The path towards the Master Sword had been set. Link would cross the Hylia River and head to Rauru Settlement, and then travel northwards to the Lost Woods. No one had offered him much in the way of advice; not the King, nor Chief Advisor Voswann. On the day that the young knight had been chosen to seek the Sword, however, Voswann had grasped his shoulders with shaking hands, and had said that Hyrule would be proud of him no matter what. Link found himself unconvinced. My Father might not be, he had thought.
Otra of Old Lurelin, the King's own Battlemaster, met him at the guards' quarters the day Link was due to depart. His was the only word that Link trusted now. The broad-chested Battlemaster greeted Link with a fatherly thump on the back.
"Are you afraid, boy?" he asked, his voice booming.
Link didn't know what to say. He shrugged and shifted his weight between his feet. Otra chuckled.
"There is no shame in it. Courage does not mean you cannot feel fear." The Battlemaster turned his gaze towards the north. "And in any case, getting that sword will be easy."
"If you say so," Link smiled up at his old teacher, the smile feeling strangely hollow.
"You need not fear the Woods, or the Sword, Link," Otra's voice was suddenly sad. "Fear what comes after. That is the real challenge."
By the time Link and Zelda arrived at Vah Naboris, the Zora warriors were already approaching the base of Spectacle Rock, and would be less than an hour away from the Divine Beast. The gleam of their silverite armour had been dulled by the dust and dirt of Gerudo Desert, but there was nothing to temper their rage, or their foolishness.
"They'll get themselves all killed!" Zelda had cried when Link told her the news of the warriors' mad dash towards the Divine Beast. He had found her outside Riju's throne room, leaning against the warm sandstone walls of Gerudo Town, and guessed that little had come of her emergency talks with the Chief. But there was no time to discuss the altercation at the gates. To reach Naboris in time, the Hylians had no choice but to risk teleporting together via the Sheikah Slate - just as they had in Zora's Domain.
That time, Sidon's life was on the line; we had no choice. Link thought. And with a sinking feeling he realised: we never have a choice.
From Vah Naboris's travel gate, Link scanned the plateau for any signs of the Zora warriors, his hand instinctively reaching to his sword hilt.
"There's nothing you can do, Link," Zelda said, hand on his elbow to usher him inside. "The Zora are still a way off."
The main chamber of Vah Naboris was an enormous cylinder of ancient darkened stone, hollow save for the walkways that interlaced to meet the central main control unit. A long green strip of luminescence ran like a spinal cord across the floor, pulsating gently with the electrical energy that powered Naboris; the sort that would mean certain death for any Zora who came within one hundred feet of the Divine Beast. Link and Zelda's best option to prevent such a thing was to pilot Vah Naboris into the desert, and hide her within the sandstorms that raged in the southwest.
While Zelda ran a quick diagnostic on Vah Naboris, Link occupied himself by taking a mental inventory of the Malice remaining within the Beast. To his relief, there was very little left - nowhere near as much as was within Vah Ruta. What was it that Zelda had told him? Malice is just water corrupted by the Calamity. Made sense that not as much could survive out in the desert.
"I don't want to do an override," Zelda was muttering to herself, her eyes fixed on the Slate. "But I don't know that we have time..."
Link wasn't sure what she was talking about. Didn't the Beasts need pilots? He wasn't aware they could be forced - it seemed dangerous. So much power at the hands of someone who might not understand. He leaned up against the main control unit, his arms crossed and his head bowed. What would have happened, he wondered, if the pilots of the Divine Beasts had turned on Hyrule itself? What could have stopped them from turning the Beasts upon each other? A lot of things, he realised. Camaraderie. Friendship. A united purpose. The Champions of old were the best of their people; they must have wanted peace. But didn't everyone?
Link racked his brain, sifting through the piecemeal memories and images from before the Calamity. He searched and searched, trying to remember if the kingdom was always as fragile as it was now.
Hyrule had seemed smaller back then, he discovered. As though its people were pieces of a whole and not isolated survivors, flung to the far corners of the world. No wonder the races were now so weary of the Hylians, and of each other; until a few months prior, the Calamity had never really ended. Living with a crisis on the horizon would be enough to make anyone uneasy. And unease brought distrust, and distrust brought misunderstanding. Along with more wars to fight.
A warbling roar shook the central chamber, startling Link from his musings. He snapped his gaze back to the terminal at the main control unit, where Zelda was stood holding the Slate up to the pedestal.
"Why won't you-what's wrong!?" She was muttering, exasperatedly tapping away at the Slate.
Another deafening cry reverberated through the chamber, only this time the tremors did not stop. There was a cyclic, whirring noise flecked with static that seemed to be emanating from all directions. Link saw sparks of electricity flaring from the strip of green light at the base of the room.
Zelda held the Slate at the terminal. "I know, I know, I'm sorry," she whispered. "Please-"
There was a familiarity to the noise that brought with it a creeping horror. Link had heard it before - the whirring, the static. Before he and Chief Riju had first appeased Vah Naboris; when the Beast had started to rage. Link raced over to one of the round windows along the edge of the chamber and craned his neck to look up to the twin humps atop Naboris. An enormous, swirling ball of static was beginning to form between them. Down below, only a few hundred feet away now, the Zora warriors were all gazing up towards the Beast. One turned to flee, while the others stood frozen, mouths agape. She's going to kill them, he realised. She's going to kill us!
"Stop!" Link cried, sprinting back to the terminal. "Stop! She's fighting it!"
He snatched the Slate away from the terminal and out of Zelda's hands. Immediately the electrical whirring quietened, and Naboris gradually began to calm.
Zelda snatched her Slate back. "How else are we going to move her without an override?" she hissed. "We don't have a pilot..."
And then, gleaming with determination, her emerald eyes lifted to meet his. Link gingerly tapped a finger to his chest. Me?
"You freed her from Ganon. You carry the power of her last pilot." Zelda's excitement seemed to grow with every word. "It is the better choice...the only choice!"
There was no refusing her, not once she had made up her mind. Zelda registered Link with the Sheikah Slate as she had with Sidon; a simple click and a breathless wait.
Naboris roared again, her deafening cry causing the central chamber to quake.
"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" Zelda beamed up at Link. "Naboris has accepted you!"
Hesitantly, Link placed a hand on the main terminal as he had seen Sidon do in Vah Ruta. In an instant he was overcome by the sensation of an otherworldly awareness, and enormity of spirit. For half a heartbeat he could feel every ancient panel, gear, and core within the Divine Beast, and sense her every movement.
That was when he heard it. It was almost like the voice of the Sword, but more distant, more detached. A whisper only, yet it echoed within his soul like a shout.
You would pilot me, Champion.
"Vah Naboris!" Link called out in astonishment. He turned to Zelda, who was watching with keen interest. "She spoke to me!"
"Good. Talk to her," Zelda urged. "She needs to be reassured."
Link cleared his throat, not sure how to address the Beast. He had heard that they had something like a soul, but had no idea they could speak. Did Mipha speak to Ruta? Revali to Medoh? And the others to theirs?
