Link
A long table, filled with meats, fruits, and all kinds of dishes, spread out in front of the Gerudo Palace. As the sun began its descent and the edge of the heat cooled away, Riju called the citizens to feast. Zelda and I accompanied her. Many of the younger Gerudo were staring up at me constantly. Every movement of mine was captured by their relentless gaze. It was… a little unsettling. I tried not to make eye contact with any of them. What if some remembered me from when I explored the town in disguise? The thought made me anxious.
Zelda and I took plates and sat next to Riju in the central square along with her guards. I relaxed a little when many of the women began striking up conversation with Zelda, and took the opportunity to eat my food.
"I never realized voe ate so hastily!" I heard a Gerudo gasp in awe from behind me.
Great, they were still staring at me.
Riju leaned over to me. "I'm sorry for all the attention, Link. A lot of these folks have never seen a voe before. This is a once-in-a-lifetime break in our no-voe rule. You're much more than just the Hero right now in their eyes."
I swallowed a bite of hydromelon. "Maybe I should have remained undercover."
Riju laughed. "Your cover would have been blown very quickly in a Gerudo party. You'll see."
The sky transitioned to a brilliant orange as the sun dove towards the sandy horizon. We finished our plates soon after. I watched one of the Gerudo climb up on a ladder against the city wall to begin lighting the lanterns hung on the string across the courtyard one by one with a small torch. into the wall on the opposite side of the plaza.
A Gerudo came up to us and shoved a goblet into my hands as she and other Gerudo passed out drinks to everyone. "Noble Pursuits, on the house tonight!" said the woman. I recognized her as the bartender of the Noble Canteen.
Riju raised her goblet, and the crowd of Gerudo turned to her and followed suit. I was a little surprised to see she had a drink, though I supposed she was close to my age—well, my mental age, at least—which was just barely old enough to drink legally in Hyrule. "To Hyrule, and the honor of all those who fought, and died, for it," she said.
Zelda raised her goblet and I followed the gesture. Her eyes glazed over with the sadness of her grief I was growing increasingly familiar with. I leaned into her side lightly to comfort her before Riju slowly lowered her arm and brought her cup to her lips. Zelda and I followed her motion. The icy, bitter liquid fizzed as it passed down my throat but oddly still warmed my stomach upon settling. I recalled the drink having a reputation for its potency and ability to give one much 'motivation.' The town fell silent as everyone sipped from their cups in respect.
After a moment, Riju stood. She raised her arms and called out to the crowd. "And now… we will cherish our new beginning together. Let us celebrate!"
A band of musicians on the palace balcony began playing a loud, boisterous song. In a flurry of motion, many Gerudo jumped up to dance in the square. Several Gerudo downed the rest of their cups in seconds. Older members of the tribe swayed their shoulders lightly to the music while the younger women moved their arms and hips a little more vigorously as they excitedly celebrated together.
Zelda remained seated, her goblet in her hands, watching the crowd. A small smile was painted on her lips. I stayed at her side.
"Princess Zelda, go dance! You're very well protected here, so let loose a little!" Riju said with a tap on her shoulder.
Zelda giggled. "I will watch for now. I'm not used to such… energetic dancing."
"As you wish," said Riju.
Three young Gerudo approached us, giggling madly. Judging by the faded look in their eyes, I assumed they had drank even before the party even started. They greeted us, bowed in respect to Riju and Zelda, and then turned to me. "Would… the Hero like to dance with us?" One of them managed to ask in between giggles.
"Oh, no thanks, I need to stay by the Princess." I declined them without a second thought.
Zelda raised her eyebrows at me in surprise, then shook her head and addressed the Gerudo. "Link is absolutely free to dance with you. Like Riju said, we're well protected here tonight."
"Zel—" I started.
She waved me off with a hand. "This is your party too, Link."
I bobbed my head. "Oh...alright," I said with a sigh. The young Gerudo giggled.
Riju cackled. "Link, just leave your equipment up here with me. Finish up that drink!"
I supposed I would not wander too far away from Riju's guards in case something happened. I removed the equipment from my back and almost spilled my goblet when I set it down. I flicked my attention back towards the crowd of crazed Gerudo women I was about to enter and narrowed my eyes.
After a big gulp, I set the empty goblet on my seat. Zelda's eyes widened in either amusement or surprise, I wasn't sure which. "Join me when you're ready," I told her before walking away with the Young Gerudo.
For just a moment, I wondered if it was a bad idea to enter into a crowd of women as the first man who had openly stepped into their town in probably thousands of years. However, the Gerudo cooed and clapped at my arrival into their dance mob and began jumping excitedly around me, and I decided it wasn't bad at all.
