Part II – Evil Sands

Chapter XVII – Return

"So, let me get this straight. On the first mission we ever send you on, you disobeyed direct orders from a commanding officer, nearly got your team lost in an unmapped ruin, awakened an undead army, lost your squad in a sandstorm after damn near abandoning them, and last, but certainly not least, were directly responsible for the first active combat death in nearly fifty years! Did I get all that right?"

To have their entire two-week journey reduced to such a horrible summary made Ganondorf's blood boil. During the four days return trip at the end, Nabooru warned him to expect a stern word from Naberna, but this was turning into a full-blown lecture. The rest of the squad had already been debriefed except for Manju who disappeared the second they reached the compound's gate. His other squadmates tried their best to help him and attempted to argue with the general about fault, but Naberna had them escorted out of the room. Nabooru, however, was cruelly forced to stay and take notes on how to properly reprimand a soldier. Naberna seemed to be taking this time as a serious matter but, despite her stern and cold face, her eyes betrayed how much she was enjoying what her words were doing to the boy.

"Years of training, top of your class, and the easiest assignment we could come up with… how did you manage such a monumental fuck up?"

"Ma'am, please!" Nabooru spoke up, "This isn't helping anyone. Blaming Ganondorf doesn't-"

"Blaming? Are you telling me you don't hold him responsible for awakening a gibdo army, making the squad vulnerable to an ambush, and your squadmates death?"

The silence that overtook Naberna's voice seemed to place invisible hands over Ganondorf's throat. Nabooru blinked a few times as if thinking through her own suffocation before responding, "No."

Naberna's eyes narrowed at the lieutenant and the corner of her mouth slightly turned up as if she were expecting such an answer. "No?" she mimicked in feigned surprise, "Well, if not the obstinate private, then who? Who is to blame for every setback that happened on this-"

"Me." Nabooru stepped forward with her word as if to single herself out despite there being only three people in the room. Naberna's words got caught in her throat and she stood frozen by her daughter's words. "I was in charge of the outfit; any mishaps are my fault alone." Nabooru's eyes now locked forward and stared through her mother.

Naberna's brow was so furrowed, Ganondorf was sure they would touch in the middle. "What? This boy is the sole reason for the failure. If he wasn't in your squad none of those things-"

"So, it's the fault of the one who made the squad then?" Nabooru snapped back, "No, you don't know that anything would be different with or without Ganondorf, ma'am. I was in charge of the company so it was my responsibility to make sure we moved as one. If one unruly private was enough to faulter my leadership then I'm not-"

"Not one more word from you, Nabooru. Let me teach you a very important lesson. In the army, all legs move as one much like a centipede." Naberna walked from the lieutenant to the private, "But if one of those legs gets damaged, becomes lame, or was born with defects, what does that centipede do? Does it nurse it to health? Keep the leg? Teach it to walk?" The general had circled around them and Ganondorf could feel her tight grip on his left shoulder, "No. Should the centipede be in danger, that leg could spell its end. What the centipede does is circle around, grab that leg with its mandibles, and rip. It. O-"

Before Naberna could finish, the door to the room burst open revealing the Allmother within its frame, "Well it's a good thing we're not insects then, isn't it?"

"Allmother," Naberna said with equal parts surprise and frustration, "I… w-what are you doing here?" Naberna's grip got tighter and slightly painful on Ganondorf's shoulder before letting go.

"Is it not customary for the Allmother to be present at the princes first ever debriefing?"

At this, Naberna looked genuinely confused and cocked an eyebrow at the Allmother, "I… do not believe so. It has been quite a while since a king has needed a debrief."

"Well then," the Allmother shuffled in and nestled herself into the corner of the room, "you won't mind a 'senior officer' standing in, would you?"

Naberna seemed to mentally weigh her odds at winning an argument with the old lady but soon thought better of it and simply stated, "As you wish, Allmother." with a reverent bow. She didn't keep her submissive stance for long as she almost immediately went back to her rant, "As I was saying, an army is only as strong as the weakest among them. As it is in nature, so too should it be in our ranks that the weak are culled. Therefore, I do not find that you, Ganondorf, are fit for active duty or capable of-"

"Now I do not believe that is your decision to make, Naberna." The Allmother chimed in using an all too sing-song voice, "If I have read the old texts correctly, and these eyes may be old but they work, it is not the sole vote of the general that determines the appointment of king. Am I correct?"