"Some Zora are trying to reach you," Link tried to explain. "They want retribution, for the death of their friend. And…if they reach you, they could be killed, and then more would come for you. But there are storms you can hide in...Do - do you know where they are?"
I do. I am home.
"Then you know where to go! We can go there together, and you'll be safe."
The Beast was silent for a time, but finally she spoke.
Very well, Champion.
Link turned back to Zelda, nodding happily to indicate his success.
"Ready when you are, Naboris," Link called out to the Beast.
Ponderously, Vah Naboris' inner mechanical workings whirred to life, and she rose gradually from her perch atop the eastern mountains. Her wide, curved legs alternated rhythmically as she turned towards the southwestern storms, and began to descend down Spectacle Rock. If Link closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that her movements and his were one. Vah Naboris's great voice spoke to him again.
I know the path, Champion. You may rest.
Link slowly withdrew his hand from the panel. Backing away from the central unit, he and Zelda walked over to the nearby outside passageway to observe Vah Naboris's progress down the slope. Zelda estimated that it would take about an hour to reach the sandstorm in the south. Not wanting their spare time to go to waste, she insisted they attempt the cleansing ritual again.
"There appears to be less corruption here," she mused, her thoughtful gaze passing over the gargantuan interior. "Perhaps it won't be as difficult."
Link was not so certain, but conceded anyway. Zelda had improved in strength since their last attempt atop Akkala Citadel. And...her magic couldn't kill her. The thought was too absurd to entertain.
They proceeded as before: hands interlaced and eyes closed, with the Sword centered between them. But still, the stress of the previous week was strong in Link's mind, and proved difficult to clear. Is this all I am? Destined to fight, and fight.
Link tried to follow his own advice, and let his thoughts come and go - though he found it more troublesome than before. He was determined not to let his fretting interfere with their work, though his dismay felt like a Lizalfos' claws - strong and sharp, clinging tightly around his throat.
Vah Naboris suddenly bellowed, her ancient voice filling Link's head.
This cannot proceed. I am not at rest.
Link sprung back from the Sword, releasing his grip on the hilt. The sudden full weight of the blade in Zelda's hands caused her to drop the Master Sword, the metal tip clanging against the stone.
Zelda stumbled, pulled abruptly from her meditation. "What are you doing?!"
"It won't work," Link told her. "Naboris...she needs to power down first."
"She spoke to you again?"
Link nodded wordlessly, unsure of why he was so certain. It was as if the Beast had said more than just words - like it had communicated an inherent truth, however that was possible. Zelda pondered his words, running her right hand over the main terminal. Eventually she sighed softly in resignation. "We can always come back."
There was nothing to do but wait. Link and Zelda returned to the outer passageway, a wide dome-shaped observation deck from which they could see the vast desert that stretched out before them. They sat down together, leaning against the outer wall of Naboris' body, watching the desert pass by as the Beast shifted and swayed through the sand. Despite the shade provided by the upper level of the Divine Beast, the air around them was sweltering and uncomfortable; Link quietly longed for rain, and dewed grass, and soft earth. A desert eagle slowly soared past, the brilliant sun catching its white and brown feathers, and for a moment, Link was in awe of the visceral beauty that pervaded the desert. Life was such a struggle here; yet it was bright and beguiling all the same. Beside him, Zelda's head was bowed, and she almost seemed to be asleep.
"You okay?" he asked, shifting his weight to settle more comfortably against the stone.
"I'm sorry -I was just…." She inhaled slowly. "I've spent a week trying to think of a way to help the Gerudo. I spoke to Riju every day, I learned about her people, their culture, their beliefs. But I...I..."
"None of this is simple," Link agreed, half reassuring her, and half lamenting to himself.
"I didn't expect it to be this complex." Zelda muttered. "And I should have known Naboris would be this stubborn, considering who her last pilot was."
She fidgeted, and ran a thumb over her right palm, before turning her hand over to examine the dim Royal Crest that was now permanently glowing against her skin. When did that start? Link wondered.
"I hope Urbosa knows that Naboris is safe," Zelda continued, her eyes never leaving the low light of the crest. "I hope...she's proud of us."
"She is," Link reminded her. "You know she is."
"I do. I know what she said to you. No one need carry blame. Well, I hope she's still right." Sighing, Zelda lifted her head. Her hair shifted across her face, and she gave him a small smile. "What about you, Link? Are you okay?"
Her eyes met his, and for a moment Link was taken back by how vibrant she looked - how real she was. His answer struck him like the ringing of a bell; sudden and clear. Happy, if I'm with you.
Link shrugged, fighting the urge to brush the hair from her face. "I'm okay if you're okay." he smiled back.
Zelda laughed softly, her face brightening, with little crows' feet cinching at the corners of her eyes. "Well, I'm okay," she informed him.
'Then...so am I,' Link said, and under Zelda's gaze he was almost sure he meant it.
As Zelda had predicted, it took almost an hour for Vah Naboris to cross the desert, her great lumbering legs carrying them deliberately across the sands. The Beast stopped at the periphery of a raging sandstorm in the East Barrens, and spoke once more.
I enter the storm. Go now.
To Link and Zelda's mutual relief, the Zora were nowhere in sight. If they had sense, they would have returned to Kara Kara Bazaar the moment Vah Naboris rose from the cliffs. Link convinced Zelda to teleport alone back to Gerudo Town: it was safer, he told her, and they were in no hurry. He could move quickly in his golden sandals, and would be able to harness a wild sand seal to take him back to town. While all of that was partly true, he mostly just wanted some time alone. The blazing sun above and blistering desert winds in his face would help clear his mind - at least he hoped. Though try as he might, he could not shake a lingering sense of unrest. Faces flashed past: Rilla's empty features, Larella's haunted eyes, and Zelda's smile, painted soft on skin that seemed like porcelain. And then, the angry faces of the Zora warriors, and Riju's defiant glare as she met them at the gates of Gerudo Town. Link had found no peace by the time he ground to a halt at the gates of Gerudo Town with his sand seal. At least Naboris is safe, he thought sullenly. Finally that business is done.
The shouts he heard as he approached Riju's throne room, however, told him that their work was not finished. He slipped into the chamber unnoticed, immediately struck by the festering tension that pervaded the room. One wrong move and the whole place would go up, it seemed. Just as it had at the gates.
"Eight Gerudo warriors! Eight!" Larella was almost screaming. "And you have no idea who did this!"
"There have been no signs of any rebellion - that I promise you," Riju shot back. She was gripping the arms of her throne so tightly her knuckles were white. As with her previous meetings with the Zoran diplomat, she was flanked by her bodyguard Teake, and her three advisors clad in white. Zelda stood in the shadows, her face distraught.
"This isn't a rebellion anymore!" Larella shouted. Her face was streaked with tears, and there was a small piece of parchment clutched so tightly in her hand that it was crumpled. "This is an act of war!"
"The letter says as much!" Teake growled.
Link moved quietly to Zelda's side. "What happened?" he whispered. Zelda could not speak, only shaking her head despondently.
Riju's voice was measured against the air of tension in the room, but Link could hear her begin to falter. "We will find those responsible, Ambassador. The attackers couldn't have...they will not escape our justice,"
Almost-hysterical scorn crossed Larella's features. "And how and where will you find them? You said yourself that you have no idea!"
