The desert sun burned high overhead as Ganondorf and his escorts arrived in Gerudo Valley. They pushed their exhausted horses up the final hill, stopping before a company of Gerudo guards. The women saluted and stood at attention as their captain began barking out orders.

Ganondorf looked over the hideout with distaste. His people were all but useless to him, now that he had command of Hyrule's monster races. Though he could count on the Gerudos when an amount of stealth was necessary, he foresaw a near future where brute strength would be the only means of warfare.

He considered the women before him as they saluted again and dispersed to their duties. He would turn them into slaves. Once he destroyed their little fighting harem, he would imprison and sell them, or perhaps drain their energy to create new monsters.

The Thief King's reverie was interrupted by the guard captain's voice.

"You wished to see the prisoner, sir?"

"Yes," Ganondorf dismounted and handed the reins to a waiting attendant.

The captain nodded, "If you will accompany me to the east wing cells..."

Ganondorf took the lead, wrapping his cape around his arm as a breeze picked up.

"We captured him near the eastern woods," the captain said loudly over the wind, holding up her arm to shield her face from the flying sand, "He claimed he was looking for Poes, but my soldiers say he was looking for another way into the valley."

They reached the nearly hidden doorway as the wind began moaning over the sands. Ganondorf stepped inside the stone hall, pausing as his eyes adjusted to the torchlight. The guard captain shook sand from her short hair and stepped ahead of her king, gesturing to the cell to her right.

"Here he is, my lord," she bowed and moved back.

Ganondorf strode up to the bars and regarded the man behind them.

He was slumped against the back wall, his clothes torn and bloodied. His brown hair was matted with blood, and one eye was swollen shut. His open blue eye watched Ganondorf in trepidation.

The Gerudo King chuckled, "Your soldiers are getting soft, if that's all they've done to him. He hasn't given you anything?"

"We have not interrogated him yet, my lord."

"Why?" he glared sharply at her.

She bowed again, "Mistress Nabooru's order was to spare the prisoner until you could personally oversee our interrogation."

Ganondorf was taken aback for a moment, then began to laugh. The guard captain straightened from her bow, glancing from her king to the prisoner.

"She gave me a present," Ganondorf grinned darkly at the man in the cell, "How loyal."

The guard captain waited a moment, then cleared her throat.

"What."

"Sir, there is something else you should see."

He turned, facing the Gerudo. In her hand she held a small wooden shape, flecked with green. Ganondorf recognized it immediately.

"He was carrying this," the woman explained.

Ganondorf took it from her, turning it over in his palm.

"This..." he stared at it, then smiled wickedly in the direction of the cell, "This doesn't belong to you."

The young man behind the bars moved weakly back, pressing himself against the stone wall.

"Send a rider for Nabooru. Tell her to search Kakariko Village for any members of the resistance."

"Sir, I thought she already---"

"Now!" he whirled, striking the captain across the cheek. She staggered back, holding a hand to the side of her face.

"Yes, my lord," she muttered, bowing and exiting into the windy desert.

Ganondorf flexed his fist and glanced at the captive Hylian.

"So," his face took on an amused expression, "I'm very curious how you got your hands on this."

The prisoner breathed heavily against bruised ribs, "And... you'll die that way."

Ganondorf made a sweeping gesture with his hand.

"By all means," purple energy began to buzz over his open fingers, "you first."

"Yeh're sure he'll be alright?" the bazaar's shopkeeper asked again.

"Yes," Impa replied patiently, "He's strong enough to make it to the hideout."

Zelda, disguised yet again and sitting precariously on the edge of the bed, was barely well enough to keep her inner emotional battle from manifesting in her actions. She wanted nothing more than to reveal herself then and there and greet the Hero with open arms.

However, the plan Impa had devised was much less exciting, and contained a much smaller chance of certain death.

They stood in the back room of the old witch's house, the door to a secret stairway open behind them.

