to bathe in the springs, and gave us advice on how to make it more hospitable for tourists, including inn-keeping and food to serve!" Darunia said, "It took some time though, for the longest time I couldn't figure out why they didn't just eat the rocks we tried to serve them!"
"Gee, I wonder why." Link said sweatdropping, though it seemed to go over Darunia's head.
"My mentor told me that Kakariko Village has been working to establish itself more like how the Shiekah used to back in their early days." Sarami said, "I definitely see their style here. You've all done splendid work making this place so lovely!" she added, putting her hands together with a sweet smile.
"W-Well gosh, thanks for that..." Darunia muttered, rubbing the back of his head at Sarami's serene smile, "You Gerudo definitely are a lot different then people used to be saying."
"Ya can thank Lady Nabooru fer that!" laughed Togau, "She got us out of our rut years ago and we've buckled down into becoming a real tribe!"
"That so? Well, we Goron have been making some changes as of recently ourselves. Like I said before, I decided a while back that we needed to start reaching out more to the neighboring tribes after Ganondorf's arrest." Darunia said.
"Well it looks like you're doing well in that regard." Nabooru nodded, looking around, "If it's possible, me and my team would like to lodge rooms for the next two or three nights while we're staying here."
"Ah ha ha, no need to charge for you all! You're our royal guests here, and I wouldn't charge my sworn brother to stay!" Darunia chuckled.
Nabooru paused on that note, tempted to take him up on that offer, but looked to Darunia, and then gave a gentle smirk.
"It's okay, we insist on paying, it's only fair. We don't want any special treatment or anything." Nabooru said.
"You... uh, sure about that?" Darunia asked in confusion.
"Yes, we Gerudo know full well about times can be." Nabooru nodded.
"T-Thank you, Lady Nabooru." Darunia said with a somewhat relieved and grateful tone, bowing his head, "Then I'll have my staff get you all settled in, and we can talk about everything with the union tomorrow! So go ahead and enjoy your night here!"
As Darunia saw Link and the Gerudo off, Link paused. He should have sworn he felt a strange person looking at them for a second. He turned to look at a corner, only to see no one.
'Huh... maybe I was just seeing things...?' Link thought to himself.
Little did he know his instincts weren't wrong, as there was someone who had been watching them. The one he had felt the presence of had been leaning against the wall to avoid detection, and it was then they turned and went off on their way, leaving no trace of being there...
Before Link could even try to figure out or investigate anything like that though, Reirousa came walking up to the group with an annoyed glare.
"Hey there Reirousa, where're you been?" Aviel asked.
"That punk Medigoron guy tried to charge me three hundred rupees to temper my warhammer." scowled Reirousa, "And that I needed to come back in seven years for it to be ready!"
'How the hell does Medigoron stay in business...?' Link thought to himself sweatdropping, recalling back when he commissioned a sword for the Goron to build, but it wasn't ready until the dark future, where it wound up breaking in a few swings.
"Well then, how about we settle into some rooms here then everyone?" Nabooru asked, looking left and right, "Let's see, with eight of us, we'll get four rooms, two beds each. So who's staying with who?"
"Wanna share a room with me Saria?" Aviel asked excitedly.
"Oh, sure!" Saria nodded.
"How about you and I have a room, Nabs?" Sarami asked happily, "I've been meaning to talk about things going on lately!"
"Sounds good, been a while since we've had alone time together." chuckled Nabooru, "Now as for Link..."
"Sword, ax spear! Sword, ax spear! Sword, ax spear!"
"Ha! Sword beats ax!" Nemisa said with two closed fingers pointing at Togau's two spread out fingers.
"Grr... again! Sword, ax spear! There, spear beats sword!" Togau retorted, sticking out a single finger.
"Again! Sword, ax spear! Aha, ax beats spear!" Nemisa said with her own two fingers spread out to Nemisa's one finger.
Everyone looked to see Nemisa and Togau pounding their hands into their palms, and when they said 'spear' they either made different or the same hand gestures.
"Sword, ax spear! Sword, ax spear!"
"What... are you two doing?" Link asked sweatdropping.
