The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 24: Power of the Mind
By, Frank Hunter

Excessive bruising, three fractured ribs, and a re-broken arm. This was the toll taken on Rigo by the Major for the escape attempt. And when he awoke again, he did not find himself in a comfortable hospital bed. Far from it.

The world came back in gradually as his vision returned, though it did not brighten. At first, he thought the Major's barrage had damaged his eyes, blinded him in some irreparable way, but that wasn't the case. It was just that dark where he was now. He lay on the floor, on a pile of straw and hay. There was no pillow for his head, nor blanket to keep him warm. And it was cold. Somewhere in the distance there was the perpetual sound of dripping water, repeating itself every few seconds in a way that he knew would begin to drive him nuts before too long.

He looked around himself. There was little in the room: a hole in the floor in one corner, the toilet, he assumed, and what looked like a large, brown rock in another. Three of the walls were comprised of the same dull, gray stone as the floor, and vertical iron bars as thick as his wrist ran the length of the third. The only door, set in the bars and also set with bars, looked as though it would budge for nothing short of doomsday.

Rigo supposed he'd been imprisoned all along, but now, thanks to the Major, there were actual bars around him. This must be the Stockade he mentioned, a prison belowground, tucked away beneath the splendor of Hyrule Castle Town. A place where criminals were sent to be removed from society and forgotten by those above. That's where he was.

He sat up and took a toll of his injuries. It felt like everything hurt. He'd again been bandaged up as needed, but the bandages already looked dirty and saturated, probably from laying on a floor that hadn't been cleaned in recent memory or ever. His broken arm had again been slung up, and he felt something soft tucked into the fingers of that bandaged hand. A piece of paper?

He used his good hand to fish the note out through the openings in his fingers, unfolded it, and read the one line that was written on it:

"This is the last time. -I"

Ilsa. It must have been. In the haze of awakening he'd forgotten about almost everything, but the wave of guilt over Ilsa came back to him then, as did his fear for Amili and his anger toward both Sooru and Major Tydus. Nothing, ever since deciding to strike out into the desert in the first place, had turned out fair. This whole ordeal had just been one bad turn after another, and now he seemed to have made the last and worst one. The Major had told him he would die in here. Now, injured and trapped, with his gauntlets again taken away again and no means to get them back, he thought it might be the truth. There wouldn't be an escape from a place like this.

Welcome back, came the voice of Nabooru, who was still apparently along for the ride. Congrats on the new room, by the way. Very homey.

"Ugh…" Rigo grunted, and rubbed his eyes. On top of everything, he had a splitting headache.

I gotta say, that escape couldn't have gone worse if you'd planned it that way. Well done.

Rigo tried to get to his feet but didn't have the strength to right his body. He fell back onto his rear end twice, and after the second time just decided to stay there. Where was there to go, anyway?

Still, Nabooru said. A couple of paintings for the walls, maybe some drapes on the bars. This place could be livable. Maybe even cozy.

"Shut up," Rigo groaned. "Please."

As the sound of Rigo's words reverberated in the empty cell, another sound emanated out from somewhere beside him. It was a loud rumbling, low enough to vibrate the floor, but Rigo shot a glance over and saw nothing there that would cause it. The only thing in that corner of his cell was the brown rock.

What was that? he thought, now silently, at Nabooru.

Probably nothing good, she said. You should be getting used to that by now though.

The groan came again, louder this time. It was almost a croak, like it had come from an enormous bullfrog, but a sound deeper than any living bullfrog could produce. It was so odd, so alien, that Rigo almost didn't notice when the sound morphed into actual words. When he did realize it, it froze him on the spot.

"Who there?" the strange voice asked monosyllabically. The walls rumbled as it spoke in a strange sort of omnipresent basso that sounded like it had come from a god.

Rigo said nothing. He just stared, trying to find the source of the voice. He couldn't.

"Who there!?" it demanded again, more forcefully, and Rigo thought it might not be a good idea to simply ignore it.

"R…Rigo," he stuttered. "I'm Rigo."

"What is 'Rigo'?" the speaker asked, and as it did, it finally made itself known.

The brown rock began to move and Rigo quickly realized it was not actually a rock. What had started as a round stone began to uncurl, and Rigo saw limbs, two arms and two legs, emerge from beneath the hard outer shell. They pushed to the floor, and the creature rose up onto its feet and looked down, regarding him.

It was stocky and huge, easily eight feet tall, almost needing to bend over to fit in the cell. Its skin looked made of stone, or at least of a substance hard enough that it would be difficult to tell the difference. Its face was wide with big eyes and a mouth that stretched almost from ear to ear. It would have looked comical if it weren't so imposing.

"I'm a Gerudo," he said. He wished he could come up with a better answer, but that was all he had.

What is that thing?! he asked Nabooru in a panic.

They're called 'Gorons,' kid. I'm guessing this one is your cellmate.

"Gor Gurdy not know Gerudo," the creature said. Rigo guessed that it was referring to its own name in the third person. "Gor Gurdy see new pointy man."

"P…pointy man?" Rigo asked, swallowing.

