As the group reached Castle Town, the depth of disrepair and dilapidation occurring within a few short years shocked them all. Princess Zelda nearly wept at the utter despair of those within the formerly glorious Castle Town. Inside the ruins of the once great castle grounds, shanty towns of Gerudo and Hylians had been set up in all directions. They clustered around the former market as well as around the wells that had held up to the tough times. Based on the look of the different encampments and the flags and other pennants marking the various clusters, Castle Town had reverted to tribalism with various factions existing uneasily side-by-side. As the Council spent time wandering around to various former points of interest like the guard gate and castle gardens, they could see that all of the storehouses had long since been broken into and looted. Poorly-dug gravesites littered the various fields surrounding the main shanty towns, and crumbled walls lined the outside edges of the encampments as protection from the elements and the other tribes' encampments.
Over the next few days, they communicated with various groups. They learned that there was at least one composed only of Hylians who were castle-raised, meaning they had only known a life of privilege. Despite their relative lack of physical and mental toughness bred from a life of ease, they had the advantage to seize upon the stockpiles first and had been able to defend some amount of resources using the armor and weapons in the guards' quarters. Another group was composed of the Hylians and Gerudo who had come from Kakariko Village in the immediate aftermath of the eruption, and had stayed during the hard years out of fear of a worse fate awaiting them in Kakariko Village. This group was easiest for Impa and Princess Zelda to talk to and learn from. Upon hearing from Impa that Kakariko Village had made a moderate recovery, a mix of emotions ran through this crowd. Some felt jealousy and envy that the Village had been able to recover so well while Castle Town had stagnated and in some ways gotten worse. Others rejoiced at the thought of their abandoned family members back in the Village being able to enjoy the fruits of their labor and finding security in life, even if they themselves had none. The last group they talked to was who they were looking for - a group of Abandoners that had set out with Link a few years prior. Some recognized him as their prior comrade, but most had nothing to say.
One of the Gerudo women took kindly to Nabooru and invited her to her shanty, along with Link and Impa. She would not say why she only invited this group, but it was well known that the Gerudo were fans of the womanly strength and warrior renown of the Sheikah. The Gerudo saw the Sheikah as their Hylian relatives, so she opened up to Impa. "I recognize some of you. My guess is you have come this way seeking Ganondorf? There really is nothing else here I could imagine you looking for, Nabooru. But didn't I hear you had a spat with the Gerudo King?"
"I did," she replied.
The older Gerudo woman continued. "Well anyway, it's good to see a group like you all together and making efforts to make something of this awful mess. And you, Hylian, who dresses like Kokiri, what's your name?"
"Link," he answered her, surprised that she took an interest in him. Most people had been speaking to any of the other more well-known members of the Council. This woman was the first to acknowledge his presence. He had to admit it felt gratifying to be seen.
"I remember seeing you with Ganondorf at some point during our trip out here, did I not?"
He corrected her. "I actually never made my presence known during our travels. You see, I intended to speak with him once we settled in, for I didn't know what the trip would bring. As I was about to make my presence known, I spotted Princess Zelda and Impa escaping from the Castle. I joined them in the rebuilding of Kakariko Village on a whim, and it led to the starting of this Council. Our last piece is to reach out to Ganondorf."
She puzzled over his words with her hand on her chin. "I haven't seen him around here in at least a year. Once the group began to fracture, several of them threatened Ganondorf's life and when it was clear he could do nothing to hold things together, he and a few of his guards left for the castle ruins. You might consider checking there."
By the evening, the Council minus Ganondorf had made their decision. Tomorrow, Princess Zelda with Impa and Link as her protection would leave for the castle ruins. There, they would hope to find and convince Ganondorf that his political days were not done, and bring him into the group. After that, Link would set about mending the relations between the two Gerudo leaders as the closest to each of them.