The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 40: Reconciliation
By, Frank Hunter

When he came to, Rigo found that he was once again in control of his own body. Not that he was afraid in any way that Nabooru would double-cross him now, but the abdication of all living functions, no matter to who, comes with a certain sense of helplessness, and he had no choice but to feel grateful upon return of that control.

He felt less grateful about it as soon as he tried to move.

He moved to sit up in bed, and everything inside him protested. His rib cage felt as though it had been battered by Gor Gurdy. His arms trembled as he tried to take some of his weight on them. His head felt like it was being split open with a chisel. Moving, in short, was not an easy task.

"Ugh," Rigo grunted as he gave up and collapsed back onto his cot. Wait, cot?

"Don't try to move," a voice said softly from beside him. With some effort, he turned his head despite the instructions. Pureet sat there on another cot to his left; another Gerudo guard stood at the door. He must have been carried into the pueblo's barracks while he was unconscious.

Rigo closed his eyes. "How long was I out?" he asked.

"The better part of a day," Pureet answered. "The sun is setting."

Rigo groaned again.

"The Stewardess wanted to know as soon as he was awake," the guard at the door said.

"Go inform her," Pureet instructed. "I will wait with him."

The soldier turned and left immediately. The sound of the door grinding open and slamming shut felt like rusty, warped gears turning inside Rigo's brain. He wished he could just crawl into a dark, silent hole and sleep for days.

Nabooru? he asked inwardly. Are you there?

G'morning sunshine, came the immediate answer. The spirit sounded like she was in better spirits than she ought to be.

Are you alright? he asked her.

Peachy, she said. We've only got one body capable of pain between the two of us. I figured since I did all the heavy lifting, it'd only be fair for you to deal with the hangover. Gotta pull your weight somehow.

Thanks, he mumbled grouchily.

Any time.

Pureet shifted where she sat, leaning in closer to him. "That was an impressive stunt you pulled last night," she said. Rigo could tell she was making an effort to keep her voice down. In that moment, he loved her for it.

"Yeah," Rigo mumbled. "Something, right?"

"I never taught you to do that," she said.

He sighed. "I've picked up some new tricks since I left, I guess."

"That kind of magical control," Pureet mused. "That takes a lifetime to accomplish. A lifetime much longer and more focused than yours."

Rigo bit his lip. In the heat of the moment, when devising that desperate plan which somehow managed to work (and thanks entirely to Nabooru for that; he was sure he wouldn't have been able to empower the ghosts so effectively if he'd had to do it himself), he hadn't considered that he would have to answer for it. That his family, his people would want to know how he had done what he'd done. Ganondorf had made much of his reputation on the practice of dark sorcery, sorcery from the same school that Nabooru had been forced to study when she had been alive and young. And Rigo's entire right to the throne was based on the premise that the Gerudo could move past Ganondorf and still keep to their most honored traditions. How would that be affected if they all thought that he was following so closely in Ganondorf's footsteps?

He may have to come clean about all of it: Nabooru, the Silver Gauntlets. Everything. And that could even be worse. The idea of a King with a spirit or a voice lodged in his head? One that could take full control of his body, even perform magic? Yeah. That would sit well.

With another earsplitting clack, the door to the room opened and shut again, and Amili stepped in.

"What the hell did you do?" she asked without preamble.

Rigo looked up at her. He couldn't tell if she was angry or just shocked, her expression was so unreadable. But in her confusion, Rigo thought she actually looked kind of funny. He couldn't help it. He burst into a muffled fit of painful giggles and laid his head back down as they ran their course. Amili did not look amused.

"Rigo, what was that?" she asked, coming into the room, stepping up next to Pureet.

"I think that was me picking my side," he said, his giggles subsiding.

"How are you even capable of doing something like that?"

He couldn't get into this with her now. There was too much to explain, too much for her to come to terms with. And too many possible consequences. It would take too long.