I raised my arms with them to the music. Like Zelda, I had no idea how to dance like a Gerudo. An older Gerudo grabbed my arm and showed me how to step to the beat of the song with a point of her toe and a tap of her heel. I followed her movements and soon caught on to the footwork. She chuckled in delight as I added a few sways of my own to the dance.
It wasn't so difficult, after all... Or maybe the extra 'motivation' was just starting to kick in and help me out...
The Gerudo server from before handed me and several other Gerudo another round of drinks: more Noble Pursuits, on the house yet again. The Gerudo jeered and tipped their cups back. I gulped down the refreshing, icy cold drink over the next few minutes and felt the comforting warmth spread up through my stomach. Something in the back of my head reminded me that the Gerudo drink was formulated for a much larger, muscular Gerudo woman, and not a smaller Hylian like me, but the worry faded away quickly.
I looked around, seeking out Zelda, as the music switched to a slightly faster beat to the sound of a flute. She was still seated, far away, talking with Riju. I wondered if she would ever come join me and frowned. This was our party, after all.
The Gerudo began clapping to a new rhythm and I followed their lead. Their dancing changed to yet another style, this one involving more hip swaying along with the footwork. I laughed as I attempted to copy the dance style which inadvertently caused a ripple of giggling from the young Gerudo around me. I wondered where the three that led me over to the crowd had gone. They seemed to have disappeared somewhere as Gerudo fought to dance near me.
The next song was a kind of samba. Did I even know how to samba? Apparently, I did. The knowledge must have been locked away somewhere deep in my head, because when I accepted a dance with the Gerudo girl closest to me, we began stepping around the center of the lively crowd to the beat of their hoots and jeers. A few girls traded places to get a chance to dance with me and I didn't mind at all, as I was just having a good time. I continued stepping without missing a beat.
My vision started to blur, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the drink or another memory invading my head. The spinning of the Gerudo's skirts shadowed into spinning gowns in a ballroom lined with stone arches and banners, somewhere long ago. I furrowed my brow, seeing one of the dresses in a royal blue in color. Its owner spun a bit shyly around me...
"Hero!"
I snapped out of my fog, and looked over my shoulder. The older Gerudo woman who had taught me the steps pointed towards the palace. "The Princess has returned inside," she said over the music
"Without even one dance?" I scoffed before stopping mid-step. I gave a respectful bow of my head to the Gerudo girl I was dancing with before maneuvering out of the crowd. I stumbled slightly before I found my way, with a little difficulty, back to Riju.
"I can see you're fully enjoying the celebration," Riju said. Amusement glinted in her eyes.
I glanced around, barely registering Riju's comment. "Where's Zelda?" I asked, grabbing my equipment from the ground beside her.
She giggled. "I tried to convince her to join you but she didn't seem ready yet. She went to take a break inside."
I growled and began stalking towards the palace. There was no way I would let Zelda miss out on dancing at her own party.
I took a wrong turn in the dimly lit palace, which was probably impressive considering the extremely limited options I had to take, and found Zelda right as she arrived into the guest suite. "Zelda!" I called out to her.
She pivoted on her heel and her eyes widened in surprise. "Link? Aren't you supposed to be at the party?"
I nodded as I stepped into the room. It was lit only by the small lantern by the door. "Yes, and so are you. This is in honor of your victory as well."
"I thought you'd be dancing with all your Gerudo women late into the night," she muttered sarcastically.
I put my hands on my hips. "You're jealous?"
She scoffed. "Of course not. I was very happy to see you enjoying yourself."
A smirk threatened to crawl on my lips. I could tell she was denying it. "Jealous," I affirmed.
She shot a look at me. "I am not. I could have joined you at any time."
I shrugged. "I was out there waiting."
"Oh, I'm not versed in that kind of dance…" She looked down at the tiled floor, then added. "Plus, it was hardly a victory for me, considering I am the one who failed in the first place… I… I don't really deserve a celebration like this."
I frowned, then stepped close to her. She looked up as I clasped my hands lightly on her shoulders, shifting my weight from one leg to the other. "How many times do I need to reassure you… that you did everything just absolutely perfectly?" I said. "You sealed away GANON! You deserve to celebrate that for at least one night! Princess..."
She gave me a small smile. "Link… just how much of that stuff did you drink?"
I rolled my eyes. "It doesn't matter... Come dance with me! I'll teach you the steps first..." I demonstrated the basic foot movements to her on the tile. She giggled at my motions, which were admittedly a little messy.
"Alright, teach me, Link. It's best I learn it with you first."
