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Chapter Text

On the other side of the desert lies the sea.

So he had read, but it was difficult to believe. The only way to know that such a miracle truly existed was to see it for himself, and the only way to cross the desert was underground.

Ganon trailed his fingertips across the glyph-inscribed lines running along the wall of the tunnel. When he hummed a simple melody, they glowed with a bright blue light. Symbols representing waves hovered above the racing lines that illuminated the pitch darkness. The signs would remain lit for a few minutes before fading, at which point he would reactivate them. It had taken him hours to internalize the timing, but now he refreshed the magic almost without thinking.

He had been in the tunnels beneath the desert for days. The slope of the passage he followed had been gradually rising, and lime deposits had begun to appear along the creases and corners of the walls. Ganon had no doubt that, if the material used to build this passageway were capable of oxidation, then it would have rusted away long ago.

The dusty stillness of the lower corridors had eventually given way to occasional swarms of eyeless arachnids. They were the size of rats, or larger, and he cleared them from his way with a wave of his hand and a spell that sent them flying. He did not wish to entertain speculation on how they fed themselves, but their presence was proof that he was close to the surface.

Navigation had presented no hardship. Most of the tunnels were long and straight with no branches. Ganon surmised that the grooves laid onto the otherwise flawlessly smooth floor must have once been a cradle for a set of rails, but the planks and ties had been swallowed by the aeons. Ganon's compass was strongly affected by the indentations, leading him to wonder if they themselves somehow functioned as the rail. He could find no words or melodies to stir the grooves to life, and so their nature remained unknown to him. It was not important; the original purpose of these immeasurable tunnels was nothing more than another mystery lying deep beneath the sand.

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The old maps of the desert, preserved by the dry air, had made the existence of this system of underground passageways plain, yet Ganon had spent years searching for an entrance. The dunes were forever shifting, as were the oases and the routes between them. The only constants were the mountain peaks stretching up to the cloudless sky over Fort Lanayru, but distances to all points west were difficult to measure; a road open to travel one day might be buried and untraceable the next. Every Gerudo child could read the cardinal directions by the stars and the slant of the shadows cast by the burning sun, but there was little need to venture far into the desert. It was too large, too empty, and too haunted by the ghosts left behind by the lost and forsaken.

Ganon had finally realized, after countless forays over the sand on foot and on horseback, that there was another landmark spared by the ravages of time. The Temple of Din was not marked on any of the old maps, but the site possessed great power, and it stood to reason that the current edifice had been raised over something much older.

In the caverns below the temple proper were hexagonal pillars several stories high. When touched by the right songs, these stone columns would explode with garbled and corrupted glyphs. Ganon had returned to them over and over again as a boy, trying out every spell he learned, as well as several of his own invention. It was when he finally thought to rotate the structures that passages groaned open in the rock foundation. Beyond the portals were two parallel tunnels descending into the earth. Both had steps running down their edges. A simple six-note spell was enough to illuminate their outlines and call a muddled mess of glyphs onto the walls.

Ganon had ceased making these pilgrimages to the Temple of Din with his aunts and sisters, and when he first stood at the top of the twin passageways, he had been alone. He would need to consult the elders and organize an expedition before making an earnest plunge into the darkness, but no one would begrudge him a few steps down into the cool underground air, which was strangely sweet on his nose.

The first few steps became a ten-minute climb. The illuminated lines and markings along the narrow stairs did not dim until he reached their base. In the eerie light he could see the exit of the other tunnel but not much else. He traced his fingers along the wall to the side of the doorway, whistling a few notes and searching for a catalyst to summon more of the glowing lines. When he located the trigger, zigzags of light flared along the wall before shattering into chaos and flickering back into nothingness. Ganon waited for the starbursts to clear from his eyes, thinking that whatever it was that governed the glyphs must have broken in an age long past.

He removed a small torch from his satchel and lit the oil, but its meager light illuminated nothing more than the floor at his feet, which appeared to be constructed of a dark marble foreign to the desert. Its surface was strewn with rubble upon which the dust of ages lay thickly. Kneeling, Ganon traced several glyphs within a circle and then sang the call for light, sending a bright beam upward.

What he saw was an impossibly large chamber whose crumbling ceiling was supported by pillars even more massive than those in the caverns above. Beyond these pillars were the gaping throats of even more tunnels, some of which appeared to have collapsed into themselves. At the very edge of his range of vision was a gargantuan bridge lying over a black abyss like a line of chalk drawn onto a slate. Ganon walked toward it, his footsteps echoing weakly into the darkness. The air was fresh, and he could even feel a breeze on his skin. As he drew nearer to the bridge, the faint roar of water caressed his ears. This sound stirred him so deeply that he could not resist running to the edge, only to have the seemingly solid floor crumble at his feet. He leapt back and waited for the falling debris to raise a splash. It never came.

Ganon made his way back up to the temple and rode to Fort Lanayru, the hooves of his horse flying. He wasted no time in making a report to the elders. Refusing to sit quietly through their admonishments, he cut through their objections with a curt and decisive rationalization. The next morning, his curious sisters and an assembly of spearwomen accompanied him below the temple, but his discovery was dismissed as unworthy of further exploration. There were innumerable ruins buried under the desert sand, and most were disappointingly void of utility. The matter was ultimately dropped and largely forgotten. Ganon was appointed king as tradition dictated, and his attention was soon directed elsewhere.

His chief concern was water, forever water. His people made do with very little, having learned to draw moisture from the very air, but the old wells had run dry generations ago. To make matters worse, the waters of Lake Hylia had recently become tainted and foul. The Gerudo possessed knowledge of their own secret arts, but not even magic could produce water from the arid sand. As if to mock his reign, even the showers blown over the desert by the autumn winds had turned sour.

Seeking answers in the past where none existed in the present, Ganon returned to the books and scrolls of his childhood, which once again captivated his imagination with accounts of an endless sea upon which sailed ships larger than castles. He would try the tunnels once again, as his research indicated that they stretched through the desert under thoroughfares that had disappeared beneath the smoldering sands. The musky scent of old paper was like a whispered promise delivered to him from the past, and the prospect of delving deeper into the lost world beneath the desert thrilled him.

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If the glowing writing on the walls was correct, he was close to the end of this particular route. The way forward was blocked by a cave-in, but air was sucked inward through minuscule cracks in the fallen walls. All he needed to do was reverse the flow of this current. Ganon sang to the breeze of clear skies and freedom, seducing it even as he stirred it into a state of agitation. To the earth he sang of rest and submission, relaxing and calming the stones that lay before him. He repeated the refrain of his song until he could feel the blockage thrum with potential. When he had aligned the elements to his will, he closed the chord and raised his hand. A funnel of wind rushed past him, blasting the tunnel open. On the other side of the wreckage was a small but perfect circle of light in the distance.

Beyond the tunnel was sand, and beyond the sand was the sea, a vast stretch of shining cerulean ending only at the horizon.

Ganon made his way across the dunes and stepped into the water, allowing the shallow waves to break over his boots. The wind that swept across the beach was tangy with the flavor of brine.

He dipped his fingers into the waves and then raised them to his mouth. The water tasted of salt.

Ganon's heart was heavy as he stepped away from the waterline and walked along the shore, desultorily gathering driftwood as he went. When he had accumulated enough, he crouched down and drew an interlocking set of glyphs into the sand, binding them within a circle upon which he arranged the wood. He whistled sixteen quick notes, and the small pyre burst into flame. Ganon rummaged within his satchel and withdrew a handful of dried Hyoi weed. He tossed it into the fire so that the bitter smell would anchor him. The birds hopping along the water were nothing more than common gulls, but they would suffice.

Ganon sat beside the fire and allowed his mind to drift.

Almost before he realized it, he could feel wet grains of sand underneath his scaled talons. At the rush of an incoming wave, he spread his wings and allowed the wind to lift him.

The weightlessness was exhilarating. Ganon momentarily forgot himself as he soared in circles along the rising air vortex before diving down to skim the surface of the waves. His purpose floated forward in his thoughts, so he once again rose into the sky, casting his sharp eyes over the ocean. Aside from a few emerald islands scatted along its surface like beads haphazardly sewn into an unfinished embroidery pattern, he could see nothing more than water and sand stretching without end in either direction. As he reached the edge of the range of his spirit, the smell of roasted Hyoi filled his nostrils, and he was once again rooted to the ground.

Ganon grudgingly assembled silk moisture traps within holes he scooped into the sand. He would need a store of potable water before he made his way back through the tunnels.

Although he had known full well what to expect at the far western edge of the desert, he had still dared to entertain hope. He felt its loss as keenly as he felt the thirst burning in his throat.

Ganon sat amid the dunes, watching the sun set over the sea as the salt wind rolled in over the waves. Although he was loath to admit it, this journey had been intended mainly to delay the inevitable. He was left with no other choice if he wished to restore the water needed to sustain his people – he would have to go directly to Hyrule Castle.

Chapter Text

The clouds outside the window were as gray as ash. A fog lay over the city. Thick threads of smoke bound the earth and sky together.

Princess Zelda sat at the head of a small audience chamber, wishing she had been granted the foresight to open a window. The summer air lay stagnant in the enclosed space. A smooth glass of water sweat beads of moisture onto the small table beside her.

The merchant who now commanded her presence spoke volubly on the subject of Hyrule's transit safety taxes, claiming that Gerudo bandits had attacked no caravans in recent years. Zelda had ceased to listen to him. "Gerudo bandits" had not waylaid anyone in centuries. The tax, once used to maintain patrols along the roads, was now used to maintain the roads themselves. The fact that the tax's name had not changed was merely a legal expediency left in place to protect the royal family from liability. The kings and queens of Hyrule were possessed of boundless benevolence, but their material holdings were somewhat more finite.

Zelda sighed and crossed her ankles as the man droned on. Judging from the rich embroidery covering his velvet waistcoat, the burden of taxation had not caused him to fall on hard times. Zelda took the glass of water beside her and softly hummed a few notes, forming cubes of ice. She took a long sip, signaling her drifting attention. The merchant took no notice. He would apparently speak until she silenced him.

Standing, she raised her hand to cut him off. He obeyed.

"We have heard your plea, and it was of immense interest to us. We will consider your words with utmost care. Please expect a communication from our staff within the month. We thank you for your hard work and your loyalty to the throne. Our guards will escort you out. Good day, sir."

"And a good day to you, Your Highness. I will now humbly take my leave." The merchant sneered at her, exposing his mossy teeth. Zelda looked on as he retreated from the room.

"Impa," Zelda said. A Sheikah woman her own age, wearing a man's suit of midnight blue, appeared at her side.

"I await your command."

"Two days hence I would like that man to be accosted by thieves."

"Very well, Highness." A spark glinted in Impa's eyes. "Should these thieves be Gerudo bandits?"

Zelda smirked. "Don't be ridiculous."

As Impa once again faded into the shadows behind her seat, Zelda traced her gloved finger around the rim of the water glass, making it sing. She softly sang a few notes of her own, answering it, and the condensation vanished from its surface. She raised it to her lips and then coughed violently. After bringing her hand to her mouth, she gazed at the grains of sand stuck to her fingers. Peering into the glass, she saw silt sinking to the bottom of the water. She frowned, perturbed.

Zelda signaled to the soldiers at the door. "Show in the next supplicant. We are already behind schedule."

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Late in the afternoon, after she had finally concluded her audiences, Zelda proceeded to her father's study to make her report. She found him with his Sheikah attendant, Kaepora, who was taking dictation as the king stood over a large table annotating the spread of documents before him with a wax pencil.

"My lord father," Zelda said, announcing herself.

King Gustaf immediately withdrew his attention from the task in front of him and walked to his daughter, his arms outstretched. Zelda embraced him warmly.

"How did you like that east district scoundrel of a wholesaler I sent you, eh? Did you give him the lecture he deserved?"

"Something of the sort. Although it may take a day or two to sink in, I believe he will be satisfied sooner rather than later."

"That's my girl! And what else, any news?"

"Nothing that need concern you. Although, father... I wish to make a personal request."

"Anything for you, my dear."

"Of the two dozen people I saw today, only one or two were worth my time, and I had to dismiss them without due attention so as not to inconvenience those waiting. I understand that we must make ourselves accessible to the people, but this is not efficient, as you well know. You are occupying my time merely so that my hands will not be idle, but I assure you that your concern is unfounded. Please allow me to delegate the lighter burdens so that I may shoulder heavier matters."

"None of these suits are trivial, Zelda. Because you are young and not yet queen, our subjects will say things to you that they would never voice in the presence of myself or my advisors."

"I understand that, father, but you have many eyes and ears younger and sharper than my own, as well as the experience to employ them adequately. I ask only for the latitude of using my status as befits its privilege."

The king looked away from her. "Kaepora, you may leave us," he said.

"Your Majesty." The Sheikah bowed and exited the room in a whisper of navy robes. He was more stately than Impa, but he lacked her flair for the dramatic.

King Gustaf removed his crown from his head, spinning it in a slow circle with his hands.

"My dear, if what you've requested is what you truly wish, then I may have a suitable assignment, though you might find it tests you."

"Father, please. I am past the age for tests."

"Tell me what you know of the Gerudo."

Zelda considered the question. In truth, her knowledge was nothing more than rote, and she did not understand how the king intended to direct her attention. She could come up with nothing, so she simply recited from the top of her mind.

"The Gerudo are a people who make their home along the edges of the desert lying to the west of Hyrule. They mainly reside in a settlement called Fort Lanayru, which has a population of roughly twenty thousand souls. Their true numbers are unknown, as they are spread throughout our kingdom. Within their territory is the canyon that cuts through the western mountains and the gorge on the northern shore of Lake Hylia. As a portion of the river feeding the lake passes through their domain, they have laid claim to a third of the share of its waters. The Gerudo are skilled craftspeople, and their main exports are iron, steel, and glass, which they supplement with durum wheat, fruits, spices, and precious gems. Although their state is a tributary to our own, they pay taxes indirectly through levies, and they are largely self-governing."

"It is just as you say. Tell me more about their system of governance."

"The Gerudo appear to operate according to a gerontocracy. Executive power lies with a council of seven elders, each representing a grouped set of concerns. In theory, each elder is a master of her field and has proven herself through demonstrated leadership, although the practical hierarchy may be more complex. As tradition holds that the Gerudo bear only female children, kinship and lineage are traced along different lines than those that are familiar to us. There seem to be no special distinctions of nobility."

"Ah, but there is a notable exception. And what might that be, pray tell?"

"I spoke earlier of a tradition that dictates there are only female Gerudo. Parthenogenesis is a privilege reserved for the Goddesses, so it stands to reason that the Gerudo find their partners among Hylian men. The conception of offspring from such unions must by necessity follow the patterns of the begetting of Hylian children. One might therefore deduce that only female infants return with their mothers to be raised among the Gerudo, while male infants remain with the families of their fathers. Nevertheless, the Gerudo claim that a male child is born to them once every seven generations. Should this child reach adulthood, he will become their ruler, standing above even the elders."

"And why, my clever daughter, is this of any interest to us?"

"The Gerudo currently have such a leader, who bears the name Ganondorf Dragmire. He has attended our court twice, once on his tenth birthday and once on his fifteenth."

King Gustaf interrupted her. "He has actually been presented a third time, in his twentieth year. You were not able to observe him then, as you were engaged with preparations for your own twentieth birthday. But do continue. Tell me more about Ganondorf Dragmire."

Zelda nodded. The "preparations" he spoke of had taken a heavy toll on her mind and body, and she had been allowed to distance herself from political affairs while under Impa's care and supervision.

"Father, I know almost nothing of this man. I can recall his handwriting much better than I can envision his face."

This was not entirely true. Zelda remembered him quite clearly. He had been a sullen child, nothing but skin and bones and awkwardly uncomfortable with the Hylian language. As a teenager he was not much improved, tall and lanky with wild hair and a thick accent. He had worn his clothing poorly and appeared almost malformed, slouching and uncoordinated as if he were unaccustomed to his own body. Frankly, she had found him dull, yet she remembered his two "sisters," Orris and Amaranth, quite fondly. Where he was taciturn, they were vivacious; while he was thoroughly uninterested in everything around him, they were filled with curiosity. Zelda remembered his golden eyes, and she remembered how he had refused to allow his gaze to meet her own. Thinking back, she felt a tinge of discomfort, as if there were something about her interactions with him that she hadn't caught at the time, but she allowed the feeling to pass.

"He is distant, more distant than even the Makar of the Kokiri. He is punctual and constant in his missives. By all regards he is a competent chieftain."

"But is he truly? Surely you have heard rumors."

"I have heard no rumors of him, but rather of the Gerudo. People say that they lie, and that they steal. They accost travelers, and they spirit away both men and women, children and adults. They have long known dark magic, and they can compel the monstrous creatures of the land to do their bidding. These tales are far older than Ganondorf, and they are not to be held against him."

"And yet the resonance of his name is far older than he is."

Zelda shook her head. "That is mere superstition and has no place in our kingdom."

King Gustaf placed his crown on a table underneath one of the chamber windows. Its metal was burnished and bore no traces of his fingerprints. He met his daughter's eyes, not unkindly.

"Is the power that you bear, and that your mother wielded before you, mere superstition? I have talents of my own, and I assure you that they have found a place in this kingdom."

"We are royalty, and we have ever been blessed. This has been well documented, not only in our family but in the royal families of all the tribes of Hyrule."

"What makes you think that the Gerudo, in their own way, do not have royalty?"

"Are you suggesting that the Gerudo chieftain, who by all rights is nothing more than a high-level bureaucrat in a borderland colony, is somehow an evil demon drawn from the pages of legend to lay ruin to Hyrule? Forgive me, Father, but that is preposterous."

The king sighed heavily, suddenly appearing far older than he was. "I am relieved to hear you say so. If that is the case, then you will have no objections against acting as his companion while he is at court. His messengers have conveyed a written appeal directly into my hands, and he himself will make a formal appearance tomorrow evening. I am otherwise engaged at the moment, so you will hear his suit in my stead. The economic heft of the Gerudo far outweighs their numbers, and we must dedicate our utmost care to keeping them content. If you cannot resolve the issue here within the castle, then you have my leave to travel; but please, if you value my peace of mind, take a small guard with you. In the meantime, I will have the document delivered to your study."

Zelda was intrigued. There was something her father wasn't telling her. Although she could not ascertain the source of his anxiety, he was clearly ill at ease. This assignment may indeed prove to be a test, Zelda thought, although perhaps not in the way the king had intended. If, by meeting with the man from the desert, she could ferret out the seeds of her father's apprehension, then she would do so gladly.

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Zelda sat at her father's right side on the dais at the head of Hyrule Castle's great hall, watching the nobles and courtiers slowly fill the room. She felt sick to her stomach. There was no need to hold a formal court just to announce the Gerudo chieftain, who had in any case already arrived the previous night. Zelda had drifted through the day still in the icy grasp of an uneasy dream. She could not remember what she had seen in the nightmare, but it haunted her. She sensed that it was something important. When she woke there had been sand in her bed, as if she had not shed her boots before retiring. The small magic she performed on a daily basis without thinking had all but eluded her grasp that morning, even though it encompassed nothing more strenuous than clearing the mist from her windowpanes and warming the water she used to wash her face. Her voice was shaky, and she could not find the right pitch.

She resented the cold weight of the cornet on her head and the unyielding stiffness of the throne on which she sat. The bodice of her dress was too tightly laced, and even the thin fabric of her elbow-length gloves irritated her skin. Although Zelda normally enjoyed the masquerades and intrigues of the court, on this night she would have given every jewel at her neck to be anywhere else. She imagined herself riding in the hills behind the castle under the moon, and she hoped that she could find some excuse to remove herself as soon as propriety permitted. To pass the time a bit more quickly, she quietly hummed one of her mother's old songs, tapping her index finger on the armrest.

A hush fell over the room as a herald made a sweeping gesture at the other end of the hall. In all her years at court, Zelda had rarely heard such a gathering grow so quiet. She noticed that, for such a minor call to assembly, there were an inordinately large number of people in attendance. She wondered if something interesting were going to happen, but her curiosity was gradually replaced by a sense of foreboding. The gas lamps in the room were too smoky, and her throat was bone dry. She cast a glance at her father. His face was inscrutable.

The herald spoke, his voice ringing throughout the grand hall.

"King of Hyrule, and Princess Zelda! Gentlemen, gentle ladies, and honored guests! On this most auspicious of evenings, I am pleased to announce the arrival of the esteemed leader of the Gerudo, Ganondorf Dragmire!"

The herald swept out of the entryway, and the attention of every soul in the room was directed toward the figure towering between the massive doors. Zelda sucked in her breath as the color drained from her sight.

The man wore armor of pitch black, complete with cruel clawed gauntlets. A cloak of deepest carmine spilled from his shoulders, and his mane of rust-colored hair was bound by an impossible crown of sharp wires. His eyes glowed golden. He was scowling, and she could swear his teeth were pointed. A dark and terrible sword hung at his waist, its scabbard engraved with silver diamond-shaped glyphs she had never seen before. She felt that her heart had stopped from the shock, as if she had been suddenly plunged into icy water, and she tried desperately to find her breath. Why had no one raised an alarm? This man – if it were truly a man – had obviously come prepared for war.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe. When she faced forward again, she saw someone completely different. The man walking alone toward the dais wore not armor but formal black trousers and an unadorned greatcoat. Under his smoking jacket was a black waistcoat worn over a white shirt and red cravat. His clothing was discerningly tailored to his size but out of fashion. He bore no sword or armored gauntlets, but Zelda noted that he was wearing thick fingerless gloves fashioned from dark leather. His auburn hair and beard were carefully trimmed, and a simple diadem held an amber stone on his forehead. His eyes still shone golden, however, and he was indeed scowling.

Even though her earlier vision had vanished in the blink of an eye, Zelda still could not look away. She had her own small charms and experienced occasional visitations of greater magic, but this man positively vibrated with power. It thrummed outwards from his body, almost warping the air around him. Although Zelda had encountered many people talented in the old arts, she had never seen anything like this man with her own eyes. She had no doubt that he could lay ruin to the ancient stone pillars supporting the hall's vaulted ceiling with a mere flick of his wrist.

As her initial panic subsided, Zelda began to speculate on what the source of this emissary's unusual power might be. She regarded him appraisingly. He met her eyes and then swiftly returned his gaze to the king, who rose to greet him. This was not standard protocol, but Zelda realized that, had her father not stood, then even he would have been dwarfed by this giant of a man.

She herself remained seated, listening not to the pleasantries exchanged between her father and the Gerudo chieftain but rather to the conversations that had begun to rise around the room. It seemed she was not the only person to have been overwhelmed by Ganondorf's presence.

King Gustaf turned to face her, and her attention snapped back to the tableau playing out immediately before her. Her father was smiling, but his eyes were wary.

"Allow me to present to you my daughter, the princess Zelda. I believe it has been some time since you last met."

"I am once again enchanted. Your Highness."

Zelda heard Ganondorf's voice clearly for the first time as his eyes once again met hers. Its tenor struck a chord with something inside of her, and the sensation of resonance was not entirely unpleasant. He spoke fluently and without an accent, and Zelda's mind conjured a brief image of the gawky boy she remembered. The man in front of her hardly seemed the same person. Years ago, she had to offer him her own hand, and his blush had been visible even through his dark olive skin. Now he raised his hand to her while kneeling slightly. She placed her palm in his.

As soon as his lips brushed her knuckles, her hand exploded with pain.

When she was a girl, she had enjoyed climbing the peaks of the castle's many roofs, winding her way through the towers that rose like fingers from an enormous hand. Underneath the sky she had fought imaginary dragons and befriended imaginary fairies, all the while practicing the song that would make the rain come if she were to sing it in exactly the right away. One twilight in autumn, not many days before she had met Ganondorf for the first time, she had accidentally plunged her hand into a gap between tiles, disturbing a hidden nest of wasps. The eerie touch of rotten paper was almost immediately replaced by the exquisite agony of a thousand stinging needles, driving her to madness. Had Impa not come to her aid, she might have willingly plunged from the high walls simply to end her torment. She felt the same exquisite agony race up her arm at her contact with this man, and it took all the steel at the core of her being to not scream and jerk her hand away from his face.

Ganondorf seemed to sense that something was amiss, so he dropped her hand and bowed.

She resisted her impulse to wipe her gloved hand against her dress, but only barely. She was still looking at Ganondorf, but she did not see him. What she saw instead was a fragment of her dream from the previous night. She had been trapped in an endless crystal maze of mirrors, trailing wet footprints as she ran on bloodied feet to escape a charging boar, which drew ever closer as it shattered the fragile walls surrounding her. Her head swam, and suddenly she was conscious of the grainy texture of sand in the toes of her boots.

"It is my sincere pleasure to renew our acquaintance," he said, but his words came to Zelda as through a fog.

"As it is mine," she managed to respond.

Zelda turned to the king. "My lord father, you must excuse me. I have just remembered an urgent matter. I must be away. Sir Dragmire, you have my apologies."

Although the faces of Ganondorf and her father wore twin expressions of concern, neither of them seemed particularly surprised at her abrupt announcement. Zelda registered this strange coincidence and then, with as much dignity as she could muster, left the room through a rear exit behind the dais.

As soon as the door had closed behind her, Zelda broke into a run, hoping to get to a washroom before she was sick. She only just made it.

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Afterward, while pouring water from a jar into a stone basin, the thought that she would have to face the Gerudo chieftain once more in the morning brought tears to her eyes. As she looked at her reflection on the dimly lit surface of the water, her tears dropped into the pool, distorting the image of her face.

Suddenly Impa was there, rushing to her side and wrapping her arms around her.

"It will be all right," Impa whispered. "Everything be better in the morning."

Zelda shook her head, still crying. "No, Impa, not this time. I don't think tomorrow will change anything."

"Twin of my heart, tell me what has bothered you so."

"Impa, I saw a terrible shadow behind the desert lord. I don't understand how to interpret this vision, and it frightens me."

Impa held the princess to her, stroking her back and shoulders.

"Long have the Sheikah studied means by which the truth may be glimpsed through the veil of this world, but it is still largely a mystery to us. The future seen in visions is nothing more than a place that you can journey toward, should you set your path in that direction. The Gerudo possess arts unknown even to my tribe, but they are not inherently evil. If you desire a different vision of this man, then you must shape it yourself. My princess, it is well within your power to do so."

Zelda dried her tears with her inner wrists and rested her forehead against Impa's.

"Dear heart, thank you for reminding me of my duty. I will not run from it again."

"We could just have him killed," Impa suggested wryly.

Zelda, startled, barked laughter. "Yes, for wearing that awful suit."

"He does look like something from a lithograph."

