Impa led them out of Castle Town, through some secret passage so they did not have to scale the city walls a second time. Ganon made special note of the pathway in his mind – one never knew when one might want to infiltrate a castle, after all.
Now he and Zelda walked through Hyrule Field once again, while Tri floated behind them.
"To Faron now?" asked Ganon.
"Not yet – We need to see what Impa's gift is, don't we?"
He frowned. Surely their priority should be doing anything needed to prevent Null from erasing everything. He was, however, curious to see what gift a woman like Impa would have for the princess.
"Your nursemaid is quite… intense," he said begrudgingly.
"I know," Zelda said. "Isn't she wonderful?"
He was not sure wonderful was the word he would have used. Something about Impa did feel familiar to him though, beyond that odd memory he had glimpsed when looking at her. He thought there must have been someone in his past that had taught him not to underestimate an old woman.
Tri also seemed to be unhappy that they were not heading to Faron.
"We must repair the rift there, Zelda," they said. "It is what the goddesses want us to do."
"And we will, Tri," Zelda said. "But what's to stop us from having a little fun first?"
"Fun? What is 'fun'?"
Zelda thought for a moment. "It is like… doing something only because it makes you happy."
"But…"
"Do you let the goddesses dictate your every thought?" Ganon said bluntly, who suddenly felt perfectly fine with the idea of delaying their trip to Faron, if it would make Tri (and the goddesses) uncomfortable.
Tri blinked, confused. Zelda sighed.
"Ganon could have worded that more nicely," she said. "But he has a point." She smiled fondly at Tri. "You enjoyed the stables when we visited them before – wouldn't it be nice for Ganon to see them? Surely the goddesses cannot begrudge us a detour."
Tri seemed to think very hard on this. "Alright," they said finally. "It is my purpose to help you. I will follow you, Zelda."
Zelda furrowed her brow as if she wished to say more, but seemed to think better of it, and soon he could see horses grazing in the distance. In the enclosure stood an older Hylian man, who was grooming one of the horses. When he noticed Ganon, he jumped and ran to grab a pitchfork. Zelda hurried over.
"It's alright!" she called. "He won't hurt you!"
"Ah – Princess! What…?"
"It's alright," Zelda repeated, gesturing for Ganon to approach. "He won't attack you, or the horses."
The rancher nodded slowly, though he still held tight to the pitchfork. "Is this another one of your… creations?"
"No," said Zelda. "He isn't an echo. But he isn't dangerous."
Not dangerous? Ganon let out a snarl, and was pleased to see the man jump. He snickered.
Zelda gave an exasperated look, though he thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch. "Must you?" She looked back to the rancher. "Alright, he is dangerous. But he is my companion, and he has no interest in harming you. Right, Ganon?"
She gave him an expectant look.
"Right," Ganon said, then, unable to help himself, added, "For now." He smiled when the man startled again.
"It speaks?"
"He does," Zelda said. She glanced at Ganon, crossing her arms. "And he seems to fancy himself a comedian."
"You keep strange company, Princess," the man said weakly.
"I suppose so," she said, then cleared her throat. "We were sent by Lady Impa. She said you have a gift for me?"
"Ah – yes!" Apparently surprised out of his fear of Ganon, the man suddenly looked utterly defeated. "Lady Impa gave us a horse to raise for you in secret. It is time for us to give her to you."
"But that is wonderful news! Why do you sound so sad?"
"Ah, well, Princess… the horse was taken out for exercise, and… there was a rift." He shook his head. "I am so sorry, Princess. The horse is gone."
"Ah," said Zelda. "Well, not to worry. We will have that horse back before you know it!"
"Do you often spend your time doing chores for people?"
"It is the duty of a princess to serve her people." Zelda smiled. "And is this really a chore when I am getting something out it? A horse of my own…" She sighed dreamily. "Impa is very thoughtful."
"I am surprised the Princess of Hyrule does not already have a horse," Ganon said.
"I had no need for one. I think I've said before – My father rarely let me leave town before all this. I believe he worries that I will get hurt."
"Your father is a fool, then," Ganon scoffed, then stiffened, realizing that he had inadvertently complimented her. Zelda clearly noticed; her smile became noticeably wider. (Cute, he thought again, then shoved this aside, annoyed.) Fortunately, however, she did not acknowledge it beyond a thankful nod.
"Hopefully once I defeat Null he will see that he does not need to be so protective," she said instead.
Ganon grunted, turning his face back to the road ahead so he did not have to see the brightness in her eyes as she chattered about all of the wonderful things she'd experienced since leaving the city. He felt even more flustered when she started talking about all the lovely people she'd met on her journey, and he realized that she was including him.
Ganon had gotten used to many things about the Still World – the eery purple taint to the sky, the floating pieces of land that had become turned sideways or even upside down, the unnatural, corrupted appearance of the monsters there – but he had not been prepared to find the horse suspended in air, unmoving and unbreathing. He pushed on its flank, but the horse did not move, and there was no reaction to suggest she even felt his touch.
"This is what happens to those who are trapped in the rifts," Zelda said. She touched the horse's white snout. "Poor thing," she murmured.
