Part II – Evil Sands
Chapter III – Royal Duties
A throne, by Gerudo definition, was little more than a piece of furniture. A chair held no significance regardless of the person who sat in it. The only things that distinguished the throne from other chairs was that it got its own room, and the chair was made entirely out of steel. The throne was said to have been constructed by Din himself using nothing but the sun's heat and his bare hands. The metal chair was much larger than other chairs and its curves, though seemingly the result of years of abuse, were purposely made into it. The design made the chair comfortable to sit in at first but it gradually became more uncomfortable as negotiations ran on. This was intended to promote quick discussions and fast resolutions.
The surface of the steel was engraved with a multitude of Gerudo sayings all with beautifully detailed letters that had bright gold inlay to make them stand out. The mannerisms were all philosophical by nature and they varied in length from being completed on one flat surface to being so long they wrapped around pieces of metal multiple times. There were even words under the seat and behind it on the metal against the wall. The only parts of the chair that had no words on them were the very ends of the armrests. These were, instead, adorned with the head of a large beaked bird and an open hand; both with a scroll inside them. The scroll in the hand was filled with the most important and used Gerudo laws and was easily accessible on the right. The bird, however, had its beak sealed around its scroll so tightly that nobody had ever been able to pry it free. Legend said that it was cursed with the names of those that wronged the first three Gerudo.
The throne room was carved out in the middle of the compound and Ganondorf always imagined it to be bigger than it was. The whole room was twenty paces in each direction and its ceiling sat almost ten feet high. The throne stood at the far end of the room, against a wall, and atop a slightly elevated platform. There was also an identically made wooden chair next to the throne that Ganondorf guessed was for the Allmother to sit in on negotiations. This chair was the same as the throne except the arms had nothing on their ends. The words inscribed into the wood were also inlaid with gold to make them stand out as well. The walls of the room were covered the entire way with cabinets filled with scrolls and papers inscribed with Gerudo law, tradition, and records of all kinds. Rila was currently sifting through one of those archives while Ganondorf looked through the one next to her.
"Have you found it yet?" Rila asked, replacing a scroll of birth records from twenty years ago back on the shelf.
"If I had, you'd be the first to know." Ganondorf answered back while returning another recipe to the pile in his cabinet.
"Don't get cheeky with me!"
"I just don't understand how a scroll we looked at yesterday could end up missing after only one day."
"Well, when you're in charge you can organize it yourself. Maybe you could even come up with a system so that the scrolls never get misplaced. But, for now, keep looking."
"Honestly, it's like looking for a bead within a dune."
"Oh, stop exaggerating!"
"If I was exaggerating, we would've found it by-"
"Got it!"
"…Now."
Rila held the extremely old scroll out in front of her and began to unravel it. The papyrus, though it was oiled many times to keep its elasticity, still crackled and groaned slightly from the disturbance. Ganondorf but the last scroll he had looked at back and turned to his mother. She began speed reading through the words on the papyrus.
"This is the ritual of blah, blah, blah. Certain age yadda, yadda, yadda… consent of the people, yes we all know… Ah, here it is. 'The King's Rites'."
"What was that part about the peoples' consent?"
"Do not try to derail me again. We have enough problems without you sabotaging yourself."
"But don't you think it's a little hasty to take the throne after four years away? I mean, I did come back only about a week ago. Who's to say that everybody will like-"
"Anything slower than a leever dies out here, you know that. We have to move quickly or you'll be left behind. Now shut your ever-running mouth and let me help you!"
Ganondorf sighed and awaited his mother's instruction.
"So, the ceremony has started and you've already walked up to the stage in front of everybody. Who do you greet first?"
"I greet the Allmother." when silence came from Rila he looked at her quizzically, "What?"
"…Because…?"
"Uh, because… she's the first one there?"
Rila reached up and flicked Ganondorf's nose, "No. Because she is the leader while we don't have a king, and you are not king yet."
Ganondorf rubbed the tip of his nose, "Why must I memorize that? It's not even a thing to say!"
"Ganondorf, when you honor someone you must respect them with your actions, words, and thoughts. People can tell if you don't respect them even if you say or do nothing to indicate it. Understand?"
"Yeah, I get it." Ganondorf sighed.
Rila returned to her scroll, "Alright. Now how do you greet her?"
"Good morning, Allmother." Ganondorf said with a bow and added reverence in his voice.
