Author's Note: Remember how I said in the notes on chapter 2 that I'd be posting every three weeks? Yeah. I'm still working on the first draft of the second arc, and sometimes chapters fight you every step of the way. But I'm back! Fair warning, before we get into things-this chapter is just shy of 8k, so if you're reading this late and need to be somewhere tomorrow morning, this might be a good place to stop.
A quick note on worldbuilding: because this chapter is from Ganondorf's point of view, he uses the Gerudo names for locations, rather than the Hylian ones; i.e. Parapa for Gerudo Town, or the Ranel Oasis (from the French translation of Lanayru) for the Kara Kara Oasis.
The sun sank low over the western desert, the lower edge of the disc kissing the dark line of the sand. The sky had just begun to fade from gold and orange to rust, and crept ever darker as the minutes passed. And the King of the Gerudo stood and watched, from the west-facing windows of his bedroom.
The last time he'd had time to waste like that, gazing out at the sunset, had been three weeks ago. Back when he'd been responsible for little more than the day-to-day running of the guard and his own training in magic— back when the name Dragmire still fit him like a glove, instead of chafing against his skin every time someone called him by it. If the Hylian Princess and her guard hadn't chosen that week to show up, it would have been a few days more before he could shed it publicly. Before he could claim the name that had lingered on the lips of the Rova when he had emerged from the heart of the Temple bearing the ancient War Crown, the first to do so in over a thousand years.
His name.
Ganondorf.
He turned away from the window, pacing anxiously across his bedroom. He could hear his mother's favored rebuke— you'll wear a hole in your rugs, Mira — and yet, somehow, he couldn't stop himself. He had less than an hour until dusk, when he was supposed to meet the Princess and her guard outside the Temple of the Triune, and by his own estimation he was nowhere near prepared. He was still clad in his court finery from his last meeting, over an hour before, and while he'd left his sirwal, kurta, and new armor on the chest at the foot of his bed in an effort to spur himself into action he had yet to even consider changing into proper dress for the Desert of Mysteries.
Another glance to the windows. The sun shimmered on the distant dunes and threw rock formations into sharp, shadowed relief.
A rap at his door frame jolted him from his distraction. He spun towards the doorway, then slumped in relief.
"Nabooru," he said.
"You look frazzled, Gan," she said.
As usual, her use of his name— his name— settled his nerves a little more, and he sat down on his bed with a huff, waiting for her to come join him. Nabooru had traded her armor in for a pink floral pheran, her favored off-duty clothing, though she'd left her copper hair up in its customary ponytail. She joined him on the bed immediately, sprawling beside him and giving him a lazy once-over. One of her brows arched expectantly.
"...I feel frazzled," he said, then sighed. "...Like I shouldn't be letting the Hylians into the Temple. It's not allowed , and for very good reasons."
"So keep them out?" Nabooru suggested.
He shot her a dirty look. "...I feel like we've had this conversation before. You know why I can't do it."
"Because you think they know something about your dream, you want them to help you convince Koume and Kotake to tell you whatever it is they aren't , and because you want to kiss the Princess, I know," Nabooru replied, grinning. He shoved at her shoulder, and she pushed back, chuckling.
"The Princess is the last Hylian I want to kiss, believe me," he grumbled. "She'd take my lip off with her teeth if I tried."
"Sounds more like a lizalfos than a princess," Nabooru said.
Ganondorf grinned. "Oh? You kissed many lizalfos, Nabs?"
"Shut up ," Nabooru retorted, then grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him closer. "Now sit your dumb ass down, I'm not letting you go out in the Desert of Mysteries in a ponytail ."
She reached up and tugged at the beaded wrap holding his hair in its high horsetail, and he all but groaned in relief as the tug on his scalp lessened, sinking back against her. Her fingers were in his hair a moment later, tugging at it and carding through the worst of the tangles. He let his eyes fall closed and settled quietly against her as she began to braid, starting at the crown of his head and working her way steadily backwards.
This, at least, hadn't changed.
"...You really are nervous about this, huh," she said quietly.
"There's something the Rova haven't been telling me," he said. "They know something, and I know they know something, but...the last time I asked, Aunt Koume said the time wasn't right. The time , Nabs. I've been having the dream for three weeks."
Nabooru shrugged, and tugged lightly at his braid. "Well, don't ask me. I'm not a Rova or a sage."
"I know," he said quietly, and let his shoulders slump. "I'm just….concerned that the longer I let this go, the less time I have to...to do whatever the dream is telling me."
"...Well, it's only been three weeks," Nabooru said. "If the dream isn't a nightmare yet, I think you'll still have time."
"Now when did you get so wise?" he asked, turning to look at her.
Nabooru finished off his braid before she answered, wrapping the tail in one of his plain leather thongs and tucking the end in, then flicked it over his shoulder to pop him in the face. "I didn't," she said. "I just haven't been as distracted as you have, and I haven't been mooning over a Hylian either. How'd the Princess seduce you into this, anyway?"