"Hyrule Castle," Zelda suddenly piped up. "That is where you will find your culprits."
"Hyrule Castle is a ruin, isn't it?" Riju said. She glanced nervously at her advisors, and they nodded their heads in unison. "Do you really believe bandits would bother taking it?"
"Bandits?" Larella scoffed. "You think bandits did this!?"
Link could take no more. "What happened!?" he demanded, shocked by the volume of his voice, and the ire that simmered underneath it. The rest of the room's occupants seemed to startle, their gazes fixed on him as an uncomfortable silence settled. Riju opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, passing an apprehensive glance at Larella. It was Zelda who finally spoke.
"We received a letter - Larella did. This morning." She was wringing her hands. "There was another attack on Zora's Domain. This time it was the city that was targeted. Vah Ruta and Sidon are safe, but.…"
"King Dorephan is dead." Larella's brow was furrowed with a mixture of fury and despair. "They have named Sidon heir to the throne, and the Zoran court has declared the attack an act of war."
"And now they've returned the volley," Riju concluded. She bowed her head, as if daunted by her own words. "And have declared war with us."
Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or his general weariness and loathing of all the turmoil in this desert, but for a moment Link almost burst into mad laughter. Surrounded by downcast faces, an unimaginable tragedy at his feet, with the place he once considered home beset by enemies and its King murdered in the conflict - somehow, in this new Hyrule, the only thing left to do was laugh at the cruelty of it, and the gall of the Goddess to allow such a thing to happen.
There really is no end in sight.
Link fought back both a smile and a scowl, and let his face drop, and his features harden - a coping mechanism, from long ago. The women in the room were looking at him expectantly, but he had nothing left to give them but a heavy sigh, and the stoicism born of being a knight.
Riju's advisors urged the Chief to end the audience and allow Larella leave to mourn her King. The Ambassador had been motionless since her last outburst in the throne room, the letter clutched between her webbed fingers and her tears rolling down her face. Riju was nodding, and had opened her mouth to speak when a low, rumbling voice was heard outside the throne room. Faces turned to assess the newcomer - a tall, stocky Gerudo stood at the doorway, the sunlight casting her sharp features in shadow.
"Lady Riju," she called out, striding purposefully across the tiles. As she entered the room, Link realised with muted alarm that she was dragging another Gerudo woman into the room by a piece of dark fabric secured firmly around her neck.
"Buliara?" Riju called back, bittersweet hope in her voice. As the women approached, no longer silhouetted by the sun peaking in through the doorway, Link saw that it was indeed Buliara advancing into the throne room. Her plain Gerudo garb was travel-worn, and she carried with her only a simple scimitar and shield - a far cry from the usual ceremonial armour and sword that she wore as Riju's bodyguard. Her hostage's Gerudo guard uniform was likewise frayed, except for the signature, and now-ominous, embroidered blue neckerchief tied tightly around her neck. Link heard Zelda gasp beside him.
Larella stumbled out of the way as Buliara threw her hostage down against the tiles, the Gerudo woman landing hard at Riju's feet. Her mouth was gagged, and her arms were bound behind her back with rope. Judging by the dried blood spotted along her bindings, she had not been brought here willingly.
"Her name is Ayu," Buliara reported, not wasting any time with pleasantries. "I tracked her all the way to Zora's Domain. I witnessed an attack on their people, and I caught this one after the party of assassins fled. I trust you know that the King-"
"We know," Riju said solemnly.
"She has confessed her crime, and disclosed the name of the man who set her up to do this. Cinelgen, he calls himself. A male Gerudo that passed our notice."
"Impossible," Teake snapped, thumping her claymore against the tiles. "That cannot be-"
Buliara silenced the woman with a withering glare.
"He must be the same one that we met, then." Zelda said. She pulled out her Sheikah Slate, tapping gently at the screen with her index finger. A blue neckerchief just like the one Ayu wore materialised in her hands and she held it out for all to see. "We found this on a bandit. A Yiga, though she claimed that the Yiga were all gone. The Gerudo male wore the same kind."
"As did all the attackers," Buliara confirmed.
Link repeated the strange name in his head. Cinelgen. Cinelgen. Hadn't that spear-wielder Milagre spoken of someone named Cinna? Could he be the same person?
"I don't understand," Larella had collected herself, though her pale blue face was still glossy from her tears. "There's some...new Gerudo clan?"
Zelda shook her head. "No. This group seems like more than an offshoot. There are Hylians among them, and Rito too."
Riju was eyeing the hostage before her with animosity and apprehension. "Do you have anything to say?"
Buliara ripped the gag from the woman's mouth. Ayu spat and coughed, but eventually raised her head to glower at the young Chief.
"I may have confessed, but I'll never sell Cinna out," she hissed. "I won't tell you anything about him, or the Successors."
Zelda moved quietly to Larella's side. "Ambassador, she is proof." She gestured towards Ayu. "Have her confess to your people what she has said to Buliara. Maybe then they will understand."
"Ayu will not travel alone with the Zora. They will kill her long before they reach Zora's Domain, and eliminate any evidence of the source of conflict between our people." Buliara fixed her stiff gaze on Larella. "As for your envoy, you are aware that all of Kara Kara saw them, scaling the cliffs towards Vah Naboris."
Larella's eyes went wide, and her face lost its remaining color. "I tried to stop them...I tried.…"
Riju's voice cut across Larella's tremulous mumbling, condemning and irate. "Your warriors sought to harm Vah Naboris?"
"No-" Larella began. "I tried to stop them! They would have all been killed!"
"And thankfully they weren't," Zelda countered forcefully. "Naboris has been moved southwest, to the cover provided by the sandstorms."
Riju nodded slowly towards her, before returning her attention back to the prisoner.
"Zelda's plan for Ayu is sound. Buliara, take the prisoner to the Domain, as well as any guards you need." Her hard emerald eyes settled on the Ambassador, judging and stern. "And Lady Larella. It is true, some of my people have turned against yours. But in seeking to attack Vah Naboris, your warriors are also in the wrong."
"Chief Riju," Larella stammered. "It was never my intention-"
Riju's tolerance was at an end. "I ask that you leave, Ambassador. May the desert be kind to you." She drew herself fully upright, and looked down her pointed nose at the distressed Zora woman. "And for your sake, may we not meet again for a very long time."
Eleven days past, a Zoran envoy of ten had marched into Gerudo Desert; now only nine were departing. According to desert customs, Rilla had been cremated at the East Gerudo Ruins. The remaining Zora were too fatigued from the lack of food and water to carry her home. The ceremony took place at evenfall, under the stars and the statues of the Seven Heroines; seven enormous Gerudo warriors rendered in pale sandstone, with downturned swords and eerie, expressionless eyes. Legend held that these divine warriors had once protected the desert from harm. But they are all gone now, Zelda thought morosely as she reflected on the ceremony. And nowhere is safe. And so under the open sky, the Zoran envoy had watched as the flames engulfed their youngest warrior, and wept both for her, and their murdered King.
It was Buliara who had counseled Riju to allow the beleaguered Zora to honour their dead. The fallen were the innocents of war, she had said, and deserved respect.