"Peace, Impa. There's no need to have him done away with, horrendous though his taste may be. But listen, there are a great many matters that this man comes bearing on his shoulders, and there are many things my father is keeping hidden. I need to draw them both out, and I think I may have a plan."

Chapter Text

Ganon was to meet with the princess in the morning, but she had yet to appear. While he waited for her, he stood at one of the great bay windows of the state room, gazing out onto the early morning fog that lay over the city like a blanket of dirty wool.

He had crossed the river into Castle City two days ago. Even before his destrier had set her hooves onto Farore Bridge, the thick stench rising from the water insinuated itself into his nostrils. The pedestrian traffic flowing through the southern gate was heavy, and he had been forced to dismount. Clockwork constructs drew loads and carried passengers as they belched black smoke into the air, and his own horse was the only animal of flesh and blood to be seen. He attracted cautious glances and hostile staring, and the crowd drew away from the horse as they did not from the machines.

Ganon intended to progress directly to the castle, but first he had to attend to an errand. If he were to present his suit to the king, he would need to be appropriately dressed. He had left Fort Lanayru wearing the standard costume of Hyrule, but he required a change of clothes, as well as a formal greatcoat. He had sent a messenger dove ahead to a clothier favored by his sisters, but when he arrived the Zora merchant had looked at him aghast. He inquired after the order, and she waved her hand in front of her face, mumbling something about having thought the measurements must have been mistaken. She disappeared behind a curtain at the back of the shop, and he could hear her castigating her tailors, transferring the blame onto them. Having nothing else to do, he ran the train of a bolt of fabric through his fingers. The cloth was rough and unnecessarily heavy. Why anyone would want to wear clothing made of such coarse material in this sweltering city was beyond him.

When he was finally able to get away, it was well past noon, so he made a detour to the east market. The cobblestones of the plaza were covered with layers of grime, on top of which converged people from every corner of Hyrule. He followed his nose to a stall run by a Deku woman whose leafy hair was bound into a luxuriant spray gathered on top of her head. He paid her for a warm vegetable turnover and, as she counted out the change with her slender wooden fingers, a boy who must have been her seedling clung to her knees and glared up at him.

"Is that a monster?" the child asked his mother in a reedy voice, never shifting his eyes away from Ganon.

"Not if you don't make him mad," the stall owner said as she dropped the rupees into Ganon's hand, careful not to touch him. She would not meet his eyes.

When he arrived at the castle he had been denied access to the king. A member of the staff shunted him into a small room filled with what looked like toy furniture and told him that he was to wait until the following day's court to present himself.

The evening had been a disaster. The Hylian king refused to speak with him beyond the usual formalities, saying that the princess would meet with him on the morrow.

And now it was already well past the appointed time, but the princess still hadn't materialized. Ganon grew tired of waiting for her and left.

He followed the faintest of winds to the back of the castle, where he found an enormous birdcage of a room partially enclosed in glass. The floor was checkered with black and white tiles. On the other side of the glass was the lush green of a garden.

Ganon paced across the floor in a state of immense agitation. The mid-morning light pooled within the ceramic floor tiles, but the room was otherwise devoid of ornamentation. Along the southern wall connecting with the main castle, several pieces of furniture had been draped with cloth that obscured their forms. He had left the room's great mahogany paneled door open lest he be accused of theft. He knew he was being watched, and he suspected it would be safer to stay in the public areas. Nevertheless, he craved space and sunlight.

The castle had become claustrophobic to him. He had passed a day of futile restlessness before the evening assembly, through which he had been paraded like an exotic horse. The murmur of voices had grown silent at his presentation, and he had felt the weight of hundreds of gazes as he entered the throne room. What had shocked him the most, however, were the eyes of the princess.

He remembered her from his visits to the castle in the company of his aunts and sisters in years past. Her hair was of the finest spun gold, her skin was unblemished by heat or illness, and her eyes were as blue as the reflection of the sky on the still surface of a cistern. The movement of her body was measured and artificial, and her laughter was pale and childish. She had been taken with Orris and Amaranth, his two sister attendants, as she was meant to. The pair had been intended to divert attention away from him, and they performed their role admirably. When he came to the castle a third time to announce himself to court upon the occasion of his coronation, the princess hadn't even crossed his field of vision. He had thought nothing of it, and later he learned that she had been called away to a ceremony of her own. He had no real connection with her, none at all, and yet the slow but steady stream of their correspondence had led him to expect something from her other than the reception he received.

As he had entered the throne room, she had stared at him with wide eyes, abject horror written plainly on every line of her face. All other sounds had faded as he heard the catch of her breath in her throat. She sat proudly in full regalia, but the subtleties of her mien betrayed the fear of a trembling child. For a brief moment he had been filled with the desire to sprint across the length of the room and shake her until that accursed look fell away. Every person in the great hall was watching him, but when the moment passed they would look again to the dais, and there they would see their princess, her eyes wide and her skin ashen. No matter how he might seem to her, she had a duty to hide such strong emotion, if not for his sake then for the benefit of those around her. The thought that this weak woman was the scion of the ruler of the nation that had beget so much trouble caused him to grind his teeth in frustration. He fixed his own gaze on the king, whom he could at least regard as an equal.

He did not look at the princess again until she had been presented to him by her father. Now she seemed politely interested, nothing more. He forced himself to smile as he greeted her. When he kissed the back of her hand, however, a white light filled his head, piercing his skull and racing down into his chest.

The initial rush of sensation was so pure as to be almost imperceptible. It was as if he had accidentally placed his hand on a sheet of metal lying quietly under the desert sun, not expecting it to burn as fiercely as fire. At first he could not comprehend the pain, but the delayed explosion of his nerves was so powerful that it threatened to swallow his entire being. Had he not experienced such scalding heat before, he was certain that he would have cried out. He beat back the flare of anguish with the brute strength of his will and grasped the princess's hand firmly in his own before lowering it slowly. Once again looking up, he saw that she was as pained as he was, and suddenly his annoyance at her was replaced by a keen interest. What he had tasted, very briefly, was great magic, perhaps even a power to rival his own. Questions rose to the tip of his tongue, and he was filled with eagerness, but she excused herself and fled.

Such a reaction was nothing if not inauspicious, and the king had made no attempt to smooth over the awkwardness. The remainder of the evening had been a tortuous affair.

Ganon's anger swelled as he continued to pace. The hard heels of the boots favored by the Hylians rang out loudly against the floor with his every footfall. This beautiful room, existing only to serve the irregular whims of the royal family and otherwise empty, was bizarrely wasteful. The entire castle was full of unused corridors and vacant chambers that served no purpose. The excesses and inefficiencies of the structure were emblematic of this country, which took such luxuries for granted.

Don't you hate them?

The whisper of an unfamiliar voice rasped at the back of Ganon's mind. He assumed it was merely his anger, and dismissed it.

And do they not feel the same way about you?

Despite himself, he realized he had not considered this question. Unintentional rudeness was to be expected, however. A portion of the fault lay with him for allowing relations with this kingdom to be conducted largely from afar.

Haven't you noticed how they treat you like an animal? Caging you within small rooms, forcing you to dress in strange clothes? You are a carnival beast provided for their amusement. Hear how your hooves click on this floor!

Ganon stopped in place. The voice continued, trailing its words through his thoughts like a knife through butter.

This land is a fruit hanging from a bloated tree. It is ripe for plucking. If someone does not wrest it from its branch, it will rot.

That was true. He had seen the rot himself. If the royal family failed to act as a proper steward...

The enormous room was deathly silent. Ganon stood motionlessly, gazing toward the garden outside the glass walls.

A sudden creak of wood echoed across the floor, and he turned to face it. The sound had come from a harpsichord hidden in the shadow of the ceiling overhang at the far end of the room. Ganon approached it, stepping onto a stage presumably meant for musicians, and stood over the delicate object. Gold leaf outlined the black keys of the layered boards and accented the baroque landscape painted on the inside of the raised lid. The carved ridges of the casing were free of dust, as were the metal wires running the length of the inner bridge. Although he had never seen an actual harpsichord before, this was clearly a fine instrument, and it was evidently well cared for.

He sat at the bench, striking several of the keys at random. The notes were clear and bright. He tapped his fingers lightly on the wooden keys, studying their layout. Once satisfied, he ran through several scales on the lower keyboard. He made mistakes but corrected himself as he continued. The pitch of the strings was somewhat higher than what he was used to, but perhaps this was deliberate. Without pausing, he began to play an étude he had learned for the hand harp as a child.

"I know that song."

Ganon spun around, nearly upsetting the bench. The princess was standing behind him. She bowed her head slightly.

"I apologize for startling you."

She had indeed startled him, and he was at a loss for words.

"I learned this melody when I was a girl. You must be playing a variation."

This statement grated at him, and Ganon found his voice once again. "With all due respect, Your Highness, this is a very old song. Perhaps your version is the variation."

"That may be the case. It would be interesting to see how our two variations fit together."

As smooth as silk, she was sitting on the bench beside him. She smelled like fresh rain.

She looked up at him. "Let's play it in your key, then. Why don't you start."

Surprised by her forwardness, Ganon did as she asked, and she joined in a few bars afterwards. The melody she played at the bottom of the keyboard, although simple, did in truth compliment his own, and he was pleased by the way the two strains came together at the end of the piece.

Zelda was equally amused. She clapped her hands playfully and smiled as she stood.

"That wasn't the best performance I've ever given," she said. "I learned this years ago on the recorder. You should have heard how I butchered it."

Despite her words, her playing had been controlled and masterful. "You have nothing to apologize for," he said.

"In that case, I must instead beg your forgiveness for my tardiness at this morning's meeting. I became mired in a number of preparations. I'd like to discuss them with you, and my staff told me I might find you here. I think we would both be more comfortable in the garden. I've asked for tea to be brought outside. Won't you join me?"

Ganon could almost feel the pressure of the castle walls dissipate. "It would be my pleasure."

Zelda held out her hand to help him to his feet. He could see the guarded apprehension in her eyes, but he took her hand anyway. There was no light, and no pain – just the soft brush of the cloth of her gloves meeting the leather of his.

▲      ▲      ▲

When Zelda said "tea in the garden," Ganon had not expected two oversized armchairs and a cherrywood table to have been set up on the lawn. A butler with rounded ears and dark hair poured from a silver carafe into two small cups of thin porcelain. After he had done so, the princess dismissed him and handed Ganon a saucer and teacup herself. His fingers would not fit through the handle, so he placed the saucer back on the table and cupped the bottom of the teacup in his palm. The princess, watching him, did the same. She seemed to be taking her cues from him, so he drank first, raising both hands to his mouth along with the cup. Zelda followed suit. She glanced at him over the curve of her hand. Her eyes were smiling.

"I'd prefer wine myself, but it's a bit too early in the morning, no?"

The woman sitting under the sun was an entirely different being than the terrified creature he had encountered in the glow of the gaslamp chandeliers the previous evening.

"Has your stay in the castle been pleasant?" she offered.

"Yes. Quite."

"And did you enjoy yourself last night?"

Ganon's mind jumped back to a tedious conversation with a Goron who had made an effort to speak to him in his own tongue while clumsily explaining that he was a scholar of the antiquated and obscure languages of Hyrule.

"The experience was illuminating."

Zelda set her cup on the table and raised the carafe to refill Ganon's. As she poured, he noticed the strong ridges running along the silhouettes of her arms. He had read that the Hylians expected softness of their women, and he reflected that it was no wonder she wore such high gloves.

"We should be alone here," she said. "You can speak freely, if you wish."

"I came to speak of Lake Hylia, not of the court."

The princess's pleasant expression did not falter. She smiled and met his eyes. "Please forgive my brazenness, but I feel that you do not trust me."

"I do not." It would do no good to prevaricate.

"And may I ask why?"

"Last night, you were as jagged as winter frost, and this morning you are as mellow as spring melt. Did I not know better, I might say that you are attempting to manipulate me."

Zelda took a sip of tea and looked out into the garden. The dew still lingered on the lawn, and the blades of grass twinkled in the morning light. The princess's circlet reflected the sun onto her face, making it seem almost as white as the clouds powdering the blue sky overhead.

"If I may be frank with you, Ganondorf," she said.

"I would expect nothing less, Princess."

"You are a man of powerful magic. I was able to sense a portion of it last night, and I was alarmed. If my own small gift is a battery, yours is a bolt from the sky."

Ganon said nothing. He had taken care to never reveal this aspect of himself to anyone in Hyrule. That she had seen him for what he was unnerved him. That she had thus understated her own magic was somehow even more troubling.

"Having such power, you have no doubt noticed that this castle is ancient and filled with its own power. Some of its mysteries are known to my family, but many are not. Sometimes it even seems to have a will of its own."

Zelda paused, but Ganon held his silence.

"To state it bluntly, the castle doesn't like you."

Ganon frowned. "Is not the will of the castle the collective will of its inhabitants?"

To his surprise, Zelda laughed. "Touché! I suppose so. But you must remember that we speak of old magic, which is capricious. There were fires in the kitchens yesterday morning. A section of the roof collapsed last night. An entire flock of drowned cuccos was found floating in the western moat."

"I fail to see how any of that applies to me."

"Regardless of what you may think of me personally, Sir Dragmire, my staff runs a tight ship. Such things simply do not happen. I might add that the king has been on edge ever since your missive arrived at the castle, as have Kaepora and Impa, our Sheikah advisors."

There were Sheikah in the castle? Ganon felt the blood drain from his face. If the situation was, for whatever reason, as tense as the princess was suggesting, he would be lucky to escape with his life. He set his teacup down with a crystalline clank and stood.

"Your Highness. I do not know why I am unwelcome here, but your message has been received. I will set out immediately."

"Right. I'll be coming with you, then." She stood. "And please, call me Zelda."

"I don't understand."

"I don't either. I haven't the slightest clue why my lord father is so troubled over a routine administrative function. We were to look over the data you brought and come to a decision. There was no need for a formal court or a formal audience. Although, to be fair, I don't see why there was any need for you to have made the journey here in person."

"The situation is dire. Perhaps you would understand if you were to see it for yourself."

"That is what I intend to do. I have made preparations for my departure from the castle, and I am ready to leave at your convenience. I would like us to travel to Lake Hylia together. If your arrival is an ill omen, I would know what it portends."

"Your Highness – "

"Zelda, please."

"Zelda, your attention is flattering, but I would like to believe that the matter at hand is more than worthy of your consideration even without fantastical omens."

"And Ganondorf, you must believe me when I say I mean no disrespect. It is simply that I can move where the king cannot, and I can see things that are hidden from his sight. I understand if you would prefer to travel alone, but I too will be on my own, and it is not in the best service of efficiency for the two of us to work toward a single goal while following two different paths."

Ganon looked down at her, noting the determination in her eyes.

He nodded. "Very well. I do not wish to linger here."

"Excellent. I will request that our horses be waiting at the west gate, and we will depart on the hour."

Ganon thought he could hear a note of excitement in the princess's voice as it passed over the word "depart," and for a brief moment she had appeared as carefree as the girl he remembered. And yet, as he followed her through the garden, he felt the dark cloud over his heart grow heavier. He could not shake the feeling that he had been trapped in a snare whose needles and wires were not yet visible.

See how she leads you with an iron leash! If she imagines she can pull you by the neck, then perhaps she can be lulled into inattentiveness.

The velvet voice once more crept into his thoughts. He meant the princess no harm, but he could not bring himself to trust her, and he would strike her down without mercy should this be her attempt to play him as a pawn. If she intended to follow him, he wanted her where he could keep his eyes on her.

Chapter Text

Ganondorf was waiting for her at the castle's west gate, an enormous black mare beside him.

Zelda led her own horse, a white stallion, to where he stood as he watched her approach. He made no comment on her riding habit and did not attempt to question her resolve but simply nodded to her. She nodded back and mounted her horse. She would need to guide him through the city. As her horse trotted forward, she heard his fall in behind her.

Although the castle moat flowed unbroken under the ramparts of the outer wall, on the other side of the white stone was a different world. While ancient trees spread their silent leaves over quiet lawns within the castle grounds, the city outside betrayed no trace of green, its townhouses jostling for space over raucous thoroughfares and narrow cobbled streets. On the road leading from the barrier gate, pedestrian traffic competed with carts and rickshaws drawn both by people and by manned constructs. It was late summer, and the heady smell of sweat and offal seemed to rise from the very paving stones themselves.

It would have been easier to depart through the castle's main gate, but doing so would have attracted undue attention. Of course, the two of them could hardly go unnoticed while mounted, and the foot traffic parted to allow them through. Thankfully, they need not use the main boulevards to leave the city. Zelda had already planned the route to Din Bridge, and she broke off from the main street onto a small lane at the earliest opportunity.

The course she intended to take was not a path she would have wished to show a visitor, winding as it did through one of the seedier neighborhoods of the industrial quarter. As the princess of Hyrule, she herself had nothing to fear from anyone or anything within Castle City, but reports had reached her ears of missing children, markets for unspeakable commodities, and young women and men left to bleed to death in alleyways. Many of the city's factories were clustered around the western river, and the lodgings of the workers flowed out from these structures until they crashed into the castle wall like a wave. What happened within the soot-stained walls of these dwellings was not for her to know. The prosperous sections of the city were illuminated with shining electricity, but in the factory district there was only the black dust of coal fires, and even the public gaslamps could not drive back the creeping yellow fog that rolled in off the river.

Zelda was no stranger to this section of the city, and she led her horse briskly from one street to another, ignoring the pale figures that lurked and skittered along the base of the canyons of brick and iron-barred glass. Zelda steeled her heart and pressed forward. A drama lay behind every wall in the city, and she did not have time to read and puzzle over every story that cried out for her attention.

She guided her horse into an alley shaded by jutting eaves and hanging laundry. They were almost free of the maze, and she could smell the river just ahead. As much as she loved her city, it would be good to be free of it.

Suddenly a small boy leapt in front of her horse. It was well trained and did not flinch, but she could hear Ganondorf rein in his mare sharply behind her. The child did not move from their path but stared up at her with eyes that were far too large for his face. Tattered gray clothing barely covered his stick-like limbs. Lank hair hung over his ashen face.

He clasped his hands in front of him, addressing her. "Please, your ladyship, spare some bread."

His eyes were dark, and the shadows to either side of him were darker. Zelda nudged the flank of her horse, directing it to walk around the boy, but Ganondorf did not follow behind her. She turned in her saddle and saw that he had not moved. He glared at her with eyes like polished flint. When he reached for his saddlebag, she made a quick decision, grabbing a ring on his mare's bridle while spurring her own horse forward. The boy dived out of the way as both horses galloped out of the alley, onto a small street, and then out into an open plaza fanning down toward the docks.

She released his horse's bridle and came to a halt.

"What were you thinking?" he roared at her. She was grateful for the noise of the dockside bustle, which swallowed his outcry.

"I could ask the same of you. Had you offered a hand to that boy, there would have been a knife at your wrist."

"Do you doubt my ability to handle one Hylian child?"

"A single child, perhaps, but the boy you saw was clearly being used as bait, starved and beaten to arouse your sympathy. Should you engage with him then you would engage his handlers, and we would not have been able to exit that alley without drawing blood."

"You do not know this."

"A child on his own would not be so thin so near the river markets."

"You have no knowledge of my horse. She could have reared against you. You could have fallen."

"I am a capable rider, Sir Dragmire, and I will thank you to follow me until we are out of the city."

She did not wait for his reply but kicked her horse forward.

They passed through the crowd and onto Din Bridge without further incident. Traffic along the passage was light, as most people on this bend of the river made their way across the water by boat. Zelda allowed her attention to wander as she traced her eyes over the massive steel cables suspending the bridge along its concrete supports. She had been present at its dedication, and it had fascinated her as a child. She had made countless drawings and models of its crossing wires, trying to achieve the perfect balance of the original.

When they were halfway across, she could make out a familiar face waiting just outside the guardhouse on the far shore. Zelda's heart sang in her chest, and she urged her horse forward.

Impa stood trim and tall in a dark indigo suit accented with fine silver pinstripes. The bowler hat she wore over her white hair was a handsome charcoal gray, as were the spats that partially covered her boots. She wore no cravat over her high collar, but a cardinal red handkerchief emerged from the breast pocket of her halfcoat like a dagger. She tapped her ebony cane, topped with a stylized silver spider, with her long and slender fingers.

Zelda dismounted and walked to Impa, leading her horse before her. Ganondorf kept his distance.

"Your Highness, I trust you were not going to depart without saying goodbye."

"I trusted that you would not allow me to leave the city without doing so."

"How far do you intend to journey?"

"I will ride until I see what needs to be seen."

"Then I pray your sight will be clear."

"And I thank you for your blessing."

Zelda stepped forward to embrace Impa. Leaning close, she whispered, "Unfortunately, I cannot watch my father while my eyes are elsewhere."

Impa drew away and kissed Zelda's hand. "I suppose you are lucky to have so many pairs of eyes," she said.

Zelda leapt onto her horse and waved as she passed through the barrier gate.

"Gerudo!" Impa called out to Ganondorf. "Make sure the princess comes to no harm, or the harm that comes to you will be tenfold."

He scowled at her. "I'll keep that in mind," he said, bucking his horse forward.

There were relatively few travelers on the far side of the bridge, but Zelda still ventured off the pavement and turned her horse southeast along the river. To her left, steam barges and small skiffs plied the water, navigating between extended docks and pontoon islands. Along the concrete embankments squatted warehouses slicked with grime and corroded by rust. Beyond them swarmed buildings of stone and brick and wood veined with twisting streets and broad avenues. Over everything towered the castle, the white marble of its walls shining under the sun.

Zelda slowed her horse to a trot, expecting Ganondorf to come to her side, but he remained behind her, frowning at the city. She circled around behind him, bringing her horse between him and the view.

"Surely you're not still troubled over the matter of the child?"

"I know a cat's paw when I see one, and I am concerned by your alacrity in jumping to conclusions."

"Let it rest."

He said nothing but urged his horse forward, ending the conversation. She kept pace with him but broke to the south well before they were within sight of Farore Bridge. The untended meadow grass came up to the knees of her horse, but she urged it into a gallop, enjoying the breeze.

A few hours after midday, they allowed the horses to rest and drink at a small pond. When they were back on their way, Ganondorf spoke to her.

"Might I ask why we're not using the roads?"

"Might I ask why you're asking?"

"This route seems needlessly circuitous."

Zelda laughed. "Is that all? I thought you might have been fearing for your safety."

He did not answer her, but she knew she had struck a nerve.

"What is it that concerns you so?"

"The Sheikah woman you spoke with on the bridge. What did you say to her?"

"I was merely bidding her farewell."

"How magnanimous of you, to show such courtesy to an assassin."

"Lord Dragmire, the Sheikah are no more assassins than the Gerudo are thieves."

"Unless I am very much mistaken, that particular Sheikah is."

"And is that so wrong? To have the use of ears and hands other than one's own? I might almost think you did not receive reports from the Gerudo women who come across the river under the cover of darkness after the bridges close."

"The accusation wounds me, but it is not your words I fear."

"Do you seriously think I have no better means to attack you than to draw you away from my castle onto neutral ground? You clearly have the advantage over me. Tell me that it is not I who should be afraid of you."

"And thus you hold me hostage. Should anything happen to you, there will be no witnesses other than ourselves, and we must both acknowledge that your word is valued more dearly than mine."

There was nothing for her to say in response, so they rode in silence.

After a few minutes passed, Zelda spoke. "When you came here, you must have taken the western trunk road, yes? Surely you noticed the construction alongside it."

"I understand your kingdom is building a set of rails, one to mirror the line to the east."

"You understand perfectly, then. Along every proposed station the workers have set up a camp, and many of these camps have become small towns in and of themselves. Already in the east people have left their farms and moved onto these settlements. In the fields constructs and machines replace the young, and who can blame them for wanting an easier life? The Goron and Zora are content to have their territories thus connected to ours, and they thrive as we do, enriching the stations along the line with their own contributions. To the west there is little but open fields stretching from Castle City to Lake Hylia, and there are precious few people to connect by train. I will admit that I sometimes wonder what purpose the new rail serves."

"You do not wish to look at it, then."

"I do not."

"If we continue in this direction, we will rejoin the trunk road by sunset."

"That is my intention. Tomorrow we will continue along the road, but for now, allow me to enjoy the open air. Should my lord father be blessed with a long reign, this may no longer be here when he steps down."

"Forgive my presumption, Princess, but your father is not the only person who occupies a throne."

"The throne is a powerful engine, but it cannot lay its own rails." She turned to him and smiled. "That's why riding is so pleasant, wouldn't you agree," she said, kicking her horse into a gallop.

▲   ▲   ▲

They met the western road once again as the sun was setting, and they continued along it until the moon had risen into the sky. Zelda suspected that Ganondorf would be more than happy to ride into the night, but she was sore and had no desire to sleep on the ground until she had recovered. She suggested that they stay at an inn, claiming concern for their horses, and he shrugged his assent.

A tavern presented itself after a deserted stretch of unpaved road lined with orchards, its windows casting light onto a gravel enclosure containing several horses, a few mules, and a kneeling tripodal construct leashed to a small generator. They stabled their own horses behind the building and, being told that they had arrived too late for the evening meal, were given dark bread and mugs of frothy soup in the kitchen. They ate while standing until the Hylian woman who managed the place caught sight of them. She recognized Zelda at once and offered to escort her discretely to her room. Zelda looked at Ganondorf. His mouth was full, and he waved her away. He seemed more concerned with his food than with her, and she felt a cold stab of spite at his casual dismissal.

"No, I think I'll stay downstairs for a bit," she said to the innkeeper, who accepted her traveling cloak and bowed deeply. Meanwhile, Ganondorf upended a flagon of mead and then thanked the woman brusquely before brushing past her into the tavern.

Zelda followed him to a curtained doorway opening on a large room with exposed rafters that rang with conversation. A Hylian in a red cape, presumably a bard, was sitting on one of the central tables and tuning a mandolin. People had already begun to gather around him. When Ganondorf entered through the kitchen, everyone turned to look at him, and a hush fell over the tavern.

"A Gerudo tribesman!" the bard shouted into the lull. "Now this is a sight you only see every hundred years. Well met, sir!"

From behind him, Zelda could see Ganondorf's shoulders stiffen. She clenched her fists. The bard no doubt earned his keep by diffusing such tense situations, but she could not be certain that his welcome was not laced with ill will. She resolved to stay hidden behind the threshold until Ganondorf had drawn the attention of the room elsewhere. He seemed to sense this, for he stepped into the crowd without looking back at her.

"Indeed, we are as rare as flowers in the desert," he announced.

The bard laughed. "You speak of desert flowers, my lord, and I recall with delight the verses of the women of Lanayru. Could you grace us with a song?"