Ganondorf reached back to swat at her. " She didn't seduce me into anything. That knight of hers, on the other hand—"
"Wait, really ?!" Nabooru's voice had risen to a squeak. "I didn't think you went for short vai like that!"
"I— no , Din preserve me—" he sputtered, the blood rushing to his face in a blush. He could still feel the weight of Link perched on his chest, the tip of the staff at his throat. "There was no seducing— that is— she talked me into it, that's all—"
Nabooru laughed, in the tone that said he'd made too big a deal of it for her to believe him. "Whatever you say, Gan."
"Oh, fuck off."
"At least I won't be fucking a Hylian. You think they even know how , or does their goddess just drop a new Hylian out of the sky every time a couple wants a baby?"
"I don't think I'll be finding out, because I'm not fucking Link."
"You even remember her name , how cute."
"Shut up ," he hissed, and turned around to shoot a glare at her.
Nabooru flicked his nose in response, her hazel eyes dancing. "C'mon, are you planning on going on that date of yours, or are you gonna stand that poor little vai up and leave her all on her own tonight?"
"It's not a date ," Ganondorf grumbled, but he pushed himself to his feet and turned his back to Nabooru, tugging at his sash and letting it and his skirt drop to the floor. "And anyway, the princess is coming with, so that 'poor little vai' won't be alone anyway."
"Ganondorf, you lucky king," Nabooru said, and wolf-whistled.
Ganondorf lobbed his sash at her in response, then began pulling on his sirwal. Like the rest of his garb, it was mourning-black— he'd begin introducing more major colors at the end of the month, when the first grief period was over— though the hem was reinforced with crimson embroidery. He pulled his kurta on next, then belted it at the waist before lifting his new breastplate, running his fingers thoughtfully over the sleek, dark curve of it. It was flatter than his old one had been, less curved, to accommodate the weight off his chest he'd shed when he ascended the throne. He sighed and pulled it on, buckling it into place, then did the same with his vambraces before turning back to Nabooru.
"Well?" he asked, and spread his arms.
"Kingly," she replied, grinning. "But you forgot something." She twirled something around her right index finger, something that flashed in the light— his old topaz diadem, which he had set aside when he assumed the mantle of kingship. "You'll want this thing, out there in the dunes."
"Right," he said, and took it from her gratefully.
The diadem was an important tool for a Gerudo mage— different gemstones allowed for increased control over whichever element the gem was aligned with, and while Ganondorf was more than experienced enough to manage his lightning, a little extra help— and stored power— was never amiss in the Desert of Mysteries. He settled it on his brow, making sure the topaz cabochon rested over the center of his forehead.
"...Thank you, Nabooru," he said quietly, once it was done.
Nabooru sighed and stood, joining him in a matter of steps and taking hold of his biceps. She met his gaze evenly, and held it. "It's nothing. You...take care of yourself out there. Come home to us safely."
She pulled him close, then, and Ganondorf buried his face in the crook of her neck and hugged her back. Nabooru was sturdy in his embrace, and the firmness of her grip was stabilizing. Whatever was coming, he could face it.
Then he released her, stepping back without a word, and she let him go.
He retrieved his scimitars from his chest, checking their edges one last time before he buckled the sheaths to his belt, pulled on his boots and laced them securely, then slung his travelling cloak over his shoulders. The last thing he did, before he left his room, was pull a round buckler over his back and strap it into place.
The streets were beginning to darken by the time he managed to slip out of the palace. Gerudo vai lit lamps to brighten them as dusk fell, and light spilled through shutters opened to take in the cooling evening breeze. The air already tasted of the night's chill— it wouldn't be long, he thought, before it dipped down enough to freeze water. The sun still lit the sky to the west, though it was far dimmer now, and it threw the minarets of the Temple of the Triune into stark silhouettes against the blazing sky. He wove quickly through the streets, and before long he was taking the steps to the temple, where Princess Zelda and Link were waiting for him.
Link, he was pleased to note, had come armed. She'd pulled a cloak over her bright kurta and sirwal, though he caught the glimmer of mail under the edge of the long shirt. A winged, violet hilt sat just over her left shoulder— the Blade of Evil's Bane, if the illustrations in the old texts were accurate. He couldn't read her expression under her veil, but her eyes were shining through the shaggy fringe of her pale hair.
Princess Zelda, on the other hand, looked far less pleased to see him. Her arms were folded across her chest, and she scowled sharply at him, though he ignored it, studying her gear and garb. She'd layered for the cold night air— a veil hung loose around her neck, and her travelling cloak was just as thick as Link's, if the fabric somewhat finer. The curved arm of a recurve bow arced over one of her shoulders, and a quiver of arrows was belted at her right thigh. A long-bladed knife occupied a sheath on her opposite hip.
It was nice to see her taking this seriously, even if she failed to respect him in negotiations.
"You're late ," she groused.
"It's dusk," he replied. "I had an important discussion with Nabooru to finish. At any rate, it will be easier for the pair of you if we travel by night."
