"There used to be an instrument here," Ganondorf said, gesturing to a spot in the floor which was still marked, as though something heavy had sat there for a long time. He said a word Zelda did not recognize – a Gerudo word, she realized. "It is very similar to the Hylian organ," he clarified. "I used to play frequently."
"You play the organ?" Zelda said, skeptical. They were in a large hall that used to host performances and ceremonies, according to Ganondorf. The stone at the front of the hall was raised to make a stage.
Ganondorf smirked. "You don't believe me?"
Zelda shrugged, smiling. "To be honest, I find it hard to imagine you having hobbies that don't involve brooding and plotting."
He rolled his eyes. "I assure you I was very good."
"Humble, too."
"Humility is pathetic," he said. "If you have strengths then you should take pride in them. Anyway, I am not sure why you are surprised. You must know that there is power in music. Or rather, there is power in emotions and those things which provoke them. Tell me Princess, what do you feel when you use your magic?"
She frowned, thinking. Her power felt like a well within her, always present, and drawing upon it had always been second nature. But now that he mentioned it… "I suppose I think of everything that I want to protect," she said. "My country, my people…" She glanced at him. "And you?"
"I think of all those who have wronged me and what I would like to do to them."
Charming, Zelda thought.
"My point is that there is power in emotions, positive and negative," he said seriously. "And what else stirs the emotions like a song? Do you play anything?"
"There is a harp that has been passed through my family," she replied. "Supposedly it originally belonged to a goddess. I was given lessons as a child."
Ganondorf brought a hand to his beard, eyes narrowed. "A harp, huh… I would have thought an ocarina."
Zelda raised her eyebrows. "I'm surprised you have heard of that." She shrugged. "If the Ocarina of Time even exists, it was lost long ago."
She thought back to how Link, in the body of a wolf, would howl melodies by those strange whistling stones, and go into that strange trance afterwards. The power of music… "There is an organ in the castle," she said to him. "Perhaps I can hear you play sometime."
He smiled smugly. "Gladly, Princess."
Later, they found themselves in a hall that Ganondorf claimed used to be elaborately decorated with portraits of past kings.
"With one of you?" Zelda asked.
He nodded, straightening. "My hair was shorter then. And my ears were round," he added, reaching with one hand to touch the point of them. He scowled. "They changed because of the Triforce, I assume. Makes me look like a Hylian."
She looked at the mountain of a man in front of her, with his odd green-grey skin and thick red eyebrows that ran into the mane that was his hair, and laughed. "I assure you that nobody would ever mistake you for a Hylian." She giggled again, seeing his look of offence. "Relax, it is not a bad thing. You look powerful."
Instantly his anger faded, replaced by smugness. "I look powerful, do I?" he repeated, leaning towards her.
"Yes, well. Anyone would think so." She coughed, searching for a new topic of conversation. Turning her mind back to what he said about wall's past decorations, she frowned. "Actually, there may be a portrait of you in Hyrule Castle."
"What?"
"It is in storage for safe keeping with other artifacts that were taken after the Gerudo left the desert. I have not looked at those things in ages." She brought a hand to her forehead, trying to recall what was written about the portrait. "Historians believe it to be a portrait of the Gerudo king who betrayed Hyrule, but it is hard to tell since the face has been destroyed."
She could see him tense, his lips curling into a grimace. "Not only has Hyrule stolen my country's things, they have also damaged them?"
Zelda wished that she had not brought this up. "According to the notes in the archives," she said quietly, "it is believed that the Gerudo damaged the portrait themselves."
His mouth opened in disbelief, which quickly turned to rage. "You lie," he snarled, then paused, taking a deep breath. "I should not yell," he muttered. "It has nothing to do with you."
Her eyes widened. "Is that an apology?"
"Of course not," he said quickly. She smiled. He took her by the arm once again. "Come, Princess. I still haven't shown you my throne room."
They awoke early the next morning to carry on towards the Spirit Temple. The sun had only started to rise when they left the old fortress. Zelda paid particular attention to Ganondorf as they were departing, but any emotions he may have had about leaving his old home he kept well hidden.
According to Ganondorf and confirmed by their maps, the River of Sand was a short way from the fortress. As they rode on, Ganondorf took the lead and Zelda found herself towards the end of the group, next to Randolph.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Your Highness," he said.
"I'd like to know."
He shrugged. "I think we stand a better chance this time, with your powers. And Lord Dragmire seems to be very strong." He frowned slightly.
"You don't like him?" she asked, amused.
He shrugged. "It's not that. We shouldn't have to rely on a foreigner to protect our princess is all. Although… he is quite harsh." He winced. "Apologies, Your Highness."
"Why do you apologize?"
"Oh, I just thought… you seem fond of him," Randolph said awkwardly.
"Ah." Perhaps she should not have spent so much time alone with Ganondorf the day before. She hoped none of the other knights had come to this conclusion. She may have admitted to herself that she enjoyed the former Gerudo king's company at times, but to call herself fond of him? Laughable.
"Well, anyway," she said, changing the subject. "There is something I wanted to say to you, Randolph."
"Your Highness?"
She looked at him seriously. "If we are attacked by the Molduga and things are going poorly, I want you to take the other knights and escape."
"What! Your Highness, we could not leave you!"
Zelda shook her head. "I am being serious. I trust myself to get away, and as you said, Lord Ganondorf is strong. But I cannot focus on all of you, and I refuse to have any more blood on my hands. Promise me this."