"And she would respond, 'The sun rises on a new day, my son.'"
"Now do it in her voice."
"No." Naberna barely acknowledged the remark, "Who do you go to next?"
"I go to Generals Divya, Indu, and Naberna."
"And why do you go to them second?"
"Oh, I know this one. It's because they protect the people and… uh…" Ganondorf's face scrunched up as he tried to remember, "and those who would lay down their lives for us deserve our respect. Right?"
"Good! Now what do you say to them?"
"Good afternoon, Generals." He bowed again.
"To which Naberna will respond with, 'The sun, at its peak, looks down upon a strong warrior.'"
"And then I go to you because I must always remember from whence I came."
"Correct, you're getting it. And what do you say?"
"Goodnight mother. I will meet you with the coming of the dawn."
"And I respond." Rila looked away from the scroll to recite from memory, "The sun sets and hides behind the shadow of the world. It leaves, knowing I have raised you well and taught you Gerudo law and respect. And when it rises, my son will be revered by his people. When it rises, it will see you lead with my love as a template. When it rises, the Gerudo will have a new king."
"It feels strange when you call me a king. Especially 'your' king."
"It won't be at the ceremony. Everyone will be saying it. And even at that, you might as well get used to it now because that's how many of us will greet you from then on."
"You can still call me your son."
Rila chuckled, "You'll always be my son, Ganondorf. Nothing will change that." She almost closed the scroll but then noticed a red heading peeking from under the bottom roll of paper. When she spied this, she gasped, "Oh, I almost forgot your acceptance." She opened the scroll to the last bit of text.
Ganondorf groaned, his hope of leaving early shattered, "Alright, but can we make it quick? I'm supposed to meet up with Nabooru for a sparring match tonight and I don't want to be late."
"I…" Rila gripped the scroll tighter, "I don't think you and Nabooru should talk to each other anymore."
"What? Why? Did I do something wrong?"
Rila let the two sides of the scroll meet without rolling it up, "It's not what you've done, but what I'm afraid you might to."
"What do you mean?"
"Ganondorf, you do know our laws concerning the relationships between Gerudo, right?"
"I learned them as a child, as did everyone else. But what does that-"
"Then you know why I don't think you should train with her anymore."
"But I don't understand," Ganondorf's eyes widened with genuine confusion, "Nabooru and I are just friends!"
Rila paused for a while, "Just friends?"
"Just friends, I swear."
Rila paused for longer this time, "Alright. But if I catch wind or grain that you and that girl are-"
"Don't worry, mother. I understand."
"Good."
"Why haven't the other girls been reminded of this as much? Just the other day, Anita asked me if I knew the laws too."
"I…" Rila was caught off guard by the question, "… am going to read and you will respond."
"I don't see the other girls being reminded about-"
But Rila had already started reading, "Do you, Ganondorf, swear to follow and uphold Gerudo law as it is written?"
"Mother-"
Rila repeated the line only faster and louder, her annoyance resounding within her voice, "Do you, Ganondorf, swear to follow and uphold Gerudo law as it is written?"
Ganondorf huffed with equal annoyance, "Lest the sands take my soul forever."
Rila folded the scroll without rolling it, sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, "You say it as if you are reading it."
"I say it as if you aren't answering my question."
"And I won't! Now end it!" Rila yelled.
Ganondorf recoiled from her sudden outburst but Rila, instead of apologizing, kept her steely gaze on him until he recomposed himself.
"Well… then, what's wrong with the way I said it?"
"Ganondorf," Rila's expression softened, "You must believe what you say with all your heart. If you don't have strength in your words, you won't have resolve in your actions. With that mentality, you'll never receive the respect befitting a king."
"Yeah, Naberna made that abundantly clear already."
Rila rolled her eyes, "Would you just forget that callus, idiotic general? She's only jealous that someone else is going to be taking her place as protector of the tribe."
"And it has nothing to do with the same concerns you've had?"
Rila hesitated again, pensively staring through the floor. She then sighed and closed her eyes, "Ganondorf, you would do well to keep these accusations to yourself. It would only embolden her contempt and strengthen her case against you."
"But she doesn't have any-"
"Rila!" a voice called from the entrance to the room.
"Yes sister?" Rila called back a bit too enthusiastically.
"I was sent to remind you of your meeting with General Naberna and the Allmother. It will convene in an hour."