"Pointy man come. Pointy man say, 'Me live here.' Pointy man try poke sleep Gor Gurdy with sharp stick." The goron rapped his knuckles against the wall. "Gor Gurdy turn pointy man head to gravel."

He killed his last cellmate, Nabooru translated.

"No," Rigo said. "No, I don't want to hurt Gor Gurdy. I mean, you. I don't want to hurt you." He tried again and was able to get to his feet, and backed away the short distance across the cell.

"No trust pointy man."

"Please!" Rigo pleaded. "They just put me in here."

The Goron seemed to consider for a moment before asking in an almost humoring way, "Why come?"

Rigo thought on itquickly. If he was going to survive the next couple of minutes, he was going to have to earn this creature's respect, and that meant establishing that he was different than the others, and that he was, in fact, against them too. He'd need to make a friend.

"I…" he started, and then stopped himself. He quickly changed over into the third person to match his cellmate's speech patterns, hoping to put him more at ease. "Rigo come from desert. Long way. Come for help. But Major…Tydus…" He tried to figure out how to articulate who the Major was and what had happened, but as it turned out, he didn't need to. At the name, Gor Gurdy's head shot quickly back, before he leaned in and tilted it in a gesture of attempted understanding.

"Boss man?" the Goron asked.

Rigo nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, boss man. Boss man say, 'No.' Boss man say, 'Not help.' Boss man hurt Rigo." He gestured at his bandages.

I didn't know you spoke Goron, Nabooru teased. Rigo ignored her. Gor Gurdy just leaned in closer, apparently trying to assess the truth in Rigo's story. He eyed the sling on the boy's arm closely, and Rigo backed up another step, hitting the wall. He had nowhere else to go.

"Boss man bad," Gor Gurdy said.

"Yeah," Rigo agreed. "Real bad. But Rigo not just sit there. Rigo hurt boss man too."

The Goron looked surprised. "Rigo fight boss man?!"

Rigo nodded. "Rigo get pointy at boss man's face. Rigo put boss man down. Rigo cut boss man bad."

Gor Gurdy stared into him for what felt like eternity. It was impossible to read thought or emotion on the creature's face, so Rigo had no idea what to expect. But right when he had guessed that the creature would rather attack him then risk getting attacked itself, its mood changed. It started guffawing, loud, short laughs that sounded like two rocks banging together. It leaned back and put its hand to its stomach(?) to brace itself. Rigo allowed himself a breath.

"Rigo no like boss man," it said. Rigo shook his head vigorously. "Gor Gurdy no like boss man," it went on. "Rigo fight boss man. Gor Gurdy like Rigo."

Gor Gurdy let his laughter run its course, and Rigo loosened up against the wall. He was still penned in, cornered, but it didn't look like he was going to be in any immediate danger. At least he hoped.

"Rigo friends with Gor Gurdy?" it asked.

Rigo nodded. "Yes. Rigo like Gor Gurdy."

The Goron smiled and smacked Rigo on the shoulder. The boy bit down on his teeth and cringed in the agonizing pain that shot down through his broken arm from the affectionate gesture. Gor Gurdy seemed oblivious to the problem.

"Good. Good have friends. This place…hard place. Good have friends."

The Goron walked back over to the corner it had been in when Rigo awoke and began curling itself back up, disappearing under the rocky shell that made up its back again.

"H…hey!" Rigo exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"Gor Gurdy sleep. Sleep today. Eat tomorrow. Rigo not bother Gor Gurdy. Not pointy man. Rigo not want pointy man head. Not bother."

Leave him alone, Nabooru said.

Yeah, I got that. Rigo stood and watched the odd creature until it had completely stopped moving and again resembled nothing but an inert, unexceptional boulder. When his heart had settled down some, he went back over to his hay pile and sat back down on top it. There was nothing else to do anyway. Nowhere to go. He started throwing pieces of hay across the cell in his boredom.

You actually handled that pretty well, Nabooru conceded.

Rigo shrugged. He was just scared. Everyone's afraid of something. If you can make them less scared, they won't be so angry.

That's valuable knowledge. You are aware that that was their first attempt to kill you though, right? Nabooru said.

Rigo's heard the words and tried to be shocked, but couldn't muster the energy for it. The idea of getting killed was still fairly new, but quick reflection and the whole thing made sense. Getting thrown into a prison cell, still injured, next to a monster of an inmate with a body like a rock and a history of killing other inmates. That wouldn't be a coincidence. He thought back on the conversation Nabooru had played back for him, between Tydus and the man he referred to as the "Warden," probably the warden of this very prison. Yeah, he realized. Yeah, this would be a clean, guilt-free way to get him killed and out of their hair. This was deliberate.

I don't know if I can take much more of this, he said to Nabooru.

I'm not sure you have much of a choice, Nabooru answered. Unless you plan on seducing the guard again. As she said it, a Hylian soldier walked past the cell outside the bars. He was tall with a pointed jaw, riddled with stubble, and didn't show the slightest bit of interest in the cell or what was going on in it. Pretty much the complete opposite of what Ilsa had been. The idea was kind of ridiculous.

How do I even fight against them? he asked. I have no idea what to do. I can't fight.