Ganon took the bard's mandolin and sat on the table, his feet on the bench. The instrument seemed tiny in his hands, but he was able to fit his fingers neatly onto its neck. He started strumming with his index finger, hitting the base note with his thumb at the end of each bar. Although his pace was leisurely at first, he gradually increased the tempo while working his way through a standard chord progression.

He had drawn the attention of the crowd. He wasn't smiling, but Zelda could see from the relaxed set of his shoulders that he was starting to enjoy himself. "Any requests?" he asked.

"Sing us a Gerudo song!" one of the serving women yelled, a motion immediately seconded by a dozen patrons.

"A Gerudo song?" Ganondorf asked, pretending to consider. "I think I might have just the one..."

My lady love, she lead me on
A stalwart evening's chase
I followed her, I had not seen
My lovely lady's face

We ran beneath the starry skies
The moon was there to bless
My lady's skin, my lady's hair
What hid beneath her dress

My heart was pounding in my ears
And in parts left unseen
For when I caught my lady fair
Her eyes were bright and keen

Her hands were hot, my lips were wet
My clothes I soon forgot
I lay her down upon the dunes
And there I found her cock

So gather round and hear my tale
When rushing through the sand
Before you kiss your smiling girl
Make sure she's not a man

Ganondorf ended with a flourish and raised his hands as the assembled crowd cheered. He allowed a few moments of applause before passing the mandolin back to the bard and making his way to Zelda, who had taken advantage of the spectacle to weave her way into the room. The table between them was almost instantly filled with tankards of beer ordered by admirers.

"That was quite a performance," Zelda said. "Are there many such songs in your repertoire?"

"More than I would like."

"And when did you have the opportunity to learn such things?"

"My sisters have forever taunted me. I've heard far more jokes about the differences between the sexes than I care to recall," Ganondorf said, his voice flat.

"The Gerudo consider such things fit for the ears of a child?"

Ganondorf was silent for a long moment. Finally, he spoke.

"Better a child be teased by those who love him than left to starve alone."

Zelda considered him from across the table.

"I will not apologize for what you saw today. Our subjects are many, and I cannot be held accountable for every one of them."

"Is it because you hold sway over so many that the life of one does not matter?"

"They are all one within the body of the kingdom. If the body is healthy, so too will its constituent parts thrive. My duty as a ruler is to ensure the wellbeing of the nation, not of each of its citizens. Such a task would be too great for even myself."

"It appears, then, that the polity is not entirely free from disease."

"I would remind you that it is treason against the King of Hyrule to say so."

"I would remind you that I am not a subject of the King of Hyrule."

Zelda sighed, chose a mug from among those grouped on the table, and drank deeply.

"You're right, you know," she said, wiping the foam from her lips with her handkerchief, "and I've often thought the same thing myself. What good is a ruler if she cannot protect the smallest of those in her care? But it's never that simple. It's easy to build a hospital in a district where it is needed, and but it's not so easy to watch it fall into disrepair as the healers flee. Quack potion brewers step in, with mountebanks offering charms made of horn and bone to the superstitious. Where there were once only weak people, there are now those who prey on the weak, and it is as if they came at your invitation. When faced with such a complex knot of fates, how would you propose to untangle the individual strings?"

Ganondorf frowned, drawing a packet of powder from his waistcoat. He sprinkled it into one of the mugs, and the foam disappeared as the pale beer turned bright red and effervesced violently.

Zelda regarded him, her eyebrows raised.

"Hylian beer is tasteless. I am compensating for its inadequacy," he said before drinking just as deeply as Zelda had before him.

"To each his own, I suppose."

"To answer your question, if I were the King of Hyrule," Ganondorf began.

"Oh, do go on," Zelda prompted.

"I would inquire into the root cause of such matters."

"The root cause."

"I might ask myself why slums existed within contained districts of my city in the first place."

"You are not the King of Hyrule, but you are free to ask yourself such questions as often as you like. Please do let me know when you have arrived at a convenient solution to our problems, Lord Ganondorf."

"Call me Ganon."

"Excuse me?"

"'Ganondorf' is a formal title. 'Ganon' approximates a name. If you're going to educate me on sovereign policy at a roadside inn, you may as well address me by name."

"Ganon, then."

"Thank you."

The two drank without speaking, watching the bard perform at the other end of the tavern. Several people had begun to dance. Zelda rose from the table.

"You must excuse me, Sir Ganon. I've had a rough day on the road. I'd like to leave at first light tomorrow, so I fear I must retire."

"Very well, Princess. I'll be waiting for you at dawn."

Chapter Text

Ganon and Zelda sat in the shade of a cherry tree overlooking a bend in a small river, the cuffs of their pants rolled up and their feet dangling in the water. The sun was setting behind them, throwing each ripple on the river's surface into sharp contrast.

They had stopped over an hour ago to water their horses, and as they rested they had been hailed by the owner of a nearby mill, a Goron in short flannel pants and an oversized sunhat who spoke with a slight accent. Endlessly self-effacing, he said that he had recognized the princess by her horse – this was horse country, after all – and that the pasture adjacent to his mill had recently become infested with Poes. The creatures had not been content with the slaughter of the nearby cattle but had begun to range outward.

He had appealed to Zelda for the aid of the king's soldiers, and she promised him that he would have it, but she added that she had one small request of her own.

"If I send word, it will take them at least a day to arrive. Since it matters little if the notice reaches them this evening or tomorrow morning, I ask that you allow me a chance to handle the problem myself tonight."

Ganon had said nothing at the time, but he inquired into her intentions after the Goron had given them bread and wine and left them alone to shutter his mill.

"If we continue riding, we'll reach Lon shortly, but the gates will more than likely be shut for the night, and we won't be able to enter freely."

"That sounds like an excuse if I've ever heard one," Ganon responded.

"Fine. I want to go Poe hunting. Are you satisfied?"

"Immensely."

And so they sat by the river that turned the wheel of the mill, waiting for the sun to set. Zelda, kicking her foot in the water, curled her fingers and gathered the flying streams into the form of a dragon, which she sent skimming along the surface of the river before it dissipated into droplets.

She kicked her other foot into the waves and repeated the process, but this time Ganon intercepted the dragon with a small whirlwind. The water twisted into the air and broke apart. Zelda accepted the challenge and began drawing liquid snakes directly from the river, which Ganon chased with wind. He caught them all. Finally Zelda sent a squirt of water directly at him, and the gust of wind he used to deflect it almost knocked her into the river before he caught her arm. He feared she would retaliate, but the wine seemed to have mellowed her somewhat, and she simply laughed.

"You never told me what your horse's name was," she said, picking up the thread of a conversation from that morning.

"You never told me yours," he retorted. He had brushed aside this question earlier, as he had most of her attempts at conversation. And yet, sitting on the mossy riverbed with his feet in the cool water, he felt strangely relaxed.

"If you must know, it's 'Princess.'"

"Princess? Did you not notice that your horse is..."

"...a stallion? Oh, but he was always prancing and preening, and he made a much better princess than I did." She paused for a moment. "I was much younger."

Ganon smiled but said nothing.

"I expect reciprocity."

"It wouldn't be a fair exchange. Let me ask you another question to even the deal."

"I'm intrigued. By all means, ask."

"Why would Poes appear so close to Lon? This country is peaceful."

"That's a fair question. Lon is calm and quiet now, but it has not always been so. People have fought over farmland and horses, and the area has seen its share of bloodshed in the past. I am given to understand that even the Gerudo once claimed possession of this territory. Who knows, the Poes terrorizing the mill owner may just as likely have sprung from your own fallen ancestors as from mine."

"Have there been any other reports of Poes in the vicinity of Lake Hylia recently?"

"Not to my knowledge."

Ganon frowned. Poes appearing on the outskirts of Lon would indicate that the blight afflicting the lake was spreading. When they passed through the town, he would have to ask if there had been any other sightings of unusual creatures.

"And now that's three questions answered," Zelda remarked, interrupting his train of thought.

"Nightmare," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"My horse's name is 'Nightmare.'"

Zelda was silent for several seconds before busting into peals of laughter, once again kicking her feet into the water. "And you teased me," she snorted.

"I was much younger," he said.

▲      ▲      ▲

The moon had just begun to rise, and dark clouds gathered against the deep indigo of the sky. Ganon and Zelda sat on their horses with their backs to the river. Zelda, singing a refrain as clear as the starlight, drew from the air a bow coated with pearl lacquer and a handsome quiver of elegantly feathered arrows. Ganon had borrowed a massive crossbow and a set of iron bolts from the mill owner. The device had been fitted for a Goron, but he found it to be well balanced and easy to wield despite its size. He rested it against his knees as he surveyed the field for the telltale flicker of a Poe lantern.

"Since we might lose each other in the dark," Zelda said, as if she had only just considered the possibility, "I suggest we light our arrows."

She smiled in a way that Ganon didn't entirely trust, a sharp gleam in her eyes. He suspected she had not forgiven him for besting her in their game by the river, and he had no doubt that she intended to count her kills against his. Her light compound bow would give her the advantage, but his range was greater, and he had a wealth of experience hunting Poes.

Zelda fitted an arrow to her bow and hummed a rapid litany of notes, causing the arrowhead to shine out into the darkness. Ganon found this disquieting for a reason he could not quite place. He looked away from her as he removed a bolt from the canvas sling at his waist. He whispered a few words, and the arrow was engulfed in ultraviolet flames.

"Impressive," Zelda said, raising a supercilious eyebrow. A blue glow flickered over her shoulder.

"Don't move," Ganon ordered. He snapped the bolt into the crossbow, raised the apparatus to his shoulder, and fired. The sound of shattered glass burst into the night, followed by a screeching crackle. Zelda did not flinch.

"It would seem they've finally come out," she said, her eyes sparkling in the light of her arrow. "I'll ride along the river. You take the edge of the pasture."

Ganon nodded, and she kicked her horse away. He watched her for a moment before heading down the field. The Poes were no threat to him, and the princess could obviously fend for herself, yet he still felt on edge.

The twilight was quickly sinking into darkness, and the gibbous moon was almost entirely hidden by heavy clouds. The air was thick with humidity. Frogs croaked along the riverbank, and locusts buzzed from within the field grass.

From the corner of his eye Ganon could see a flash of white light, which was immediately followed by the uncanny crystalline sound of a Poe lantern shattering.

Poes carried their souls inside lanterns, and they could only be put to rest by breaking the glass that caged the flame. The open desert was filled with the wandering spirits, and he and his sisters had often hunted them for sport, but how had the princess known where to shoot?

A Poe materialized just over the fence separating the pasture from the mill. Ganon drew a bolt, imbued it with a brilliant pale flame, and shot, bringing the creature down.

A moment later, he heard another crash from across the field and twisted in his saddle to see the flare of Zelda's arrow. Even from far away, the light was garish and made his eyes water. It was all well and good to prevent the Poes from spreading, but it did not have to be done this very night, and it did not have to be done by them. Why had Zelda delayed their journey? Ganon drew another bolt.

A Poe appeared to the right, moving quickly across his path. He spurred his horse forward and shot it as it passed in front of him. A hot wind blew across the field, bringing with it the sweet fragrance of timothy. He could hear the grass rustling.

Ganon was reminded of home. The desert is dangerous at night, when the cool wind raises sheets of sand that cloak the sky. In the darkness it is possible to lose oneself entirely, perhaps on purpose. He would often ride across the dunes in these silent hours with no destination in mind, simply following the path chosen by his horse. The storms that raged across the open desert carried the sand with them, sometimes uncovering marvels from a past long forgotten, and even water was occasionally exposed, briefly shimmering under the stars.

A high-pitched tittering broke out just to his left. Ganon was too close to shoot the Poe, so he reached out and grabbed its lantern from its ghostly claw. He kicked his horse into a full gallop, and the creature attenuated into the darkness as it was separated from its soul.

He raced to the glimmer of the princess's bow. When she was in clear sight, he called out to her.

"Zelda! Pull!"

He threw the lantern in a wide arc. Without missing a beat, she shot it down at its zenith, her arrow trailing light like a comet. The glass burst, releasing a shower of bright blue sparks.

Thunder boomed through the sky as Zelda rode over and fell in beside him.

"How many did you get?" she asked.

"Three, including the one by the river."

"And I've got three, including that last one. They usually appear in groups of thirteen, yes? Do you think you're quick enough to get the rest of them before it rains?"

Ganon grunted. "I can finish this before the first flash of lightning."

"Then you'd better get going," Zelda said, whacking the rump of his horse with the feathered end of an arrow before cantering ahead of him, laughing.

▲      ▲      ▲

They broke away from the main road into Lon, cutting through pastureland and riding alongside herds of sheep and cattle. As they skirted the northern fringes of the town, a western wind blew over them, carrying the acrid smell of burning wood.

Zelda slowed her horse to a trot, and Ganon pulled up beside her. He could hear the cawing of a large murder of crows.

"Romani Ranch is not far from here," Zelda said. "I fear that something unpleasant has happened there. My lord father and I owe Ingo and Talon a great debt. I know you are keen to be on our way, but I cannot in good conscience pass by if they are in danger."

"My sisters and I owe much to them as well." Ganon squinted against the eastern sun. "I can see something on the horizon. I pray that it isn't smoke."

As he and Zelda drew closer, it became apparent that what they smelled was indeed smoke, which hovered over the ranch like a storm cloud.

"There!" Zelda shouted, gesturing toward a small figure fleeing the ranch towards Lon.

"Malon!" Ganon cried, racing toward her. He continued to call out to her until she noticed him.

When she saw him, she swiftly pulled the reins of her pony, which bucked under her in protest.

The small girl released a stream of words. "The ranch is on fire we don't know what to do it's the Keese we can't stop them we're going to lose everything and we can't get to the horses and – Princess!" Her face lit up when she saw Zelda behind Ganon. "Princess, you have to help us!"

Zelda nodded. "Ganondorf, stay with Malon. Make sure that she's safe."

"No, he can't!" Malon shook her head. "The main gate is blocked. I'll have to show you the way."

"Lead on, then," Zelda said. She reined her horse around sharply and galloped toward the ranch.

Malon soon overtook her, leading her around the outer wall and through a side gate so sharply angled as to be almost hidden. The smoke grew heavier, and Ganon wished that he were not wearing Hylian clothes, which were useless against the heat and ash.

Malon stopped behind a small barn. The frightened lowing of cows came from inside.

"I can't go any farther," she said, clearly on the verge of tears. Zelda reached out to comfort her, but Ganon continued on into the central enclosure of the ranch. Above the parade field, hundreds of Keese whirled like a black tornado as the creatures joined and left the swarm. There were Fire Keese among them, which had more than likely caused the conflagration consuming the main barn and adjoining storage sheds. The terrified screams of horses filled the air. His own horse was trembling, so he dismounted and sent it back to Malon.

Zelda approached from behind him. "Great Farore," she gasped.

"The goddess has nothing to do with this," he growled, feeling fury rise within him. The contagion of Lake Hylia had spread all the way to Lon. It would cause untold damage, and yet the king of this land would not answer his missives but had instead sent him on a fool's errand with the princess, who did nothing but delay him. He had heard no word from Fort Lanayru, but he knew it would not be long before the blight crept up the ravine as well.

The princess began the song to summon her bow, but he turned on her savagely.

"Don't you dare, woman!" he spat at her. "If you shoot at them, you'll only draw their attention!"

Without looking at him, Zelda finished the song and drew an arrow that she immediately shot over his head, felling a Keese that had been zooming toward them.

"Excuse me, you were saying?"

He glared at her, but she met his gaze, steel against rock.

He exhaled loudly and turned back to the field. "We'll need to target them all at once. I could use wind, but it would only aggravate the fire."

"Then we'll use ice," Zelda said simply. "If you can call a wind, I can chill it enough to make them fall."

Ganon shot his hand over her right shoulder, sending a ball of energy into a large Keese zooming down from above. It fell with a sickening thud. Zelda didn't blink.

"Right," she said, her voice calm. "Let's get started. You'll need to begin."

Ganon closed his eyes, envisioning the shimmer of shifting sand riding along the crest of a dune. The shining grains would be lifted in a whirlwind, which would grow until it blotted out the sky. The wind he needed was vengeful and cutting.

He began low and in a minor key, but his song rose as he called to the breeze stirred by the hot air, as angry as the scorching heat that surrounded it. The Keese began to screech as they were caught in the sudden wind. Zelda joined his song, singing of the darkest night in the deepest winter, of cold so bitter and biting that it seemed almost alive. Her song slipped in and out of his but could not find a hold, so he grabbed her hand and twined their arms. Their voices aligned, and he had a vision of himself standing with her in the middle of a vast tundra covered in ice and buffeted by whirling snow.

The Keese fell from the air, dropping down into black piles on the field. When they had all been forced from the sky, Zelda shifted into a major key, and he followed suit. The frigid wind became warm, and rain started to fall. The song reached a crescendo as thunder boomed out above the ranch.

Malon whooped with joy. She skipped over to them and leapt into the air, pumping her small fist.

"That was amazing," she crowed. "Let's go find my dads! Wait until I tell Link!"

▲      ▲      ▲

Talon and Ingo had hitched a dray horse to a cart and gone into town, leaving Zelda and Ganon to keep watch over the ranch until they returned. No livestock had been lost, but the fire damage was extensive. Malon had kept herself busy tending to the horses, directing her foster brother Link to gather cuccos. He was spectacularly bad at it. He still hadn't finished even after the cows had been calmed and herded into an outlying barn.

Link had always avoided Ganon when he visited the ranch with his clanswomen to trade for horses, and the fire had not improved his attitude. He scowled at Ganon and attached himself to Zelda, who stroked his hair and smiled at him.

Ganon had never paid Link any mind, but the way Zelda fawned on the child annoyed him. As the sun set over the charred roofs of the outer ring of stables, he leaned against a hitching post outside of the farmhouse and watched the boy chase cuccos. The birds avoided his lunges, and no wonder; his tells were obvious. When Link finally managed to get his hands on one by accident, it wiggled upside-down to claw at him, causing him to drop it in surprise. The sight was so comical that Ganon couldn't help laughing.

Link whipped his head around and made a face. "If you think you're so much better, then you catch them," he said petulantly.

"Fine, I will," Ganon said. "Come over here. Your sister asked me to bring this to you."

He held out a small bottle of milk, which Malon had retrieved from an underground icebox. It was beaded with condensation. Link stalked over and eyed it with suspicion.

"Come on, kid. It's not poison."

Link took the bottle and uncorked it, swallowing the milk in huge gulps.

Ganon watched him, waiting to make sure he didn't choke from drinking too quickly. "That's right, milk is good for you," he said. "Keep drinking it and maybe one day you'll grow strong enough for the princess to notice you."

Link bared his teeth. The white liquid had left a mustache on his upper lip. Ganon snorted laughter.

"I don't know what she's doing with an awful guy like you. You must have kidnapped her."

"Clearly that's the case. Are you going to rescue her?"

Zelda emerged from the farmhouse. Her face was freshly washed, and she had a wet towel in her hand. She walked over to Link and began to wipe his arms, which were covered in cucco scratches. "So tell me, young hero, who are you going off to rescue?"

The sight of the two of them caused something unpleasant to stir deep in Ganon's gut.

He turned towards the cuccos and raised his hands. The lot of them were launched into the air. He snapped his fingers and pointed at their pen, and the birds all flew into it in a flurry of feathers.

Ganon glanced at Link from the corner of his eye. "That's how you do it."

"You cheated."

"When Malon comes back from the stables, tell her that I'm in the kitchen."

"Do you need help?" Zelda asked.

Ganon narrowed his eyes. "Not from you two," he said, slamming the door behind him.

"All right, then," she said. "His Majesty can make a mess by himself if he wants." Link smiled at her, and she kissed his forehead.

An hour later, the four of them sat around a small fire. The inside of the farmhouse was covered in ash, so they had elected to eat outside. The ground was still damp, but the sky was clear. Ganon roasted small chunks of meat and sliced vegetables on skewers, handing them to Malon and Link as they finished cooking. The two children crouched on either side of him.

Zelda did not eat but sat slightly apart from them, attempting to tune a zither that Malon had brought from inside the house. Ganon could hear that it hadn't been played in some time, perhaps not in years, but its strings had not yet spoiled. Zelda hummed to herself as she adjusted and then readjusted the pegs, her fingers lightly tapping against the frets. Ganon had never encountered this type of zither before, and he suspected that Zelda hadn't either. He admired her skill as she sounded its strings.

The stick in Ganon's hand started to smoke, and he jerked back to attention when Link poked at his thigh with the point of a greasy skewer.

"I think it's done," Malon said. Her eyes were heavy, and her voice was soft. Ganon offered the skewer to her, but she waved it away. Link reached over his lap to grab it and immediately began gnawing at it. He seemed to be eating not out of hunger but out of sheer spite. Ganon sighed.

"Zelda," he said, raising his voice slightly. "You have a captive audience. Perhaps you would honor us with a performance."

She laid the instrument flat against her knees and stretched her fingers against each other. "Of course. Does my poor beleaguered audience have any requests?"

Malon smiled sleepily. "Could you sing a song about princesses, please?" Link nodded.

"A song about princesses?" Zelda thought for a moment. "I may know something..."

When the morning wind
Blows westward
Into the breaking dawn
The first maiden
Shows her face and
Looks straight into the sun

When the evening tides
Pull eastward
Into the open waves
The last prince climbs
On his horse and
Rides through the palisade

At the temple
Hidden deep in the forest
The first maiden calmly
Bows her head and
Leaves her arrows in the trees

At the temple
Above the rocky mountain
The last prince climbs higher
Than the cliffs and
Casts his scabbard to breeze

When the harvest moon
Climbs higher
Into the twilit sky
The first maiden
Finds her place in
A sweet autumn lullaby

When the crescent moon
Falls lower
Into the shadows long
The last prince wakes
The first maid and
Their hearts twine in vernal song

At the temple
Below the deepest waters
The wise maiden raises
Her white hands and
Throws her bow into the foam

At the temple
Buried under the desert
The brave prince stands taller
Than his fears and
Rests his sword upon the stone

When the sleeping land
Grows peaceful
The journey's just begun
For our time flows
Ever forward
And the road goes ever on

She finished the song, letting the last notes linger in the air. Link and Malon had fallen asleep on the grass. Ganon sat with his back straight. His eyes shone.

"That was beautiful," he said.

"It's a song passed down through the royal family. I learned it from my mother."

"Does it mean anything?"

"It's just a song."

"I wonder..." Ganon trailed off.

"In any case," Zelda said, setting the zither down beside her, "we're going to need to burn the Keese before morning."

"Let the kids sleep a bit longer before we carry them inside."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"I can't shake the feeling that we've done this before," Zelda said.

Ganon looked at her, his eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.

"I feel that we've met in a field before, surrounded by fire."

Ganon felt a chill pass through him. The princess's song had reminded him of certain whispered legends he had heard when he was no older than Link and Malon. The stories did not end happily, and he wished to hear no more of what the princess claimed to feel.

"I'm sure it's just your imagination," he said, standing. "We have much to do before the sun rises, and none of it pleasant."

Chapter Text

Zelda and Ganon stood on a rocky overhang along the road through the foothills of the mountains that separated the plains of Hyrule from the western desert. Lake Hylia stretched out in front of them like an open wound.

"This can't be possible," Zelda muttered.

What had once been a green basin filled with water so clear it was as turquoise as the sky was now stained the dark gray of mildew. Trees with leaves still clinging to their branches emerged crookedly from a swamp of mud. The smell of rot was faint but unmistakable.

Lake Hylia was vast, seeming to disappear into the distant mountains to the west. Zelda could not understand how so large a body of water could be so affected. Guays circled over the lake, and strange twisted shadows occasionally broke above its surface.

The sun shone down from a cloudless sky. They had ridden without stopping since dawn, but Zelda had entirely forgotten her thirst and soreness. Behind her, Ganon stood without speaking.

"How long has it been like this?" she asked.

"It wasn't this bad when I last saw it," he answered. Stepping to her side, he pointed to a cluster of buildings along the shore. "Two months ago, people still lived here. They have either fled, or..." He did not finish his sentence.

As Zelda gazed down at the small settlement, she saw a brief burst of movement. A thick line rose from behind a stone wall and snatched a low-flying guay from the sky.

She turned to Ganon. "What was that?"

He shook his head.

"What happened here?"

"Lake Hylia is the lowest point on this side of the mountains. Two rivers flow into it, the Faron," he said, pointing to the south, "and the Eldin." He gestured to the cliffs to their right. "The latter runs below Castle City, curling through the mountains to the west before emptying into the lake basin."

"I know these things. State your point."

"The waters of the Eldin come into your city as pure as snowmelt but emerge rancid and foul. This has always been the case, a natural consequence of a town built on the banks of a river. The low marshes along the western basin act as a sink trap for the effluence. Your kingdom has paved over the marshland as the city has expanded. Just as the people who live in the low-lying slums succumb to the cholera spread by the marshland insects, so is Lake Hylia is beset by the phosphates streaming down from Castle City."

"I read as much in your suit of appeal," Zelda responded curtly.

"The pollution was once manageable, but it has been spreading. I mean no disrespect, but this is a clear and direct infringement on our territorial rights."

"What would you have me do?"

"I had hoped to reach an agreement with your father."

"No agreement you reach with my father will suffice to correct this."

Zelda could hear Ganon shift his weight beside her. "I fail to understand," he said.

"An obvious solution would be to transfer the main industrial district from the western quarter of the city to the south of Eldin River, along the new rail lines. The textile and steel mills that crowd around Nayru Bridge are quickly becoming obsolete, and the residential neighborhoods are, as you so aptly put it, a cesspit. Such an arrangement is in our mutual best interests."

"However," she continued, "the miasma suffusing this lake is not the result of industrial spillage or waste runoff. There is something else afoot here. Surely you must sense it."

"Whatever the secondary cause, the primary imbalance must be rectified."

Zelda looked up at him. The midday sun glinted harshly on his diadem.

"I'm not certain the two can be so easily divided," she said. "I'm going to need to go down for a closer look."

"Princess, please – " Ganon reached out a hand after her, but she paid him no mind and continued making her way down the rocky slope leading to the shore.

The grass at the base of the hill was the dead no-color of spiderwebs, and the scattered bushes had become nothing more than bundles of twigs. The ground was soggy under Zelda's bootheels as she walked toward the mudflat lining the shore. She heard Ganon's footfalls squelching behind her, but he did not approach the waterline.

Zelda knelt close to the small waves lapping at the sand. Each left behind a thin green film. There was an abnormal concentration of algae, certainly, but it did not blanket the surface of the lake, nor had it deoxygenated the water. Nevertheless, the smell of decay was palpable.

Ganon had suggested that there were some sort of blight on the lake, and that it was spreading. This blight had affected the wild creatures in the area, causing them to attack livestock. Such things could not be explained by mere chemical analysis.