"We're having a game to figure out who gets to share yer room with ya Link, sword, ax spear!" Togau said, putting her fingers outwards "Ax beats spear! Now it's best nine outta seventeen Nemisa!"
"Bring it Togau, I'll crush you! Sword, ax spear!" Nemisa said as they continued.
"Nemisa really gets competitive when it comes to Link, doesn't she?" Saria asked, recalling how fierce she got about competing with Ruto before.
Eventually when everyone figured out Nemisa and Togau weren't going to be able to determine a winner any time soon, Saria just recommended they borrow the extra futon from Reirousa's room and have the three of them share the same room. Reirousa said she preferred sleeping alone anyway, so it was a happy compromise.
Link soon walked out from his new room with Nemisa and Togau, their things all packed away safely in their room, and all three of them were wearing nice silk robes, a gray one for Link and light blue ones for the girls.
"Say, this is pretty comfy!" Togau said, rubbing her robe against her face.
"It's nice, though the sash belt shows my hips off too much..." Nemisa said, looking behind her and putting a hand to her hip.
"Ya look fine if ya ask me, those hips are gonna make it nice n' easy to carry and fire out some kids someday!" Togau grinned, grabbing at Nemisa's sides, "I'm pretty jealous of em!"
"H-Hey now..." Nemisa said blushing.
The two girls looked over to Link, who was pulling on the top of his robe a bit, and it was just open enough the two were getting a good look at his muscular chest.
"Gee, our lover-boy is lookin' pretty good himself." Togau purred a bit, her eyes briefly changing to the cat-like ones of her Lynel form.
"I wonder if the Gorons would mind if they 'lost' one of their men's robes..." Nemisa said staring at him just as much with a gentle smirk.
"I think I now know what food sees when I'm hungry." Link said sweatdropping, looking at the two girls.
"Hey there, you all ready to check out the hot springs now?" Nabooru spoke out as she, along with Saria, Aviel, Sarami, and Reirousa all walked up to the three. The five of them were also all clad in robes. Nabooru's in particular hugged her body frame just right, though it was pretty short due to her height and showed off her shapely legs, something that Link couldn't even resist not looking at.
"Yeah, come on! I've never gotten to be in a hot spring!" Aviel said excitedly, throwing up her arms, the sleeves of the robe were clearly just a little too long for her smaller size.
"This robe is a little too tight..." muttered Sarami, who was holding the robe together with her arms, as her chest was almost about to pour out of it.
"All they had for me was a kid's size..." Saria sighed wearing a cute pink robe.
"..." Reirousa seemed a little embarrassed, she was looking to the side, and still seemed to be wearing her bandages over her chest despite wearing an extra large Goron robe to contain her muscular frame.
"Sounds good, let's go!" Link nodded.
The group went ahead down the hall, by the guidance of a housekeeper, until they arrived at the hot spring entrance, where there were three different spots to pick from, one for men only, one for women and one for couples. There was an elderly Goron clad in a robe and with curled hair sitting at a desk, presumably to keep an eye on who goes in where.
"Well, guess I'll be heading to the men's part then, you girls have fun." Link said, walking towards the men's curtain, waving his hand behind him.
But that was when Nabooru grabbed his wrist, holding them in place.
"Woah there tiger, where do you think you're going?"
"I... was just going to have some alone time in the men's spring." said a slowly worrying Link as he turned to see Nabooru grinning at him mischievously, along with Aviel, Nemisa, Togau and Sarami, while Reirousa and Saria both had worried and sympathetic looks themselves.
"Na-uh-uh! " Nabooru said, waving her finger, "We're all going to have a fun time in the mixed spring together, now come on!"
"Oh boy." Link said sweatdropping, as he was quickly yanked into the mixed spring curtain.
Unknown to all of them though, a certain figure had been watching them undetected. They smirked lightly, before going off on their way.
The Goron at the desk meanwhile, seemingly unaware of the mysterious presence, simply adjusted his glasses as he muttered,
"Thank you for your patronage."
So that ends the chapter, next time Link and the group spend some time in the relaxing hot springs, only to meet a certain face Link thought he'd never run into again!
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