I stepped closer to her and held my hands out for her. With a bit of difficulty, I communicated the proper sequence of steps to her. The faint hum of the low instruments outside guided our tempo as we danced privately in the room. She caught on very quickly. I huffed. "You lied. You've danced before," I said.
"Ballroom dancing is not quite the same as this style," she said with a small grin. I buzzed my lips in response. When the song outside changed to a saucier tone, I added a few shoulder movements to the steps, which made her laugh.
We stepped together for quite a few minutes until I twirled her around and she landed in a hug against my chest, She giggled as I wrapped my arms around her back to return the embrace. Since when did we hug so freely like this?
"Thank you for the lesson, Link," she mumbled into my shoulder. She pulled back to look at me, still clinging onto my midsection. The flickering light of the lantern reflected in her green eyes. They were a deep oasis in the middle of this desert. Something in my brain tugged at the corner of my mind when I gazed at her face from this proximity. I'd seen it before. Suddenly, it clicked in my head.
I reached out and combed a loose strand of golden hair behind her ear. "Princess... we have danced before, haven't we?"
She blinked and her eyes widened. "You… you remember that?"
I looked up in thought. "It was...at the castle, right?"
She nodded slowly. "It was at a diplomatic event back when you were assigned to the Royal Guard."
I leaned forward as I dug far into my broken memory. "You... were wearing a blue dress."
"Yes, the traditional color of the Royal Family," she said with a nod. "We were about fifteen years old."
I furrowed my brow as the memory emerged in my mind. "I somehow summoned the courage to ask you for a dance... I was shocked when you accepted, since you always seemed to be annoyed at me."
She sighed. "I was jealous you hung the sword of your destiny so easily on your back."
"Yet, we still danced." I said, leaning my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. "For... quite some time that night."
"Because… I...I wanted to know more about you," Zelda said in a low voice.
"And I wanted to know more about the Princess," I said, reaching up to push another strand of hair away from her face. "So I kissed her on the hand."
"Link, you never did that," she snapped her head back with a giggle."I believe you drank a little too much Noble Pursuit."
I clasped her right hand in mine and lifted it, bowing slightly as I kissed the back of it. Her eyes flitted away to the ground but she failed to hide the bashful smile on her face. "How noble," she said with a faint hint of sarcasm.
"You look really good in that outfit, by the way," I said.
"You informed me of that earlier, Link, but thank you," she said with another giggle. Her cheeks blushed pink.
"Just wanted to say it again. You can keep it for future nights out with me," I said with a wink, which made her scoff. She was right—those Noble Pursuits were definitely twisting my words. I straightened up, still holding onto her hand. "Now… would you like to return to the party to dance more with me?"
She sighed and her lips twitched into a smile. "I suppose."
I led her to the door and the warm evening air welcomed us outside again. I loosened my grip on her palm as we walked towards the plaza, but she didn't move to let go of my hand. In fact, she laced her fingers into mine as we walked. I didn't mind this at all.
The Gerudo crowd cheered when we approached, parting so we could stand in the center of the group. Everything around us seemed to fade away when I danced with her, and it wasn't due to any amount of Noble Pursuit. But seeing her finally begin to accept her win over the darkness truly made the night shine for me.
I had no idea how long we danced before Zelda leaned her head against me tiredly, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders as we swayed back and forth amongst the joyful crowd. Since when did I feel so comfortable doing this?
"Are you done for tonight?" I asked into her ear.
She hummed into my shoulder. "Just a few more minutes."
I smiled and lowered my arms to clasp my hands around the small of her back. We swayed into the relaxed steps of a slow dance as the music softened a bit. Thousands of stars twinkled overhead. I wanted to stay in that moment forever.
Finally, Zelda leaned her tired weight into me, and I knew it was time to lead her back to the palace. I took her hand and led her away from the crowd. We snuck away unnoticed, as most of the partiers at this point in the night were far beyond their sober limits.
"What a fun night," she said when we reached the guest suite.
A warmth filled my chest. "Glad you enjoyed yourself," I said.
When we reached her bed, I loosened my fingers from hers so she could prepare for the night, but she gripped onto them. I was about to ask what was the matter when she jolted my hand backwards towards her. Before I even opened my mouth, she leaned towards me and pecked my left cheek with a very quick but soft kiss.
"Thank you for coming back for me... Like you always have, of course," she whispered when she pulled away.
My brain somehow lost all knowledge of words in the Hylian dictionary at that moment. Instead of saying anything in response, I nodded and smiled at her before turning away to prepare my bed for the night.
I didn't think I would sleep a wink after that development, but all the dancing and drinks luckily put me out quickly that night.