Zelda stood and turned away from the lake. "Ganon, I think – "

Her train of thought was shattered as the surface of the water erupted behind her.

Time seemed to stop. She saw, almost as a series of still frames, Ganon's eyes widen. He held his hands out to either side. Black smoke curled down into them like ink dropped into water, and suddenly he was holding two swords. His face changed.

"Cover me!" he shouted. Zelda began to run.

When she was several yards away, she drew her bow and faced the lake. An enormous centipede thrashed in the shallows, its mandibles working furiously as it lunged for Ganon. The creature struck forward relentlessly. Ganon was forced to remain constantly in motion as he dodged it. Zelda thought to shoot for its eyes, but it had none, and there were no soft points in its chitinous carapace.

A flock of guays had converged upon the fracas. One dove toward Ganon, and Zelda shot it from the air. This stirred the others into a frenzy, forcing Zelda to shoot as quickly as she could draw arrows. Oddly, the birds did not approach her but swarmed around the insect in a cacophony of caws.

The centipede reared back. Instead of running to avoid it, Ganon dashed straight for it. As its body came crashing down, he leapt higher than Zelda would have thought possible, landing on its back. He swiftly turned and thrust one of his swords into the creature's body to steady himself. Pushing off against the sword as he withdrew it, he raced forward.

Before reaching the bulbous head, he crossed his arms in front of him. As the insect began to rise, the soft connecting tissue between its armored segments was briefly exposed. Ganon flung his swords out in a wide arc, completely severing its head. He sprang up, kicked off against the falling appendage, and flew over the frothing surface of the lake. He began running as soon as his feet hit the ground to avoid the corpse that came crashing down behind him.

Zelda shot down a guay as it barreled toward him. This was her last arrow. She began sprinting up the hill. Ganon did not join her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw him cut down several birds as they dived for him. His movements were smooth and graceful. Were it not for the gore and feathers splattered around him, he might have almost seemed to be dancing.

As Zelda looked on, the flock of guays eventually dissipated.

Ganon transferred the sword in his right hand to his left and bent down to pluck the arrows from the corpses of three nearby guay before coming up the hill for Zelda. His clothing was stained so deeply with blood and lake water that it appeared black. Zelda felt a chill pass through her as she remembered her vision of him in Hyrule Castle, a furious wraith encased in obsidian armor. She did not wait for him but began to climb the slope back to their horses.

He met her at a small pool of clear water on the other side of the pass they had used to cut through the hills. Without speaking, he lay his swords on the ground. The blades were large and heavy, their hilts unadorned and roughly fashioned. To Zelda they looked like nothing so much as oversized meat cleavers.

After washing his face and hands, Ganon unbuttoned his waistcoat and submerged it in the pool, dousing it and wringing it until the water came out clear. He then used the fabric to clean his twin swords and the three arrows he had retrieved. As he passed the arrows to Zelda, she noticed that he had not removed his gloves or his blood-spattered shirt. She turned away and began walking her horse along the path.

Ganon eventually caught up to her. "What will you do now?" he asked.

"That creature did not come from our factories," she responded, deflecting the question.

"No."

"Then it came from somewhere else."

"No one could possibly know the provenance of such a monster."

"Would you like to hazard a guess?"

"I have a theory."

"Enlighten me."

"It doesn't make a great deal of rational sense."

"What we saw doesn't make rational sense."

"There is a legend..."

Ganon trailed off. He seemed to be considering his words. Zelda waited for him to continue.

"The Zora have a legend," he resumed, "of a temple lying at the bottom of the lake. This temple was supposedly built to worship an ancient sage, who was said to be able to commune with the deity of the lake, a great serpent by whose grace the water remained clean and pure. If the sanctity of the temple were violated, the deity would rise in anger, freezing her realm under a thick sheet of ice. Older legends speak of a mire swamped with reeking waters and sealed under thick thunderclouds at the behest of the deity, who sought to discourage intruders bringing with them any further contagion."

"Have you discussed this with the Zora?"

"We share the lake with them, as we do with you. They used to live on its shores."

"There may be truth in oral histories," Zelda said. "What do you make of this legend?"

"Princess, have you ever been to the western desert?"

"You are well aware that I have never paid a formal visit to your lands."

"That is not what I am asking."

Zelda smiled. "Would you not know if I crossed through the valley?"

"I have learned not to underestimate you."

"You flatter me."

"If you were to visit Fort Lanayru, you would see things that would astound you. The technologies we have recovered from beneath the sand are so wondrous as to seem almost magical. Such artifacts have been with us for centuries, but we are only now on the verge of discovering how they may be used. We have begun to fly through the air, and we are able to draw energy from the very sun."

"That sounds like the tale of a fabulist."

"As does the story of a city served by animals made of iron and clockwork that are transported upon self-propelled carriages that can race faster than even the swiftest horse."

"And what marvelous invention lies at the bottom of the lake?"

"Based on their excavations within the underground portions of the Faron River, the Zora believe that Lake Hylia may have once been an artificial reservoir. It is possible that an ancient regulation facility was indeed built somewhere in the lake, and its foundation may yet remain underwater, carved deep into the lakebed. The noxious wastewater from Castle City may have triggered something in this facility, which is responding in ways we cannot understand."

"What do the Zora make of this theory?"

"The Zora live far upriver. The Gerudo do not."

Zelda had come to expect Ganon's reticence, and she wondered if there were more information to be gleaned from the women of Fort Lanayru.

"You have given me much to think on," she said. "For now, let us ride north toward the city."

The smell of the lake clung to Zelda's clothes, and not for the first time she wished for the comforts of her castle. Although she refused to speak of it, the sight of the ruined lake had disturbed her greatly. She had felt no resonance with the water, which was strange and alien and did not respond to her magic.

Of all the horrors she had witnessed, however, the image that had burned itself into her mind was Ganon's face as he had rushed forward to confront the creature that rose from the lake. With his eyes gleaming and his mouth widening into a rictus of a smile, he had been the very image of a demon lord.

▲      ▲      ▲

In her dream she was at the bottom of a crevasse cut roughly into the ground. Trees loomed high overhead, and above them the moon was far too large. An earthen path spiraled downward around the rim of the cavity, and along that path an enormous figure was approaching. She could feel its footsteps shaking the ground. She was alone and wearing only a thin shift, and she had no sword or bow to defend herself. She could not escape. There was nowhere to run. She could feel its malice rolling down like waves. She could not see it but only sense it as it drew inexorably nearer.

A voice called her name.

She woke and saw a monstrous head before her, its hair flaming and its third eye winking darkly. No longer paralyzed, she acted immediately, sending daggers of light flying from her fingers. The beast roared and vanished from her tent. A split second later, she realized what she had done.

Zelda rushed into the night air to find Ganon clutching his face and howling like a wounded animal. Blood ran in streams from under his hands.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she pleaded, reaching out to him.

He slapped her hand away, sending his blood flying.

"You Hylian bitch!"

He glared at her, his golden irises blazing.

"Thank Nayru," she whispered, and then raised her voice. "You have not been blinded. Calm yourself, please."

She once again reached out to him, and he made as if to strike her.

"Don't touch me, you dirty royal sow. I should have killed you when – "

"I said calm down."

She pierced him with her gaze. Startled, he relented.

Zelda stepped toward him, reached up, and covered his bloody eyes with her hands. In a voice as gentle as the clouds floating through the night sky, she sang of still waters, and of calmness, and of the rush of sensation of a mountain stream.

When she finished the spell, she removed her hands and saw Ganon looking at her in wonder, the sclera of his eyes white and unblemished. She became aware of the lingering warmth of his face on her palms and realized that, as in her dream, she was not properly dressed.

"I'm going to clean my hands," she said, withdrawing to her tent

Upon emerging once more, she found Ganon sitting on a log facing a small fire. He was hunched over, polishing something with a handkerchief. It took her only a moment to realize that it was the chain of the jeweled diadem he wore on his brow. Zelda sat next to him, but he did not look at her.

"I may have overreacted earlier," he said curtly. "I am sorry."

"It is I who should apologize. You frightened me, and I acted without thinking."

"I was worried about you. You were crying in your sleep."

"I do not cry."

"Then you were snoring loud enough to wake me."

Ganon turned to her and smiled, and she snorted laughter.

His face fell. "What?"

"You have a farmer's tan. On your forehead."

"Ah. So I do."

"Do you never remove your crown? Even while you sleep?"

He frowned. "I don't see how that is any of your concern."

"Ganon, please."

He said nothing but placed the loose golden ring on top of the handkerchief so that she could see it. Its jewel gleamed in the light of the fire.

"You are no doubt aware of the rumor that Gerudo bear only female children."

"Yes," Zelda responded.

"You may have surmised that this is not strictly true."

"The thought has crossed my mind."

"Male children are born, but they are weak, and almost all die when bathed in the hot winds of the desert. If a mother wishes her boy to live past his naming day, then she will leave him with his father's family, who will either raise him or dispose of him. The latter is almost certainly more common. We thus feel it honors the child to live his first years in glory as the son of his mother rather than to spend his many years as an outcast. It is not a curse to bear a son, but it is a hard fate. Thankfully it is rare. Exceedingly rare."

He paused, and Zelda waited. Eventually he spoke again.

"There is a means by which a male child may be given a greater chance of survival. If its mother happens to die in childbirth, then it will inherit her heart stone, which will be cast into a crown. Should the boy live, and thrive, he is considered to house not one soul, but three: his own, his mother's, and that of the ancient leader of the Gerudo, Ganondorf Dragmire. He will be given the name of his ancestor; and, accordingly, he will be acknowledged as King of the Gerudo and Guardian of the Desert."

Zelda allowed a respectful silence, and then asked, "But this happens only once every seven generations?"

"'Seven generations' simply means 'a long time.'"

"What was your name before you were Ganondorf Dragmire?"

Ganon looked at her sharply.

"I don't remember," he said. His voice was empty of affect.

"I apologize. I meant no offense."

"None was taken."

A stick popped in the fire, which had almost burned down to its embers.

"The color of the gem on your crown is beautiful, but most unusual," Zelda ventured.

She paused, waiting for him to respond. He said nothing, so she continued.

"The stone in my own coronet is a cerulean zircon, and that of my father's is an olive peridot. I believe my mother's was a garnet. Members of the royal family undergo a special ritual on their twentieth birthday – or somewhat later, if they join the family by marriage. Part of the ritual is a determination of which of the three Goddesses has the strongest hand in guiding his or her life. My father, for his courage, was appointed a son of Farore. My mother, for her acumen, was celebrated as a daughter of Din. My own ceremony was particularly trying, and I fear I was only given to the care of Nayru as wishful thinking."

"Regardless of the superficiality of the custom, the crowns of my family and its scions have only borne jewels of three primary colors, perhaps in homage to the idea that we are descended directly from the Goddesses. A ridiculous notion, of course, but it has become a useful conceit. As you are a king yourself, the precious stone in your crown must surely bear its own legend."

"It is amber topaz," Ganon said. He regarded it for a moment, and then passed the handkerchief bearing it to Zelda. She took it carefully. The hues within its depths shifted and swayed in the dying light of the fire.

"Topaz is an igneous stone and forged in fire, deep underground. On might say that it is a crystalized drop of the lifeblood of the very earth itself."

Zelda caught Ganon stealing a glance at her as she admired the play of the flames over the surface of the jewel. She pretended not to notice.

"Our people tell the same tale of the creation of Hyrule as yours, but with one major difference. Our patron Goddess is Din, the builder and cultivator. In our stories, the Goddess had a familiar, or a knight of sorts, whom she appointed to guard the underground and watch over its myriad creatures. We call this guardian a 'warden.' Each Goddess had her own."

"When the Goddesses departed Hyrule, they left their wardens behind, denying them entry into the Sacred Realm so that they could continue their duties. Din's warden especially was devoted to its charge with single-minded determination. When the people from the surface began to encroach into the realm below, it lifted itself up to meet their downward force. The war between the children of the skyward warden of Nayru and the children of the earthbound warden of Din was long and terrible, and in the end both powers were sealed by the bioluminescent warden of Farore, but at a terrible cost. The children of Nayru were exiled from the surface of the earth, and the cradle of Din was blasted into a wasteland. No one knows what became of the three wardens in the aftermath of this conflict.

"A warden is not a god, and we do not worship them, but we still respect the deity who gave rise to the Gerudo. Amber Topaz is its stone, just as Amethyst is the stone of Nayru's warden and worn by the Zora."

"And so diamonds, worn by the Goron, must be the stones of Farore's warden," Zelda conjectured.

"I would assume so, but they have their own lore, of which I know little."

"I must admit that I knew nothing of any of this."

"It is not common knowledge, even among my own people."

"The stories I was told are different."

"As they would be. I believe the Hylians know Din's warden as 'The Being of Demise.'"

"And what is it called by the Gerudo?"

"Our language is an evolution of Ancient Hylian, just as yours is, but the name that has come down to us is still pure. We call it 'The Guardian of Desert,' which in Ancient Hylian is – "

"Ganondorf Dragmire," Zelda whispered.

The chained gem of Ganon's diadem, weightless when she took it, suddenly felt intolerably heavy in her hand. He seemed to sense her discomfort, for he took it from her gently and, setting the mounted stone in place against his forehead, wove the tarnished lattice through his hair and secured it. From his face it once again glinted uncannily, like a third eye slit into his flesh.

"It's almost dawn," Zelda remarked.

"We should be on our way. If we head out now and ride with the sun, by nightfall we may make it back to Lon. From there you can travel back to Castle City along the trunk road with your own guard, if you wish."

"No," Zelda said simply. "I have been troubled by dreams of disaster. I know that sounds foolish..."

"I do not think your dreams are foolish," Ganon grumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I know it sounds foolish," Zelda continued, "but I think there may be larger forces at play. I don't know what to make of a fantastical temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia, but what has happened there is unnatural. My father must know something, and he must have sent me with you for a reason."

"And what might that reason be?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps I was told nothing so that my sight would not be determined by what he wished me to see."

"What do you yourself wish to see?"

"If it's not an imposition, I wish to return with you to Gerudo Valley."

Ganon nodded. "I have considered this possibility. There are protocols that must be followed in the event of a visiting head of state, and invoking these protocols would indeed be troublesome and time consuming," he said.

"If you were to visit as my personal guest, however, I don't think it would be an imposition. If you would consent to this condition, then you are welcome in Fort Lanayru at any time your heart may be so moved."

"Let me say, then, that my heart is moved. I gratefully accept your invitation."

Ganon rose and offered his hand to Zelda. She took it and allowed herself to be lifted. The sun began to peek over the horizon, spilling pale light into the sky.

Chapter Text

A chain of mountains rose to the north of Castle City. The head of the formation was the great Eldin Volcano, and its tail swept to the west, curling around Lake Hylia. Stretching above the foothills surrounding the lake was a mesa intersected by a broad canyon. The high plateau acted as a barrier holding back the clouds that dropped water on the plains, and little moisture made its way to the far mountains fringing the vastness of the western desert. The sky over the trail known as the Gerudo Valley was bright and clear.

Ganon had shed most of the layers of his Hylian clothing, rolling his sleeves to his elbows and unbuttoning his collar. The heat of the naked sun baked into his skin. He felt dry for the first time in days.

He sensed that the princess was becoming uncomfortable, but that was her own problem. In her stubborn pride, she refused to make concessions to the arid climate. If she wished to suffer, he would let her. She would be under the care of his sisters and aunts soon enough.

The rocky hardtack of the ground reflected the glare of the sun, and there was little shade to be found. When they reached a grove of desert willows, which had been planted to mark the halfway point to the gorge crossing, Ganon signaled for them to come to a stop. As Zelda dismounted and positioned herself in the patchy shadows underneath the trees, Ganon gathered stalks of sage. The fragrance of their broken stems filled the air.

He knelt and drew three simple glyphs into the sandy dust. On top of them he built a small pyre of sage, which he set ablaze with a few words. He then plucked several hairs from his head and cast them into the fire. The smoke rose in a thin line. Within minutes, a number of crows drew near. Ganon held out his arm, and one alighted on the perch he had created.

Tell my sisters we will arrive at the bridge well before the sun touches the mountains, he said. The crow cawed, and Ganon lifted his arm, launching it upward. It flew away to the west with its fellows. He followed it with his eyes, frowning.

"I don't like the look of the sky," he announced to Zelda. "We should be going."

"The sky is as clear as crystal," she responded. "What is the danger?"

"Look to the upper rim of the mesa shelf." He pointed to the southwest. "Do you see the faint haze, the slight discoloration? That is the beginning of a sandstorm. It is distant now, but such storms can travel with murderous speed."

"Will it reach us?"

"I can only hope it does not."

Before long, the light was suffused with a sickly yellow pall, as if the heart of the day's brightness had been pulled out, leaving behind only a rude imitation. Every clop of their horses' hooves rang out like a gunshot. Ganon felt his skin tingle with a faint electric charge. The signs were unmistakable, and he could wait no longer.

"Zelda!" he called out. "Follow me to the canyon wall and dismount! Quickly!"

He raced to the edge of the rock face and leapt from his horse. As Zelda joined him he threw himself to the ground, scribbling glyphs in a circle.

"Help me!" he ordered, too preoccupied to bother with politeness. He did not know whether Zelda was familiar with this type of magic, but he trusted that she was skilled enough to understand the workings of the spell and build upon the pattern he was creating. After a brief pause, she crouched beside him and began drawing her own set of glyphs in the dirt.

When the circle was complete, he began the melodic incantation that would create an invisible wall around them. Zelda joined him almost immediately after he had sung the first note.

They had acted not a moment too soon. As a shimmer of golden light spread before them, a tsunami of bulbous black clouds spilled from the opposite edge of the canyon, and seconds later they were struck with the full force of the storm. Ganon pushed Zelda down and crouched over her, intending to shield her should the haphazardly constructed barrier crack, but the spell held. Thick waves of piercing sands flew toward them, but the inside of the circle of glyphs was calm.

Zelda sighed in relief. "I think we made it," she said. She met his eyes with her own, and he was suddenly aware of the strangeness of his position.

Ganon pulled away from Zelda and sat beside her. He looked at her appraisingly.

"You used magic to tether and calm the horses," he said.

"Of course," she answered, sitting up and linking her arms over her knees. "You were doing the heavy lifting. I had a bit of room to maneuver."

"I had not intended this to be your introduction to the desert."

"I have never seen anything like this. It is incredible."

"I had hoped you would have had the pleasure of viewing such a storm from a distance."

The world outside of their small haven was dark. A lightning bolt flashed in front of them, seeming to rise from the ground into the sky. The wind howled, but its shrieks were muffled by the workings of the magic.

Ganon waited for Zelda to begin asking questions about the storm, but she said nothing, merely watching the pitching waves of sand. A companionable silence grew between them.

Although they had been traveling for almost a week, the princess had not lost her good nature. Her face had tanned in the sun, and her travel cloak was covered in dust and singed from the fire in Lon, but she was still as beautiful as she had been in the dew-drenched castle garden on the morning of their departure. He thought back on the events of the previous night, remembering the cool comfort of her hands on his eyes.

It pleased him to have shared the story of the topaz stone he wore. It pleased him that she had offered to visit Fort Lanayru. It pleased him that he would be able to guide her through the city and show her what his people had accomplished under his rule. It pleased him that she was unfazed by the danger of the storm. It pleased him that she was sitting at his side.

"Have you ever wondered what sand is?" he asked her.

"Not particularly," she answered. "What do you mean?"

"Sand covers the desert. It lines the western shores of the Faron River. It slides down the slopes of the Eldin Volcano. It can even be found in the stable yards of your own castle. Have you ever wondered how it can be found all across Hyrule? Have you ever wondered where it comes from?"

"I assume this is not a rhetorical question."

"No," he said, scooping a handful of sand from the ground. He held out his hand, and she cupped her own underneath it. He slowly poured the grains into her gloves.

Zelda pulled her hands apart and shifted the sand from one to the other. "Sand is composed of bits of rock," she said. "As rock is worn away by wind or water, small fragments fall away and become sand."

"But how is sand different from pebbles, or clay?"

Zelda gave an exasperated laugh. "I suppose you're going to tell me."

"But of course." Ganon allowed himself a slight smile.

"Well then, don't keep me in suspense."

"Sand is an aggregate of rock fragments, each of which measures between two and one sixteenth of a millimeter. One might think it is contact with wind and water that wears down each grain, but their uniform size is actually the result of the movement of one grain against others; they wear each other down as they travel. It is only natural to think that the barrenness of sand is a result of its apparent dryness, but this is not the case. It is the constant motion of sand that renders it so inhospitable."

"Sand flows, then."

"Sand does not flow; it drifts across the earth just as clouds drift across the sky. In late summer, the overheated clouds sink down toward the blistering sand, and this is what happens when the two finally touch," he said, gesturing outside the protective circle of glyphs.

"The sandstorm is quite dramatic."

"For all its passion, the ménage of hot and cold air is brief. It will blow over in minutes."

"Do these storms never make it across the hills?"

"They do. The hot wind stirs the rain-bearing clouds and pushes them across the plains, where they shed their water."

"And the sand?"

"The sand is forever restless. It is not deposited but continues to move. All of Hyrule is covered with sand from this desert."

"And what does Hyrule give the desert in return?"

"In the fall, when temperatures drop, Hyrule's clouds grow bold and venture across the mountains. We who live here then experience a small miracle – it rains."

They lapsed again into an easy silence, and then, almost as quickly as it had begun, the storm was over. Zelda rose to her feet while Ganon knelt to brush away the glyphs they had drawn onto the ground. He felt a faint vibration under his fingertips. He waited for it to return, but the earth was still.

As they continued westward, the canyon widened into a flatland between tall hills that stood brown against the sky. The umber tones of the rocky ground transitioned into the washed-out beige of the desert prairie. The occasional Joshua tree rose above the tufts of yellow thread grass, stretching its faded needles into the pale blue sky.

Although the faint calls of desert hens came to them from across the scrub, the landscape was still. An occasional darting shadow betrayed the movements of a horned lizard or sandy hare, but they otherwise seemed to be alone in a daguerreotype. There was nothing to indicate the violent storm that had so recently passed over them.

Ganon scanned the horizon, acutely attentive to the feel of the earth under his horse. There were no earthquakes in this part of the valley, and a landslide was improbable. Only one thing could be responsible for the sort of vibration he felt earlier, but its location made no sense. Regardless, he did not wish to be once again caught unawares.

"I have a question about something you said last night," Zelda said, startling him.

"Ask whatever you like," he responded.

"You said that you should have killed me when you had the chance."

Ganon twisted his head to look at her. She did not seem to be joking.

"I don't recall saying such a thing."

"You were wounded, and speaking in anger."

"My words were harsh, but I don't remember threatening to kill you."

"You did not threaten to kill me. You said that you should have killed me. When you had the chance. When would that have been?"

Ganon could read no emotion on Zelda's face, and she spoke as if she were merely curious. He quickly replayed their conversation from the previous night, but he could find the statement she had quoted nowhere in his memory. A flicker of suggestion crossed his mind, but he pushed it aside. That had been in Hyrule Castle, and he had not been angry at her.

"Princess, you have my word as a Gerudo that I bear you no ill will."

"We have passed across the border of Hyrule. If you wish to kill me, your opportunity is upon you."

Ganon slowed his horse until it was walking side by side with hers. He noticed then that a grin played over her lips.

"Do you wish to challenge me?" he asked her. "It would be an interesting battle. I'm not entirely certain I would win."

"I'm not entirely certain you would either," she agreed. "And I cannot fathom what you could possibly stand to gain even if you did, which is why your boast struck me as odd. You don't seem given to idle threats."

"I apologize for anything I may have said in my rage. Zelda, I assure you that your wellbeing is my foremost concern. I will do anything in my power to protect you from harm."

"That's a bold statement," she remarked. "There is more harm in the world than you could possibly take responsibility for."

Her words did not seem to be directed at him, and he could think of nothing to say in response.

A faint rumbling stirred the earth. Ganon sensed it immediately. They were still several miles away from the gorge, but if they rode quickly they might make it over the crossing.

"Princess, we may be under attack." He pointed in the direction of the Twinrova Bridge. "I need you to ride as swiftly as you are able for the crossing."

"What is attacking us?"

The earth trembled again, shaking them both.

"Go!" Ganon yelled, striking Zelda's horse. It reared and lunged forward. Ganon gave it several seconds of lead time and then followed on its tail.

The vibrations intensified, and then the earth screamed as it burst open behind them. Ganon chanced a glimpse over his shoulder to see a massive Lanmola surging from a rift in the ground. Its hideously sharp legs speared the earth as it propelled itself forward. Its lower half was still submerged, but once it had emerged completely it would be quickly upon them.

He had no time for complicated spells. All he could do was to send bolts of energy behind him as he spurred his horse forward. Magic would not harm the creature but might slow it down.

Lanmola were giant arthropods that could reach more than twenty-five meters in length. They were by necessity solitary creatures with territories expanding hundreds of chains in diameter. One might occasionally stray close to Fort Lanayru or the Temple of Din, but they generally kept to themselves out in the deep desert. It was unimaginable that a Lanmola could appear on this side of the mountains, let alone on this side of the gorge.

And yet one was charging toward him, its spiny mandibles slicing the air in front of it. Ganon's magic had no effect, bouncing off its emerald carapace. His horse flew forward, but the creature was gaining on him.

His mind raced. He could splinter away from the path and lead the Lanmola deeper into the scrublands to fight it on foot, but there was no guarantee that it would not ignore him to drag his horse into the earth before making its way back to Zelda. He could ride toward it and attack it directly, but he would almost certainly have to sacrifice his horse in the attempt, and Zelda would become its next target if his initial blow did not sufficiently injure it. The only choice was to try to push it back somehow, giving them time to make the crossing.

Ganon began to sing, harmonizing with the wind that rushed against his face. If he could draw the cold upper currents down to the surface, he could create his own sandstorm, which might serve to distract the creature. As his horse dashed forward, small whirlwinds began to spin in his wake.

Perhaps sensing the subtle change in atmosphere, the Lanmola crashed ahead in a burst of speed. It would almost certainly catch him before he finished the spell. He could hear the infernally dry clicking of its legs. Resigned to the inevitable, Ganon prepared to leap from the back of his horse.

Suddenly Zelda was beside him. She spun around in her saddle, her bow tracing a silvery line before her. She had already pressed the nock of an arrow to the string. She shifted her eyes to him and smiled before drawing the bowstring and aiming straight for the Lanmola's central eye.

Ganon immediately fused his magic to the arrow. When Zelda shot, it flew true, piercing the glaring crimson eye between the pincers.

