"The Sheikah are from an ancient race, sworn to protect the royal family in power. Many of us were killed during the Great War. How much do you know about the Great War?"
"It was a super long time ago and the Gerudo all got wiped out. Then King Hyrule of the Hylians came into power."
"Do you know how the war began?"
"...Gerudo were mean. Revolution. Yay freedom. Fireworks on June 21st."
"Something similar to that, I suppose." Sheik sighed.
"A hundred years ago, Gerudo were in power. They were born from the desert. Extremely large people with orange or green skin and flaming red hair. The Gerudo race works oddly where only one or two males exists within the species. Whoever this male is becomes the king of the Gerudo and all the land they own. A Gerudo's lifespan is about two hundred years, and a new male is born every one hundred and ninety years. This leaves a ten year gap in which the male in power mentors the young child next in line for the throne. The Great War took place when King Annihilan was in power and close to death. He was in the process of mentoring the next king, Prince Ganondorf, who was eight years old at the time."
"So, two boys, one old king guy and this little kid?"
"Yes. However, the Gerudo were unkind rulers. The citizens were poorly treated and dehumanized. The Gerudo had a skewed idea that sheer size symbolized value. Hylians had it the worst, for your race is smaller. Zoras are the same size but they gained leverage because of their water resources. Gorons were treated better, for they are bigger than Hylians or the Zora. But the Gerudo lived a life of luxury while the kingdom worked tirelessly and starved. The kingdom grew tired of their rulers being greedy and taking advantage of them. Revolts and rebellions sprung up again and again. By banding together, the kingdom overthrew the Gerudo race. However, they did this by committing mass genocide."
"Genocide?"
"They gathered the remaining Gerudo and drowned them all. No matter if they were young, old, innocent, or guilty."
"I've never heard about that."
"The Hylian family kept it a secret. Let the people believe the Gerudo all died in the war. But no, it was mass murder. Some sort of cruel revenge scheme for all the freedom the Gerudo had taken from the Hylians."
"That's… sickening."
"It is. They were insane and violent. They left a single Gerudo alive and forced him to watch his people die. Prince Ganondorf."
"Oh cool, it gets worse. Make the little kid watch."
"By the time it was over, Ganondorf was crushed. You can imagine how devastating it is to watch your species murdered before your eyes. He didn't even attempt to fight back. As punishment for his entire race, they left him alive. To be the last Gerudo in existence. They tortured him, struck him, and refused to feed him. After they were satisfied with their abuse, they wanted to dispose of him. They sent him to the Twilight Realm to live out his life in a world of shadow. Of course, he didn't last very long, considering he was half-dead with no will to live."
"The people of the Twilight Realm couldn't have saved him? Healed him somehow?"
"No. The Twili refuse to associate with the Light Realm."
"What exactly is the deal with this Twilight Realm, anyway?"
"It's a sort of parallel world, a fable to most. Beings called Twili lived there peacefully until Ganondorf was banished there. Ever since, there's been… disruptions. Small groups of Twili coming to our world and rampaging. The royal family had been able to keep the attacks confidential and under control."
"Until now."
Sheik nodded. "Yes. This time, it wasn't random rioting. They have a leader."
Link thought back to Midna, hiding within his shadows. She hadn't told him much about where she was or why she was even here. In fact, she basically told him nothing.
"So… is this leader Zant? Or is it someone else?" He mentally begged the gods to not let it be Midna. If it was, he would be in some monumental trouble.
"It's Zant."
Cue the sigh of relief.
"He is far more dangerous. Even the Twili are different. Before, they were vaguely humanoid, but now… Well, you remember the shadow monster that almost killed you at Faron's spring."
"Yes. It's still pretty vivid. It'll probably be vivid in my nightmares too."
"Zant is involved in some dark magic. He's bloodthirsty and merciless. I've seen what he can do personally. He doesn't care about casualties, even when it's his own soldiers. I believe sending Ganondorf there must have made the Twili angry. It's cruel to treat their realm like some sort of punishment for the light people. I'm not sure if Ganondorf disrupted them somehow, but they're extremely angry over what the Hylians did. And now they want our world as revenge. Zant is king of the Twilight. He wants to extend his reign to include our world, too."
"So Zant is our big bad guy. Nobody else."
"Only him. The shadow monsters are nameless."
"Okay. So the weapon. You said you knew who could wield the weapon. And what's the deal with just a piece?"
"...I told you it was the full weapon. I didn't know if you would agree to helping me if it was only a fragment."
"I like to believe I am a kind and generous person."
"Be honest. Would you have still helped?"
"... Maybe. Maybe not."
Sheik rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I know where the rest of the pieces. After that, I just need to contact the Twili to wield it."
"I thought you said it was just Zant and his buddies."
"They're our enemies, but we have a Twili on our side. She was fated to be the Queen of Twilight, but Zant stole her power and cursed her. She's the one who can wield the Fused Shadow."
"Please say her name is not Midna."
Sheik's eyes widened. "How did you know?"
"Are you sure it's the same Midna?" Link prayed to the gods that Midna was a common name for Twili.
"Short floating imp, has an attitude?"
"...Yeah, okay."
"Your turn to explain, it appears." Sheik settled back in the dirt around the fire.
"So a little bit ago- I'm not really sure how long, actually- I was just a goat farmer in my town. Well, goat farmer assistant. In Ordon. It's pretty small, have you ever heard of it?"
"Yes, I-"
"Doesn't matter, anyway, I was out trying to find my horse. You know, the one you stole-"
"Found. Rescued. Continue."