"Yeh remember where it is," the shopkeeper was saying, "the stone with the---"

"I remember when they built it," Impa's voice strained slightly for the first time, "You needn't worry about us."

"Alrigh', alrigh'," he held up his hands, "I'll be at the bazaar if yeh need me. Jus' send a man over."

"Thank you," Impa said to his retreating back. The door shut and the Sheikah woman groaned softly.

"Finally," she leaned down beside Zelda, "I thought he'd never go."

"Mm," Zelda grasped Impa around the shoulders with her good arm. Her left arm was wrapped tightly in a sling.

The Sheikah and the princess stood as one, the latter leaning heavily on Impa's shoulder. Zelda gasped as a burning pain spread across her abdomen.

"Ah..." she stumbled, "I thought you gave me a potion for that."

"A potion," Impa said quietly, "not a miracle."

Zelda groaned and pulled herself up, inadvertently jostling her left arm. Her shoulder throbbed in protest.

"Nayru, that hurts," she choked, tightening her grip on Impa's arm.

"I can give you something for the pain when we reach the cavern," the Sheikah whispered soothingly, "let's get down the stairs first."

"Right."

They moved slowly to the door. As soon as they were past it, Impa caught it with her foot and pulled it shut. Darkness enveloped the two women.

Zelda clenched her fist, ignoring the pain in her arm, and focused on her disguise. A sudden flash radiated from the triforce mark on her hand, and her body shifted into its original form. Her Sheikah clothing melted back into her blue travel dress, and her long hair fell free.

The princess sighed in relief. Impa mumbled a few words of an ancient incantation, and the torches along the wall responded by coming to life with blue fire.

"Let's go," Impa's arm pushed gently against Zelda's back.

The began to descend the steps, moving slowly. After about a minute of silence, Zelda glanced at her guardian, an unasked question festering in her mind.

"Impa?"

"Yes?"

The princess waited for a spasm of pain to pass, "... the man you say you should have killed... who was he?"

Impa did not answer immediately. She shifted her weight, allowing Zelda to lean more fully on her.

"He was... an advisor to your father. I doubt you remember him, he died in your sixth year."

An uneven step caused the princess to trip, clutching Impa's frame to keep from falling.

"If he died after all... ah," Zelda flinched as the wound in her side was attacked by invisible daggers, "...why were you concerned...?"

They reached the end of the stairway, and the passage flattened into an underground road. More torches lit the dank hall as the women progressed.

"He died," Impa nearly whispered, "but not before creating an alliance between your father and Ganondorf."

Zelda was shocked into silence. She watched the ground beneath her feet as they made slow progress over the floor, her mind distant. She searched her thoughts, past painful images of her father... but she could not find a face. In all her memories of the past, she could not recall any ambassador between the Gerudos and Hylians. Then again, what Impa said held true to Hylian tradition, which called for a go-between during any discussion of alliances. And Zelda had been very young...

"I would have remembered his funeral," she protested.

"I imagine you would have, had there been one."

"What?"

Impa sighed, "He disappeared."

Zelda opened her mouth to ask another question when Impa turned quickly to the left. Unprepared for the sudden change, the princess lost her balance. Impa caught her as she collapsed.

Halfway to the ground and leaning against her guardian, Zelda anticipated the rush of pain before it hit. Searing needles tore through her side and up her arm, and she fell to her knees, grasping at the bandages around her torso.

She tried to choke back her cry of pain, but the shrill sound echoed throughout the tunnel. Impa was kneeling in front of her, pushing back her hair.

"Child, I'm so sorry," the Sheikah whispered, "Are you bleeding?"

Zelda shook her head, "But... probably woke up... every re-dead in the caverns."

"Don't worry about them," Impa was unlacing Zelda's bodice, her hand pressed over the wound.

"Goddesses," Zelda breathed, barely maintaining her equilibrium. Deeper in the tunnels, something was scratching at the walls.

"You're bleeding," Impa said quickly, "lean on me and summon your lyre."

Zelda clenched her fist to muster her power, but was greeted by a terrifying sensation. Her body went cold as her vision darkened.