Riju's bodyguard had also obeyed her decree to escort Ayu to Zora's Domain, selecting a single guard to assist her - Leena, a young woman taller than even Buliara herself, with earthen skin and fiery hair. She was quiet, but keen, and could be seen practicing her spear drills at both dawn and dusk. The trio of Gerudo took only two horses, the prisoner still bound and sharing a saddle with Buliara. In appearance, Riju's bodyguard was just as imposing and powerful as any Gerudo, with stern brows and sharp features accented by a knife's-edge nose. But Zelda sensed a compassion and level-headedness to Buliara that would have proved useful in mediating the talks with the envoy - traits that she hoped would eventually be passed on to Lady Riju. The girl has lost her mother, Zelda reflected. Just as I had. But the Goddess was kind to leave Riju with good counsel, and subjects who loved and respected her.
The Zora were given until the following noon after the ceremony to leave the desert, and Zelda had decided that it would be appropriate that she and Link escort them home. Determined not to return to the Domain empty-handed, Ambassador Larella decided that Buliara could travel with her envoy as well. The Gerudo and the Zora would arrive at the Domain together, allowing Buliara to recount her case without being harmed. Ayu would confess her crimes to the Zora, and speak of the man called Cinelgen. Zelda would present the blue neckerchiefs and her own experiences as evidence that the bandits were indeed an outside force and, with Larella's help, would attempt to convince the Zora that the Gerudo people were not responsible for the death of King Dorephan, and that a new threat was assembling in Hyrule Castle.
That was the plan, at least. It was a long plan, and not a very solid one, brimming with chances for failure. But I'm no stranger to that now, Zelda told herself, trying her best to bolster her confidence. At least, with Larella and Buliara at her side, she would not be alone this time as she bowed yet again before the Zora King. And not just any King either; it would be Sidon on that throne now. Curiously, the thought did little to ease Zelda's apprehension; it was simpler to argue with an enemy than a friend. Zelda cast her eyes over to Link, who was riding beside her. His face was blank, his gaze and likely his thoughts somewhere far away. Much easier, she thought gloomily.
They were now a few days out from the desert. They had passed through the Gerudo Canyon, and across a newly constructed bridge of rust-colored Gerudo sandstone - to be called the Geldarm Bridge - before heading east towards Lanayru. As they passed over the Geldarm, Buliara proudly explained that following Calamity Ganon's defeat, Riju had ordered that Digdogg Suspension Bridge be upgraded into a wide stone pass. A sturdier bridge would improve trade and ease passage into the canyon.
"Though we may come to regret it," she finished under her breath, eyes glancing sidelong at their Zora companions.
Despite the fact that the Zora outnumbered the Gerudo three-to-one, the envoy never hesitated to voice their concern at travelling with those who were their enemy. Neither party wanted to walk ahead of the other, and they refused to acknowledge each other when they made camp. Link and Zelda had to ride between them as a buffer, with the desert trio at the front, and the envoy of Zora behind. And naturally Buliara was weary of the nine pairs of angry eyes that followed her every step. Well, eight pairs; Ambassador Larella had passed the journey so far with her eyes fixed to the ground. She was distraught, Zelda could see, perhaps taking accountability to heart. It was a look that Zelda knew well; Larella must have considered every misfortune that had befallen her people to be her fault. The unspoken familiarity between them had made Zelda resolve to talk to Larella the next time they made camp, as Zelda knew that the events in the desert had been beyond Larella's control. Still, she was surprised by her own budding sympathy, let alone solidarity, for the Ambassador. I once hated you, she thought, remembering the haughty attendant that Larella had been at their first meeting. But that was when I didn't understand.
Under the strain of distrust, the time dragged by. A full week elapsed before the party passed beneath the shadow of the Great Plateau.
"Can you see them, Link? Up there - two Guardians." Zelda pointed out, looking up towards a pair of decayed Guardian stalkers that were teetering on the edge of the walled cliffs, their long segmented legs wrapped around the precipice. Link followed her line of sight, and gave her a cursory nod.
"I wonder if they were there originally, or if they somehow scaled the Plateau during the Calamity…," Zelda pondered aloud. She had been doing her best to ease the tense silence in which they rode, but it seemed that none of her travelling companions were in the mood to talk or otherwise lighten the overwrought atmosphere.
Link, for the most part, had held a steady silence. He barely spoke, but his eyes told his moods true enough. Zelda had seen those eyes almost every day for the past three months, and now felt she could read what lay underneath. When he was not locked in his musings, there was a hypervigilance - a desperation - that simmered under the surface. When they made camp, he stood guard well after the sun had set, only leaving his post to eat, and later sleep. Zelda was half-convinced that he slept with that sword drawn, and within grasping distance. And although she had asked him if he wanted to talk - if the news from the Domain had troubled him - he had just shrugged, reluctant to voice his thoughts. He's always doing that. She had bit down her frustration then, knowing that it would not help, and resolved to trust him to speak when he was ready.
Her fellow Hylian was jumpy aswell; the previous night she had only touched his shoulder to ask if he wanted some food, and by the time he realised it was her, he'd half drawn his sword.
"It's only me, Hero," Zelda chuckled.
Link just frowned at her. "Don't call me that," he grumbled, resheathing his sword and returning wordlessly to his post. Zelda had wanted to reach out to him them. Bundle him up and apologise for everything that she had done and everything that she had failed to do. But his eyes were already fixed back on the horizon, and the moment had passed.
Weary Gerudo ahead of her, mourning Zora behind, and a sulking knight at her side. Zelda racked her brain for a more miserable journey, but found that she didn't need to think for long.
It had been tradition that members of the Royal Family were interred in Kakariko Village's cemetery, and that the surviving members make the pilgrimage with the deceased. Zelda's mother had looked like a divine being when she had died. Still and perfect, as if her features were painted on her porcelain skin. The priestesses of Hylia had dressed her body in a flowing white dress and golden jewelry adorned with the royal crest. They had dressed the babe too, though Zelda could not bring herself to look upon his little face. She wasn't afraid of the tiny creature - and tiny it was, smaller than any baby she had ever seen. It was the rage, and the pain of the loss, that made her abhor it. You killed her, she remembered thinking when she saw it, all swaddled in white cotton and laid at her mother's side. You did this.
Zelda and her father had accompanied the funeral procession on that arduous trip to Kakariko. While the village was not far, and the roads were well maintained, it had been the midst of winter. One of the worst blizzards in living memory had descended upon them, hindering their progress for the entire journey. Zelda shivered and shook the whole way, the cold eating deep into her skin and grasping at her bones. But not once had she cried. To cry was to accept her grief. To cry was to kill her mother again.
She had only been six years old then, but looking back, it seemed that the journey to Kakariko was when she had been at her strongest. I must be strong now, Zelda compelled herself. She could admit to herself that she had truly begun to feel more alive, more solid; perhaps it was the constant work, or maybe the constant exhaustion, that had driven her lingering sadness away. But what she didn't like to admit was that the weight around her heart was not entirely gone. Some nights she would still wake with tears on her cheeks. Some days she could barely bring herself to speak. And somehow Zelda knew that until she found some peace, whether it be in reclaiming her castle or by some other path, the weight would never truly leave her. But I must press on, Zelda decided. If only because I have no other choice.