"Well we can't travel if we don't know where we're going, now can we?" she retorted.
"We could , but we wouldn't get where you want to go," he replied. "Now, follow me."
He strode up through the columns at the top of the steps, but ducked around the veranda rather than entering the double-doors to the sanctum and took one of the many back-doors— this one leading down towards the archives. He had sent a message to the Rova earlier that day, asking them to meet him in the main room, and if they remembered, they would be waiting there. They'd left the torches in the stairwell lit— which couldn't be accredited to the forgetfulness of a pair of elderly women. Everyone who worked in the temple— from the newest acolyte to the most ancient of Rova— feared a fire getting into the archives. So much knowledge had been lost three millennia before, when the Hylian army had razed Parapa to rubble, and mages and mundane alike feared another catastrophic loss.
He ignored the way the Hylians hesitated on the stairs behind him, descending into the dimness near the foot of the steps.
Another thick wooden door waited at the foot of the stairs, and he paused at the landing, waiting for Link and Zelda to join him before rapping on it with his knuckles.
"Aunt Koume? Aunt Kotake?" he called. "It's Dragmire."
His old name tasted like ashes on his tongue. He swallowed hard, biting his lip when there was no response from the other side. They were there— surely they were there? Surely they wouldn't have—
He raised his hand to knock again— and the door flew open, leaving him stumbling back a step so it wouldn't crash into him and bumping up against Link and Zelda behind him. An old woman, no taller than the center of his chest, stood on the other side, the sapphire diadem on her wrinkled brow level with where his fist had been. She peered up at him, her shockingly gold eyes bright, and cracked a wicked grin at the startled expression he wore.
"Running a little late, darling Mira?" she asked playfully.
Ganondorf couldn't help pouting at her at least a little. "You startled me, Aunt Kotake. I thought you two had already left for the evening."
Zelda scoffed quietly behind him, and Ganondorf felt his cheeks blaze with embarrassment and ducked his head to hide his blush. That earned him another chuckle— this one from Kotake, as the elderly woman raised herself on tiptoe to kiss his forehead.
"Is that our Mira, Kotake?" a voice called from somewhere deeper in the archives.
That would be Koume, Kotake's identical twin— and the other high priestess of the Triune. They kept the temple, the histories and the legends of the tribes of the Tantari Desert. They found young vai suited to scholarly work, to service in the name of the Goddesses, they trained young mages— he himself had been under their tutelage at the tender age of seven, when his power had first manifested. Much as it embarrassed him to admit it, he'd favored Koume's teaching to Kotake's— she, at least, had rarely rebuked him for his magical outbursts as a child, even as she'd sworn he would never be allowed in her archives.
So much for that, he supposed.
"It's me, Aunt Koume," he called back. "I've...brought guests this evening."
A groan echoed from inside, and there was a thump — the Rova were both spry old women, though they'd been young mages in his grandmother's day— and then Koume joined her twin at the door to the archives, her arms in their voluminous sleeves folded across her chest. She looked him up and down, then over his shoulder at Link and Zelda, and harrumphed.
"So, you've finally brought your Hylians around, I see," she said.
" His Hylians?" Zelda said, her voice high with indignation.
Both of his teachers laughed at that one, heads thrown back, then turned as one and headed back into the archives.
"Spirited, isn't she Koume?"
"Oh yes — though no less than one could expect of Hylia's line, Kotake!"
"And the other bears the Mark of Farore plain as day— "
"Yes, I think these are our Dragmire's fated companions, don't you think?"
"To show up now of all times, they can be no others , Koume."
" What are you talking about?" Zelda demanded, storming past Ganondorf after them. Link hesitated a moment, then darted after her.
Ganondorf held himself still, uncertainty curling in his stomach. Fated companions .
He sighed and set the thought aside for the moment. Koume and Kotake would have answers. He urged himself to move, following the Rova and the Hylians deeper into the archives.
The main room was paneled in wood, not stone— it kept the air humid enough to keep scrolls and books pliable enough to open and unroll without cracking and damaging delicate, ancient parchment— and was a veritable maze of shelves and racks, all packed with scrolls and tomes. Thousands of years of Gerudo knowledge was contained in this room, and the dozens of others weaving their way through the bedrock beneath the temple. Flameless lanterns lit the walls, bathing the space in a warm yellow glow. A trio of the movable ones sat clustered together on the table in the center of the room, around which the others had gathered, and he hurried to join them.
The table was broader than the span of his arms, and the whole time-polished surface of it was covered in scrolls and open maps and ancient books open to various pages, so many he couldn't focus on one long enough to read it. Koume and Kotake were deep in conversation and bowed over another pair of maps, one more stylized than the other, and the landmarks were...strange. Parapa was in its place, but there were other settlements sprawled across the desert…
"—Ah, but we should tell our Mira the truth first, shouldn't we, Kotake?" Koume said abruptly, looking up from the maps to fix Ganondorf with a piercing golden stare. Ganondorf froze under the intensity of that gaze.