You can say that again, Nabooru said.

I've gotten my ass kicked every time I've tried. The only fight I've actually won is the one that you took over for me.

What were they even teaching you at that Gerudo school, anyway? Nabooru asked. I'd have expected you to have some combat training? Anything?

Yeah, Rigo answered. There's been some. But just the basics. I hadn't gotten so far into it, and I never prepared for anything like this.

Hm, Nabooru contemplated. Well, no time like the present to start learning then, she said.

Ha ha, Rigo answered. Very funny.

I'm not pulling your leg. If you're going to survive in this place, you're gonna need to learn how to hold your own, kid. I can show you.

How? Rigo asked. We've got no space, no weapons, and, oh yeah, you don't have a body. And if I wake up the rock monster over there, he's gonna splatter my brains against the wall. What do you want to do?

I'm hoping that somewhere in your limited study, you've heard of the art of meditation, right? Nabooru asked.

Rigo rolled his eyes. Yeah, it's like, relaxing and clearing your head and stuff, right?

Something like that, Nabooru confirmed.

I don't think I'm gonna be able to learn how to defend myself by sitting and relaxing.

Geez, you're dense, Nabooru said. Don't you get it? I'm in your head, genius. You can come in here and meet me if you wanted. It's possible through meditation, and we can work without bothering your new friend.

Rigo cocked an eyebrow. He was skeptical, but Nabooru sounded serious. Plus, he didn't have anything more pressing to be working on anyway, besides throwing hay. Why not give it a try?

Nabooru talked him through the initial steps of relaxing, which he had learned from Pureet before. But, he found the procedure particularly difficult given his uncomfortable situation and the amount of physical pain he had to work to drown out. Nabooru's voice helped push him through it, though. After some time, he was able to get into the right state of mind and clear his thoughts so that nothing permeated, and nothing bothered him. He reached in a place of complete emptiness.

"You made it," said the voice of Nabooru. It sounded very different here. Now that he had retreated into his own mind, he heard her more clearly, as though she were an actual voice from an actual person nearby. "Welcome to the party!"

"Nabooru?"

"The one and only, kid. Hold on, lemme hit the lights."

In an instant, sunlight shot into Rigo's mind's eye, and all the nothingness he worked so hard to achieve was filled with something new. The sun shone windows high in the walls. It glowed, orange and beautiful. Desert sun.

Rigo looked around him. The place he was in resembled the pueblo in Jirin, but it was different. The adobe was a slightly different color, the construction was not as rugged and hurried. It had the feeling of greater permanence. Of home.

This had to be the pueblo the Gerudo had used when the tribe lived in Hyrule. It must have come out of Nabooru's memory, she's the only one who could have constructed it here. The whole engagement was like stepping back in time in his own mind, to a place he'd never seen but had heard about to no end. From the wooden rafters in the ceiling to the clay pots in the walls, he thought it was beautiful.

"Really something, huh?"

Over on one side of the room, sitting on a wooden table with a banquet laid out on it, was a Gerudo woman. She was short, not much taller than Rigo himself, and wore the white of the Gerudo Stewardess, though not the crown or facemask. Her hair was styled in a tight topknot, and she held a green pear in one hand, a bite taken out of the side of it. She lounged easily, with her legs dangling from the side of the table, swaying casually.

"Nabooru?" Rigo asked again.

She grinned, took another bite of her pear, and then threw it aside. "I can only make fun of you for being slow so many times, kid," she said, and hopped to her feet. "Eventually I'll start feeling bad about it."

"What…what is this?" he asked.

"This?" she gestured around herself. "Nothing. Just a little demesne for us to practice in. You cleared your mind, I refilled it with something for the both of us. We've gotta be somewhere, after all. Might as well be somewhere nice, right?"

Rigo looked around himself, flabbergasted. The pain in his body was gone. He felt rejuvenated, and healthy. "You can teach me to fight here?"

Nabooru smiled a coy smile at him and placed her hands on her hips. "I can teach you all kinds of things you'll wanna learn."

His belly fluttered at the comment, and Nabooru, catching the boy's unease, grinned even wider. "We should get started on the parts that are gonna be practical first, I think." She snapped her fingers and the table behind her disappeared in a flash of sparkly magic, replaced in an instant by wooden shelves stocked with all manner of blades, bows, and weapons. Many were familiar. Some were not.

Nabooru thought for a moment and then selected a shortsword for herself, before turning back to Rigo. She approached him, sword in hand. "Class is in session, kid. You ready to get started?"

Rigo gulped and tried to remind himself that everything here was imaginary, and that the woman with the sword was really just trying to help him. This was training, and it was for the sole purpose of making him better at survival, and that was what he'd need in this place. Yeah, he was ready. "Let's do it," he said to Nabooru.

And so they sparred, and they practiced, and Rigo took to it well. He learned what it meant to become a fighter, to become a stronger man. He learned to defend himself and others. He listened and learned and indulged in his lessons, taking in everything Nabooru had to offer.

Such is the way he chose to pass his time in the Hyrule Stockade, a time that would last five years of his life.

END OF BOOK 1