As the mixed party skirted the cliffs of the Great Plateau, Zelda sensed the first chills of the late afternoon. There was less than a moon's turn left in autumn. The sky had begun to darken earlier in the day, and in the mornings the grass on which they made their camps was coated with a cool dew. Today's sun set just as the group arrived at the Gate Post Town ruins, and they set up their camp among the rubble and eroded stone. A light rain had been falling since midday, and the ground was soft and damp.
Zelda and her father had stopped here on their way to Kakariko, she remembered. There had been a woman who ran the small inn where they had spent the night, and she had given the young princess a buttered pastry to take with her once the royal company departed. If Zelda closed her eyes, she could still remember the rich and savoury taste of the butter on bread. But there was nothing left of the inn now.
The Gerudo arranged their small camp on one side of the ruins, and the Zora on the other. Link organized their camp between the two, and when he was done he stalked to the edge of the ruins to stand vigil, sword kept at his back and thoughts kept to himself. I must speak to him as well, Zelda decided.
She had hardly settled down against one of the damp cobblestone walls with her Slate, when a commotion broke out. Frantic shouts emanated from the direction of the Zora camp and soon one of the Zora warriors stormed past her towards the Gerudo, Ambassador Larella following closely behind. He carried a long silverite spear, and his face was twinged with a boiling, righteous rage.
"Rhett! Rhett!" Larella was pleading desperately, her cries drawing the attention of the entire camp. "Don't do this!"
The Ambassador threw herself at the taller warrior, wrapping her arms around his torso in a vain attempt to stop him. Rhett threw her off with a violent jerk of his left arm, not sparing her a second glance as Larella fell hard against the rain-slicked earth.
Zelda leapt to her feet and raced through the ruins to the Ambassador, helpless to stop the furious warrior from marching directly into the Gerudo camp.
"Murderers!" he shouted, aggressively brandishing his spear. "King slayers!"
Just as Zelda knelt at the Ambassador's side, she heard the harrowing sound of steel against steel, and the wet squelch of boots against the mud.
Another standoff; another spear angled at spear. Buliara stood in front of her prisoner Ayu, her own golden weapon brought to bear as she stared down the Zora before her. Her stern olive eyes set the challenge: let us dance, warrior. They stood as if suspended in amber, neither moving and barely breathing as they waited for their opponent to strike. And soon Link was before them, his sword drawn and his feet toeing the invisible boundary between Rhett and Buliara. His eyes flitted nervously back and forth, as if trying to determine who he was to protect.
"You will not harm her," Buliara declared. "She is my hostage, not yours."
"Blood calls for blood," Rhett bit back savagely. Zelda could hear his heavy breathing from where she knelt by Larella; every line of his body spoke of a rage ready to erupt.
Buliara's eyes narrowed, and she shook her head resolutely. "Not where I am from."
Zelda watched with bated breath; the party's distrust was already stretched thin like fraying rope. A single misstep, and it would snap. The trio did not move; Zelda redirected her focus to the fallen Ambassador.
"Let me help you stand," she whispered, gripping the woman's shoulders in her hands. Larella was bracing her left elbow with her right hand, and Zelda saw the small pool of blood that had collected in her palm.
The steel rang again; high and strident. Rhett moved first, lunging towards the taller Buliara, but it was Link who caught the spear. Deft and sudden, he swung his blade to deflect the silver shaft, driving the spearhead hard into the dirt. Buliara jolted backwards, her spear raised defensively, while Rhett wheeled around, tearing his own weapon from the ground with both hands and shifting to face Link.
"No!" the Ambassador shrieked as she bolted from Zelda's grip, racing over to the trio of fighters. Larella seized Rhett's spear, wrenching it backwards with all of her strength. The warrior fought her off with another shove, but this time Larella did not fall. Defiantly, she strode into the centre of the standoff.
"Rhett, please!" Larella begged as she threw her arms wide. "No more people need to die!"
"How dare you...!" he spat at her. "You...you knew! The whole party knew but us! Your own people!"
"I'm - I'm sorry!" Larella's voice had cracked and was fading into a whisper. Zelda could see the terror in her eyes. "I was afraid."
"But not afraid to defend these killers!?" Rhett challenged, fins flicking curtly towards Buliara and Ayu.
"They are the only chance for peace. Hyrule is vulnerable, Rhett. Can't you see?" For a moment, the Ambassador looked past him towards Zelda, and their eyes met.
Zelda felt a surge of kinship - of understanding - between herself and the wearied Zora woman. I do, she wanted to say as she nodded to the Ambassador. I see what you see.
Rhett paid no heed. "I don't care," he said as he moved to shoulder past her. Larella stood firm.
"No! You cannot kill them unless you kill me," she cried, stepping in front of Rhett again. The spearpoint of his weapon was mere inches from her face, but Larella showed no fear. "Is that what you'll do? Bring our King yet another death!?"
For one terrible moment Rhett did not move, and Zelda braced for his answer. But he then withdrew his spear, seething. "Our king is dead."
And then the warrior pivoted, and marched back to the Zora camp. Weakened by her relief and exhaustion, the Ambassador dropped to her knees.
Zelda hurried to Larella's side. "You've hurt yourself," she murmured softly. "You must have scraped yourself on the rocks when you fell."
Buliara had lowered her spear, and was sighing and shaking her head. "When that voe threw her aside like rotten meat, you mean."
The Ambassador did not speak, and only whimpered quietly as Zelda began to usher her away. Link was still tense, sword at the ready as if expecting another standoff. Zelda motioned for him to follow. We'll need your power.
They led Larella to the nearby bank of Lake Kolomo, away from the others. There was still a small amount of daylight to illuminate their path, though it was rapidly disappearing, giving way to a heavy dusk sky of deep purples and rolling grey clouds. Zelda settled down at Larella's right side, while Link hovered at her left. His face twisting as he focused, the knight held his hands to the Ambassador's injured elbow.
"Might tingle," he warned. Larella nodded with a small sniffle, and then set her eyes across the dark waters of the wind-ruffled lake.
"I'm sorry...for that," she said faintly, before wincing slightly. She glanced down at the light in Link's hands. "That does feel strange."
"I can't imagine the grief your people must be feeling," Zelda said. Her gaze drifted over to Link as well, and she studied his face, trying to fathom what he might be thinking about. Link noticed her staring, and for a moment their eyes met. He furrowed his brows, and returned to his work.
"Dorephan was a good king," the Ambassador began. "And he was kind to me. He saw what little talent I must have. I so wanted to prove that I wasn't sent because he...because..."
The Ambassador could not finish her own sentence, but Zelda guessed it well enough. Because he favoured you.
"That couldn't have been why," Zelda reassured.
The healing must have finished, for Link moved to rise. Zelda gave him a stern look, and surreptitiously eyed the ground. Caught, Link sank back down.
"I wanted so desperately to prove myself. To prove I wasn't incompetent," Larella continued. She gingerly moved her arm, and tested her healed elbow. "That I could be trusted."