Naberna spun to face the Allmother with a look of pure annoyance on her face, "I can assure you that my deputy generals would also vote in the appropriate manner to the debrief and the-"

"No, they won't." The Allmother's words cut right through Naberna's and the general nearly clamped down on her tongue. "Because your deputies are not present for this debrief, I'm sure their vote would be brought into question. In your haste, it seems you've forgotten due process."

"And who would go against the votes of our military?"

The Allmother narrowed her gaze and furrowed her brow at the general. Her frame seemed to get larger like an animal putting on an intimidation display, "The spiritual council firmly stands against your farce of a vote. We have just as many members as you do and you know as well as anyone that this stalemate is only broken by-"

"The mother of the prince." Naberna begrudgingly recited with the Allmother. The two women then had a very long, very awkward staring contest that made both Nabooru and Ganondorf shuffle impatiently. The Allmother must've seen this and coughed to end the tension.

"I, for one, hardly believe a single mission is sufficient enough to judge the value of a soldier no matter their future role. We do not judge the value of a newborn by their ability to march. So, I suggest one more mission. Something a little less mundane or routine. Something that will have a direct impact on the people should he fail."

"Allmother," Naberna frowned, "surely you don't mean to send him to trade with the outside land."

"…Oh! That's a much better idea than what I had in mind." the Allmother smiled in a thinly veiled taunt, "A mission to trade with the kingdom of Hyrule. It will show cunning, initiative, diplomacy… very well done, Naberna."

"Wait, Allmother, I didn't-"

"Oh, no need to gloat Naberna," the Allmother was already half out the door, "I'll be sure to let everyone know it was all your idea in the first place."

Naberna let out some sounds, as if they should be the start of her protest, but when the Allmother exited everyone's sight, they dissolved into nothing more than angry growls. Ganondorf chanced a glance over to Nabooru and she mirrored his surprised expression.

But the quiet was short lived as Naberna slammed her foot down and whistled to get their attention. The two soldiers snapped upright and trained their eyes ahead as Naberna spoke again, "Alright. If the Allmother thinks a trading mission will change peoples' minds about your incompetency then I'm willing to humor her obsession with you if only to prove myself right." Naberna looked between the two soldiers with a dismissive sneer, "But, nonetheless, I will not put this tribe's well being on the gamble of an old fool. The caravans arrive at their usual trading spot in three days, you and your squad will be briefed in two. I expect you, private, to have all the necessary information and knowledge on Hyrule before that brief. That goes double for you, lieutenant. Is that understood?"

Both soldiers saluted before shouting, "Yes, ma'am!"

Naberna gave both of them scrutinizing looks before shouting herself, "Dismissed!"

Ganondorf and Nabooru wasted no time in saluting once more then turning heel and marching out, leaving Naberna alone to seethe and grumble.

Ganondorf sat alone on the edge of the compound's structure overlooking the center area. The setting sun bathed everything in a sickening red glow. It looked like blood. But Ganondorf couldn't close his eyes because then he'd see her face. Ever since he left Naberna, Gita had been haunting his thoughts. His mind was constantly berating him with questions that he knew had no answers. What if I was stronger? Faster? More prepared? Better equipped? More vigilant? Less stupid? Smarter? What if I wasn't there? Wasn't here? What if I was never-

"Knew you'd be here." Nabooru's unexpected voice interrupted his self-destructive train of thought. It came from behind and it genuinely startled him. "Goddess," Nabooru half-chuckled, "must be really distracted for me to have startled you."

Ganondorf let out a sigh as he relaxed a bit, "I can't sleep."

Nabooru similarly sighed and made her way over to the ledge where the boy was sitting. She sat herself down right next to him and folded her hands in her lap. "Listen, don't take what my mother said seriously. She's a lunatic, I should know."

Ganondorf's eyes focused and unfocused on several things as he tried to sort through the thoughts in his head. "It is my fault, though. She's-"

"No." Nabooru abruptly interrupted him, "No, stop. No. I meant what I said back there. If one single incident is able to break down my command then I'm not a good commander."

"B-but that's just it!" Ganondorf was staring at his hands almost angrily, "You wouldn't have had to put up with that if I'd just been better."

"Yes, I would have." Nabooru placed a reassuring hand on his leg, "Every leader does. If not you then someone else would have filled that roll. How we deal with that, how we pull everyone together despite that and keep a cool head, that's what makes a good leader."

Ganondorf took a long moment to think. After a time, he huffed in what felt like a tiny chuckle and took Nabooru's hand in his. "Your mother's a lunatic?"