"...Aunt Koume?" he asked quietly.
"We wanted to tell you earlier, darling," Kotake said.
"We've known this was coming since your dreams first began—" Koume said.
"—Since the day of your birth ," Kotake corrected.
"—But your mother ordered us to keep quiet on the matter."
"She thought it would stave off destiny until you were old enough to bear it."
"She'd wanted to tell you herself —"
"Tell me what ?" Ganondorf asked, setting his palms flat on the table. "What have you been keeping from me, Aunt?"
"...It's something to do with the Calamity, isn't it?" Zelda said. Ganondorf turned to look at her. The Princess had fisted her hands in the sleeves of her kurta, and her eyes were tight and anxious.
Link nodded. "Dragmire told me about the dreams, and it sounds like the Sacred Flames we've been searching for," she said in agreement.
Koume and Kotake glanced sidelong at each other, and Ganondorf clenched his hands into nervous fists.
At last, Kotake said, " Calamity waxes —"
"— Calamity wanes ," Koume agreed.
Zelda stiffened. "...That inscription was in the Temple of Time," she said quietly. "How can you possibly know that?"
"We Rova keep the records of the People," Kotake said.
"We watch the cycles of the world, over the thousands of years of their turning," Koume said.
"And things repeat themselves, don't they?" said Kotake.
"Oh, they do ," Koume agreed.
"So the ones who watch the cycles know what one looks like."
"And it looks like the daughter of a chieftain who bears the mark of Din's favor—"
"Who heralds the arrival of those marked by Nayru and Farore in turn—"
"But what does this have to do with the Calamity ?" Zelda demanded, slamming her hands down onto the table.
"Patience, little vai," Kotake said.
"It has everything to do with it," said Koume.
"When the Great Darkness rears his head once more, three chosen by the Golden Goddesses are destined to take up arms and stand against him, in all his forms," Kotake said.
Koume nodded. "The stories of the People tell this tale over and over, across the millennia."
Zelda scowled. "This isn't the story they tell in Hyrule," she huffed. "It has always been the Princess Who Bears the Blood of the Goddess, and the Hero chosen by the Sword that Seals the Darkness. And anyway , I'm not at all sure what your old tales have to do with our purpose— the Temple of Din's Flame, which I know lies somewhere in this desert!" Her small hands had clenched into fists, her shoulders gone tight— Ganondorf thought she might upend the table.
"What a rude girl," Koume huffed.
"We're getting to that, daughter of Hylia," Kotake said. She tapped the map the pair of them had been bent over earlier, running a wizened hand over its unfurled surface. "But to go forward to the knowledge you desire, first we must go back , to the knowledge you require."
"The Desert Colossus," Ganondorf said thoughtfully, reading the spot she'd tapped.
"Clever boy," Koume said, reaching up to pinch his cheek. "The Desert Colossus ."
"Three thousand years ago, it was the heart of our worship," Kotake said.
"...There was a Calamity three thousand years ago," Link said. Ganondorf glanced sideways at her.
"Precisely," Koume said. "Many of our records from the time are lost— the armies of Hyrule descended upon the Tantari Desert and razed our city, and the People fled into the Desert of Mysteries. To the Colossus."
"Three thousand years ago, the Chosen of Din failed to appear," Kotake said. "What records we have mention the Chosen of Nayru and the Chosen of Farore— your Princess and your Warrior— appearing to stand against Calamity, but the fate of Chosen of Din is lost to time."
Koume reached over and squeezed Ganondorf's hand.
"This," she said quietly, "is why your mother asked us to keep your destiny from you. She feared losing you to it."
Kotake nodded. "After Lady Barriara fell, we agreed that we would keep it from you until your fated companions arrived, so you couldn't be lost."
Ganondorf bit his lip hard enough to taste blood and shook himself to keep from crying.
"...Thank you for telling me," he murmured, then looked up and met Koume's gaze. "...Now, please. Tell us what we need to do."
Koume and Kotake glanced sideways at each other again, seeming to confer without words. Then Koume unrolled the second map, tapping at a site that— at a glance— seemed to correspond to the site of the Colossus on the first one.
"The temple you seek is at a site now known as Arbiter's Grounds," she said.
"At this moment, the Colossus sleeps beneath the sands of the Desert of Mysteries," Kotake said. "The mechanism by which she is raised and lowered—"
"—Requires the precise application of electricity to operate," said Koume.
Ganondorf sighed quietly. "That means me, I suppose."
"...Why was it buried in the first place?" Zelda asked. Her head had tilted curiously, allowing her long, dark braid to fall forward over her shoulder.
"We cannot be certain," Koume said.
"The records are lost," Kotake agreed. "We know it has been raised twice in the intervening time."
"The first is apocryphal," Koume said. "The record describes the Sage Nabooru descending into the Colossus to seal a Being of Malice in the innermost sanctum, to protect the People from the beast's wrath."