"Then why hide the news?" Link asked.
"I knew it would anger them, that impetuous Rhett especially." Larella explained dejectedly. "But I thought - if Sidon was the one to tell them, they couldn't hurt the Gerudo there and then, in front of their king. But out here? Those Gerudo are more vulnerable than we were in their desert."
"Rhett found the letter?" Zelda surmised.
The Ambassador brought her slender hands to her face, bracing her temples. "I kept it like a fool." Disparaging dismay crept into her tone. "I needed something to remind myself that it was real."
Zelda clapped her hands down onto her lap, trying her best not to sound overly positive. "Well, we aren't far from the Domain now. Sidon will understand what happened."
"Sidon barely knows who I am. And I'm not anything more than a commoner without my title. We don't even know if he will believe us." Larella wrapped her arms around herself. "I just wanted to help. I never wanted to believe the Gerudo did this."
Zelda took one of Larella's hands into her own. "You know," she said softly. "I think I know what King Dorephan saw in you, Larella."
The Ambassador's glassy eyes rose to meet hers. "You - really?"
"You alone secured an audience with Lady Riju, and you deduced that Buliara must arrive with us at the Domain." She gave Larella's hand an encouraging squeeze, and then let it fall. "And you see beyond your own people. You see Hyrule for what it is. I could use an ally like you, Lady Ambassador."
Larella was speechless. "Ambassador--," she repeated. She looked to Link, eyes seeking.
Link gave her a deliberate, encouraging nod. "I agree." he said simply.
Larella looked back and forth between the two Hylians, her mouth agape "You...you...how unkind I was to you when you first came to the Domain. And yet you sit here, and heal me, and praise me despite my failure."
She stood abruptly and turned to face them, fingertips swiping the remaining tears from her cheeks. "How much you have done for us, and continue to do...and without a single thanks."
The Ambassador laughed then; a thin, incredulous wheeze that seemed to escape her lips. She crossed her arms at her chest. "Tell me, when this is done, will you take back your castle?"
Zelda nodded and then rose from the bank, with Link mirroring her actions. "We will find the man who caused all this."
Cinelgen. The strange name raced through Zelda's mind.
Larella smiled, and then she curtseyed, the picture of a poised Zoran lady. "I will not pretend there is a place for me at the Domain now," she told them. "If you will have me, then I can be there. When you retake that castle - I will be by your side, and I will help you rebuild your home."
Link and Zelda rested by the bank for a time after the Ambassador departed. A full darkness had fallen, and the gentle winds did little to mute the chirping of restless crickets hidden in the grasses.
"Home," Zelda eventually muttered. "I wish we could go home."
She heard Link sigh. "We don't have a home," he said, and stood to leave the bank.
Ambassador Larella would not be cowed by Rhett, or by the other members of the Zoran envoy. The warriors and diplomats alike had demanded that the Gerudo trio travel to Zora's Domain alone, calling it reckless and unseemly for the envoy to travel with the people who killed their king. In response, Larella pointedly reminded them that not only was it pathetic that four seasoned Zora warriors were afraid of a single Gerudo prisoner, but that the envoy had both the Hero and the Princess of Hyrule to protect them.
"But...but...the Gerudo could take advantage and kill us in our sleep!" Farlo, one of the ambassadors, had claimed, garnering mutters of agreement and a few calls of 'hear!' from the rest of the envoy.
"If they planned to do that, they'd have done so when we were in their desert," Larella argued dismissively. "Not so close to the Domain."
Her fellows grumbled among themselves, but logic was on her side, and the Ambassador would not back down. "Do what you will," she told them. "Outpace us, and risk being ambushed on your way to the Domain. Stay behind and I will go before King Sidon and name you as deserters."
Caught between two equally dangerous choices, and trapped by Ambassador Larella's determined glare, the envoy eventually - and reluctantly - conceded. Their original plan would remain unchanged, although no one in the party would sleep soundly. At least, Zelda thought - at least - they were only a few more days away from the Domain.
Of all the uneasy sleepers, Link seemed to be the most fatigued. The standoff at the Gatepost Town Ruins had only caused him to double down his diligence for protecting the party; every second night he stood vigil by a low fire, unwilling or perhaps unable to sleep. These days, his face remained stoic, and his eyes were as still and hard as a frozen lake. Zelda thought - no, she had hoped - that their travels together had broken that facade he had made for himself. The one he had worn in the days before the Calamity. With so much at stake, and so many eyes upon him...She had hoped things were different now. That he trusted her. That he.…
But at least she was not without a friend. Zelda and Larella now walked side by side along the paths of Central Hyrule, discussing politics and plans, and sharing stories of their homes. Larella educated her on just how complex the Zora court really was. There were multiple levels of nobility, she explained, and all completely mutually exclusive except in the case of an intermarriage that produced a child. Larella also told Zelda that Sidon would not actually be King in anything other than name until the Zora council held a referendum on his eligibility.
"No other race would have time for such nonsense," Larella explained, shaking her head dismissively as she spoke. "But we Zora live a long time. And with that comes all sorts of inefficiencies."
In return, Zelda told Larella of the Calamity. The young Ambassador had been born a decade or so after the fact, and was keen to hear of it from one who was actually there. Reciting the tale was now as easy as unspooling thread; the words came unbidden and without emotion until there was nothing left to say. Zelda recounted all of it: her father's scornful words; her untapped power; the day of the Calamity; watching as her appointed knight threw down his life; the long trek to the Korok Forest, and then to Hyrule Castle.…
Larella listened quietly the entire time, and when Zelda was done, she placed a slender hand on her shoulder. "You were so brave, both you and Link," she said. "And so few people understand."
Zelda had waved off her kind words. The alternative was being well-remembered in a Kingdom destroyed by war...being forgotten wasn't that much of a price to pay for being alive.
The party stopped and settled at the western edge of the Lanayru Wetlands that evening, at a fork in the road marked by a tall aspen tree. This is where we encountered the Yiga woman, Zelda recalled when she saw the tree, and the nearby rocky outcrop upon which that woman had stood. The aspen had lost nearly all of its leaves now, and those that remained were tending to ashen colours and crumbling decay.
Zelda met Link under the branches of the aspen a little while after the sun had set. The sky above them was dark and starless, and so Zelda had to find her way from the camp by the light of her right hand alone. It had recently begun to give off a diffuse glow of golden light, in the shape of the triangular Royal Crest, and she could not figure out a way to make it dim. If there was a way...
Link gave her a cursory nod and a half-hearted grin as she approached, and then returned his gaze to the horizon. It was raining again, but the drooping leaves that clung to the aspen tree kept the rain from his face. He held his sword and its scabbard in hand, and a small lamp of burning oil hung at his left hip, throwing harsh shadows over his normally gentle face. His hand crossbow hung at the other hip, already loaded.
"Everyone has gone to bed, Link," Zelda chided softly. "You can rest."
He dismissed her concern with a short shake of his head. "I'll be fine."
"You need to sleep. I know you are tired."