"Oh, yes. Thank you sister!" Rila reluctantly rolled up the scroll and tucked it under her arm, "We'll go over the words a different time."
"I doubt she'll give me the satisfaction of reciting them anyway."
Rila rolled her eyes and turned towards the exit, "You mustn't be so negative. Naberna might allow your ceremony on the premise that you'll make a fool of yourself early on."
Ganondorf followed Rila towards the exiting door to the throne room. They stepped out and seamlessly transferred into the flow of traffic that bustled about this section of the compound. Gerudo sisters walked past in every direction going about their regular duties, or simply getting out of the midday sun. The morning guard had just finished switching out with the afternoon guard so the halls weren't chaotic, but they were certainly busy. Ganondorf was always the tallest child in his group of trainees and now he was the tallest adult in the compound coming to a foreboding seven and a half feet tall. Most Gerudo stopped growing at about five or five and a half. Nonetheless, he thanked the goddess that Gerudo ceilings were a standard ten feet high or he wouldn't be able to walk around. The hallways were also mostly large enough to occupy two lanes of traffic, with main hallways like the one to the throne room and ones leading outside being large enough to have small groups travel in both directions.
"So," Ganondorf said while keeping pace with Rila, "what if the ceremony goes without any hindrances?"
"Then… the sixth Gerudo king will take his place on the throne and give his first decree." Rila quickly weaved through a line of women who simply parted around Ganondorf's larger frame.
"But," she continued when they reached a less busy corridor, "we both know she will intervene. It's written across her face whenever the subject comes up."
"Isn't there a law buried somewhere that stops her from messing things up?"
"You are more than welcome to go sifting through the archives again. I only kept this scroll because I will be the only one using it."
"But is there one you remember or read by chance or something?"
Rila huffed and scratched the top of her head briefly, "The only way I could think of that would legally forbid her from being present at the ceremony is if she is banished to the desert or confined to quarters during the ceremony." The duo came to another junction and turned left then quickly turned right, "You must understand Ganondorf, a king is only born every one hundred years and we've never had one live too far past the age of sixty. Even if a king lives to that old an age there are still forty years until another male is born. In that time people get used to life without a ruling body. And those at the top are sometimes reluctant, even unwilling, to relinquish that kind of power."
"So throw her off her high pedestal. Show her that she's acting like a child!"
They took another turn down a hall filled with personal rooms, the doorways covered by colored curtains, "And how exactly do you intend to do that?"
"I umm… I don't know, but there has to be something that'll stop her from ruining the ceremony."
"If she does do something before the event we could take her to trial and only then will there be a chance to disrupt whatever plans she's made."
"Then there is some-"
"And even if you could bring her to trial, she has many supporters within the armed ranks, and don't forget her daughter, who are more than willing to testify on her behalf.:
"Nabooru will side with me. Of that, I am sure."
Suddenly, Rila stopped walking and spun to face her son. Ganondorf was forced to stop so abruptly that a few Gerudo bumped into his back. Rila looked at him sternly.
"What?"
"How are you so sure about that?"
"Nabooru resents her mother. Naberna pushes her too hard and she hates it. She would sooner side with a lizard before her mother."
Rila, after a long time with the afternoon traffic flowing around them, sighed and continued down the hall. They soon came to her room entrance at the end. Where there would've been a door was simply orange curtains blocking view of the inside. Rila parted the fabric but turned back to Ganondorf when in the frame.
"I only want what's best for you. You know that, right?"
"Of course mother. And I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."
This made Rila smile and the boundless compassion returned to her eyes. She reached up and cupped Ganondorf's jaw in her slender hands. She forced him to stoop down and receive a light kiss on his forehead.
"You're such a good boy."
They regarded each other for a moment until Rila released his chin and waved her hand in the air dismissively.
"Alright, go. Have your training session. I must prepare for another meeting with the good General."
"Please don't hurt her this time. I know how you get around her."
"Ba, bap, ba, ba, bap!" she waved her hand in front of his face to silence him, "Don't worry about me. Go, now! Don't be late!"
Ganondorf smiled, gave his mother one last hug, and took off down the hallway towards one of the exits to the compound. Rila was left looking on, smiling with pride. However, her smile was slowly replaced with a look of growing concern and sadness. She finally huffed with her eyes closed, shook her head, and disappeared behind the curtains.