The Lanmola halted, drawing itself up into a tower of writhing appendages as its body twisted in pain.

Zelda tapped Ganon on the shoulder with her bow to catch his attention and then pointed. The eastern pillars marking the Twinrova Bridge rose ahead of them. As they raced for the crossing, Ganon could see that the bridge was beginning to draw apart. He would have to trust their horses to carry them across.

The enraged Lanmola resumed its chase, and the ground quivered with the force of its fury as the bridge drew nearer. In the corner of his eye, Ganon could see the princess leaning forward against her horse.

Then they were on the bridge, a widening gap before them, an endless chasm underneath them – and they leapt.

Time stopped, and there was nothing but the wind in his ears and a terrible sense of weightlessness. Ganon's heart beat once, twice, three times.

His horse came down on the other side. Zelda alighted beside him. A second later, a deafening boom rent the air. Zelda's horse stumbled as it continued to run, and Ganon reached out to grasp the pommel of its saddle to prevent it from careening off the bridge.

A squad of Gerudo technicians had set up two cannons on the western side of the Eldin River gorge. They cheered as Ganon and Zelda crossed between the bridge pillars. Ganon turned to see the tail of the Lanmola disappearing into the ground on the other side. Apparently they had managed to hit it with their fire.

Ganon swung himself down from his horse. He watched the approach of a woman who had rushed away from her position beside one of the cannons to meet him. She lifted her goggles to reveal eyes as golden as his, albeit adorned with quite a bit more eyeshadow.

You've been away for a fortnight, and this is the present you bring home with you? Some people have no manners, she said, speaking rapidly in the Gerudo tongue.

I thought you'd appreciate the opportunity to try out your new toys, he responded.

And don't tell me you've finally found yourself a girlfriend? Wonders never cease.

"Princess Zelda," he said, switching back to Hylian, "this is Aveil, one of the Gerudo elders."

Aveil's smile widened. I'll be damned, she said.

"You will show the princess the proper courtesy due to her station."

Zelda climbed down from her horse. No, it's fine, she said, offering a smile in return.

"It is lovely to meet you, Princess," Aveil said in heavily accented Hylian. "Welcome to the desert!"

She wiped her hand on her pants and held it out to Zelda, who, after a moment's hesitation, took it. Aveil shook her hand and grinned.

Three Gerudo approached them.

Your Majesty, their leader said as she bowed.

Ganon nodded in return. Take the horses and see that they are well cared for. We will need fresh mounts. The princess's horse may be injured.

Zelda seemed alarmed. My horse doesn't take well to other riders.

One of the women was already standing beside her horse, stroking its flank appreciatively.

This is a fine animal, she said. We'll see that he is accorded the respect he deserves. With that, she jumped into the saddle and, without touching the reins, led the horse away toward a small grouping of tents.

Will you stay the evening with us? Aveil asked.

I'd like to make it to Fort Lanayru before the end of the second watch, Ganon responded.

Aveil turned to Zelda. "Princess, we have a horse that will be suitable for the last leg of the road, but you may be tired of riding after such a chase. Would you like to fly?"

Oh, for Din's sake, Ganon muttered.

"We have a sand speeder here. Perhaps you would like to try it out?"

"What's a sand speeder?"

Aveil's eyes grew wide. "You will see! And you will like it!"

Ganon frowned. Aveil. This is not the time for your nonsense. Leave the princess alone.

Aveil waved her hand and laughed. You're just jealous that she gets to ride one and you don't.

"He is too heavy to fly," she said to Zelda.

"I'd be interested to learn what a sand speeder is, at the least."

"Fantastic! I will bring it for you!" Aveil clapped her hands in anticipation and then set off in the direction the horses had been taken.

People had begun to mill about outside the tents. Soon his sisters would come to welcome them. Although he longed to step into the cool shade of the outpost village, he was keen to return to his city with the princess. He did not move but simply stood, waiting.

"What did the elder mean when she said I would be able to fly?" Zelda asked, breaking the silence.

"She is scarcely older than you are. Please call her Aveil. She has managed to revive an ancient construct that can float a short distance above the ground. If ridden by a person as light as yourself, it can travel at approximately the same speed as a horse."

"So you will ride a horse, and I will ride a construct? That hardly seems fair."

"I am told the experience is quite enjoyable."

"I expect it will be, for me. Do you think you'll be able to keep up?"

Zelda grinned, and Ganon allowed his face to relax.

"Thank you for coming to my aid earlier," he said.

Zelda shrugged. "I will do anything in my power to protect you from harm."

Two Gerudo attendants approached them, bringing with them two carafes made of thin and beautiful glass and filled with cold water. Ganon drank deeply. Zelda sipped politely, seeming to enjoy the sight of the water just as much as its taste.

A crowd of women followed on the heels of the attendants. Ganon straightened his back and readied himself to receive them. Word spread quickly from this outpost, and it was his responsibility to ensure that the initial reports of Zelda were favorable, as well as to give his sisters in the city some sense of how his mission had fared. As people gathered around them, he began to formally introduce the princess.

In Hyrule, he was nothing more than a man who happened to be the current overseer of an outlying province. Here he was a king. He stepped back into the role as easily as one might step outside into the sunlight, and the sensation was not without satisfaction. And yet somehow he still felt as if something free and light and bright and shining had slipped away from his grasp.

Chapter Text

Zelda opened her eyes to the clear and fluid twilight that heralded the first light of dawn. The scent of the air was strange, and it took her a moment to place herself. She was in a room on the upper tier of the large complex of buildings that rose over Fort Lanayru.

The moon had already passed its zenith when she and Ganon arrived in the city, but the rooms and passages cut into the face of the mountain were blazing with light. They had been welcomed by scores of people as soon as they crossed through the main gate. Most were Gerudo, but intermingled with their brown faces and auburn hair were a number of Hylians and the occasional Goron. Zelda even caught a glimpse of a pair of Zora. Ganon's horse had been taken, and she had been helped from the sand speeder. For a moment she was almost jealous; she could not remember having ever received such a warm welcome at her own castle.

The energy of the boisterous crowd was palpable as they followed the flow through the buildings leading to the palace. Zelda was awed by the scale of the structure, which seemed to stretch up into the very heavens above her. The narrow sandy paths forming alleys between doorways were lit by hanging storm lanterns, and the fragrant smoke from incense and cooking fires floated through the air. Women leaned out of windows and over balconies to call out to them, and perhaps for the first time it came home to Zelda that Ganon was indeed the king of these lands.

The winding path emptied into a night market in an open plaza. The atmosphere was festive, and people thronged around them, passing cups into their hands. Some held water, and many did not. At one point, a Hylian man with tawny hair and bright eyes pressed a small earthenware vessel with a glazed rim directly into Zelda's palms, exclaiming that it was a pleasure to meet her. Zelda took a sip, and the rich taste and aroma of the honeyed tea flooded her senses. A few steps later, Ganon passed her a tiny cup of artfully blown glass filled with colorless alcohol. It left a citrus aftertaste on her lips.

Two large doors standing between columns bearing a portico overhang lay open before them, and when they moved across the threshold Zelda could see that the wood was finely inlaid with gold leaf, which gleamed proudly in the bright lights of the market. Her breath caught in her throat as she followed Ganon into the building. The vast chamber was as large as the audience hall of Hyrule Castle, but while her father's throne room was stark and imposing, the space before her glimmered with innumerable riches. Magnificently woven tapestries hung from the walls, and twined around the stone columns were golden vines bearing fruits and flowers made of precious gems. Ornamental trees with interlocking branches stretched out over the central passage, their leaves as bright as emeralds in the glow of gorgeous gaslight braziers.

Women streamed into the hall, their attention focused on her and Ganon. Zelda was overwhelmed by the rush of sensation, and her fatigue finally caught up with her. Stepping forward, she stumbled.

Ganon placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her. He said nothing, but his face was filled with concern.

"I would escort you to your quarters myself, but the night is long, and I have much to attend to. Please forgive me."

May you enjoy pleasant dreams under the stars, he added in Gerudo.

And may your waking be sweet and warm, she replied.

His face broke into a rare smile, and two women appeared at her side. They bowed, introducing themselves as Acacia and Mallow. They pulled her away from the main hall and into a series of passageways. She quickly lost track of the twists and turns.

She was led to a small room warmed by a stone oven. Other women entered after them bearing urns of steaming water that they poured into a deep bronze tub, its rim tinged faintly turquoise. Zelda tried to protest, but the woman named Acacia, who wore a circlet set with green beryl, laughed and assured her that bathing was normal, even in the desert. As the tub was filled, Acacia and Mallow unpinned and unbraided Zelda's hair, carefully combing it. One of the younger water bearers shyly asked if she could touch it, and Zelda offered a lock of her hair to be stroked. The girl watched it shine with wide eyes. Mallow, who wore a heartstone of unblemished pink tourmaline, chased her away before explaining to Zelda that the child had probably never come so close to a Hylian before.

With her hair down and the tub filled, Zelda expected to be left alone, but instead the two women began undressing her, passing off each item of her clothing to the waiting handmaidens. Acacia helped her climb into the bath, and then she and Mallow proceeded to wash her. Zelda had not been bathed like this since she was a young girl, but her embarrassment vanished as Mallow, who had become voluble once she realized Zelda could speak the Gerudo language, began to pepper her with questions about her journey.

"Is it true you got caught in a sandstorm?"

"Did you really fight a Lanmola with just a bow?"

"What was it like to ride a sand speeder?"

Zelda began to counter Mallow's questions with her own, and it quickly became apparent that the two women were not palace attendants but spearwomen who had weathered any number of sandstorms, Lanmolas, and speeder races of their own. When Zelda mentioned having met Aveil, they exchanged a knowing look and laughed, telling her that Aveil was known as an eccentric.

"Why did she speak in such a familiar way to the king?" Zelda asked.

"Aveil is an elder now, but she comes from one of the nomadic tribes," Mallow explained. "Although they owe allegiance to Ganondorf, he makes no attempt to restrict their movement through the desert, and he relies on them for news and occasional safe passage."

"Why would he need to go into the desert?"

"The desert is vast and impossible to map, but there are various oases, as well as numerous ruins under the sand. If you wish to know what the king seeks there, you'll have to ask him yourself."

"How many tribes are there in the desert?" Zelda asked.

"Several dozen," Acacia answered, "but none of them are larger than two or three hundred people. Most of us live here in Fort Lanayru."

Zelda ran this information through her head. She had been taught that there were only twenty thousand Gerudo in Hyrule. If what Acacia had told her was correct, then at least ten thousand Gerudo lived in the desert, and what she had seen suggested that there were several tens of thousands more in the city.

"I have a question that may seem strange," Zelda began.

"Go ahead," Mallow offered. "We're all friends here."

"If there is only one Gerudo male born every seven generations, how did there come to be so many of you?"

Mallow stared at her with wide eyes, and Acacia burst out laughing.

Mallow's face relaxed into a grin. "Only one male in seven generations? Where would you have heard such a thing?"

"It's true that Gerudo men are rare, but they do exist," she continued. "Although most are born weak, we have boys. Far to the south, where the desert meets the open plains, men are more common, and they often make the journey north with their sisters to pay their respects to our city and its women. If you will forgive me for saying this, Princess, your Hylian men are happy to pay their respects to our women as well."

"Then what is so unique about Ganondorf?"

Mallow was suddenly at a loss for words. "That's... a bit complicated."

"Come on, it's time to get you to your quarters," Acacia interjected, dumping a vase of warm water over Zelda's head.

As Zelda lay in her quilts on the low sleeping platform, watching the dawn light spread across the tiled ceiling of her room, she wondered what the two women hadn't wished to tell her. Doubtlessly they had reported to Ganon afterward, so this might not be the last she heard of it.

She sat up into the chilly air. Clothes had been left out for her, a long white tunic with loose pants cinched at the ankles and a cerulean sash embroidered with silver vines. There were no pins for her hair, so she left it loose. After she washed her face, she slipped into the flat-footed boots standing by the doorway, an oval portal surrounded by blue and gold diamond-shaped tiles. She pushed back the indigo curtain and the wicker doors and stepped into the morning.

Ganon was standing on the far side of the raised courtyard just outside her room, looking down the mountain and watching the light spread over the desert below.

The sun rises hot, she greeted him.

May it be ever at your back, he responded. "I thought you might be up early."

As she gazed at him, his face softened into a smile, and Zelda marveled that he looked like an entirely different person. He wore a black robe with a gold pattern at its fringes over a deep maroon tunic with a military collar. It was bound at his waist by a white linen sash. His beard was neatly trimmed, and his topaz diadem now hung from a golden crown that drew back his hair. He smiled and offered his hand to help her onto the stone ledge. She took it, and he lifted her to stand beside him.

She looked out over the desert, which stretched into the distance beyond the outer wall of the city. The mountain at their backs cast a shadow as the sun rose behind it, drawing a dark line over the sand.

"How large is the desert?" Zelda asked.

"Sometimes it is days long, and sometimes months. It is impossible for us to measure. Perhaps you have better records in Hyrule."

"Much has been lost to us."

Ganon seemed to consider her words before asking how she had slept. She thanked him for his courtesy, and he nodded.

"Amaranth and Orris are keen to see you again, and they will join us for breakfast. After that, my foster mothers wish to speak with you. Will you consent to meet with them?"

His words contained an odd gravity. "But of course," Zelda said.

Ganon nodded again and sighed. "So be it," he said, his smile gone.

▲     ▲     ▲

It had been ten years since Zelda had seen Amaranth and Orris. Orris now wore the same white clothing as Zelda, which she understood to be the distinction of an elder, and Amaranth had become a spearwoman, the skin of her lithe body broken by the lines of old scars. They were both as lively as ever, chatting to Zelda in fluent Hylian as Ganon looked on.

They were served flatbread garnished with roasted rosemary and truffle oil along with a mellow tea. After an easy exchange of pleasantries, Orris began asking about the eastern railroad. Her questions were mainly technical, and Zelda did her best to answer before finally inquiring after her interest.

"You wouldn't know this, since we don't correspond directly..."

"And since our brother wouldn't have thought to tell you," Amaranth interrupted.

"...but my duties as an elder concern trade with Hyrule. Imagine if we could lay a rail through the valley!"

"But wood and iron tend not to last long in the desert," Amaranth remarked.

Orris nodded. "The environment is harsh. Of course we'd love to run a branch line to the trading post at Twinrova Bridge, but it's better to know if it's even possible before we start building castles in the sand."

Zelda decided, for the moment, to disregard the implications of her offhand proposal. The two women were relaxed as they sat at the low table. Zelda was unused to sitting on the floor, and she hesitated to emulate Orris, who propped her elbows on the table, or Amaranth, who leaned back into a pile of cushions. Ganon sat with a straight back, but there was no tension on his face as he drank cup after cup of tea. If he was at ease, Zelda thought, then there was no need for her to be formal.

"The device I rode up the mountain road," she began. "It was a 'speeder,' I think? Have you ever considered using something like that? How does it work?"

"If anyone would know," Ganon cut in, "it would be Aveil."

Zelda remembered the friendly way he and Aveil had addressed each other and felt an unpleasant tightness twist in her stomach. "Did Aveil built the speeder?" she asked, knowing full well that the answer could not possibly be yes.

Amaranth shot Zelda a curious glance as Orris shook her head and laughed. "Not even Aveil can build something like that. Our august king here," she indicated Ganon with her teacup, "insists on hoarding the things he finds in the desert ruins, and Aveil has a knack for making them work. As things stand now, what we have is little more than a collection of novelties."

"How many ruins are there in the desert?" Zelda asked.

Orris shook her head. "We have no way of knowing. The sand shifts, and many are buried quite deeply. We mark what we can, and we ride out when we receive reports. Oddly enough, the Gorons are just as interested in these ruins as our brother, although they seem to be studying something other than the technology. They call themselves 'archaeologists' and claim to be students of ancient cultures. They have any number of wild theories, and personally I suspect they investigate the ruins just to amuse themselves."

"Yes," Amaranth added, "and occasionally we have to venture out to rescue them. They mistakenly believe they can eat the desert sand, which has been known to give them strange hallucinations."

"Absolutely bizarre hallucinations," Orris snorted, sharing some sort of private joke. "Anyway, there are also strange structures in the mountain mines. I believe we've had a bit more success understanding how all of that is supposed to work, but you'd have to talk to Phacelia, the elder in charge. She's also the glassmith who helps us handle exports to Hyrule."

"Aveil has also been active in the mines," Ganon remarked. "If you're interested in the old technologies she and Phacelia have revived, I could ask her to help explain."

"That's not necessary," Zelda said, surprising herself with her instant reaction to Ganon's suggestion. "How does one become an elder?" she asked, hoping to cover her embarrassment by changing the subject. "You and Aveil seem so young."

"Don't they teach you anything in Hyrule?" Orris responded, the bluntness of her words mitigated by her broad smile. She leaned forward and refilled Zelda's teacup. "You use the word 'elder' in Hylian, but the word we use for the position is chieftain, which also designates the leader of one of the nomadic tribes. You refer to our leader as a 'chieftain' subordinate to your own king, so our leader's ministers became 'elders' in Hylian at a certain point in the past to prevent confusion. No offense meant, Zelda."

"None taken," Zelda said, sipping her tea.

"Gerudo elders are masters of their fields, so generally they are older. In my own case, I am one of several women specializing in trade. There's an apprenticeship system, but there are also several rounds of voting. Aveil became an elder because she's one of the only women capable of doing what she does, and we had to invoke a few special clauses in our charter documents to elect her to her current position. There's a lot of legalese involved. It's really quite fascinating! For example – "

Amaranth reached over and put a finger against Orris's lips, silencing her. "I think," she said, smiling, "that Zelda is to meet with Astera and Orchida this morning. You can lecture her another time."

"Come," she said to Zelda as she stood. "I'll escort you."

"Have you had enough to eat?" Orris asked.

"Yes," Zelda answered, surprised. She couldn't remember the last time someone had asked her such a question. She got to her feet. Before following Amaranth into the corridor, she looked back at Ganon. Orris had already begun talking to him, but he looked up and met Zelda's eyes. He nodded slightly but did not smile. She looked away.

The passageways were cool in the morning air. The rush and wicker shutters over the windows were open. Sunlight filled the corridors, shining onto the wall carvings, which were embedded with veins of gold and mirrored glass. The bare stone of the floor had been smoothed by the passage of countless feet. The women they passed greeted them politely but continued on their way without stopping. As they walked, Amaranth explained the layout and pointed in the direction of other sections of the fortress.

When they reached a quiet area, Amaranth paused and turned to Zelda.

"I should tell you," she said, "Aveil is already spoken for."

Zelda blinked, unsure of what to make of this pronouncement. "Excuse me?"

"She and one of the Zora boys are quite taken with one another. She used to ride to Lake Hylia all the time to visit him, but it's been weeks since anyone would want to go there. Instead of returning home, he decided to stay here with us. He helps out in the greenhouses, and we're happy to have him. He's a bit young for her, but she refuses to act her age, and they make a good match."

"There are Zora here?"

"Quite a few. They come to study potions, mostly, but we occasionally get a few interested in irrigation and filtration. Aveil has tried to date most of them. We're lucky she finally – "

A crash rang out from down the corridor. Amaranth clicked her tongue. "Dealing with Aveil means dealing with her toys, unfortunately," she muttered, gesturing for Zelda to follow her. "She's been fooling around with something she calls a spinner, and it's been nothing but trouble since she brought it here."

They lifted dark purple linen curtains hanging over a doorway and entered a room lined with wooden cabinets filled with bottles. Two women wearing dark robes were standing over a strange metal object that had crashed into one of the cabinets, spilling shattered glass all over the floor.

You stupid old bat, one of them said, rapping her knuckles against the skull of the other. If you weren't always so clumsy, I'd say you did this on purpose.

The other woman cackled and kicked at the object, sending it spinning into the air, where it hovered in place.

Amaranth cleared her throat, and the two women spun around.

It's Zelda, one said. She clapped her hands and the glass disappeared from the floor, rearranging itself back onto the cabinet as if it had never been disturbed.

The princess came to visit, the other exclaimed. She threw her hand out in a sweeping motion, and floor cushions appeared around a low table that sat under a tapestry depicting a stylized representation of the legendary Twinrova.

Amaranth bowed at the waist. Great mothers, I have brought the Princess Zelda, and now I will take my leave.

The pair laughed in unison and disappeared in two puffs of black smoke before reappearing at the table.

"Silly child," one of the women said in unaccented Hylian. "There's no need to be so formal with us. You're just putting on airs in front of company."

"Be a dear and go get the boy," the other smiled, shooing her away with a small gesture.

Amaranth rolled her eyes and ducked out of the room, leaving Zelda behind.

Great mothers, I thank you for the hospitality you have shown me. I am honored to find myself in your prescence.

Such pretty words, one said.

And such a pretty face, the other responded.

"There's no need to be so formal," the first said to Zelda in Hylian. "And we haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Astera, the High Sorceress of the Gerudo."

"I'm Orchida, and I'm the High Sorceress of the Gerudo."

"Which should tell you just how much stock anyone puts in a title like 'High Sorceress,'" Astera explained. "It's rather outdated."

Speak for yourself, granny, Orchida muttered. She tapped the surface of the table several times, and a glass vial filled with steaming black liquid appeared, along with three beautifully glazed cups. "But magic is what we do, among other things. Coffee?"

Astera poured for the three of them. "So you came because of Lake Hylia, eh? The young ones are up in arms about it, but that lake's been polluted before."

"Happens about once every sixty years, I'd say," Orchida commented.

Astera nodded. "It's more trouble for the Zora and the shore dwellers than it is for us. Having that amount of water nearby is a blessing, to be sure, but we get most of what we need from the mountains and the seasonal rains."

"Of course," Orchida added, "you should still clean up your filthy river, but that's on your own shoulders and none of our business."

"Come now, don't tease the princess; she just got here," Astera said, swatting at her before returning her attention to Zelda. "What Orchida means is that Fort Lanayru is largely self-sufficient. We manage our water carefully, as you might imagine. The Goron and the Zora have come to learn from our methods, and we're pleased to finally have a guest from Castle City. Our hot-headed son may have gotten himself worked up over that business at Lake Hylia, but it's not the crisis he makes it out to be. Don't let him make you feel like you have an agenda for visiting us here. My sister is a water witch – "

"I prefer 'enchantress.'"

" – and she can introduce you to her people, who will show you how we thrive in the desert. I am a fire witch, and I will introduce you to my people, who will show you how we manufacture the bones of civilization from the riches of the earth."

"Drink your coffee before it gets cold, dear," Orchida smiled at Zelda, who did as she was told. It was deliciously bitter and spiced with nutmeg.

"The power we Gerudo have been blessed with was granted to us by Din, the goddess of the burning sun. Everything on this earth, from water to ore to the desert sand, is limited, but the sun will never stop shining. Unfortunately for you, your lovely fair skin is no match for the goddess's glare, so make sure you wear this salve on your face and ears, or you'll boil like a lobster."

Astera ended her words on an expectant note, but nothing happened, so she poked Orchida in the ribs and cleared her throat.

Oh, right, Orchida mumbled, and produced a jar from the folds of her robe. She opened the lid, and a faint smell of aloe drifted into the air. Zelda was surprised when the woman leaned over began to dab it on her face, but her touch was not unpleasant.

"And there is one other thing," Astera said. She flicked her wrist, and the reed blinds covering a row of small overhead windows on either side of the Twinrova tapestry snapped up, allowing rays of sunlight into the room. One fell directly onto the table. "The boy didn't want us to discuss this with you, but the two of us agree it would be better if you knew."

"He pitched a fit," Orchida confided to Zelda, grinning. "He was adorable."

"Acacia mentioned to us last night that you seemed surprised that male Gerudo exist."

"And that there are so many of us!" Orchida slapped her hand on the table, laughing.

Astera shot her a sharp glance. Don't tease the princess, I said!

"She told us that Mallow explained the truth of the matter to you, but there's a bit more to the story. The 'one male every seven generations' thing is merely a figure of speech, of course. In the south, where our women mix freely with the horseriders of the plains, male children are more common, and most survive past infancy. Here in the north, where the climate is harsher, male children are both weak and exceedingly rare. If a boy's father is Hylian, it's often the case that his mother will stay in Hyrule, and I assure you that there are any number of Gerudo boys and men in the ranches of Lon and the forests of Ordon. Unlike the girl children of our tribe, they tend to take after their fathers, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are Zora boys out there with golden eyes."

"Aveil is certainly trying her best," Orchida interjected.

Astera shook her head. Don't mention that girl to me right now.

But she gives us nice playthings, sister!

She didn't give you the spinner, you silly crone, you took it!

"Anyway," Astera said, pouring another cup of coffee for Zelda, "there are more than enough men with Gerudo blood running around. Too many for my taste, but women will insist on having babies, and you don't get to choose what comes out. What I mean to say is that the man we call 'Ganondorf' is special. The boy who became our ward years ago was given to us because he obviously had great talent, but there was something else as well."

"Ah, perfect timing," she interrupted herself, looking towards the doorway. Footsteps approached and Ganon entered, ducking as he brushed aside the hanging curtains.

Come here and sit down! We were just getting to the good part, Orchida called out. She clapped her hands in front of her, and a small mountain of cushions dropped from the air onto the floor beside Zelda.

Mothers, is this truly necessary?

"But of course," Astera said, gesturing for him to approach. Zelda couldn't help smiling at the frown on his face, which had seemed imposing earlier but was now nothing short of petulant. She found it oddly endearing. He looked at her and looked away as he adjusted his robe and sat beside her.

"What makes this boy special is this," Astera said, taking Ganon's hand and holding it under the sunbeam falling onto the table.

Zelda gasped as the mark of the Triforce shone out in a brilliant gold light.

"So you recognize it, then," Orchida said softly.

"The Triforce is the sign of our royalty, just as it is the emblem of yours," Astera continued. "Gerudo born with this mark used to be worshiped as gods, destined for greatness, but history was not kind to them. Our foremothers saw this mark as a curse and killed any infant who bore it, male or female. This practice was ended by the woman who became queen when we were still just girls. She was born with the Triforce, yet she and her mother used their cunning to conceal it until she came to power. She dismissed the old customs and set the Gerudo on a new path. This all happened before even your grandfather's time – "

"Well before his time," Orchida coughed.

" – but there are still many mysteries surrounding the Triforce."

Ganon rolled his hand back into the sleeve of his robe. "It is merely the remnant of forgotten magic. It means nothing."

"We have our theories," Astera began.

"But we won't bore you with them," Orchida cut her off, shaking her head.

"There are many legends," Ganon said to Zelda, "but they are nothing more than stories. We can't know what happened in the past, and it is useless to speculate. With all due respect, I fail to understand why my mothers think it necessary to tell you any of this."