"...I'll be fine." he repeated, the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice. Zelda opened her mouth to admonish him. You won't be fine, you idiot. I can see the bags under your eyes - the fatigue in your posture. But the words never came. Link yawned, and rubbed his eyes harshly, and all of Zelda's annoyance at him was drowned in a sudden swell of compassion.
If he would not sleep, then she would at least make sure he was not lonely. The guilt that had gripped her since Link had awoken from his slumber had recently given way to a hunger; a longing to see him happy, as if there was no other way to atone for how he was affected by her failures. A silence fell between them then, punctuated only by the sound of the raindrops on the leaves.
"I haven't been able to stop thinking about those Guardians we saw at the Great Plateau," Zelda confided. "I've only just realised that there were active Guardians atop the Plateau that day. Imagine how close we were to losing you. It might have all been for naught."
"Might still be," Link mumbled under his breath. He must have sensed her hurt, because he immediately turned and tried to take back his words. "Sorry. I didn't mean-"
Zelda had finally had enough.
"Tell me the truth." She demanded. "All this, with the Zora and the bandits - how are you really feeling?"
Link opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. His chest heaved through a long sigh, and he remained silent.
"You can talk to me." Zelda urged. Didn't he remember? All those times they had refused to speak to each other, and the pain it had caused them both. Why aren't we past this?
His words seemed heavy, every syllable a struggle. "Just...not now."
"Well when?! When things are better?" Zelda tried to temper her rising anger, but failed. "That might not be for a while - might not be ever!"
"You think I don't know that?!" he snapped.
"Link - please" she begged. Her voice broke as her own exhaustion washed over her. "Don't you remember what you said to me in Naboris? I'm okay if you're okay. Well, that goes both ways."
Link drew back. "You remember that?"
"Of course I do."
He conceded with a sigh, and pushed off the tree's trunk. Refastening his scabbard to his back, Link peered at the camp behind them. All was silent, and there was no light from either side save the last fizzling embers of their camp fires.
"Not here," Link said, and began to walk down towards the Hylia River.
They stopped within a small copse of trees, the rushing river ahead of them. These ones too were almost bare for the winter, and the rain fell freely between their branches. Zelda used her sleeve to wipe her face of stray droplets, shivering slightly. She untied and re-tied the obi of her Sheikah robe as Link hooked his lamp onto a tree branch, his sudden air of calm unnerving her. When he was done he leaned up against one of the trees, head bowed as he collected his thoughts.
"I just...don't know what I'm doing," he confessed, peering out towards the river.
Zelda stood before him with her hands clasped nervously at her chest. "What do you mean?"
"I dunno what I do anymore," he reiterated.
"I...I really don't understand. Do you mean, about the Zora and the Gerudo?"
"I guess." He shrugged. "And I thought Sidon was our ally."
"Sidon didn't declare war on the Gerudo," Zelda asserted, recalling Larella's advice on the Zora Court. "He's not King yet."
"But he couldn't stop it?" Link implored. "Doesn't it worry you? Nothing's getting better."
"Yes...but..." Zelda's mind stumbled as she tried to piece together the right words; ones to bolster as well as reassure him. "This is what we have to do...we have to help them."
Link folded his arms at his chest, closing up. His words were terse, taut. Guilty even. "Do we?"
Zelda was almost stunned into silence. She glared at him, lost. "They're our people, Link."
"Your people," Link shot back. "It's your kingdom. I'm just.…"
"You are a Knight of Hyrule." Her frustration was rising again. "They are your people whether you like it or not."
"'Whether I like it or not,'" he echoed petulantly, crossing his arms tighter. A gust of wind blew through the copse, and his lantern swayed erratically. The low light danced across the trees, but did not shine much farther. It was as if they were alone - the entirety of Hyrule just a memory on the horizon.
Loneliness. Isolation. Desperation. Zelda wanted him back, she realised stubbornly. Whole, and alive, and hers, as the knight he was born to be. "Link, I know you must be tired-," she tried to say.
"I am!" he spat, his voice feverish. "We - we saved this kingdom from the Calamity, and now it's just falling apart."
"It's not falling apart!"
"So it was always like this?"
He had a point. "Well, we can still save it."
"How, Zelda?" he was almost shouting now, the fever giving way to panic. "Fighting the Calamity was easier - I knew what to do then."
Zelda wrapped her hands around his. Link's skin was icy cold, and his fists were clenched. "You still do," she said firmly, looking deep into his eyes; two clear-cut sapphires framed by the droplets on his lashes. "You are a knight, remember? You help people. You fight for them. It's what you're best at."
Link exhaled, crumpling against the tree, the anger and frustration wheezing out of him.
"How can I fight when it's people on both sides?" he said brokenly, in a voice so desperate and soft that he sounded like a child. "When it's all of Hyrule at war?"
She gave his hands a gentle squeeze, running her thumbs across his calloused skin. "That isn't going to happen. I won't let it."
"I wish I could be as sure, Zel," he muttered, a weak smile lifting his crestfallen face. Zel? The nickname gave her a small start, twisting her confusion and concern for him into something sweeter. Something like empathy. Something like determination.
Zelda wrapped her hands around his shoulders, bracketing him, bolstered by the fondness in his voice. "Listen to me. Do you remember what you taught me? Otra's words. Clouds, Link. These thoughts are just clouds."
"...Clouds." he breathed.
"We aren't going to fail," she continued. "I am certain of it. We just need to keep pressing on."
Again Link opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. He bit his lip. "I dunno, I just-"
"Let's put those worries to rest for now," Zelda said, stealing a glance in the direction of the camp. "We should head back."
"Wait, no. Please," he beseeched, a hand gripping her forearm. It sent a shudder through her that ran all the way to her neck.
"Okay, okay, I'm here," Zelda relented. "I'm always going to be here. We'll solve this together." Her hands were still at his shoulders. He's taller than me now, she realised, having never stood so close. When did that happen?
Link sighed. "How do you know that?"
Zelda pondered the question. Awkwardly, she withdrew her hands from his shoulders and clasped them across her chest. She began to file through the past three or so months as though she were reading through a familiar old book, pulling the moments out page by page. How could she know? What made her so sure - beyond the quiet, hopeful need to be at his side - that they could be anything like partners?
And then she remembered.
"Do you recall that Rito song you told me about?" Zelda asked him. "It helped us with the Malice, didn't it? So maybe it meant that we have to persevere - that we can get through this if we have each other. The Hero and the Princess, remember?"
He stared at her, eyes a little frantic, as if seeking something in her expression. Had she said something wrong? She had remembered the song correctly, hadn't she?
And then Link's face softened, an incredulous smile curling on his lips. "I remember."
"Good. See?" Zelda beamed up at him. "We'll be fine."
She was nearly overwhelmed by relief and without thinking she reached up to brush the rain-dampened hair from his eyes. Her hand lingered, fingers entwined in a dark-blonde lock. The forest around them was gone then. There were no ruins, and no war. No slumber or sanctum to force a divide.
It happened so fast. As though he was stepping through a strike; deft and sudden. Zelda moved to pull her hand away, but Link caught her, seizing forward to give her a quick, chancing kiss.