"Anyway, I need my horse because you kind of need one to herd goats. I found her in the village spring with Ilia. Oh, Ilia's the mayor's daughter. She's always angry and tries to take my horse a lot. Says I don't treat her right. I love Epona and all, but herding goats gets a little rough, so sometimes injuries happen and Ilia just doesn't understand- She's kinda like you in way, just can't put my finger on what it is."
"What exactly is the point of this story?"
"Hold on, I'm getting there. I was getting my horse back from Ilia- Do all of you horse thieves know each other?- Then these Bokoblins busted in. One got me over the head with a club and knocked me out. But only after I valiantly fended off two of them."
"Valiantly, I'm sure." Sheik commented.
"Then I woke up in a really gross sewer, but also in a cell? Turned out it was Hyrule Castle. They must treat their prisoners pretty badly. At least I was the only one there. But the big thing was that I had paws and a tail."
"Like a dog?!" Sheik's eyes widened.
"Yes! No. More wolf-like. Not some cute puppy, but a big scary wolf. Very masculine. Anyway. There's this annoying floating little imp there taunting me."
"And the imp is Midna, yes?"
"Yes, that one. She ends up helping me break out of the cell and get out of the nasty sewers but she was pretty rude the whole time. But we make our way up to the castle and she takes me into this room where the princess is."
"Yes, Princess Zelda. Was she alright? Any injuries?" Sheik scooted closer.
"I mean, she had this big robe over her the whole time but she seemed okay. Really sad though. It seemed like her and Midna knew each other. She said some weird, cryptic stuff. I guess royals are like that. Whenever they make political statements, it's always so vague. Tells me the world fell into Twilight how she's trapped there. We had to run away because a guard was coming. Midna took me back to the spring but in the worst way. Everything went black, and I felt like I was falling. At least if I had been a cat, I could've landed on my feet. But a wolf? I really thought I was going to die. Not exactly how I pictured dying, I thought a goat was going to get me while herding. But it's fine, and I land in the spring. There's this ball of light above the falls and it started talking. Turns out light spirits are real, and I just met Ordona. She sounded like a really nice Grandma. Reminded me of the Mayor's wife, she used to make fresh bread all the time and it was so delicious. Hey, do you have any extra snacks on you?"
"Link, you're losing me."
"Please save all questions till the end. Where was I? Ah yes, the grandma light. She tells me that I have to go to this other spring in Faron to restore the light. And if I fix Faron, then I can be human again. Turns out there's some evil bug that made all of Faron Woods go dark and Twilight-y. I get to the Faron spring and there's a light spirit there too, but almost dead. Like a candle sputtering out. Anyway, it turns out that's Faron and he tells me that there's a monster I need to kill. I have to search everywhere and Midna made me fall into that poison flood. It was awful and I don't recommend drinking any. I find the bug, kill it, then there's this burst of light that comes from the corpse. I get back to the spring and then there's this giant flash of light. When it goes away, there's Faron, all healthy. And I'm human again! Back to my dashing self, except in green hero clothes. Personally, I don't like green much. It clashes with my eyes. Maybe a nice blue color-"
"Link. Get to the end."
"Faron tells me that my wolf form is sacred. He also says the green outfit is a sign of being chosen by the gods and that it's up to me to save all of Hyrule. But no pressure, right? Then he goes away and then the shadow monster shows up. And then you show up, too. I'm sure you remember the rest. I think that's everything."
Sheik placed her head in her hands and took in a long, deep breath. "Let me get this straight. You got hit on the head, woke up as a wolf, met Midna, met Her Highness, appeared back at your home's spring, killed a bug to dispel the Twilight, then… turned back to a human."
"Oh perfect, so I made sense. I thought you might be totally confused."
Sheik sighed and stood up. "I believe you're the chosen one, but there's no need to embellish it all. Don't be ridiculous."
Link tilted his head, furrowing his brows. "Embellish? You think I'm lying?"
"I don't believe you. If you cannot take this seriously, then I have no choice but to try and fight on my own." Sheik scoffed and grabbed her armor off the ground, shoving it on. "And to think, I thought I could trust you."
"Where are you going? I'm telling the truth! I...I can prove it to you!" Link pushed himself up.
Sheik paused, her back turned toward him.
"Midna? You there?" He turned back, staring at his shadow in the firelight.
"She's been here the whole time?" Sheik whipped around.
"Yes! I mean, she said she would be." Link muttered nervously.
Sheik stared at him blankly, but lingered. He probably had a few more moments left to convince her.
"Anytime now, Midna!" Link called out. His eyes darted around the room.
Pain sparked through his hand. A flash of light caught his eye. There, on the back of his hand, a hot triangle shape seared onto his skin.
"Ach!" He cringed, gripping his hand close to his chest. It was radiating some light, enough so that he could see Sheik notice it too.
She stepped closer. "Link? Are you alright?"
The pain doubled and moved from his hand to all over his body. It was intense, burning, so much so that he dropped to his knees. Sheik's footsteps echoed faintly as she raced to him. His vision faded in and out until the world went black.
When he came to, the pain had disappeared. He felt completely normal again. His vision and hearing slowly blurred back into focus. The first thing he saw was Sheik, eyes wide and backing from him slowly, holding one of her daggers toward him. Her whole body was tense, and he could have sworn he saw her flinch.
An enemy? That must've what caused the pain. He turned quickly to see… nothing. What was she so afraid of?
A quick glance down solved the problem. Those familiar dark paws. So, Midna had listened after all. Of course Sheik was afraid of the big, dark, scary wolf.
A giggle echoed around the cave. "There's my puppy! And who is this mysterious little Sheikah?"
Link felt Midna's weight on his back, and turned his head towards her with a growl. The imp tossed him a wink before returning her attention to Sheik.
A mocking smile crossed Midna's face, her hand lowered onto the wolf's head. "Was the mean lady making you upset, puppy?"