"Look, Amili…"

"Basic ectomancy could be achieved," Pureet cut in, "with a few years of dedicated study. Study like that which Prince Rigo was just describing to me before you walked in, Stewardess."

Amili regarded Rigo with an inquisitive expression on her face. He couldn't believe it. Pureet was still helping, still covering for him. Even after everything that had happened the last time, after he had all but proved that he was incapable of making good decisions.

"Amili…" he said, trailing off, fighting to find the right words. "Look, a lot's happened between that night in the Temple and all this. I swear, I'll sit down with you. I'll tell you everything when the time is right. You can know it all. But we don't have time now. You need to tell me. What happened after I went down? Did the Hylians retreat?"

She stared at him for another long moment, clearly deciding whether or not she could let something this big go so quickly. Whether she could trust him without answers.

"They're gone," she said, finally. "Out of the valley, out of the desert entirely. Your little stunt did a number on them it. We saw them cross their bridge this morning, and dismantle it behind them. I don't think they're coming back."

Rigo felt a fleeting iota of pride at what he'd accomplished, but couldn't quite hold onto it. Something was wrong with this. The Hylians shouldn't have cut and run. If it hadn't been for Rigo, there would have been a close, bloody conflict here the previous night. One the Hylians may have won. Tydus wouldn't give up so quickly. If he really was afraid of ghosts, wouldn't he just have come back in the daylight?

Rigo was trying to work out what must have been going through the Colonel's mind, when he realized he didn't have to guess.

Nabooru-

He is gone, her voice confirmed in his mind. I've been keeping an eye on him while you were out. We scared him pretty good. Him and his men both. They'd already heard rumors the desert was haunted before last night. Now they're downright certain. And, they think that the Gerudo have control over the ghosts. They don't want to come back

I guess that's good, Rigo admitted.

Not really, Nabooru said. See, the Colonel convinced them that this is just proof that the Gerudo are dark and vile and have all sorts evil plans to invade their country and corrupt everything they love. He convinced them that they had better retreat into the heart of Hyrule, and find a power they can use for themselves. A power of 'light' to help them fight the 'darkness.' You see what I'm getting at?

"Damn," Rigo cursed.

"What?" Amili asked. She hadn't been privy to this private conversation.

Rigo told her. And at his words, Pureet sat up straighter. "They're going for the Fountain."

"Tch," Amili spat. "Let them go. The legends say that without the Chalice, they won't be able to get to the Fountain. They'll be wasting their time."

Rigo choked on his next thought. She still didn't know?

Amili saw the dumbfounded look on Rigo's face and seemed to go through various stages of deliberation and realization before her features hardened and she fixed him with that glare she had, which probably had the power to incinerate small animals on its own.

"You didn't," she hissed at him.

"I did what I had to," Rigo said.

"You stole it from me!?" Amili demanded, raising her voice.

"I-"

"I gave it to him," Pureet interrupted again.

Amili looked at her in shock. Pureet didn't bother meeting her gaze. Not having eyes, she didn't need to. Amili's gaze, though, shifted back and forth from Pureet to Rigo. She apparently was having trouble deciding just who she should be angry with.

"You…you betrayed me, Pureet?"

"Do not be dramatic," Pureet chided her. "You pretend as though you haven't known all along where my loyalties lie."

"I am the Stewardess of Gerudo!" Amili insisted.

"You are," Pureet agreed. "But you are also a child, and require guidance. Do you think that there is anything you have accomplished which did not happen with support?"

"Support!?"

"You were on the path to make a poor decision. I removed that from your hands."

Amili barked out an incredulous laugh, and pointed at Rigo. "And he did so much better?" She glanced in his direction. "I thought you said once they had the Chalice they'd leave peacefully!"

"Their Colonel ignored the Queen's orders," Rigo said.