Ganon frowned, disturbed. "This is how you found me?"
She nodded. "You had your trident in your hand, like you were attacking something." She went into a fighting stance, mimicking him. "And you had the scariest expression on your face. But yes, you were frozen like this."
He shuddered. For some reason, the thought of not having control over his own body was deeply unsettling to him.
"We must help this animal," he said.
"Then we must find Tri's friends and mend the rift," Zelda said, and they set off.
The rift they were in was a small one, so it did not take them long to find the Tri-creatures trapped within it – one inside a monster which Ganon killed (easily), one high up on a floating piece of land which Zelda managed to reach with her echoes (the sight of her jumping through the air and landing on clouds was quite striking), one buried deep in the earth (there was one moment the ladder they were climbing snapped under his weight and Ganon worried he had gotten them stuck; Zelda had giggled at the sight of him on the ground then summoned in a strandtula which created sturdy spidersilk for them to climb) – and soon they were back in the sunlight and staring at a very skittish looking white mare, frozen no longer.
Zelda took a step towards her, but Ganon reached a hand to her shoulder, stilling her.
"You'll scare her," he murmured. "Go slowly. And from the front, so she can see you."
"Alright," Zelda said softly, and took a small step towards the horse. The horse watched her, but did not run as she approached.
"Now put out your hand," Ganon instructed. "But slowly."
Zelda obeyed, tentatively reaching out a hand for the horse to sniff. "Sweet girl," she murmured. "You are safe now."
The horse eyed her for a moment, then nudged her nose against Zelda's palm. Zelda smiled, then pet the mare's snout with one hand. With the other she took hold of the horse's bridle.
"You ought to take her back to the ranch," Ganon said. "Hopefully she is calmed enough to go with you."
Zelda nodded. She thought for a moment, then with a wave of her staff summoned a carrot, which she held out. The horse followed her more easily after that, and even allowed Ganon to approach and pet her.
"You like horses," Zelda said to him as they began walking back to the stables.
He blinked. "Yes," he said, surprised. "I do."
"And you knew how to handle her, when she was scared."
"I… suppose."
"How does a monster know about horses?"
"I…" Ganon hesitated.
Tell her, he thought. What is the harm?
"I was not always a monster," he confessed. He swallowed, nervous (Why am I nervous? he thought angrily). "Once… I was a man."
Her mouth opened slightly, then closed again. "You were a man? A Hylian?"
He frowned, trying to imagine himself like her, small and blonde, and found he could not. Then again, he could not imagine himself as anything, really.
"I don't know," he said. "Possibly."
"How did you become a monster?"
"I don't know," he grumbled. He was becoming very tired of these words.
Zelda was silent for a moment. "Alright," she said. "I believe you."
He stared at her. Somehow he had been expecting skepticism, or even laughter – a man turning into a monster sounded like something from a children's fairytale, even to him. "You do?"
"Why not? You're different from any other monster I've seen." She smiled. "Perhaps going back to the stables and spending time with the horses will help you remember something."
They returned to the stables with Zelda's new horse. The very apologetic ranch owner thanked her profusely (and then thanked Ganon when Zelda insisted that he had helped), and outfitted the horse in a saddle so that she could ride her. Now Ganon wandered among the other horses while Zelda trotted her mare around the enclosure.
He did like horses, he thought as he fed one of them a carrot. The stables owner, and other workers, still watched him nervously, but the horses at least did not seem to be perturbed by his monstrous appearance. Such powerful animals… He wished he were still able to ride them.
Eventually Zelda approached, still on horseback. "She keeps eyeing your carrots," she said. Ganon held one up for the white horse, and smiled despite himself when she nudged her nose against his hand, looking for more.
"She needs a name," Zelda said as she dismounted. "Any ideas?"
Phantom was what immediately came to his mind, but he could not bring himself to say it aloud. He shook his head.
"What about Lady?" she asked, then laughed at the disgusted look on Ganon's face. "Too stereotypical? Then perhaps Carrot, since she likes carrots."
"Absolutely not."
Zelda giggled. "You don't mind waiting here a bit longer, do you? They are going to set up hurdles so I can race."
Ganon looked wistfully to the track that ran around the horse enclosure, wishing again that his body was not so large and heavy so that he could ride. "We used to have a track for horse racing," he said. "But you also had to shoot targets while riding. I was the best at it, of course."
"Humble, aren't you?" Zelda said, then froze. "Wait – you remember that?"
He blinked. He could not remember where, or with who, but he could remember riding on his horse (he was nearly certain it was black), competing in horse archery contests. He nodded.
"Is there anything else?" When he did not answer right away, she continued, "Or any other hobbies you had?"
He furrowed his brow, thinking very hard now. All memories of his past were so fragmented, and many of them seemed filled with anger and violence. However…
"I think that… I used to like to… play music." He glared at the ground, annoyed. "But I can't… remember, properly."
Zelda tilted her head. "Well… there is one group I've met that have many talented musicians. Perhaps if you were to hear them play, it would help you remember." She grinned, leaning towards him. "When you were a man, do you think you might have had fins?"