It was Nabooru's turn to chuckle, "Yeah, well, she has her moments. Not everything she says is complete vitriol."

"Only what she says to me, right?"

"She's just scared."

At this, Ganondorf let out a loud snort, "Scared of what? Me?"

"As crazy as it sounds, yes." Nabooru rested her head on his shoulder, "I don't know why but she is very against you becoming king. And it's not because she hates you. I feel she's acting out of fear."

"Ok, but fear of what? Lack of experience? Losing her influence? My mother?"

At that last one, Nabooru snorted back her own laugh which made a smile creep onto Ganondorf's face.

"There, that's better." Nabooru murmured, relaxing her weight into his side, "I like you better when you smile."

"Oh, do you now?"

"Yes," she chuckled, "you don't smile as often these days."

"I could say the same about you." Ganondorf gave Nabooru a playful poke into her side, just below the last rib.

"Hey!" Nabooru exclaimed with a laugh, "What was that for?" She returned the gesture with a jab of her own at his side.

"Oh, it's like that is it?" Ganondorf poked again but this time Nabooru scooted away. It didn't help as Ganondorf went in again and made his second successful attack.

"Ah! You know I'm ticklish there, stop!" but instead of ending the conflict there, Nabooru went in for another jab. Once she connected, the two erupted into a kind of poking war. It was almost as intense as one of their sparring sessions with the two of them starting to block, parry, and even feint their attacks. As the sun lowered, their tussle got more intense along with their giggling.

"Alright, that's it!" Nabooru growled playfully as she rolled to the side and used her legs to pounce on Ganondorf. Taken off guard, he put up his hands only to have them grabbed by the girl and pinned above him. He fell to the ground with Nabooru triumphantly over him.

It was a moment that lasted an infinite lifetimes. Their giggling had died down, their labored breathing made their chests rise and fall against each other, and even Ganondorf's heart seemed to beat in time with hers. All the world dissolved into insignificance, the light of the sun had dipped beyond the horizon, and all that was left was her. The sound of her panting breath that drowned out the desert wind, the look of her eyes that outshone the stars in the sky, the smell of her intoxicating honey perfume that enveloped him and made his head spin.

The feel of her soft lips that pressed against his.

But as endless as the moment felt, it ended all too soon. When he opened his eyes, they were not met with hers. His wrists were free of her grasp and the scent of her perfume had faded. Bringing his arms to his side and sitting up, he found Nabooru kneeling to the side with her hand pinching the bridge of her nose. Ganondorf opened his mouth to speak but, as if sensing his intent, Nabooru breathed a heavy sigh and said under her breath, "Shit."

She quickly stood and began making her way back to the compound muttering to herself, "I shouldn't have done that. Shouldn't have done- I should not have done that."

It took Ganondorf's mind a second to catch up with the situation but once it did, he scrambled to his feet and rushed after her. "Wait. Wait, Nabooru!" To his surprise, she actually stopped just before the entrance, "What, w-where are you going?"

I'm sorry, I-" Nabooru was facing the wall with one hand on her eyes and the other supporting her elbow, "It's just… I don't know what this is but it's not allowed." Ganondorf, as gently as he could, took hold of her arm and she allowed him to turn her around, "This… this is against a very old and strict law."

"An old law," Ganondorf repeated, "that needs to change."

"Gan-"

"No," He interrupted her, "Nabooru, the laws are meant to keep us safe. Safe from dangers and criminals. But can something that feels like this really be that bad? How can… being happy be bad?"

'Being happy?" She repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Ganondorf couldn't bring himself to say it because of the taboo around it, but looking at the girl in front of him and realizing the ridiculousness of the taboo, he couldn't deny his feelings any longer.

"Is… being in love that bad?"

Ganondorf could see that as soon as the words left his lips, Nabooru was immediately taken by emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. Shame, happiness, doubt, love, sorrow, relief, fear… each causing her eyes to dart around and begin to well up with tears. Ganondorf couldn't bear to see her in such distress so he pulled her close into a hug. He felt her sigh and slowly return the gesture.

"I am going to change this law. Nothing that feels this… right should be forbidden."

The nights cold breeze continued to attack them, but their embrace warded off the biting chill. Lanterns across the compound began to light, dotting the grounds below with dim relief from the pitch-black darkness. Ganondorf thought that admitting the truth would lift a weight from his shoulders, but it only added to the burden.