"So, exactly what I said would happen last time we talked, huh? And from what you said, he's going to be a continued threat to us. Thanks to your actions, control of the Fountain has fallen to an enemy. And we're stuck here without hope or any prospect of recovering the artifact. Rigo, if it was anybody but you…" She trailed off. She looked back at Pureet. "And all this is your fault."

"So it is," Pureet agreed. "Perhaps you'd like to reprimand me? It is well within your right. You could remove my tongue, Stewardess. So that I may never speak a half-truth again."

Amili stuttered at the grotesque suggestion, but Pureet didn't notice. She just pressed on.

"Or my hands? If you do, I will be unable to steal from you in the future."

"Don't be ridiculous…" Amili started.

"All of that is well within your station as Stewardess. Do you want to exercise that power? I have disobeyed you."

"I'm not her!" Amili shouted at Pureet. Rigo winced at the loudness of her voice. but the implication of it was interesting nonetheless. Amili, it seemed, had come to share one of Rigo's deepest burdens. She was as afraid of becoming Sooru as much as he was afraid of becoming Ganondorf. Through all of this, it was very hard to remember that he was still dealing with the girl out of his childhood, the one he'd held in his arms night after night in the desert. Things had changed so much.

"Then you must do as she would not. You must defer to the authority of the King," Pureet said. "It is the entire purpose of your rule."

Amili was fuming, but she tried hard to reel herself back. To keep her tone civil. "He is not the King yet."

"He should be," Pureet said.

"Uhh," Rigo interrupted. "Listen, if the choice is up to me, I would ask that I not be crowned until this whole thing is over." Amili was silent. She looked pensive though, more willing to listen to Rigo knowing he wouldn't be gunning for her crown in the next few minutes.

He went on. "I botched this, I admit that. The decision I made wasn't the best one. It was a mistake, and we now have a situation because of it. But I want to help make things right. Amili, you should stay in control of the Gerudo tribe, at least until all this is done. This is your expedition, and you should see it through. But I want to stand with you. I want to help you in what you want to do. We can't afford to disagree anymore."

"I want to do what's right for the Gerudo," Amili said, sounding miserable. "That's all I've ever wanted."

"That's all any of us want, Amili," Rigo told her sincerely. "We can work together to make it happen.

"And how am I supposed trust you now?" Amili asked, grudgingly. "Either of you?"

Pureet just sat back, refusing to answer a question Rigo guessed she thought was pointless. But he had an answer.

"Because I know where the Fountain of Nayru is," he said. "And I can take you there."

Amili's eyes shot up to him again in surprise. Pureet cocked her head at the revelation.

I do know where the Fountain is. Right? Rigo asked Nabooru silently.

Do you have any idea how screwed you'd be without me? Nabooru snarked back at him. He took that as a yes.

"Why would you show us the way now?" Amili asked in disbelief.

"Because it's the best option left to us," Rigo said. "The Hylian commander, his name's Tydus. He's gone completely off the deep end. He thinks that if he claims the Fountain, he'll be able to kill us and openly challenge his Queen. "

Rigo tried again to sit up and this time managed it with some effort. He propped himself against the wall. "Given the choice, I'd still say it's best that no one raises the Fountain. But now it looks like someone's gonna do it anyway. If that's the case, we need to make sure it's us."

"That's all well and good, but they have almost a full day's head start," Amili said.

"They're armored, and carrying supplies," Rigo answered. "We can move faster if we travel light and leave our non-essentials here. And, I don't think Tydus knows exactly how to use the Chalice. We have a chance to head him off at the Fountain if we move quickly."

He stared into his old friend's eyes and pleaded with her. "Amili, I don't think either of us meant for any harm, but we've started something here, something that's spiraling out of control. We need to cooperate, and get things back in hand. We can stop Tydus. We can take the Fountain and defend ourselves, and rebuild the Gerudo with its power. It's the only option left to us."

Rigo bared his teeth. He could see that Amili was being swayed, that she understood what needed to be done.

"Let's finish this, together," he said to her.