The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 5: Preperation
By, Frank Hunter

The next day came, and then the next, and nothing happened, which was reassuring because Rigo really did not know where to start. He'd need water, and food, and weapons. This much he knew, but he didn't have any of these things himself, which meant he'd need to take them from somewhere. Stealing, again, from his own people. But to a good end, he reminded himself, to benefit them. The warnings of his grandmother echoed in his head, but he knew they would all understand, would forgive him when he came back with the wealth of the desert for the glory of Gerudo.

Amili didn't precisely try to avoid him, but there was a new tension between them that Rigo had never felt with her before. Their relationship, which had been so easy and trusting, was now marred by what Rigo had sworn he would do and what Amili had claimed she would stop. But she still hadn't done it. Rigo wanted to ask why, but was afraid to broach the topic lest it bring everything crashing down.

By the third day though, Amili was the one who caved.

Rigo found himself sitting in his hovel alone, reading an archaic, bound book on the history of his people. His grandmother had gone out with several of the older women to tend to the necessary chores in the desert, mostly laundry to be done by the river. He knew she would be gone for much of the afternoon, and though the book covered material he was usually interested in, as per usual, he had trouble focusing on it.

It was then that the canvas door to his hovel shifted and Rigo started violently in response. Lost in his thoughts, he felt he was about to be walked in on doing something inappropriate. But he wasn't, and when a face appeared in the opening it was only Amili. Rigo, sitting on his cot with his book closed over and a guilty look on his face just stared at her for a moment, the two of them frozen in time. He swallowed to whet his parched throat and broke the silence.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," she answered. There was a gap between them where conversation used to flow, but before Rigo could think about it and ask her what she was doing there, she pulled a small leather knapsack from behind her back and tossed it to him. He dropped his book on the bed and caught the pack, just barely.

"Here," she said. "Take this."

Confused, Rigo opened the pack and looked inside. It was full, very full even. He reached in and pulled out a stick of something that was stiff and rubbery and smelled faintly of the wild hogs that were kept on a ranch not far from the pueblo.

He looked up at Amili, surprised. "Dried pork?"

She nodded. "Enough to last you for a couple of months I think, if you ration it out. I pulled some from the kitchen, and some from the emergency food supplies in the infirmary."

"You…stole this?"

"Borrowed. I'll get it back to them. You know, when I can."

"I…" Rigo didn't know what say. Did this mean she was on his side after all? He eventually just settled on asking, "Why?"

"Rigo," Amili sighed. "When have I ever been able to talk you out of something once you decided to do it?" She stepped into the room, closer to him. "I've been trying to figure it out, believe me. I want to keep you from going, but…I don't want to get you in trouble either. It seems like anything I do will only cause problems."

She sat down on the edge of his bed and folded her hands in her lap. "So, I figure the best way, the only way I can really help you, is to make sure you're as prepared as possible to go." She smiled. "You know, because you'd probably forget your clothes without someone to remind you."

The weight that had settled on Rigo's heart over the last several days finally and suddenly eased. He scuttled across the bed, grabbed Amili around the shoulders, and pulled her back into a hug as tightly as he possibly could. She let out a half-hearted protest as he caught her by surprise, but leaned into him not a moment later and held his arm to her.

"Thank you," Rigo said as he held her. The scent of her hair washed over him, and he felt like he could cry in relief, but held himself in check. That would not be very kingly of him at all.

"I care about you, dumbo," she said playfully. "I don't want you to get hurt."

From that moment on, the two were partners in crime again. Not a day went by that they did not conspire together, going over a checklist of the things Rigo would need for his journey and the ways to get them. The dried meat was hidden away under his cot, where Rigo was fairly confident his grandmother wouldn't find it. The other items, though, would be more of a challenge. The water skins needed for such a journey would be almost as big as he was, and of course any pilfered weapons would be noted as missing immediately, and would raise instant concern.

"Not to mention a camel," Amili reminded him one day, while they were drawing water from the well for supper. "You can't do this on foot. You'll need a camel to help carry all of this stuff out there. And the treasure on the way back."

So Rigo added a camel to the list of things he'd have to acquire. He knew that the only possibility was to grab all of these things at the same time, on his way out. That way, by the time the tribe discovered them missing, he'd already be gone. "I should leave at sundown, too," he told Amili later. "It's less likely they'll take inventory of the supplies at night. If I go at sundown, they won't realize I'm gone until morning."

"What about your grandmother?" Amili asked.

"We'll tell her I'm out with you that night," Rigo decided. "Reading the constellations, studying circumnavigation. You tell your mother you're out with me doing the same, then stay out of sight for as long as you can. By the time you come back, I'll be gone. You can tell them where I went at that point. It won't matter."

"I don't like lying to our parents," Amili said.

"I know, but if they found out, they'd…"

"They'd try and stop you, I know."

And so the plans solidified, and the kids chose a night that Rigo would depart. It was not far now, and he was excited, more so than he'd ever been. Though he would miss his grandmother, and Pureet, and Amili maybe most of all, when he got back, they would all see him differently. They would be proud of him, and he could stand tall. To sneak back to Hyrule, and steal away the treasure of the Temple, treasure that rightly belonged to his tribe, and return it to them. That was the very essence of being Gerudo. That would make him worthy to be king.