Zelda saw the impatience in his eyes, and she understood almost immediately that his nonchalance was carefully feigned. Several choices presented themselves to her, almost like cards arrayed on a table; she could leave them all lying face down, or she could show her hand.

She decided to hold her peace. She still needed time to think. The mark of the Triforce was no trifling matter.

"I agree," she said, taking another sip of coffee. "Such legends are fascinating, to be sure, but they have no place in modern times."

Chapter Text

Beams of light fell from the holes in the cistern roof onto the still surface of the water below. The vaulted ceiling was supported by gracefully bowed arches that came together and stretched down into columns covered in ceramic tiles whose glaze had cracked and faded.

"This used to be an armory. Preventing it from flooding was a losing battle, so it was converted into a cistern."

Ganon stood with Zelda on a stone platform stretching out over the reservoir, which reflected the branching arches of the ceiling. The underground room was silent save for the slow trickle and drip of water.

"The cistern floor is made of dolostone, which is impermeable," Ganon continued.

"Dolostone is the primary material used in the fortress buildings," Zelda stated, apparently seeking affirmation.

Ganon nodded. "It was probably removed in the construction of the mines. The mountainside wall," he said, pointing across the room, "is composed of sandstone."

"Sandstone?"

"I believe you call it 'limestone.' The runoff from the mountain is slightly acidic, which has rendered it more porous over time. It appears to sweat water, which originates high up the mountain and becomes trapped behind the dolostone. A system of pipes has also been constructed to harvest runoff water from the seasonal rains. In two months, the section of the pier we're standing on will be submerged."

"It makes sense for this storage area to be at the base of the fortress, but how do you transport it back uphill?"

"By hand. Carrying water is part of our training. Adults occasionally do it as well."

"So you carry water directly from the cistern?"

"Usually, although we filter it for some purposes, such as brewing and glassblowing. Otherwise, filtering occurs after the initial use, since the cistern water is relatively pure."

"You filter the wastewater?"

"There are simple carbon filters made of charcoal and textile throughout the city, and we have two large solar distillation facilities. One of them is old and quite beautiful. Its glass ceiling is etched to create more surface area for condensation, and the reflectors that focus the sun through the glass create patterns on the water. The second is newer and more utilitarian, I'm afraid."

"Even with filtering and reuse, I still don't understand how this amount of water supports the city."

"Most of our industry occurs within the mountain, where the ancient machines raise water from underground aquifers. We don't know how these machines work, and they don't work consistently. We use sand filters to process it, but their efficiency is diminished by their lack of precision. The water that comes from the mountain mines must remain there."

"I still don't understand how you have enough water."

Ganon sighed. "We don't. We never do."

He considered telling her about how water used to be drawn and transported from Lake Hylia, but the topic both angered and exhausted him. Discussions concerning the spreading blight had monopolized his time with his council and the elders, and he was loath to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the cistern with implicit accusations.

Over the past several days, the princess had talked with many people, sharing meals and countless cups of tea with his sisters and aunts. She was polite, but her eyes were keen, and she saved her difficult questions for him. He suspected that a few of these questions were extraneous, and that she simply enjoyed their conversations as much as he did. At times he even allowed himself to forget why she was here, although he knew that idle time with her was a luxury he could scarcely afford.

The dampness of the air lingered on his skin, recalling an unpleasant memory and forcing him to acknowledge that she had come here with a purpose. He hoped it would remain clear in her mind after she returned home.

"The first time I visited Hyrule Castle, I was ten years old," he began.

"I remember," she responded.

"Although it wasn't the first time I had entered Hyrule, I'd never spent so long in travel, and I was ill at ease. I had been ordered to stay out of sight, and this command was a blessing to me. You must forgive me when I tell you that I enjoyed my time in your castle then no more than I do now. I wandered in the northern gardens and lay under the trees, watching the sun through the leaves. I saw something then that I have never been able to forget. From one of the castle windows, a woman leaned out and tossed a pail of water into the air. The water sparkled as it fell, and then it shattered onto the ground, unremarked and unremembered."

Zelda looked up at him, not unkindly. "We did not choose to live in the fields any more than you chose to live in the desert," she said. "To us, it is as though the Gerudo avoid Hyrule, when you could just as easily live closer, or even inside our borders, as many of the Goron and Zora do. There are old prejudices, to be sure, but they will not vanish of their own accord. Hyrule has much to learn from your way of life. Will you not share it?"

She met his eyes, and he held her gaze. He saw the future she offered spreading out from this moment like a fan spreads from its pivot, but he shook his head.

"We are bound here by customs older than you remember in Hyrule."

Zelda smiled. "Hyrule has a long memory."

She took his hand. He was surprised by her gesture, but he allowed her to lead him forward along the pier. When they reached the column of light falling through the hole at its end, she stopped, and slowly she raised her right arm into the sunbeam.

The mark of the Triforce shone on her hand.

"This mark binds me to Hyrule just as surely as yours binds you to the desert. Not every generation of the royal family carries it, and it has been absent for decades. It's said to be the sign of a great destiny, although I don't know what that could possibly be. I used to dream of adventure, but..."

Zelda withdrew her hand from the light.

"This is the longest I've ever been away from the castle. Do you know," she asked, looking up at him, "that I fantasized I would find some sort of adventure here?"

These words left him strangely lightheaded. He opened his mouth to speak but could not find the words to answer her.

She turned away. "I'll go home, and we'll get the business with Lake Hylia sorted out. Perhaps we'll correspond, and perhaps not. If your mothers are correct, the water will purify itself with time. Even if we do nothing, Castle City will continue to expand. Orris will eventually have her railroad through the valley. New towns will spring up along the trunk road after the western rail is laid, and my people will be at your border before either of us can do anything about it. Both the lake and the railroad are ultimately out of our control. Progress cannot be stopped, and we cannot redirect its course. We may have great magic, but it's as meaningless as the marks on our skin. The world has moved on."

Ganon thought of the tunnels beneath the desert and the cavernous structure that lay under the foundations of the Temple of Din. The ruins hidden by the sand haunted him, as did his memory of the endless sea. He had seen the constructs of Castle City. Were they not the same as the spinners and speeders that so captivated Aveil? He had seen the factories of the city, the way the gears whirred and the iron clattered. Was this not the same as the machinery they had found in the mountain caves behind the fortress? The past stretched back and spun around to bite its own tail. He felt a rising wave of anger propelled by the same frustration that had threatened to consume him at Hyrule Castle, the same hatred of waste and futility.

Ganon flexed his fist and remembered the brief touch of Zelda's fingers on his. She said there was no destiny, and that the Triforce was meaningless, but by now he knew her well enough to sense something else in her words, a pit of fear encased in a sour fruit of irony. She had spoken to convince him of something she didn't believe, but her bitterness had been genuine.

"Zelda," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. "What are you trying to protect me from?"

She turned to him, and the look on her face was deeply unhappy.

"Why did your mothers insist on showing me the Triforce you bear?"

"I didn't want you to know," he answered, dropping his hand.

"Why didn't you want me to know?"

He didn't respond, because suddenly he did want her to know. He felt that, somehow, if she knew, then the knowledge might mean something, a secret shared between the two of them. The Triforce might then become a different type of bond, something softer.

"I believe your horse has recovered. Would you like to ride into the desert?"

"The desert? Where would we go?"

"Didn't you say you wanted an adventure?"

▲     ▲     ▲

It had been weeks since he had last ridden into the desert, and he was impatient to be off. He helped her to prepare herself against the elements, showing her how to wrap cloth over her head and torso as protection against the sun and wind. She did not protest his closeness or the brush of his hands against her face.

When they were on their horses, he tossed her a pair of wind goggles. She stretched gracefully to catch them and grinned at him as she adjusted the straps behind her ears.

There were no landmarks in the desert, but he had ridden to the temple hundreds of times. His horse knew the way just as surely as he did. The perfect blue of the sky met the molten gold of the sand as cleanly as if the colors had been painted onto a vast canvas. When they had traveled perhaps a dozen miles, Ganon stopped and gestured back toward Fort Lanayru, a column of white rising against the black mountain. In the blinding light, everything was starkly outlined; there was no place for shade or nuance.

The sun hovered low in the western sky as they reached the Temple of Din, which had been carved out of a monumental rock formation rising from the sand. The main entryway faced east, and the palms in front of it cast long shadows to meet them. They left their horses by the small oasis and entered on foot. The vestibule was stark, its building blocks cast of naked sandstone. Two brick-lined doorways led to the caverns below, but Ganon was not interested in showing the princess the inhumanly large support columns or the eldritch system of tunnels hidden deep below them.

He led Zelda up the stairs at the back of the room, which was crowned by a statue of the mythical desert queen, a coyly beckoning woman with a viper twined around her shoulders and slender waist. She was flanked by two sandstone attendants, who bore serpents of their own. Ganon shed his headscarf and overrobe, placing them into a rush basket held within the outstretched arms of one of the lesser statues. Zelda unwrapped her scarf, but she seemed hesitant to relinquish it.

"It seems like sacrilege, to make use of an icon in this way," she explained.

"These aren't the real goddesses," he said, taking the bundle of cloth from her. He folded it roughly before placing it on top of his robe. He imaged the scent of her hair, gathered in her scarf, lying on his sleeves and collar. The thought lingered in his mind.

He touched the statue, and the Triforce on his hand glowed. He hummed seven notes and smiled at Zelda as a portal opened in the sandstone. He bent down to pass through and waited for her on the other side.

Ganon watched as Zelda's eyes widened in awe. Before them was the statue of the goddess Din, half woman and half snake and almost twenty meters tall. Her scales were glittering topaz, and her skin was flecked with gold. Faint sunlight entered the room through high windows and was diffused throughout the cavernous space by hundreds of tiny mirrored panels set into the walls. The room was faintly fragrant with the ghosts of centuries of incense.

The structure had once served as a monastery and a refuge, and numerous paths branched away from the central sanctuary. Generations had walked and worshiped here. There had been so many prayers, so many pleas. And before that, who knows? It was as Zelda said – the memories of the world slipped away as it surged and stumbled forward. No individual's deeds could live up to the legends of the ages. What did the lives of two people matter against the relentless erosion of time?

Dust danced as it fell through the fading sunbeams. Ganon reached out to Zelda, who placed her palm in his hand.

"If we hurry, we can see the sun set," he said. She squeezed his hand.

He took her ever upward through corridors and rooms in which the air hung still and expectant. She followed him until they arrived at the pinnacle of the temple, where they could see the heavens stained red through windows made of the purest glass. The sand and the sky were dazzlingly bright, and no horizon line separated them.

The time had come. If he did not show her now, the moment might not present itself again.

Ganon placed both hands against the wall facing the windows and sang the melody whose opening bars he had hummed at the entrance to the temple. His voice wavered, but his intention was strong enough to invoke the old magic. The stone surface shimmered and fell away, revealing an intricate mural. He stepped back as Zelda peered at the tiles, studying the story they depicted.

The hero of the Gerudo tribe, the lone male born every seven generations, standing tall in dark armor. The sharp-eared Hylian warrior, queen of Hyrule, her needle-thin rapier raised, leading her armies against him. Spearwomen mowing through the soldiers, castles set aflame, the emergence of a green-clad prince. The king transformed into a beast, the cursed sword, a golden arrow. At the end was the Triforce, set with tiles of pure gold.

It was not one legend but many, repeating over and over, with variations running the length of the wall. Zelda traced the tiles with her fingers as she walked down the corridor. Outside the windows the sun set. Finally she turned and walked back to him. She was radiant in the amber twilight.

"We've met before," she said.

"We've met many times," he said.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked.

"No," he answered. "All I remember is you."

"That's enough, then," she whispered. "That's all I want. That you remember me."

Wish and desire converged in that moment, and he kissed her. The sweetness was overwhelming.

He wondered how long he had wanted this before realizing that he couldn't imagine a time when she wasn't somewhere within his mind. Everything was as it should be. He kissed her again.

Zelda drew away from him and reached for his hand, lacing her fingers through his. Her eyes glittered with promise. She tugged him forward, pulling him through the halls of the temple. Neither of them spoke as they ran into the cool desert air with light steps. Back on their horses, they raced across the sand. Her stallion was swifter, and he pursued her in a mad chase. At the gates of the city they stabled the animals, and then it was his turn to guide her across the empty starlit plaza and through the dark passageways that led to his rooms.

▲     ▲     ▲

When they passed through the final curtain he turned to her, and she met his lips with hers as she unlaced the clasp at his waist. He shrugged out of his robes and swiftly loosened the knots of her tunic as she unwrapped the scarves covering her shoulders. They paused only to kick off their boots before tumbling onto the raised bedding platform.

They lay with their faces level, and he was finally able to meet her eyes without looking down. He slid a lock of her hair through his palm, and she placed the tips of her fingers on his lips. He bit her index finger lightly. She ran her palm up his beard before tracing the ridge of his ear. He moved to kiss her, but she twisted away, putting her mouth to his ear and breathing his name.

A bolt of desire raced through him. He was so hard that it hurt. He cupped the back of her head in his hand, sinking his fingers into her hair and forcing her mouth onto his. Her tongue was hot and feverish. He ran his other hand along the inside of her thigh, where her skin was as cool and smooth as polished bronze. When he raised his fingers to her apex, she was wet and maddeningly soft.

She tensed her body against his, but he drew her closer to him, kissing the edge of her mouth and jaw as he skimmed his fingers over her valley and then pressed down onto her peak with his thumb. She cried out softly, and he kissed her ear, whispering, "These walls of stone echo far, and there are no doors to stop your voice."

Zelda snaked her arm behind him and grabbed him forward, shoving his hardness against the inside of her hip. He gasped. "Before you caution me against broadcasting your skill," she said into his cheek, her breath tickling his skin, "you need to show me what you can do."

And then his mouth was once again on hers. She breathed into him as he moved his fingers in vicious strokes along and above her. She broke the kiss and panted into his neck, seizing his wrist. She put her hand above his, trying to manipulate his fingers into her, but he brought her palm to his mouth and kissed it before guiding it along the back of his head to bring their lips together again. She kissed him hungrily as she slid the edge of her other hand down his length. The sensation of her fingers on his cock set him on fire.

He pinched and twisted her clit while tracing the wings spreading out from it. Her breath grew harsher, and she began to whimper, but he did not stop, pushing her deeper into her own pleasure. When she cried out again it was like honey on his tongue.

He held her as her body trembled and her breathing slowed, kissing along the lines of her face. She eventually began to kiss him too, teasing his hair and running her fingers down his back. When their lips met again he smiled. "Was that to your satisfaction?"

"It wasn't bad," she purred, "but I can match you."

Suddenly her hands were on his shoulders, and with surprising force she pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips. She linked her fingers with his and drew his hands to her waist. He looked up at her. She glowed like the moon.

Zelda leaned forward to kiss his jawline, and then his neck, and then her lips were on his chest, and on his stomach, and then pressed like flower petals on the head of his cock. The sensation was delicious, but he had little time to enjoy it, as he was soon in her mouth. He screamed silently and involuntarily raised his hips, but she pressed him back down, restraining him with her thighs even as she caressed him with her tongue.

She could not fit all of him into her mouth, but where her tongue did not reach she used her fingers, which twirled and danced cleverly along his skin. Ganon filled his hands with her hair but did not lead her, allowing her to orchestrate the tides of his desire. He was soon swept up by the play of her tongue, and he lost himself, his heartbeat swallowed into the rhythm of her mouth and lips. She conducted him to a steady crescendo, and he obeyed, releasing a desperate strangled cry as the wave broke over him.

His hands fell to his sides, and all he could do was catch his breath and look at her as she sat with her back straight, gazing down on him with a satisfied smile. He met her eyes, and her smile twisted into a grin. "I told you I could match you," she laughed, and his mind reeled at the possibility that there had ever been a time when his heart was not full of this brilliant woman. Whatever was to become of them in the future could not intrude into this night.

He raised his right hand, his palm facing her. She placed her palm against his, and the Triforce on the back of his hand erupted with light. He could see from the faint glow on her face that her own had also reacted. Their eyes met. He sat up and brought his hand, still shining golden, to her face. She did the same, and he could feel the wetness of her sex sliding against his leg as he moved. His cock stiffened against her belly. She drew forward, pinning it against him. In the luminescence of their hands, her face was breathtaking, and her eyes were endless. He felt as if he were drowning. Leaning down to press his forehead against hers, he whispered, "I want you."

She kissed him, and he rose above her, laying her down. She linked her hands over his neck, and the light from his hand was eclipsed by the contours of her body as he ran his palm along the insides of her thighs, gently spreading them. He pressed his nose to her temple, and he smelled summer rain, delicate yet intoxicating. Her hand floated to his cock, tracing its outline and pulling it closer to her.

Your Majesty!

A claret voice suddenly rang out from the antechamber beyond his study.

He sprang to his knees, shielding Zelda from view, but the guard had enough sense not to enter.

My lord, there are soldiers from Hyrule Castle in the city! They number several dozen horsemen! Their captain says they have come to retrieve the princess! They will not wait!

Do not fight them, Ganon said. He did not raise his voice, but his tone of command was clear. Let them come, and I will meet them below. Now leave us!

Zelda leapt from the platform. She swept back her hair and began dressing. Ganon did not move.

"What have you done," he said, his voice flat. She glared at him.

"You foolish man," she said, cutting him with her eyes. "I don't have time to explain."

He stood and reached to her, and she met his hand with her own. The Triforce marks were still glowing faintly.

"Please, don't do anything rash," she said before turning her back to him and rushing from the room.

He watched her go and waited for rage against her to kindle in his heart, but there was only a sterile hollowness.

A moment later, Amaranth burst through the hanging curtain. She took one look at him and then started tossing his clothing toward where he sat regarding her blankly.

Pull yourself together, you senseless idiot, she hissed. We have an army at our gates. What has that woman done? What have you done?

Ganon caught the robes she threw at him and began to dress, his jaw clenched and his eyes like stone.

Chapter Text

The chaotic city teemed with waste. For the first time in his short life, Link was lost. Still he trudged on, stoic and without complaint.

War had been declared in Hyrule. It was impossible to cross the bridges leading to Castle City, so Link had followed the southern bank of the Eldin River west until both shores were thick with docks and quays. When he chanced on a small unattended skiff, he cut its moorings and paddled it across the water. Thick clouds hung in the sky, blotting out the light of the moon. No one would have seen him, a small boy crossing the dark river.

More than a week had passed since he left Romani Ranch. Malon hadn't wanted him to go, but he had been gripped by powerful dreams that compelled him beyond reason to make the journey to the castle. If he didn't, the princess would die. The news was that the Gerudo had risen against Hyrule, but that didn't matter. Link knew that the real threat was the man with golden eyes. He didn't know how he knew this, but he had to warn Zelda.

Link set out into the night without telling his fathers. Malon had been waiting for him outside the gate. She let him leave, but she made him take a sword to protect himself. He had needed it. Strange creatures now walked through the fields after the sun set. He and his horse were repeatedly attacked, and he had lost her to a bloody flurry of teeth and claws. Now he was alone.

He alighted on a dock on the northern bank of the river. The waterlogged wood felt spongy under his feet, and it stank. He didn't know where he was, and he had no map, but all he had to do was to keep moving toward the castle. He could figure out what came next once he got there. The fetid water sloshed under his feet, and he started walking. He didn't want to be on the river if there was another earthquake.

Once he was back on land, he could hear voices coming from behind a row of warehouses. The smell of grilled meat made his stomach clench. He hadn't eaten in some time. He was thirsty as well, but he dared not drink from the river.

Link stuck to the shadows of the buildings. He followed his nose until he could see light coming from several storm lanterns, which were suspended from poles between a grouping of street stalls. Although the air was warm and humid, fires had been lit in iron barrels. Men were slumped around them, eating and talking in low voices. Link clenched his fist around his wallet and approached one of the stall counters.

"You don't look like a dock worker," the Zora cook said. The man's skin was an unhealthy shade of green. Link shook his head and pointed to a crudely drawn picture of a salad wrapped in a dough shell.

"Also... something to drink," he muttered.

"We've got beer, and we've got beer," the man told him, having already flattened the shell on his grill. "Which will it be?"

"Don't tease the poor boy," an auburn-haired woman said, stepping to Link's side. Her skin had an olive tint in the light of the lanterns, but her eyes weren't gold. Was she a Gerudo? Link couldn't tell.

"Honey, we've got milk over there," she said, pointing. "It just came in from Lon. You better drink up while you can. We might not be seeing any more of it for a while."

"That's five rupees," the stall cook said as he handed over Link's order. "You make sure you drink your fill before you pay her, otherwise she'll cheat you."

Link grimaced as he handed over the coins. He was almost out of money. He could scavenge for food, but he would need to pay if he wanted to drink.

He ate quickly and paid for his fill of milk. He was not welcomed into any of the clustered circles around the fires. The men eyed him suspiciously, as if he were a thief in their midst. The temptation to steal from them flickered briefly through his mind and then faded. He had taken food and rupees from unattended pots and chests on the road, and he would most likely do so again, but he could not risk a fight.

Link left the night market and ventured onto the narrow streets that led uphill from the river. He had no idea where he was going, and he could barely see. His shoulders slumped from exhaustion, and his feet felt as if he were wearing iron boots.

He made his way to a wider street. The openness felt safer to him, and he could walk no more. He wedged himself against the stairs leading up to the raised entrance of a shabby brownstone building and huddled in the shadow cast by a sulfur streetlamp. The pavement was sticky and smelled of rancid oil. No stars shone through the clouds. He could feel his eyes closing.

"Hey."

Link jerked awake.

"Hey. You can't sleep here."

A small Deku boy crouched beside him, poking at him with a twig-like finger.

"Wha," Link gurgled as the boy cast a worried look over his shoulder.

"Listen, you can't sleep out on the street. Someone will take your stuff. If you're unlucky you'll get picked up by a press gang."

"What's a press gang?"

"Just come on. I know a place."

Link stood up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The Deku boy trotted off. His feet were wrapped in colorless rags that silenced his footfalls. Link followed him to a small grated opening below the alley entrance of a derelict building with mossy flagstones and boarded windows. The boy kicked the edge of the iron rim, and the gate swung inward. Motioning for Link to follow him, he dropped to his knees and crawled into the hole.

Link hesitated. Thunder boomed overhead. He jumped, startled, and then quickly scuttled after the Deku boy.

Through a short tunnel was a drop-off into a cellar stacked with moldering crates. Several children were playing cards on top of a thin mat spread over the dirt floor. They tossed him a few perfunctory glances before returning to their game. The Deku boy sat down next to a pile of dirty cloth stacked against a wooden carton. Link sat next to him.

"Got any food?"

Link shook his head.

"Got any rupees?"

Link frowned and clutched the hilt of his sword.

"Fine, fine. That makes two of us, then. I'm Fado."

It was an old Kokiri name, but the boy said it with the flat vowels of Castle City.

Link bowed his head slightly and mumbled his own name, suddenly conscious of his accent.

"You're not from around here." Fado scratched his chin, and Link noticed for the first time how splintery his skin was. The leaves of his hair were fringed with tiny holes. Link wondered how they could have become so ragged. Insects? He shook his head at the thought.

"I came from Lon," he offered.

Fado whistled. "What's a farm boy like you doing here?"

Link said the first thing that popped into his mind. "I came to save the princess."

"That's a good one!" Fado snorted and slapped the ground. "But really, what's your story?"

Link grimaced. "I have to warn Zelda about Ganondorf. If she won't listen, I'll fight him myself."

"Oh." Fado blinked. "You're serious."

Link nodded. "I have to get to the castle."

"You... do know there's a war on, right? You can't just walk up to the castle and expect them to let you in. Kids like us can't get in even on festival days, and now the place is swarming with soldiers."

"I figured as much, but..."

Link decided to confide in the boy, who seemed trustworthy, or at least to mean him no harm.

"Before I came here I had a dream. A voice told me that there's a secret passage leading to the castle dungeon. If I can get that close, I can find a way to talk to the princess."

"So you're going to be a hero?"

"I don't know! I'm not anybody. But I have to save Zelda."

"I hate to break it to you, but she's safe. The Gerudo king is in his desert fortress, not here. He'll never even make it over the river."

"No, he's here!" Link clenched his fists. "I can feel it!"

A dark-skinned girl with dirty red hair and a cracked gem on her forehead rose from the circle of card players and sauntered over to them. She put her hands on her hips and peered down her sharp nose.

"That's an interesting supposition," she said. "I just so happen to know that it's correct."

"Will you help me?" Link asked.

"Listen, farm boy. We're all thieves here. We're just trying to stay out of the workhouses. My old man already tried to send me to one, and I'm not going back. They reek of constructs. You ever been on a factory floor? It's hell."

She held up her left hand. It was missing two fingers. A long purple scar ran down her forearm.

"The last thing we need," she continued, "is to get on the bad side of the castle soldiers. Why should we help you?"

"I've been having these dreams ever since the princess was kidnapped," Link answered. He knew how silly it sounded, but he couldn't think of what else to tell her. "I see a demon attacking the castle, and all of Hyrule burns. It's already started happening! Haven't you felt the earthquakes?"

"We've felt the earthquakes," she said, tilting her head toward a dim corner of the room where the support beams had collapsed, spilling the floor above in a mess of wood and tiles. "Before my mother died, she would tell stories about how a hero was supposed to appear in Hyrule in times of crisis, but I didn't think he'd look anything like you. Aren't you a little on the scrawny side?"

"Leave him alone, Nabooru," Fado spoke up. "A bigger guy couldn't get through that tunnel anyway. You can at least show him where it is."

"Fine, fine. But Fado, you're coming with us."

"Really?" Fado's eyes lit up.

The girl snorted. "Don't get so excited. I expect you to take the fall if the kid messes up and we get caught."

▲     ▲     ▲

Nabooru led them through the city, jumping across rooftops and twisting between alleyways as gracefully as a cat. The streets were silent and deserted. The dawn was not far off, and a yellow fog crept over the cobblestones, bringing with it the dank stench of the river. The sulfur streetlamps rose like beacons from the mist. Thunder continued to rumble in the sky.

Closer to the castle, servants had already begun to light the morning fires in the kitchens of the grander houses. Groups of soldiers patrolled the intersections, their heads down and their faces hidden.

Even through the fog Link could see the castle walls, which rose above the jagged outline of the buildings below. At their base was a moat, and there seemed to be no way to cross it. Nabooru shimmied through gaps in fences and ducked under decks hanging above the water. At one point she led them through the open window of a bare room strewn with bottles and reeking of alcohol. Link did his best to keep up but was frequently forced to stop and help Fado. Nabooru always circled back around to find them, making her impatience clear.