He looked pained. "What happened before, it was not your fault, Your Highness."
Yes, it was. "You must promise me, Randolph."
He lowered his head. "Alright."
"Thank you."
Soon after this, they stood at the edge of a massive channel of quicksand which flowed nearly as though it were water. The River of Sand, what used to be the first major obstacle on the way to the Spirit Temple. These days crossing it was much easier due to the wooden bridge that had been erected across the quicksand. Or at least, it had been.
"I thought you said there was a bridge," Ganondorf said flatly.
For what was in front of them could hardly be called a bridge anymore. Large sections of the structure were missing and what remained was rotting and looked moments away from getting swept away in the sand river.
Randolph whistled softly. "The bridge was looking rough when we were here before, but nothing like this."
For the bridge to be degraded so much in such a short time could not be natural. Something, or someone, did not want people traveling to the desert.
"Looks like we'll have to cross the old way," said Ganondorf, who looked as though he found their dilemma quite entertaining.
"And what would that be?" Zelda crossed her arms.
"Special shoes, sleds, anything to distribute weight to prevent sinking." His lip curled into a smirk. "I'd have suggested to bring something like this if I hadn't been told there was a bridge."
"You don't need to look so pleased about it."
He leaned down towards her. "If I had my magic, I could fly us across," he murmured in her ear, making her shiver.
She pressed her index finger into his chest plate. "Nice try." Then she stepped away from him, turning back towards the others. "I will have to warp everyone," she declared. "Come forward. Two at a time."
Two knights stepped forward with slightly skeptical looks. Zelda held out her arms, grasping each of them by a hand. She looked across the sand river, focusing very hard on the opposing bank. She reached into the well of magic inside of her chest, thinking of how she needed to get them across if she wanted to protect Hyrule. An instant later, the soldiers disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the River of Sand. She nodded to the next two in line, beckoning them forward.
After she had teleported the knights, as well as the horses and their equipment across, it was only her and Ganondorf left to cross. She held out her hands to him, and felt the pulse of her Triforce piece when he took them. She felt her stomach lurch as she warped them. When they reappeared on the other side, Ganondorf stumbled, a hand coming to her shoulder to steady himself. When he lifted his head, his face had taken on a stronger hint of green.
"Are you alright?" Zelda asked.
"It's more nauseating when I'm not in control of it," he said roughly. He let go of her. "I'm fine."
Before she could respond, there was an explosion of movement from behind him as a group of Moldorms burst from the ground, jaws snapping. Instantly Ganondorf's sword was drawn, and he threw himself at them without hesitating. A few of the knights joined in the fight, and the monsters were defeated handily before Zelda could even ready her magic. She thought that Ganondorf had killed over half of them by himself, and when he turned back to her he gave her a savage smile.
"Glad you decided to take me along yet, Princess?"
"Get us to the Spirit Temple and then ask me that," she replied.
He snorted, then turned back to the group at large. "Welcome to the Haunted Wasteland," he announced. "We should get going before a sandstorm starts."
They did not get far before a sandstorm did start. It became increasingly difficult to see more than a few feet a front of them, let alone the way markers. Zelda had a scarf wrapped around her face, covering her mouth, and still felt like she had eaten buckets worth of sand. They were attacked by monsters multiple times – more Moldorms, Leavers, even a group of Bokoblin and Lizalfos together. There was no sign of any Molduga, although Ganondorf claimed the sand where they were walking was not deep enough for the monster to burrow under, and it was unlikely to appear until they had progressed deeper into the desert. So far he had been extremely effective in dispatching each monster that appeared. Zelda could see the confidence of the knights growing, and became increasingly glad that Ganondorf was there. She dared not tell him so; the last thing that man needed was an ego-stroking.
Eventually the storm let up somewhat and Zelda saw that they were approaching a stone structure with multiple guideposts around it.
"That marks the halfway point," Ganondorf said. "We should stop for the night here."
Zelda was happy to agree.
By the time they had set up tents, the sun had nearly set. Ganondorf volunteered to take first watch and after the knights had retired, Zelda came to lean against the stone monument next to him.
"I am going to be washing sand out of my hair for the next year," she complained.
"You shouldn't have left it down," Ganondorf said.
She grimaced, trying and failing to run a hand through its tangles. She stopped when she saw the amused look on his face.
"Are the sandstorms always this bad?" she asked. "I don't know how you managed it."
"There would be ones like this occasionally but the Haunted Wasteland is the only place it is this constant." He shook his head. "I don't think it is natural. Although," he added, narrowing his eyes. "It was worse today then I've ever seen it."
Something is trying to keep us away, she thought. When she voiced as much to Ganondorf, he nodded. "I don't like it," he said, glaring out at the desert in front of them.
"If the sand is as thick tomorrow, I'm not sure we will be able to get far." They had hardly been able to see the guideposts at multiple points and Zelda was convinced that if Ganondorf were not there, they would have gotten hopelessly lost. Another thing she neglected to tell him.
"There are other ways," he said in response to her statement. At her questioning look he gestured towards the monument they were leaning on. "You'll see," he added cryptically.
She said nothing, and he did not elaborate. They stood in silence for a time, watching the stillness of the desert. Eventually Zelda yawned.
"Go to sleep," Ganondorf said. "I can watch on my own."
She hesitated. "No, it's alright," she said quietly.
"You don't trust me." It was not a question.
"Would you, if you were me?"
He crossed his arms. "Obviously not."