The shock flashed past like a crack of lightning; bright and blinding, but gone in an instant. And then she was kissing him back, her fingers gripping his shoulders. And then again, and again, unable to stop the frenzy, not caring how clumsy and uncouth the whole thing felt. All that mattered was that he'd come back to her.
The thoughts arose unbidden. You are here. We are here, once again.
Link had an arm around her waist, clinging to her as she clung to him, both needing this to be the answer to their problems. But the rain was falling between her eyes, and Zelda remembered where she was. And then why they were in this horrible, dark place to begin with. She snapped away from him, stumbling backwards over the grass.
"I'm - I'm sorry," Link was stammering, his eyes wide. "I shouldn't-"
"No don't, I'm...I'm sorry too-" Zelda could barely hear herself over the rain. Her thoughts turned back towards the camp by the fork. "We can't…not now..."
Link had distanced himself, unable to look at her and gripping a branch so tightly she could hear it snap in protest. He is vulnerable, she realised with a hint of disappointment. In no state for something like that.
Her wistful, guilty thoughts were drowned out by a sudden shout in the direction of the camps.
"Leena!" a voice cried. "Where is she!?" It split the cold air, echoing long and hollow across the river bank. Neither Link nor Zelda said anything as they sprinted back to the camp.
Buliara had a lamp in one hand and her spear in the other, and was frantically searching the Gerudo camp. Her assistant Leena was up as well, her own lantern in hand. The twin lights swung haphazardly in the darkness as Link and Zelda approached.
"Champions!" Builiara exclaimed when she saw them. "It is Ayu! We cannot find her!"
"W-what!?" Zelda cried. "She's missing? But she was bound!"
"I know," Buliara growled. "I tied her."
Zelda's mind was swimming. Ayu could be anywhere; even hiding in the shadows, waiting for a moment to strike out against the sleeping envoy of Zora. Link was frozen beside her, staring angrily at the Gerudo bodyguard.
"Why weren't you watching her?" he accosted her.
"She was bound to a tree!" Buliara retaliated. "Where were you, Champion?"
Link and Zelda exchanged a quick, tense glance.
"We need to warn the Zora," Zelda managed, pushing her embarrassment aside. "There isn't time!"
The Zora camp was already awake. Whatever had happened had disturbed them as well.
"Ambassador Larella!" Zelda called as she and Link approached. There was no reply, and Zelda felt her stomach drop. The warriors were combing through the camp, just as fervently as Buliara had been searching hers.
"Larella!" Zelda called again, and the diplomat named Farlo came into view, holding his own lantern in hand. The stunned and sorry look on his face told Zelda all there was to know. A haggard sob escaped her as the commotion broke out around them.
The sky had split, a storm beginning to tear through the wetlands. The Zora crawled over every corner of the camp, while Buliara and Leena raced down to check on their horses.
They returned with solemn, marble faces. "Ayu must have taken Larella, as well as one of our horses," Buliara reported matter-of factly-when she and her companion returned. "Leena and I must leave, immediately."
Zelda was nearly in shock. "Wait - what!? Why?"
"We cannot travel with the Zora now, it is too dangerous. We will return to the desert, to counsel our Chief. Conflict is inevitable now." The bodyguard eyed the Zora camp with a weary resignation. She nodded her head in the direction of Hyrule Castle. "But you too must go. Rescue the Ambassador."
"The castle!? You really think-?"
Buliara nodded. "If you believe that this male Gerudo has taken your home, then Ayu will go there. I would travel with you but I would be a hindrance. I do not know the Castle layout, and I must inform Lady Riju of this."
Buliara and Leena had saddled and loaded up their remaining horse just as the Zora began to realise what had happened. It was Farlo and Rhett who came to confront the Gerudo women, and Zelda breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they were not brandishing spears.
"You let her escape!" Rhett shouted, a long finger pointed at Buliara like a lance.
"I did no such thing," Buliara retorted.
Rhett would not back down, if he ever had. "You lulled us into security, and then kidnapped one of our own!"
"Why would I throw away our only hope for peace?" Buliara bellowed down at him. Her horse was stomping the ground nervously, reacting to the noise and the rage of her rider. "You saw the way she was bound. She could not have escaped alone. Why would I free her and remain? Have you considered, warrior, that there may be enemies among your own camp!?"
Wait - did Buliara mean? Larella!? The thought was too horrible to entertain. Could the Ambassador have freed the prisoner?
Rhett was shouting a reply, but Buliara ignored him. She looked down to Zelda from atop her horse. "Little vai. Riju may not believe you are the Princess, but no ordinary Hylian vai would do what you have done." Buliara cast a regretful eye in the direction of the Castle. "Your only hope for peace is to find the Ambassador. Save her, and so save your Kingdom."
Zelda nodded, resolute. "I will." she said, though a lingering doubt hung in her words.
Buliara kicked the horse into a gallop, and she and Leena disappeared down the gravel path that led back towards Central Hyrule.
"Let's just go home, brother," Farlo was saying, tugging on Rhett's arm. The embittered Zora warrior said nothing as he scowled at the backs of the departing Gerudo, and then turned on his heel to march back to the Zora camp. As Zelda watched the Zora walk away, she realised that Link was no longer at her side.
She found him crouching inside his lean-to, his head in his hands. The rain had eased, and there was no time to waste. If they hurried, they might catch Ayu before she and Larella reached the castle.
"We need to go," she said. "I know where they have taken Larella,"
"I heard what Buliara said," Link grumbled, not looking at her.
"Then we need to form a plan. Figure out the best way into the castle," Zelda continued, hurriedly gathering up her things.
Link ignored her, and stood from his lean-to. Wordlessly, he pulled up his hood and turned to walk away from the camp.
"Where are you going!?" Zelda called after him, motioning towards their lean-tos. "I need your help with this."
Link spun around towards her. "Help!?" he cried, and then he shook his head. "No, no more - I'm done."
"What are you talking about!?"
"You said Hyrule isn't falling apart. Look around and tell me this isn't what falling apart looks like," he seethed. "Bandits everywhere, two races at war. Sidon said he'd help and he didn't. Larella said she'd help and now she's gone!"
This again. "We just talked about this! Things will get better!" Zelda argued fiercely, fighting through the urge - the need - to shake this exhaustion out of him.
Link almost seemed to laugh then, a mirthless smile flashing across his face. He reached up to his sword belt, fingers working the well-worn leather buckle. "I've had enough," he said frankly. "We tried helping them, and nothing we did mattered."
"So you're giving up!?" Zelda scoffed. "Running away like a...like a frightened child?" Link recoiled at her words, wounded by the accusation, but Zelda did not care. She was tired of inaction. She was tired of doubt, and fear at every turn.
"There isn't time for this," she chastised him, giving in to her own frustration. "We are going to Hyrule Castle!"
"No."He repeated firmly, pain and weariness lingering in his voice. "I can't. I won't."
Zelda watched with wide, uncomprehending eyes as Link unbuckled the Master Sword and its scabbard, letting them fall to the wet ground. He gave her one last apologetic look, and walked out into the rain.
A/N: My apologies for how late this one has gone up. Ch 10 will be up next weekend (5/20). I've got some oneshots in the works that'll go up in the meantime :). Thank you again for your feedback/support guys