Finally they came to a walled-off courtyard surrounded on all sides by decrepit houses whose foundations were littered with rubbish and broken glass. Nabooru boosted Link and Fado over a crumbling section of the inner wall. The small space contained nothing more than brown grass, the body of a dead crow, and an old well.

"This is it, farm boy," Nabooru said, patting the top of a rope ladder dangling from the well's mossy lip.

Link walked over to the well and looked down into a perfect circle of blackness. His mouth suddenly felt very dry.

The girl laughed. "Didn't bring a firegear, did you?"

"Come on, Nabooru. Give him yours," Fado chided her.

She smiled at Link and clapped her hands twice. A small contraption appeared between her palms in a puff of smoke.

"You better thank Din I had it on me," she said as she handed the small copper cube to Link. He twisted it in his hands, unsure of how to use it.

"Give it here." Fado snatched the firegear from Link and showed him how to set its dials, causing the device to emit a warm glow of light.

"Thanks," Link murmured as he knotted its leather cord onto the belt of his tunic. "But why are you helping me? I barely know you."

"You smell like the forest," Fado said simply.

Lightning flashed from the angry clouds hovering above the rooftops.

"All right, boys, it's time to go," Nabooru interjected, slapping Link on the back. "Good luck down there. Watch out for rats. I need my firegear back, so don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Link nodded and slung his legs over the rim of the well. He put his feet onto the first wooden rung of the ladder before waving and then disappearing into the darkness.

Chapter Text

The sky outside the window was overcast. It hadn't rained in days. The air crackled with electricity, and a hot easterly wind blew down from the mountains. There had been fires in the city below. Smoke still rose from one of the districts that had fallen in a recent earthquake.

Zelda tapped her fingers against the windowpane. The king had confirmed something she suspected since she arrived in Castle City, and she could not bear to look at him.

"Father, you have to let him go," she said, addressing her reflection in the glass.

"You fail to understand the situation," the king responded.

His words grated at her. She understood the situation perfectly. Her orders, as delivered to her by his Sheikah advisor Kaepora on the morning of her departure, had been to ascertain whether the Gerudo lord held the Triforce – and whether he was a threat to Hyrule.

"Perhaps, if you had allowed me to remain in Fort Lanayru, I might have understood the situation better."

"That was a risk I was not willing to take."

"I was never in any danger."

"You stopped delivering information to our informants and allowed that man to monopolize your time. You rode alone with him into the desert, Zelda."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that your ability to act as an agent of the crown had been compromised."

Zelda could see the face of her reflection twisting. She forced herself to remain calm. "Were not my orders to charm him? To persuade him to invite me into his intimate trust?"

"The invitation you accepted may have been too intimate."

Zelda spun around to face him. "You are overstepping your bounds as my king and as my father. The intimacies I may have shared with him are none of your concern."

Gustaf met her glare, his eyes as cold as hers. "And if you happened to become pregnant? Would you marry the man? And risk bringing two pieces of the Triforce into this castle?"

"You have brought two pieces of the Triforce into this castle yourself. The wind storms, the fires, the earthquakes – you must send him back to the desert. The Triforce of Power has begun to manifest itself, and he is already powerful. I have told your officers of the magic he commands, and now I will tell you as well: You cannot hope to fight him. He will destroy our soldiers as easily as if he were shearing grass."

Gustaf sighed. "He has already proven himself more than capable of destroying our soldiers."

Zelda blinked, startled. "What do you mean?"

"It's best not to dwell on the details. Suffice it to say that he remains in our care of his own volition. He seems to be waiting for something."

"My lord father, he is doubtlessly waiting for you to come to your senses."

"I suspect that it's not me he's waiting for, my dear. Nevertheless, he seems to be an honorable man."

Zelda grimaced. "As are we all, all of us honorable, having chained the king of a tribe ostensibly under our protection for a crime he did not commit. Think of our treaties with Fort Lanayru!"

"The Gerudo would have declared war on us if we had not beaten them to it. We have barely been able to contain them from invading our borders."

"Then they are not attacking in earnest."

"They will not move until word comes from their king."

"So let their king give his word."

Gustaf rose from the chair behind his desk and walked to the fireplace, where a small brazier had been left burning. He removed a tin of tobacco from the pocket of his greatcoat and rolled a cigarette, lighting it on the coals. The room filled with fragrant smoke.

"I was young once too," he said, still facing the fireplace. "I wish you had gotten the chance to know your mother. She was a remarkable woman, and not a day goes by that I don't wish she were still with us. I am thankful to have you, my daughter, because the burden of this kingdom is more than I can bear alone."

He tapped the ashes of his cigarette onto the stone hearth and looked up at her. "Will you share this burden with me?"

Zelda shook her head. "Is the burden not already mine?"

"You are more than a member of the royal family; you have been chosen to bear the Triforce of Wisdom. As the mother of a Zelda, my wife was doomed to die, and so too are you doomed to kill, if not by your action then by your inaction."

"You cannot blame me for my mother's death."

"And I never have. It was her fate, just as it was yours to be born with the Triforce that killed her. Wisdom must ever walk alone, or some such nonsense."

"The Triforce killed my mother? Father, you are unwell."

"I have asked that it never come to your attention that all the Zeldas in your line have lost one or both of their parents early in their lives. As much as I've enjoyed seeing you become the woman you are now, I dearly wish you had lost me instead of your mother; I am ill equipped for this role. I have done my best to prepare you for what you must do, but I cannot guide your hand. It took everything I had to prevent the pieces of the legend from fitting together for as long as I was able."

"The pieces of the legend? Legend is nothing more than history as seen through an occluded lens. The Gerudo have the same legend. In their stories the bearer of Triforce of Power is the hero, and we of Hyrule are the demons who fight him. There are no gods on this earth, and legends are shaped by mortal tongues. We don't need to fight the Gerudo. I don't need to kill their king. The situation you've created is preposterous."

He didn't answer her, so she continued.

"You must realize how ridiculous this all sounds. We have constructs of clockwork that carry our burdens, and rails of iron that carry our trains. Our fields have more grain than there are mouths to consume it, and our cities grow ever larger. This is the modern age, not some medieval fantasy. We have moved beyond legends."

"I had hoped so too, once," Gustaf said, speaking softly. "As soon as I saw the Triforce on your tiny hand, I vowed that it would mean nothing to me. I was an architect before I was a king. What use had I for legends? I swore to your mother that I would place my trust in the steel of bridges instead of the steel of swords, and that there would be no war to mar your reign."

"But not even a king can defy the Goddesses. Your mother fell ill and died. A male child was crowned prince of the Gerudo. The Kokiri withdrew to their forest. The very landscape of Hyrule is changing before my eyes, with each day heralding a new invention. Technology beyond our wildest dreams has been lifted into the sunlight from beneath the sands of the desert, and it has been channeled through the Zora, who have sent it south and east beyond our borders. Civil war erupted in Ordon, which has closed its roads to us. A blight emerged from Lake Hylia, and now there are fires, earthquakes, floods. Monsters roam the fields, and the clouds have not lifted from our city in days. You tell me that the Gerudo have flying machines."

"Father," Zelda interrupted, "I don't understand. What does innovation have to do with disaster?"

"Forgive me, I'm getting ahead of myself. My dear Zelda, do you know what the Triforce of Power does?"

"I assume it bestows augmented physical and magical strength on its bearer, and apparently it grants political power among the Gerudo, but if you mean to suggest it has rendered Ganondorf a tyrant you are wrong."

"It is as you say. The man has always been a capable ruler, and therein lies the problem. If he or any of his predecessors were wicked or cruel or merely incompetent, the Triforce of Power would not be so frightening. It is because its bearer is able to inspire intense loyalty that wars are started."

"But how can loyalty alone bring about war?"

"Because that is the purpose of the Triforce of Power – to create and mold a person with such strength of character and skill in the magical and martial arts that women and men would gladly give their lives for the honor of following him into battle. He is always an outsider to Hyrule, Zelda. His soldiers are always the disenfranchised, and they always support a noble cause. He is always born to the women of the desert, but his influence always extends much farther. He never wins, however, because that is not what the Triforce wants."

"You speak as if the Triforce has a will."

"I assure you it does."

"What does the Triforce want from the bearer of Power, then?"

"Nothing more and nothing less than that he cleanse Hyrule and return it to a pure and primordial state."

"But what is there in Hyrule that must be washed away?"

"Our progress as a civilization, Zelda. The Goddesses will not allow mortals to infringe on their territory. They will not suffer us to usurp their position, either by magic or by machines."

Zelda frowned. "So you're saying that, whenever Hyrule grows too great, the Goddesses send Ganondorf – or someone like him – to cut us back down to size."

Gustaf dropped the smoking end of his cigarette and snuffed its flame with the toe of his boot.

"Exactly. But – "

Zelda began to speak, but he motioned for her silence. "But," he continued, "as you are exactly like myself in that you refuse to believe the seemingly irrational until you have sufficient proof, I have asked Kaepora to give Impa permission to provide you with the evidence you need to make your decision."

"What decision?"

"If you use the magic of the Triforce of Wisdom to kill the desert lord, there will most certainly be a war, but it will be short, and both sides will recover in due time."

"And if I refuse to kill him?"

"You may choose to do so, and there may even be peace for a few years. But you must know that the Triforce of Power works in ways we cannot predict, and its will cannot be thwarted. If it is allowed to remain intact, it will demand bloodshed on a scale this land has not witnessed in centuries. Everything we have worked for as a kingdom – the safety and comfort of our people, our defenses against the old magic of Hyrule, the dignity and cooperation of the tribes under our care – all of this will be destroyed. Even if you and that man manage to achieve an impossible balance, the proximity of the two Triforce pieces will summon the third, and we cannot risk opening the gate to the Sacred Realm."

"Is there no way to prevent the appearance of the hero?"

"No." Gustaf lit another cigarette. "If we are unlucky, it may already be too late."

▲     ▲     ▲

A small earthquake hit as Zelda and Impa descended a staircase into the dungeons. Zelda knew they were safe in the ancient stone passage, but she couldn't help but flinch. Impa laughed.

"It looks like your boyfriend's got his panties in a wad again," she said, brushing away the dust that had fallen onto the shoulders of her suit jacket.

"Don't be petty," Zelda responded as she continued climbing.

"He always struck me as temperamental. You're better off without him."

"He's not that bad once you get to know him."

"Did the king tell you what he did to the soldier who tried to put him in manacles?"

"I'd rather not know," Zelda answered dryly.

"He keeps asking after you, you know. He seems to be afraid that you're being imprisoned as well."

"How sweet of him to worry."

"Oh? You don't sound convinced."

Impa poked Zelda with the tip of her cane from several steps above, and Zelda swatted it away.

"If he truly cared for my welfare, he'd end this charade and leave the castle."

"You think he's sulking?"

"I don't know what he's doing."

"Do you think he's waiting for you to kidnap him?"

Zelda laughed. "That's not going to happen."

"But you are going to see him."

"I suppose I must. He seems to think he needs my permission to leave."

"That's so romantic."

"He's being histrionic, him and my father both."

Zelda paused on a landing, and Impa jumped down to her.

"I don't remember the dungeon being this deep. How much farther do these stairs go on?"

Impa offered her hand. "Is my lady growing tired? Would you like me to carry you?"

Zelda took Impa's hand and squeezed it, digging in her nails. "Stop it, Impa. I'm already on my last nerve."

"But what if they're right?"

"They? My father, and...?"

"And Kaepora. He's much older than he looks, you know. He's been around the block a few times. He probably knows what he's talking about."

"Honestly, Impa. You don't believe any of this, do you?"

"It doesn't matter what I believe. All I know is what I see with my own eyes, and all I can do is to show you what I've seen. Kaepora tried to explain it to me once, but it was all high-minded mumbo jumbo to me."

"Gods, I hear you. If one more man tries to explain something to me I'm going to scream."

They arrived at the bottom of the staircase. Ahead of them was a long-abandoned section of the castle dungeons, lower than the cellars, lower than even the sewer. Zelda had been brought here to undergo the trials of royalty when she came of age, and the earth floor still exuded the same stench of blood and rot.

Zelda sang a few bars of a dirge-like melody, and the torches around the room sputtered to life, their fires an eerie, toneless green. She considered extinguishing the torches on the steps, but she decided not to bother. The more light they brought to this wretched place, the better. The pale flames cast a slimy glow on the rusted chains emerging from the black walls. The corners were littered with bones.

"Be careful what you sing down here," Impa said, knocking a skull out of her way with her cane. "You don't know what might hear you and decide to start dancing."

Impa cut a dashing figure in her immaculately tailored suit and rakish bowler hat as she extended her hands before her. The contrails of a path began to glow on the floor, leading directly to a crucifix mounted against a far wall.

"Duly noted," Zelda said. She stepped through the wall, which shimmered around her.

Albino keese stirred on the other side. Zelda hoped they wouldn't be foolish enough to attack her. They were. She muttered a few dark words, and they dropped dead at her feet. In this hellish place Sheikah magic was especially potent.

"You couldn't leave any for me?" Impa teased, twirling her cane.

"I saved you the spiders."

As soon as the words left her mouth, several sets of compound eyes emerged from the gloom. Just as Zelda remembered, the lower dungeons were infested with skulltulas. These weren't as large as the specimens that spun their webs in the forest of the Kokiri, but their aggressively raised abdomens still stood almost as tall as she did.

Impa sighed playfully. "What did I tell you about singing?

"My apologies, brave knight. Am I not supposed to do this?"

Zelda whistled the chorus of one of the songs common in the northern villages, feeling a frigid wind swirl around her as ice encased dozens of chitinous legs. Mandibles clicked furiously in the darkness.

"Showoff."

Impa clicked her tongue before beginning to chant. A cyan circle appeared at her feet as she came to the climax of her spell. Zelda hummed a ward of protection and felt Impa's familiar magic pass over and through her. The air was filled with crunches and thumps as various creatures fell dead to the floor.

Zelda took the final word of Impa's chant and spun it into a song that lit the torches in this room. A flicker of shadows caught her eye, and she turned her head to see a gaggle of mummified corpses stirring in a far corner.

"Twin of my heart, can we get a move on? No offense, but this place gives me the creeps."

Impa laughed. "Look at you, trying to be brave. Do you remember when we first came down here? You were so scared you almost wet yourself."

"Lord it over me, why don't you?"

"You were crying so hard I thought you were going to drown in your own snot."

"That reminds me of the first banquet you attended with me outside the castle. I seem to recall you blowing your nose into your napkin after our host told you that you held your butter knife like a butcher."

"I hate to interrupt, but over your right shoulder, please."

Zelda could already hear the corpse shambling towards her. She sang, and her bow was in her hands. She fired a bolt of pure light at its pathetic form. It crumpled to the ground, its crude wooden mask clanking against the floor.

"Your ancestors had some gross hobbies, Impa."

"You don't even want to know what sort of hobbies your ancestors had, Princess. We know all your secrets."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"Did they like to watch?"

"Of course they did."

"Did they take a few turns on the rack themselves?"

"Great Nayru, you know it."

"This is the weirdest fetish, I swear. Kings and their silly games of dominance. They make up excuses about 'the greater good' and 'for the benefit of the realm,' but really they just get off on this sort of thing."

"You don't have to tell me. You could say I wrack my brains to understand it."

"Stop."

"I would kill for a good explanation."

"Impa."

"Do you have a bone to pick with me?"

"Oh, for Din's sake."

"Because I'm dying to – "

Zelda whacked the shaft of one of her arrows against Impa's butt.

"Your stupid sense of humor will be the end of me. I'm trying to say something important here. Just be quiet for a minute."

The floor had grown damp, and a thin layer of mud squelched under their boots. Zelda was relieved that she had changed out of her ceremonial dress before agreeing to accompany Impa. The castle had been short of staff ever since disasters began befalling Castle City, and the last thing she needed was dirt caked onto her hem. They had progressed deeper than the temple where she had undergone her initiation ceremony, but the dank air of this place brought the memories of the experience into her mind as vividly as if it had just occurred.

"You were going to say something important?" Impa prompted.

"On my twentieth birthday, I had to undertake a set of trials to determine whether I was fit to rule, and which of the Goddesses would be my patron. I was instructed not to tell anyone about them, and I never have, but I don't see how it matters."

"Perhaps, if the Goddesses told you not to say anything, you should stay silent."

"The Goddesses didn't tell me anything; my father did. As he's fond of reminding me, he married into this family. He takes tradition very seriously. I get the feeling he always has to work to convince himself that he's actually royalty."

"It doesn't come as easily to most people as it does to you."

"What I mean to say is that the primary purpose of keeping secrets is to make it seem as if you have power over others, that you deserve something they're not important enough to receive. Forbidding the circulation of knowledge about the trials is meaningless. Not like I'd wish them on anyone..."

Once she had made up her mind to talk about what had happened to her, Zelda was surprised to find that the exact nature of the ordeals she had suffered was difficult to describe. She walked in silence, which was briefly broken by the words Impa used to maintain the illumination at their feet.

"I had to make choices," she finally said. "People came before me, people from the past. It was like I was actually there. I had to choose what to do, who to save, and who to condemn. I can't remember many of the details, but I remember my shame. I chose as I thought a princess should, always prioritizing the safety of the kingdom over what I wanted and what I felt was just and fair. The nobility of my cause justified the means. But I wonder if that's the only way?"

"The Skeikah used to help my family conduct blood sacrifices. The magic involved was undeniably powerful, but what good can possibly come of wetting the foundation stones of a castle with blood to keep its walls strong? Even if the walls protect the people inside, you have shadowed their lives with a guilt that they have no way of understanding..."

Zelda trailed off, and Impa did not respond to her immediately.

"That's a pretty speech," she eventually said. "Still thinking about your boyfriend?"

Zelda exhaled. "I'm not going to kill anyone."

"Is he really that good in bed?"

"I didn't... We didn't..."

"Sure you didn't."

"No, I mean, we didn't get that far."

"In that case, why don't you have your way with him and then kill him?"

"Impa! This isn't a joke."

Impa stopped and looked at her curiously.

"You love him, don't you?"

"That's not – "

Impa stepped forward and hugged her. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Zelda rested her head against Impa's shoulder. She had tried to be brave, but this was all too much. Beneath the rooms of state, beneath the underground stores of arms and gold, and beneath even the ever-flowing waste of the living were the bones of the unhappy creatures who had been tortured and left to die so that the fiction of a virtuous monarchy could be maintained. She had already begun to weave her own threads into this narrative; and, even if her hands were not yet stained with blood, she could not keep them clean forever. She had traveled with Ganon for the express purpose of spying on him, but she couldn't help but hope that he would give her something to believe in, some alternative to the terrible decisions that would lead her forward into her reign just as Impa's terrible glowing path led them deeper into the dungeons.

Impa stroked Zelda's hair, comforting her amidst the broken artifacts of a buried and forsaken monument to pain.

"Sister of my soul, light of my heart," Impa said. "You have seen things I cannot comprehend, and you are yoked to a weight I could never carry. I must guide you forward to worse sights and an even heavier burden. I do it not because I love you, but because I am weak, and afraid. If the Sheikah are called to aid Hyrule, I fear what I will be forced to do; I fear these dungeons will once again become the home of my tribe. I am afraid of becoming someone else, someone like Kaepora. Please forgive me. In order to save myself, and to save my brothers and sisters and cousins, I must show you something that no one should see. When you witness it and understand, it will change you, and you may no longer view me in the same way."

Zelda hugged Impa tighter.

"No, I promise you," she said. "I will always be your Zelda."

▲     ▲     ▲

Zelda continued to follow Impa along the ley lines that stretched through the darkness. Finally Impa came to a halt. In front of her feet, the glowing patterns spun around themselves into an intricate circle. Impa raised her hands and spoke a few words, and a mirror image of the circle was cast into the air in front of her. Although Zelda couldn't see what was on the other side, she could feel a faint wind. The breeze smelled of dust and age.

Impa withdrew two ribbons of white cloth from the pocket of her suit jacket. She passed one to Zelda and tied the other behind her ears so that it covered her mouth and nose. Zelda did the same.

"It's going to be difficult to breathe where we're going," Impa explained. She touched her fingers to the cloth, which instantly became stained with the eye-and-teardrop emblem of the Sheikah. Impa then pressed her palm to the cloth over Zelda's lips. She could feel tendrils of cool oxygen winding their way into her nose and lungs.

Impa removed her bowler hat and set it down onto the glowing circle on the floor.

"Ready when you are," she said, running a hand through her hair, which seemed even whiter in the eldritch shine of the gate.

Zelda braced herself and stepped through the portal.

She was immediately hit in the face by a blast of grit. Humming the spell for a small shield, she blinked rapidly to clear her eyes, but it took a few moments before she was able to see again.

She was surrounded on all sides by pale towers that rose through a haze of rust-colored sand into an ominous maroon sky. The wind tore at her hair, and her ears felt as if they were being pricked with dozens of tiny needles. Impa appeared at her side and immediately began running over the rocky ground, leaping across a series of large stones improbably suspended over a rift in the earth.

Zelda had no choice but to follow. She made the mistake of looking down halfway over the crumbling bridge and was struck with an intense sensation of vertigo when she saw clouds passing across an azure expanse under her feet.

Impa waved her arm, the indigo of her suit standing out against the swirling storm. Zelda rushed to her, and together they scaled the wall of one of the towers, entering what must have once been a window. Visibility was limited, and the interior of the building seemed to spiral up infinitely in strange mess of twists and whorls. Blocks of masonry had fallen onto the tiled floor, which gaped open alarmingly in several places. Remnants of ledges and staircases clung to the walls. Something was wrong with the layout; the geometry of it hurt Zelda's head.

Zelda was thankful for the cloth over her nose, but despite its magic she could barely draw breath. She feared Impa meant to scale the structure, and she steeled herself for a difficult climb.

Impa paced briskly into the center of the area, motioning for Zelda to stay close. Gusts of wind howled through the vertical tunnel, threatening to blow them into the dark holes in the floor, but they anchored each other until they came to a raised platform. Impa knelt and touched her hand to its base, and suddenly the air was filled with Sheikah glyphs. Zelda gasped and grabbed Impa's arm as the platform began to rise, slowly at first, but then with more speed.

Zelda's stomach sank and her ears popped, but she resisted the urge to cling to the surface of the platform. Whatever Impa wanted to show her, she would see it standing on her own two feet.

After what seemed like an eternity, they came to a stop at the balcony of an upper floor. The air was much calmer at this height, but neither of them attempted to speak. Impa led her away from the central area and through a series of small rooms filled with rubble before wresting open a circular stone door that rolled along its track with a low shriek. Beyond the door was the deep burgundy of the sky.

Zelda stepped from the interior of the tower into the uncanny stillness of the open air and walked to the edge of the balustrade. She did not understand what she saw.

An incomprehensibly large gray dome rose from beneath the surface of the storm. Its surface was pitted and barren. There was nothing else.

Zelda turned to Impa, who stood behind her.

"What is this place?"

"This is the world once ruled by the Sheikah. We now call it Termina, for it has ended."

"What happened?"

"The moon fell. Everything died."

The moon fell? That was impossible, and yet...

"How could this happen?"

"We built our towers to the heavens and challenged the very gods who created this world. We harnessed the energy of the Triforce for our own selfish ends, and we were punished. The Goddesses of your world were merciful, and some of our people were allowed to escape into Hyrule. The gateway between worlds remained open to serve as a reminder of our sins. This is the legend that has been passed down through my tribe."

Zelda felt an icy spike of anger pierce her heart. She swept her arm across the ruined landscape.

"This is because you came too close to the gods? How could you possibly know that?"

Impa closed her eyes and shook her head. "There are other gateways below the castle. There are other kingdoms that failed. There are worlds beyond worlds, all crumbling into nothing. Hyrule is the exception, precious and fragile."

Zelda once again looked down onto the moon. She thought of Ganon standing on the terrace outside her room and watching the sun rise over the desert. She wished she could show him this place, majestic in all its terrible beauty. She remembered his hands on her face and in her hair.

"I have to kill him," she said, her words ringing out across an otherwise dead world.

Chapter Text

Ganon leaned against the wall of his cell, his arms crossed over his chest. The rusted chains of the wooden bunk attached to the wall had broken under his weight, so he sat on the floor. He stared straight ahead, his mind blank.

He had torn the wooden door of the small room off its hinges. The passageway beyond was dimly lit. There were no other prisoners and no guards. After he attacked the soldiers who had come with food, he had been left alone. The torch fires remained lit, but eventually they would burn to ash, leaving him in complete darkness.

Ganon felt a strange sense of quietude. When he was first deposited here, he had made it clear that his imprisonment would be on his own terms. He had broken his manacles in half and twisted them around of the throat of the man who clasped them over his wrists. Indignity he could bear, but only so far and no farther.

He had been trained throughout adolescence to let no emotion appear on his face, his mothers pinching at him with their ice and fire at the first signs of agitation. This conditioning had served him well as he was brought into the castle under the cover of night. Outwardly he bore the shame stoically, but he had seethed with fury.

Now he dozed and lost himself in thought, hardly moving. The dungeons had a bizarre effect on his magic, amplifying it beyond his ability to control. He had tried to start a small fire, and the echoes of his voice sent a conflagration raging down the stone corridor. His attempt to bring a breeze into his cell had become a tempest strong enough to rattle the stones in the walls. When his temper flared, the very ground trembled with his anger. He could do nothing but sit perfectly still. Passivity suited him poorly, but he was unable to summon the momentum to move.

To make matters worse, he was haunted by the same voice that had invaded his thoughts during his earlier visit to the castle. As he was brought over the drawbridge spanning the moat it resumed its litany as if he had never left, taunting him in his humiliation.

He had gradually come to identify the voice as his own. The realization had crept up on him like a winter sunset, leaving him chilled to his core.

The magic of the castle was old and deep, and he felt it all around him, an almost tangible sensation that was rough and slimy like moldering sand against his skin. He wondered if this was how the princess had felt in his desert city, which was, after all, just as ancient as her own stronghold. He thought of the warmth of her mellow laughter and the brightness of her smiling eyes. If she had suffered, she had hidden it well. The more he thought of her, each memory as clear and smooth as if preserved in amber, the more he admitted that there was a part of him that would be content to remain in this tiny cell for as long as it took.

He could wait for her to come to him forever.

It's always the princess, in the end.

Ganon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

You had so many opportunities to do away with her, yet you took advantage of none of them. How pathetic.

A faint glimmer shifted just outside of the cell's empty doorframe. Ganon blinked, but it did not fade.

She always lays some sort of trap, doesn't she? Always so devious, always so manipulative. This time you walked right into her snare, despite knowing from the start that she wasn't to be trusted. How stupid can you get?

Ganon felt a stab of annoyance but suppressed his irritation. The voice continued.