"The second is recorded," Kotake said. "Under the reign of King Malena, two millennia ago, the Colossus was raised in order to recover a number of precious artifacts, the War Crown among them."
Ganondorf's hands twitched, and he dropped them to his sides to keep from touching his forehead, where the War Crown had sat nearly every day since it had called him from its place in the Temple.
"Why sink it again afterwards?" Link asked.
"The Rova of the time recorded the vai who braved its depths as calling it a 'place of horror'," Koume said.
"They did not explain why," Kotake added.
"...And this is the location of Din's Flame," Ganondorf said quietly. He felt almost dizzy— like the world had begun to spin too quickly, leaving him reeling in place.
"Yes," Koume said. Her eyes, when he met her gaze, had gone dark.
He exhaled, then sank to his knees and bowed his head, closing his eyes.
"...Then, Most Honored Rova, may I ask a blessing upon this quest?"
A hand settled atop his head. He waited.
"May the eyes of the Triune be upon you and your companions," Koume said above him.
"May Din's strength smooth the path before you," Kotake said. Fabric rustled nearby.
"May Nayru's wisdom guide you, as an arrow to the target."
"And may Farore's courage gird you, no matter what foes stand in your way."
The hand lifted from his head, and Koume said quietly, "Go in faith, and return to us in victory."
"I will," Ganondorf whispered in response. Then he stood, inclining his head to each of the Rova in turn, before returning his attention to the Hylians. "Come. We should make for the Colossus immediately."
And then he strode past them, without another word, leaving the archive behind him. He could hear Link and Zelda scrambling after him, though their footsteps caught up quickly. Halfway up the stairs, Zelda pushed up to take the steps beside him.
"You're in an awful hurry," she huffed. "They said something that got you all upset, didn't they?"
"You'd think it's a lot to take in, wouldn't you," he said dryly. "Look, the sooner we get to that temple, the sooner I know for certain what it is I've been dreaming about— and the sooner you can stop fucking around with the treaty so we can actually get it over with."
"Well I'm sorry for expecting you to be an obstructionist after insisting Link and I be accompanied by a guard everywhere outside of town," she snapped back.
Ganondorf shot her a glare. "And I'm sorry for trying to keep you from getting murdered or wandering off into the desert unprepared and dying of heatstroke, and your father using it as an excuse to start a war."
"Can you two please stop picking at each other?" Link said, pressing up on Ganondorf's other side as they reached the top of the stairs. " I don't want to have to explain to anyone why the Princess of Hyrule and the King of the Gerudo strangled each other over a dumb argument. We're going to the Temple now, so it's fine."
Zelda shot Ganondorf a dirty look, and he turned so Link couldn't see it and stuck out his tongue at her in response, just petty enough to act like a twelve-year-old instead of a grown adult. The Princess blew a raspberry at him in reply, but didn't say another word as he led them towards the western wall. The temple grounds were silent and empty, at this time of evening, though he knew that once the moon had fully risen the acolytes would emerge to do what maintenance could not be done by daylight. As it was, it was quiet enough that no one saw them as he led the Hylians to the tiny western gate, unlocking the bolts with a flick of his wrist and the merest flicker of lightning. He pushed it open, then stepped aside, gesturing towards it.
The open desert waited for them on the other side.
"I hadn't realized there was a gate here," Zelda said softly as she passed through.
"It's one of our better-kept secrets," Ganondorf replied.
He let Link pass as well, then ducked through and shut the gate behind them. He locked the bolts again, then pressed his palm against it, feeling for the skeins of magic woven into the wood and the stone of the wall. The magic tugged , and he pulled back, and a moment later the wood beneath his hand rippled, the illusion of stone settling across it. Link whistled softly behind him.
When he turned around, the short Hylian had lifted the metallic tablet strapped at her side and was inspecting it thoughtfully. The Sheikah eye on the back of it seemed to wink at him, and Ganondorf suppressed a shiver. Ancient Sheikah technology always set him on edge— it was why Nabooru was slated to pilot Vah Naboris should the need arise, rather than him.
"The map says Arbiter's Grounds is to the southwest of us, but it's a long way away," Link said, and looked up at him. "How are we planning to get there?"
"By sand seal," Ganondorf replied, and shrugged his shield off his back. "I thought that would be obvious."
"What?!" Zelda yelped. "You should have— but Link and I don't know how to ride a sand seal!"
"Have either of you been shield-surfing before?" Ganondorf asked.
The two Hylians exchanged looks, and after a moment, Link nodded.
"Well, I haven't," Zelda huffed.
"Then you'll ride with me," Ganondorf said, and turned to one of the rock outcroppings outside the walls.
Gerudo warriors often stashed coils of rope there for sand seal-surfing, and sand seals usually congregated there— none of the free-roaming ones were truly wild, but kept loose to acclimate them to the dangers of the Tantari Desert. And, sure enough, a pair of them had huddled up behind the rocks for the evening. They roused when he clucked his tongue at them, barking in response, and he retrieved the ropes and lashed them through the rings pierced through the hard keratin ridges that ran down the center of the massive animals' backs.