"No.." she felt her mind threatening to shut down.

Her body lurched as the floor seemed to move.

"Zelda," Impa was repeating urgently, "Zelda, stay awake."

The princess fought back the darkness as best she could and clenched her fist once more. Yellow magic spun like yarn through the air and formed the shape of the Sheikah's lyre, which Impa caught.

A piercing shriek echoed down the tunnel walls.

"Damnit," Impa swore, fumbling to support Zelda.

Another wave of pain caused Zelda's body to convulse, and she fell to the ground, landing on her uninjured shoulder.

"No..." she gasped as Impa reached for her, "the song..."

In the dark cavern ahead of them, shuffling sounds and more shrieking could be heard.

Impa lifted the lyre as Zelda sank into unconsciousness once more.

Link raised a blond eyebrow at the man before him.

"You mean you didn't notice the trail of blood outside your store?"

"Oy," the gruff man leaned over the bazaar counter, towering over the Hero, "I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything. Yeh don't have to like it."

Link groaned in frustration, "Fine, you didn't see anything. I don't see what you could possibly gain from lying, but fine. I'll go elsewhere."

Navi flitted out from her space in his travel bag, "You're gonna take that?"

Link glanced sideways at the little ball of blue light, "Be my guest, Navi, challenge him to a fight."

The shopkeeper made a disquieting noise.

Link turned to the bazaar owner again. The man's large mouth was hanging open, his small eyes as wide as possible. He looked as if he'd been slapped.

"Uh," Link took a step back.

"I'm sorry," the shopkeeper said in an extremely loud voice. He picked up a rag and began to dust various objects with deadly force. He looked embarrassed.

Link stared openly at the man, confused.

"Er," the shopkeeper noticed him watching and leaned lower over his countertop, "I didn't see 'im. Can't help yeh. Sorry."

Navi slowly floated closer to Link, "I think we should... go?"

"Right," Link said distractedly, "the, uh... potion shop. Let's go there."

The owner of the bazaar looked up suddenly, "Oh, yeh won't find anyone there."

"What?"

"Owner's been gone a week," he waved the rag in the air, "no one's even heard anything from or about 'im. Everyone's sayin' the monsters got 'im."

"Oh," Link looked at the floor, "Sorry."

"Yeah, downright shame. Too young to be gettin' killed, had a pretty young wife at home an' everything. Baby on the way, too."

The shopkeeper began running the rag over the counter, seemingly chasing away dark thoughts.

Link watched for a moment, then turned to the door, "Thanks anyway. I'm sorry about your friend."

"Nah... an' I'm sorry about yours..." the man shrugged sadly, turning away.

Link nodded and opened the door.

"... Hero."

Link spun around, but the shopkeeper had already disappeared into the back room of his store.

"Well," Navi landed on Link's shoulder, "that was... eerie."

Link was staring hard at the closed door to the back room. There were only two people in Hyrule who would ever have revealed his identity as the Hero to the shopkeeper. One was Ganondorf, and a friendship between he and the owner of the Kakariko Bazaar seemed extremely unlikely. The other...

"Sheik," Link muttered, drawing his sword.

"Whoa," Navi flew into the air beside him, "sword?"

Link made no immediate answer. He leapt over the bazaar counter and leaned against the back door, testing the knob. Locked.

"Yes, Navi," he lifted the blade over the thinnest part of the doorknob, "sword."

Building magic in his hands, he swung the sword mightily in a downward arc.

The doorknob fell off, severed neatly from its base. The wooden door creaked slowly open.

Leading with his sword, the Hero took tentative steps into the dark hallway. Navi flew in front to provide light.

The short hall lead to another door, which had been left ajar. Daylight flowed in through the tiny space.

"You are aware," Navi barely murmured, "this is probably a trap."

"Well aware. Thank you."

They stopped just behind the door.

"Here goes," Link breathed.

He kicked open the door and charged into the sunlit day.