Sand crunched behind him, and when Ganondorf turned around, the Hylians stood behind him. Zelda's arms were folded across her chest, and she shot him a ferocious glower.
"Now wait just a second," she snapped. "I am not riding with you. I don't trust you, and Link is my guard— I would feel safer with hi— her ."
Ganondorf raised both eyebrows at her. "Princess, pardon my frankness, but I have never met someone so eager to eat sand before."
Zelda's jaw dropped. "I— well, I— "
"He has a point," Link said quietly. "I don't know how well I'll be able to balance with just me on the shield…" She shot Ganondorf a quick glance, then took Zelda's hand and pressed it to her lips through her veil. "I don't want to see you hurt, Zelda."
Zelda's pale cheeks and ears blushed vibrantly crimson, and Ganondorf bit his lip to keep from laughing or saying something he might regret. It was almost enough to make her endearing, and...well, he couldn't blame her, either.
"I— alright," Zelda stammered, and pulled her hand back. "I suppose I can ride with him."
Ganondorf set his shield down, holding the rope coiled loosely in his hand, and waved Zelda over. "Set your feet your shoulders' width apart, close to the center of the shield," he said. "And stay close to me. As long as you shift your weight with mine, we should avoid falling on our faces."
Zelda huffed at him, but did as instructed. Ganondorf stepped on behind her then, tossed the second rope to Link, and lashed the one he kept around them, loosely enough not to hurt either of them, but tightly enough to not slip free of by accident. The princess leaned back against him, her whole body tense, and Ganondorf squeezed her shoulder gently before grasping the rope in front of them.
"You'll be alright," he said, for her ears alone. "I promise, I will not let you fall."
He glanced over at Link, who finished securing the rope about her waist and gave him a thumbs-up, and nodded in response. Then he shifted his weight backwards, flicked the rope, and whooped at the sand seal.
Zelda fell back against him with a shriek as the seal surged forward, and Ganondorf shifted his weight to accommodate for hers, bracing himself against the rope. Link whooped behind them, then yelped, and a moment later the second seal surged up beside them, cutting through the sand like water. Ganondorf met her eyes, and Link nodded and waved with her free hand. Zelda waved back.
Ganondorf left them to it, glancing up at the sky to gauge their heading, then shifted his weight again, swinging them out to the right side of the seal, which sensed the change in drag and turned its bearing to the southwest. He whooped again, and the seal barked in response, surging forward again, faster now. Link cut across behind them, whooping back as she caught up, and after a quick glance at the Hylian confirmed she had her balance, Ganondorf returned his attention to the desert before them.
The western desert was flatter than the land to the east of Parapa, less riddled with rocky outcroppings, save a few locations deeper in, though the whole of it was spotted with ruins. Ganondorf knew it well— he'd spent his youth seal-surfing amongst the dunes and exploring the more accessible ruins with Nabooru at his side— but somehow this felt different from any midnight expedition before. The night air was charged with energy. A west wind was blowing, and he tugged up the hood of his cloak with his free hand to keep the sand out of his eyes. Zelda was a warm weight against his chest and stomach— she'd given up trying to hold her own and settled against him, trusting him. Something hot sparked up under his breastbone, warming him against the chill wind.
They coasted along the side of a dune, and Ganondorf glanced skyward again, referencing the stars against the horizon. Their heading was right— and, sure enough, a trio of upthrust rocks met them on the other side of the dune. Beyond them, the broken tops of pillars scraped at the skyline. Ganondorf shifted his weight again, guiding the seal around the southern side of the outcroppings— last he'd heard, a nest of lizalfos had occupied the northern point of the second, and he didn't fancy tangling with them in the dark.
And slowly, slowly, the half-buried pillars that marked the Arbiter's Grounds ruin came clearly into view.
He slowed the sand seal to a stop, then stepped off the shield to steady himself and Zelda before untying the rope. Link came to a clumsier stop beside them, stumbling and falling on her side in the sand, then rolled back upright and began freeing herself as well. The sand seals continued to bark for a minute, but quickly fell silent.
Far too quickly. And the silence was loud , unsettlingly so. If Ganondorf had thought the air felt charged before, it fairly crackled with energy now— the only thing that kept him from suspecting a marauding lizalfos or Yiga was that the air still smelled cool and desert-fresh, with no lizard-stench or smell of ozone, and no cloying incense to meet his nose. He sighed and straightened his cloak, then untied the rope from the ring on the sand seal's back and looped it through his belt for safekeeping. A quick glance at Link said she had done the same.
"Alright, so where's the mechanism to raise the temple?" Zelda asked. She'd folded her arms again impatiently.
"I'm...not sure," Ganondorf said. "I suspect it's at the base of one of these pillars, where it would be easier to find, but I'm not sure which …"
"What are we looking for?" Link asked.
Ganondorf hesitated— he wasn't quite certain, but when he opened his mouth to say so, something else came out. "It should be an orb, made of metal, and large enough to fit in my cupped hands," he said, holding them out to illustrate. "It will probably be embedded in the pillar itself, in an alcove or the like, for ease of access."
"Then let's look," Link said. She hesitated, then reached up and tugged at her veil. "And...will you be alright if I pull this down?"
"You're outside Parapa, I don't see why not," Ganondorf said. "Would you like me to keep referring to you as 'she', or do you prefer…?"
"He, please," Link said, and pulled his veil down.
Ganondorf couldn't keep his jaw from dropping.
He'd seen Hylian men before, of course— every young Gerudo vai snuck off to the bazaar in the Ranel Oasis, and he'd been no exception— but Link did not look like most Hylian men he'd met. The ones he'd seen had been much older, heavyset and shifty-eyed in a way that made him want to hide himself, and none of them had appealed, but Link looked more like a Hylian vai, or one of the vai other Hylians would sometimes insist were voe. He was pretty , with high, arched cheekbones and an upturned mouth. A set of scars arced down one cheek, raised and dark against his fair skin, and Ganondorf traced them down his neck to where they vanished under his collar, his mouth drier than the sands.
He looked away immediately, hiding his blush.
"—I'm going to go check the southern set of pillars," he said, pointing towards them. "You two check the northern ones, it'll be faster that way."
He didn't wait for an answer, kicking up sand in his haste to reach the nearest pillar before either of them could stop it, and settled to a crouch at its base. The sand was chilled through the fine linen of his sirwal, but he ignored it, studying the pillar itself. Its sandstone face was pocked and windworn, the carvings faded with time and abuse. He moved around to the back, spotting a depression in the surface— one which proved to be the upper part of an opening to an alcove.
Exactly what he had expected.
He tasted copper on the roof of his mouth.
"Have you found anything?" a voice asked behind him— Zelda's voice. The moon cast silver across the dark of her hair and threw her eyes into shadow, when he turned to glare at her over his shoulder.
"I just started looking," he said, and returned his attention to the alcove, scooping the sand out of the way with his hands. "Why are you here , rather than on the north side as I suggested?"
"There's a rune on the Sheikah Slate which allows the user to detect metal," Zelda said. "Link doesn't need my help— knowing him, he'll cover the north side faster than the two of us would the south."
Her speech was easier— referring to Link as a woman must have been a hardship for her, and yet it seemed odd to him— Link hadn't appeared uncomfortable passing as a vai.
He set the thought aside, humming in response. "And are you intending to dig, your highness?"
"I'm recording information, thank you," Zelda replied. "The last temple was on the surface, and we have very few records in Hyrule of the mechanisms to raise structures like a temple— or a shrine or a tower, for that matter. There are theories among the Sheikah that amber is involved somehow, but we don't have enough functioning pieces of ancient technology to tell."
Ganondorf scooped aside another handful of sand, tossing it back at her boots. "This is a Gerudo temple," he huffed. "There won't be any of your Sheikah technology here— our best work is through lightning, and any gems used to amplify power here will be—"
His hand struck something on his next scoop, something hard and smooth and cold, and he hurried his pace, revealing an orb of polished stone that shone pale as gold in the moonlight. He dug further— a metal cup held the orb, a shaft like the stem of an imported Hylian wine glass vanished down into the sandstone of the base of the alcove.
"...Topaz," he finished, and met Zelda's gaze.
"That does not seem to be a metal ball the size of your cupped hands," she said wryly.
"No," he replied. "This is something different...but connected, I think."
"Connected how ?"
"They...I believe they are part of the mechanism to raise the temple. If I were to hazard a guess, there will be one of these at the base of each pillar."
"Except for the one with the metal orb."
" Precisely ."
"Zelda! Dragmire!" Link shouted, and Ganondorf's head snapped up, turning towards the other Hylian.
Link stood a bit away from the pillars, to the east of the northern pair and equidistant between them and the southern pair. He'd dug a hole in the sand there, and he waved his arms over his head, as if trying to get their attention.
"Have you found it?" Ganondorf called back.
"It's over here!" Link said. "There's a flat platform here— and steps, but they're buried."
Ganondorf nodded and stood, brushing the sand from his knees. It made sense; the sand would have drifted over the millennia and buried the mechanisms. Sand tended to do that. He hurried to Link's side, ignoring Zelda's indignant squeak behind him as he abandoned her, and knelt again at the edge of the hole Link had dug.
Sure enough, dark metal gleamed at the bottom. An orb, roughly the size of his cupped hands, every inch of it engraved with spiralling patterns. A metal stem sank into the sand from the base. The back of Ganondorf's neck prickled, the small, fine hairs there standing on end.
The dark surface of that orb was...nearly familiar, and yet not— where had he seen it before?
"Is that it?" Link asked.
"Yes," Ganondorf said curtly. He steeled himself and reached down, placing both hands flat against the orb.
It was warm under his palms, as if it had lain in the last rays of the evening sun the moment before rather than resting under half a foot of night-cold sand.
Or as if another person had just taken their hands off it.
He closed his eyes and reached, feeling the tide of energy swirl up around him, and reeled .
"There's...something down there," he said softly.
It was like peering into shadowed glass, or the deeper waters of the Ranel Oasis. Dark and deeper and pooling with movement, and in the heart of the space before him...an upwelling. Light. Heat. Something slow and deep and ancient, not a living being; like having his finger on the pulse of the land. And something else, too, not the pulse. Something quicker, colder.
Something that knew he was there.
The taste of copper flooded his mouth.
"Dragmire?" Zelda asked behind him, and he shook himself and looked up at her.
"Sorry," he said. "I got distracted. There's something enormous in that temple, the mechanism resonates with it."
"But can you raise it?" she asked.
He hesitated, mindful of the awareness of the thing in the depths.
"I can," he said. "You and Link should stand back; I don't want to kill someone with a stray bolt."
Zelda's eyes widened, and Link went ashen in the moonlight, and they both stepped back away from him, moving behind and away from them. He listened to their boots on the sand, waiting, and when they'd faded enough he closed his eyes again.
He tuned out the vastness in the deep, focusing on the orb beneath his palms. There was a resonance— five points before him in the sand, topaz nodes linking the mechanism to itself, to something deeper below. The magic in it tugged at him, and he pulled back.
Most Gerudo mages, when they called lightning, called it down from the sky. Koume and Kotake had taught him otherwise. Ozone flooded his nose, the taste of it on his tongue. The first flicker of electricity snapped down the length of his braid, whipping it out behind him like a striking serpent. Lightning crackled across his collarbone, down the length of his arms. His diadem warmed on his brow.
He pulled .
A roar built in his ears. The energy snapped and rippled through him and down and down, snapping out to his left and his right. The first nodes flared. Someone behind him shrieked. He tuned it out. The next nodes flared, then snapped, the circuit connected. The stone beneath his knees shuddered. He pulled .
The vastness beneath him shifted, rising. He saw again, in dark glass. The pulse beneath him rose, centered between five shining points of lightning before him. His hands were dim shadows, holding the loop; the lightning coursed through and from him. He shook with effort, muscles wound taut. Straining against the load of the Colossus.
And then, abruptly, the circuit broke.
The rumbling died.
He fell forward, bracing his hands against the front of the hole, his arms quivering under his weight. He gasped, ragged and breathless, trying to catch his breath. There was a coolness across his face, the impression of shadow over his eyelids.
A hand landed on his back. "Are you alright?" Link asked.
Ganondorf opened his eyes and looked up, meeting Link's gaze. The Hylian's fair brows were creased with concern, and there was sand in his hair and on his shoulders.
"I'm alright," he replied. "Just a moment." His arms were still shaking; he didn't fancy his chances of staying upright if he decided to stand.
And then he looked past Link, and his jaw dropped. A vast form had risen before him, an enormous statue graven in pale sandstone, and his first thought was of the Seven Heroines in the eastern desert— but no, this woman was seated, her legs folded lotus before her. Her elbows rested on her knees, palms upraised as if to cup the sun and moon, and her eyes were closed, her features serene.
And, in the gap where her shins crossed in front of her, a dark door loomed.
"The Colossus," he whispered.
"I can't believe you lifted it," Zelda said behind him, and Ganondorf looked back over his shoulder at her. The Hylian princess had folded her arms across her chest, but her expression was begrudgingly impressed. "It's enormous ."
"It's a Temple," Ganondorf replied. "The thing you two are looking for is...beneath it, I believe. Inside, but below." It had certainly felt deep.
Or maybe it was the cold awareness that he had felt, lying in wait.
"Thank you," Link said. The hand on his back shifted to his shoulder, and Link squeezed. "We really couldn't have done it without you."
"You can return to Gerudo Town now, if you like," Zelda said. Her tone was hesitant, though, and her eyes were shadowed when she moved to stand beside Link.
Ganondorf shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere but into the Colossus," he said.
"You really don't need to," Zelda said.
"No, I'm coming," he said. "The Rova said I bear the mark of Din. This is Din's Temple, and I raised it, and I am coming in there whether you approve or not, Zelda ."
Zelda's face pinched like she'd bitten an unripe voltfruit.
Link's, on the other hand, brightened. "The last temple was a lot of close-quarters combat," he said. "We'll be grateful for your swords once we're inside."
"So it's settled?" Ganondorf asked.
Zelda scowled, but nodded, and Link beamed, and Ganondorf reached up, letting Link pull him to his feet.
Then they turned towards the temple and, as one, made their way toward the door.
A/N: A quick response to reviews, before I close the chapter.
aurxenith: I haven't actually played Heaven's Vault, but I did look into it and it definitely looks like something that would both be up my alley and share similarities to my Zelda!
SevenMegan: lemme tell you, when I read your review I almost cried-I'd been having a really rough couple of days, and everything you said was lovely and immediately improved my mood. Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying the fic!