At least the novelty of this scenario is refreshing, I must say. She's got you right where she wants you, caught by your foolish cock right in her rotten little cunt.

"Enough!" Ganon snapped. "Show yourself!" he roared, slamming his fist against the floor.

I thought you'd never ask.

The hazy glimmer in the door resolved itself into a man so tall that even the high ceiling seemed almost unable to contain him. His black armor gleamed dully in the torchlight. Ganon unfolded his legs and stood. He had never looked up at another person, but the man's amber eyes were above even his own. The apparition sneered at him with his own lips under the curve of his own nose.

"Who are you?"

You know the answer to that already, Ganondorf Dragmire.

"Explain."

The man laughed, and his form flickered. Short hair, long hair, bearded, face veiled, armed, unarmed, in Gerudo dress, in Hylian costume, stretching back and back and back.

The history of this land is written in the blood of our people, and so has it ever been. You yourself have died in this castle countless times, always at the hands of that infernal woman. Have you forgotten the sting of her betrayal?

A searing pain struck Ganon's ribcage. He staggered backwards and gasped for breath.

She never thinks twice when she shoots you, and she smiles as the hero pierces your heart with his sword. Sometimes she even performs the honor herself.

Ganon braced himself against the wall of his cell, forcing the anguish to recede through the strength of his will. He would not allow this phantom to master him.

Your death at her hands is hardly the worst of it. Even more maddening is the imprisonment wrought by her vile magic, leaving you bloodless and alone. When you think of her touch, do you remember the unrelenting sting of the seal she put on you?

A massive stake of icy burning thrust itself just above Ganon's eyes, driving him to his knees. He clutched his head and screamed. The earth shook around him, but he was not aware of it. The pain was everything.

Ganon managed to raise his face. He flung out his arm, and one of his swords appeared in his sweating fist.

The man in front of him clapped as his face pulled into a sardonic smile.

That's the spirit.

Ganon's pain faded. In his first shuddering breaths he could taste ozone and brimstone.

You're the only one to blame for this situation, but you can still turn it to your advantage. You cling to your humanity as though you clutch at a raft, though the ocean is yours to command. Do not degrade your divinity by remaining in this place.

"I bear the Triforce, but I am no god," Ganon panted.

How long have you sat on the floor of your cell with not a morsel of food nor a drop of water passing your lips, rousing yourself only to stain your robe with your seed, spilled in the service of the very woman who holds you captive?

"I trust her."

I ask you again – how many days has it been?

"I will not move against her."

And yet she will not move to help you.

"She will not betray me."

There is no need for her to betray you when you have so conveniently betrayed yourself. You serve her best as a prisoner, and so a prisoner you will remain. She held your life in her hands when you rode with her, and still you chose to follow her, leashed like a beast to its master.

Ganon somehow found the strength to lift his shoulders. He stared into the apparition's glowing eyes.

"She fascinated me, and she fascinates me still. Will you say she did not fascinate you? You tell me you were trapped by her, but was your fate not of your own making? Surely you have loved her across your many lives, even as I love her now."

The phantom threw back its head and laughed, but there was no joy in its voice. The fire of the torches in the corridor flickered and dimmed.

You speak of love, but there is no love in that woman's heart. She is as cold as the moon and as sterile as the sand. She will forever be the sword at your throat. When you finally see her real face, you will understand how little she truly cares for you.

Ganon held his own gaze. "Your words are those of a coward."

His image smirked in response.

So you say now, and you may think it brave to smile as your blood pours into her hands, but do not for a moment assume she will stop with you. Consider your precious city. It is lowly and tarnished now, but it was not always so. Our people were once proud, our civilization mighty. We have fallen, but we can fall still lower, always lower, ever under the condemnation of that woman and her gods. Do you intend to barter the screams of our sisters for a drink of the poison that spews from her mouth?

Ganon shook his head and lowered himself to the floor. He moved carefully, his pain still fresh in his body.

"Be gone from me. I have no patience for this."

The floor began to vibrate. Ganon closed his eyes and willed himself to remain calm. When he opened his eyes, the earth had stilled and the man was gone.

He understood he had only been talking to himself, his deepest fears made manifest, a projection triggered by the magic of the castle. He knew little of who he may have been before being born into this era, but he had caught snatches of memories while reading of the past. Fragments of images had showered over him like broken glass during the days he had spent with Zelda, each more painful than the last. He realized what she must have once been to him, yet he was still drawn to her eyes, the shine of the sun on her hair, the taste of her lips in the night. He knew what the desert sand had once been, and what it still could be; he knew that his tribe could not rise unless hers fell.

If only he could talk to her, and touch her again...

The gloom intensified, and he settled back into a stupor. He felt the weight of history dragging behind him, and he could not step forward. The castle hung above his head.

Minutes passed. Hours passed. Days passed. Years passed. Decades passed. Time divided in on itself and lost all meaning.

He heard the faint shift of grit along the corridor. He lifted his head, and his face twisted into a rictus of a smile. He pitied the soldier who had been sent down to him.

Another step in the corridor, and another. He could not hear the clank of metal. Not a guard, then. Another step and then, to his surprise, an awkward humming. The tone was familiar, and the pitch was true. The Triforce on the back of his hand glowed.

Ganon waited until the footsteps drew closer before standing.

"So a hero has finally come to challenge me," he said, stepping out of his cell.

Standing alone in the hallway was a small boy in a filthy tunic that might have once been green.

"Link?"

"No!" Link shouted, drawing his sword. "I'm not supposed to meet you yet!"

The sight of a blade in the boy's hand was disconcerting.

Ganon shook his head. "What are you doing here?"

"I..." The sword trembled, and Link almost dropped it. "I will defeat you!"

Link charged at him, screaming. He stepped aside as Link swung his sword. The boy lost his balance and tripped. Ganon caught him by the back of his tunic.

"Careful, kid."

Link spun around, flinging the blade towards Ganon, who dodged it and pushed him away.

Link screamed again and, with an almost inhuman swiftness, leapt high into the air, flashing his sword in an expertly angled arc. Ganon grabbed his wrist and slammed him down onto the floor. The boy sprang up and, anticipating Ganon's movement, thrust his blade upwards. In a split second of shifted weight, Ganon found the sword emerging from the sash tied at his waist. Blood seeped from the wound, darkening the fabric, but there was no pain, only a vague feeling of warmth.

Link fell back, utterly aghast.

Ganon pulled the blade from his stomach, and the Triforce on his hand pulsed. He threw the sword down the corridor behind him and then regarded Link. Where could the child have learned to fight?

"I have to defeat you," Link stammered.

Ganon shot forward and grabbed Link's arm, lifting him. The mark of the Triforce shone from the boy's left hand.

"It can't be," Ganon muttered. "You're only a child..."

Link kicked at him weakly as tears gathered in his eyes.

"I have to kill you and save the princess," he said, tears running down his face.

Ganon sat the boy on his feet, knelt down, and hugged him.

"It's okay. You don't have to kill anyone. We'll go to the princess together."

Link began sobbing. Ganon patted his head as he cried. What could the gods have been thinking, sending a child to fight him?

The wound in his stomach tingled uncomfortably.

You will regret sparing his life. This one will turn on you, just like the others.

"What was that?" Link jerked back, startled.

"Our cue to get out of here," Ganon answered, standing. "Fetch your sword."

Ganon examined the wound at his waist. It had stopped bleeding and was already starting to heal. He had always recovered quickly, but this was unnatural. He was filled with a sense of foreboding.

As Link retrieved his sword, Ganon saw that the boy was limping. He hadn't noticed it in the dim firelight, but a terrible gash ran down one of his calves, and his boot was barely clinging to his leg. If he didn't receive treatment soon, the raw wound would fester.

"Come here," Ganon ordered.

Link walked over to him, wiping the snot from his face with the back of his hand. Ganon swung him up and sat him on his shoulders.

"You smell like wet dirt," Link said.

"You smell like a wet horse," Ganon grunted as he set out down the corridor. "When was the last time you bathed?"

"What are you doing here?" Link asked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? Why shouldn't I be here?"

"Everyone says you're leading the Gerudo in the war against Hyrule."

"There's a war?" Ganon's anger rose in his throat. Of course. The logic behind his imprisonment was suddenly crystal clear. How had he allowed himself to be lulled into complacency, thinking that he was aiding the princess? What scheme had he fallen prey to? Why else would she have ridden with him to Lake Hylia, why else than to entrap him?

The walls of the passageway began to shake, pebbles of mortar falling from the ceiling.

"Ow!" Link yelled, squirming as he batted away a fragment of stone.

Ganon stopped in his tracks and forced himself to take slow and even breaths.

"You've been causing all the earthquakes," Link said simply.

"Yes."

"A whole section of the city burned."

"Good."

"Did you make the clouds and wind and lightning too?"

"Probably."

"Are you really evil?"

"Evil is relative."

"What does that mean?"

"Listen, kid, what are you doing in the dungeons? The princess obviously isn't here." He tried and failed to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

"I got lost."

"I imagine you did. Can you tell me how you got here?"

"No, dummy. If I remembered I wouldn't be lost."

The spell to trace the boy's path was easy enough, but he didn't trust himself to cast it. He'd have to leave the magic up to Link.

"Do you know any songs?"

"Any songs?"

"Right, songs. The kind you sing, you little twerp."

"No one ever taught me anything."

Ganon shook his head. How could a bearer of the Triforce not know any songs? He had probably been discouraged from singing once people realized that unusual things had a tendency to happen when he did. The Hylians were a ridiculous people, clinging to their silly superstitions. He would never understand why magic was so feared in Hyrule.

"Anything is fine."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Okay..."

Link sniffed a few times and began singing, his tone uncertain.

A big old Goron
Fell from the mountain
Rolled down the hill
The earth did shake
He said to himself
I'm sick of the heat
Let's off to see
The deep green lake

Look at his hands
And his great flat feet
And the rock hard stones
Upon his back
Never was there
Such a fine-tailed spin
To set him up
Out on his track

Ganon smiled. Once the boy began to sing, his voice became clear, with perfect rhythm and pitch. He began to sense the trail of Link's presence, and he followed it through the stone halls, humming in harmony.

A small slim Zora
Leapt from the river
Skimmed down the banks
All slick and sleek
She said to herself
I'm sick of the wet
Let's off to see
The highest peak

Look at her fins
And her sharp blue scales
And the way that her face
Curves with the stream
Never was there
Such a swifting stroke
To launch her up
Out on her dream

Here at the crossroads
Stood the old Goron
Scratched his head
He'd been lost all day
The Zora came up
I must say, good sir
You've need of a friend
To go on your way

Where leads your road
My fine lady fair
With gills like those
You can't have come far
The Zora made well
She'd enough of the dust
So she sent them walking
Straight for the bar

Then the drinking did begin
The cups spilled down onto the floor
The Zora said
I've got you beat
The Goron said
Those words mean war

Cheers to the snow
And cheers to the woods
And cheers to the sand
That blows from the west
Cheers to the castle
That sits on the plains
Cheers to two more cups
Of Hyrule's best

Two familiar voices joined the song from farther ahead in the passage.

See the mountain
Rise from floor
Of all the bottles
And the kegs we've climbed
We've drank down a lake
We've sunk the depths
Of beer and whiskey
And good friends' wine

Orris and Amaranth cheered at the end of the song, waving with exaggerated gestures.

Fancy meeting you here, Orris hailed him. You smell disgusting.

A small girl with a chipped garnet heartstone affixed to her forehead peeked out at him from behind Amaranth.

Who is this? Ganon asked, raising an eyebrow.

She wanted to help us rescue you, Amaranth said, smiling.

"Nabooru!" Link kicked away from Ganon and jumped to the ground. "I lost your firegear," he said, bowing his head.

We came through the castle sewers to get here, Orris explained, but the passage is blocked off now. There was an earthquake. She coughed. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?

Don't blame me for everything that happens in this rotten place, he grumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

As you wish, great leader, Orris sighed. We can't get out the way we came, and I'm not about to try to sneak through the castle. What do you propose we do?

"What are they talking about?" Link asked Nabooru.

"I think they're trying to figure out how to leave," she whispered.

"Oh!" Link exclaimed, rummaging around in his small bag. "I found a map in the sewer."

"You could have mentioned that earlier," Ganon groused as Link handed him a thick scroll of leathery parchment.

Link shrugged. "I couldn't read it."

Ganon unrolled the map. It was almost incomprehensibly complicated, but patterns began to emerge as he scanned his eyes across it. Orris walked to his side. He traced his finger over the faded ink.

"Here," he said, tapping a small square on one of the upper levels. "I think there's another way out. Whatever this is, it's close to the castle's eastern wall, where the moat is shallow. First we need to get aboveground, then we'll find a way into the city. Follow me."

▲     ▲     ▲

The door was sealed with an elaborate system of locks. Ganon ran his hands across them, taking a quick inventory of the magic binding them. Some of it was very old. It would take hours to untangle the knots of spellwork, which could no doubt be undone by means of an intricate system of enchanted keys hidden within the winding passages of the dungeon.

Orris let out an exasperated breath. Great Din. What are we going to do about this mess?

Ganon kicked the door. It shook but held firm. He kicked it harder, and its magic shimmered.

He was losing his patience. He kicked it again at its hinges and then reared back before striking it with his open palm, which he followed with a blow from the side of his fist.

The door crashed open.

Ganon cracked his knuckles.

He stepped over the threshold into a large space that could very well have been a prototype model of the castle throne room. The high vaulted ceiling was supported by stark columns partially embedded within the walls. Narrow windows adorned the bays between arches, but the day was almost over, and the light cast onto the smooth marble floor was golden with the setting sun. At one end of the room was an enormous wooden door that seemed as if it hadn't been opened in years. At the other end of the room was an altar. After being confined underground for so long, Ganon felt his head reel from the openness.

Orris pushed past him as she walked into the room, followed by Amaranth. Nabooru and Link trailed behind them.

"What is this place?" Nabooru whispered.

"It looks like some kind of temple," Amaranth answered as she headed toward the altar.

I don't think we're that far from the castle, Orris said to Ganon. I would tell you that you have another door to break down, but I'm afraid of drawing unwanted attention.

Ganon didn't respond. Everything about this place was uncanny. He had mentally constructed a map of their progress underground, and he agreed with Orris. Why would such a magnificent temple in such close proximity to the castle be so empty? There were no signs of human prescence, and yet everything was spotlessly clean. No dust motes hung in the beams of light falling through the windows, and the floor was so polished that he could see the faint outline of his reflection at his feet. A cacophony of magic crossed through the building, scratching at the edges of his senses like a muted chorus of discordant voices.

Link trotted over to Amaranth, and the two of the examined the empty altar together.

Nabooru joined Orris at the door. When the girl pressed her hand to its surface, six glowing glyphs jumped from the grain of the wood. Even from far away, Ganon could distinguish the symbols that stood for the six tribes of Hyrule. Nabooru withdrew her hand, and the glyphs slowly faded, the dragonfly eyes of the Gerudo's symbol lingering in the air.

Ganon's sense of wrongness intensified, and he felt a flare of pain from beneath the heartstone at his forehead. The floor of the temple seemed to drop away, and for a moment he saw himself floating above a black void spiraling down into the earth. The smell of rotting bones and gore-spattered metal filled his nose, and it took all of his self-control not to gag.

This temple had been built over the ashes of the mass grave of a battlefield. Underneath the spotless floor, layers of death were piled on top of one another.

"We need to leave this place immediately," he said, his voice shattering the stillness.

"Nabooru, move away from the door. Link, don't touch the altar. I'm going to force a way through. Amaranth, Orris. Protect the children."

Ganon walked to the door, screams and battle cries echoing in his ears with every step. Orris and Amaranth seemed confused by his curtness, but both Link and Nabooru looked acutely uncomfortable. Was he the only one affected by the terrible palimpsest of this unholy temple, or could the boy and the girl sense it as well? It was of no matter; he had had enough of the castle's magic, and he would allow no door to bar his progress back into the open air.

He slammed his palm against the door, and the six glyphs sprang into relief in a broad circle around his hand. He felt the threads of their power twist around his wrist, and he sliced through them with his will. The magic sealing the door was strong, but he was stronger.

The Triforce mark on the back of his hand began to glow and was answered by a Triforce that appeared in the center of the glyphs. The wings of the eagle of the Hylian royal crest spread from the mark, and he ripped them away in a blunt refusal of their authority. They could not shield the Triforce from its rightful bearer.

Ganon felt the magic yield to him with little more than a sigh of protest. He stepped back to allow the door to swing open.

Standing before him was a Sheikah, a set of blades in each outstretched hand.

Ganon's reflexes were swift, but he was almost unable to evade the Sheikah's assault. As his assailant dashed forward, Ganon realized that he was facing an older man. He would be able to overpower him if he could get close enough, but he doubted he would be allowed an opening.

The Sheikah threw a dagger at him, and Ganon plucked it from the air a moment before the sting of a spell sliced his cheek. Of course the man would use magic – the knives were merely a distraction. There was no need to fight honorably.

Ganon sent a jagged bolt of pure energy at the Sheikah. The man's robes burst into flames and collapsed onto the ground as three more figures sprang from the pile of burning fabric. Ganon sent slicing jets of wind at them, and they too fell.

The temple became deathly quiet. Ganon scanned the sanctuary but could sense nothing out of place. He looked toward his companions only to see the blade of an impossibly long sword protruding from his chest. As when Link had stabbed him, he felt only a faintly ticklish warmth from the wound, and as he spun around he was struck by the certainty that he could not truly be harmed by such injuries.

The blade vanished as he grabbed it, and the Sheikah flew back, sending thin beams of magic at him. Ganon deflected them with a wave of his hand, catching the blade of another dagger through his palm. He wrenched the knife from his flesh as he invoked the spell that would allow him to see the contrails of the Sheikah's magic. Once the patterns of the man's movements were visible, Ganon knew exactly what to do. He dashed to the next point of apparition and slid the Sheikah's knife across his throat just as he materialized. Hot blood spurted in a crescent across the marble floor.

"Cease this at once!"

Ganon looked up to see Zelda framed in the temple doorway. She strode toward him, her bow raised and an arrow already notched.

"I will not allow you to hurt him!" she commanded.

He had never seen her like this. Even in the failing light her armor shone, and her face was a mask of divine righteousness, glorious and beautiful. Her Triforce beamed from the hand holding the arrow aimed directly at him.

She took a step forward, and at the same time Link yelled and charged toward him, his small sword drawn and raised above his head by a hand that glittered with the radiance of his own Triforce.

Ganon's heart shattered as time slowed to a crawl. This had happened before, over and over and over again. How many times had he stood in this very place, struck down by these very people? He felt so old, and he was so tired. How could he have thought for a moment that anything would be different between them?

Do not admit defeat just yet, his own voice spoke to him, as smooth and salacious as silk. Lay claim to the power within you.

No, Ganon whispered, even as energy surged through his body, begging for release.

"This ends now," another voice said in his ear. The Sheikah was suddenly behind him, stabbing his final dagger into his throat before whipping around him to sweep up Link. He spun the boy around to shield himself from the arrow that Zelda had sent flying. The shaft slipped into Link's chest as his sword dropped to the floor, clanging against the marble.

"Impa, to me!" Zelda roared, and like a wisp of smoke the woman appeared behind the Sheikah, impaling him with her daggers as Zelda shot at him once again. This time her arrow hit its mark. Impa wrested Link from the man's hands and sprinted across the floor to Amaranth, who held her twin swords in front of her. The Sheikah collapsed as silently as a falling feather, his blood seeping from his corpse.

I am not your enemy! We must take cover, sister, Impa said in Gerudo. This fight belongs to the princess now. She passed Link's body to Orris and pivoted as she pulled another set of knives from her jacket.

Ganon saw none of this. His mind was engulfed by a fury so frantic and overwhelming that it was impossible to resist. Zelda had killed an innocent child before his eyes, and he had been able to do nothing to stop her. How much blood must be spilled before she was satisfied?

The boy was dead, and soon he would be dead as well. Hyrule was hungry, a slavering monster growing bloated as it consumed the land. Where would it find the coal to feed its engines? Where would it find the wood to lie under its rails? Where would it find the human bodies to chain to its factories? After he died, the kingdom of Hyrule would only become more formidable, expanding ever outward, east into the mountains, south into the forest, and west into the desert. The blight that had tainted the water of Lake Hylia would continue to spread, and he could not stop it. The queen-to-be would not be denied the victory that would herald the beginning of her reign.

Do you still cling to your weakness? The voice was everywhere, permeating every corner of his consciousness. Do you still deny your godhood? Do you still refuse your destiny? Rise and claim your birthright, Ganondorf Dragmire.

Ganon roared as power surged through him. His body grew and bulged and twisted as his clothing strained against him. He flexed his mind and shaped it into a suit of armor that fit him better than anything he had ever worn. He felt his eyes and hair kindle with a fire that burned away the dankness and filth of his underground cell.

Before him was the princess, her arrow shining as golden as the Triforce on her hand.

He considered summoning his swords but quickly concluded that there was no need. He could rip out her throat with his own nails. How lovely her blood would feel against the fever that had alighted on his skin.

How lovely to see you again, Zelda. It's been some time, he leered at her.

"Finally you emerged from your underground lair. A pity you couldn't stay there longer." A corner of her mouth turned up as she pulled her bowstring taunt.

That garish light offends my eyes. Perhaps you could do me the favor of extinguishing it.

"Perhaps you would favor me first by stepping away from the body of my father's advisor. This temple has seen enough slaughter, Gerudo king."

Ganon looked down at Kaepora and kicked him savagely away. The man's blood fanned into the air.

Your wisdom has failed you in your choice of servants, Hylian queen. The boy your gods sent to defend you lies dead in the arms of my consort.

"Send your women away with Impa; this fight does not concern them."

I would sooner kill them myself than trust them to the viper you call friend.

"Then it seems we are at an impasse."

Ganon grinned. He could feel his power rising from him like smoke.

Then you have met your demise.

"That's convenient," Zelda snapped, her face as cruel and sharp as the point of the arrow she aimed at him. "I had come to deliver the same to you."

Ganon charged forward. Zelda released her bowstring, and a blaze of molten gold hurtled toward Ganon, striking him squarely in his breastplate. He bellowed in agony as its magic pierced his armor and sent shockwaves through his body.

Amaranth rushed at Zelda, brandishing her scimitars.

You will not touch him! she cried.

Without blinking, Zelda drew the rapier at her waist, parried Amaranth's thrusts, and sent her reeling with a kick to her knee.

Stay out of this, Zelda said calmly, returning her eyes to Ganon just as he broke his paralysis.

He swiped at her, and she caught his wristguard with the blade of her sword as she swung her bow up against his chin. Before he could strike again, she stepped back, dropped her sword, withdrew an arrow, and buried it in his side.

Damn you, frigid Hylian bitch!

He overcame her magic more quickly this time, but she had already danced away from him.

Zelda notched another arrow on her bow. It glowed golden and magnificent. She shot, and he dodged. He pulled the arrows from his chest and side and flung them away.

She drew and shot again.

He caught her arrow in his hand, the ultraviolent brilliance of his magic clashing against hers in a shower of sparks.

Ganon walked toward her, each step slow and deliberate. She drew another arrow, and with a flick of his will he sent it flying from her hand. He saw her eyes dart to her sword, but he knew she would not be able to reach it.

Zelda met his gaze and then, as he watched, let her bow drop. She stood waiting for him, her back tall.

Do not think I will spare you after the pain you have caused me, he growled.

"And what of the pain you have caused me?" she responded, steel in her voice. "My castle stands empty over a city that lies in ruins from the quakes of your wrath. The lives of my soldiers have been held forfeit by your army. The earth of my fields has been scorched, the beams of my bridges have been snapped, and my iron roads have been ripped from the ground. All of this in a manner of days, Gerudo king."

Do not lay this destruction like an offering at my feet, Hylian queen.

"What can I offer you to satiate your anger?"

You can offer me your life.

"Then I will do so."

The daylight filtering through the temple windows had almost faded, and a feeble sepia light collected in shallow pools on the bloody marble floor.

Zelda raised her arm, slender and pale, and twined her fingers through Ganon's beard. She pulled him down to her. He could choke the breath from her lissome neck, he could claw her heart from under her glimmering armor, he could fry the flesh from her perfect face, but still he allowed her to draw him closer. She closed her eyes as she kissed him.

The pain of her touch shot through his body just as it had when he first pressed his lips to her hand, but her mouth was so soft, and her breath was so sweet.

As late summer turns to fall, the sky over the desert grows heavy and fragrant with the promise of rain. Ganon sensed the cool eastern wind of the changing seasons blowing against his skin, and he was filled with the tension and the longing of the moment just before the first cloud drifts over the mountains.

Zelda's pulse beat into his lips, and he opened himself to her, sweeping her off her feet and lifting her into him. He could feel her smile as he returned her kiss.

If the jealous gods were watching from above, and if the vengeful dead were watching from below, it meant nothing to either of them.

Ganon felt the conflagration that had raged within him grow quiet, and his armor shifted back into the cloth of his robes, cloth he had once embroidered as a boy, dreaming of what it would mean to become a man as he sat around the embers of the kitchen fire with his aunts and sisters. He would give anything to be that boy again, protected from the freezing night by the warmth of laughter, but he knew he could never be anything than what he was and what he always had been, and so he held Zelda to him, his poison and his antidote.

He was struck by an overpowering thirst. He set Zelda on her feet and dropped to his knees. She knelt beside him and sang of bottomless lakes and rivers that never ended, and her cupped palms filled with water. She held her hands to his lips, and he drank.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the boy," Orris said, suddenly beside them. She still held Link. "He's alive, but just barely, and I don't know for how much longer."

Ganon and Zelda stood. Zelda laid her hand on Link's forehead, and Ganon laid his hand over hers. Their Triforce marks shone against the gathering darkness, and Link opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" he mumbled, his words disappearing into the whirring of engines that had descended just outside the door.

What happened here? Aveil called out as she strode into the temple. Did I miss anything?

Orris put Link down and then turned to face her. She laughed, nervously at first but then with growing strength. You're late! As always.

Aveil waved to Ganon. I brought a bunch of sand speeders, she called out. Just a few adjustments, and those things really fly. I'm a genius, right?

Aveil began to approach them but then glanced at a puddle of blood and stopped in her tracks.

Do you guys need a ride? she asked, grimacing.

"We still have business here, I think," Zelda said softly to Ganon. He nodded.

Aveil, take Orris and Amaranth and the two children and return to Lanayru. I will meet you there, Ganon said.

"Impa," Zelda called, and Impa appeared at her side. "Please ensure the castle is completely evacuated, and then flee to safely with all those who have remained. If my father refuses to leave, you are welcome to use force."

"Of course, my lady," Impa replied. "But..." She looked at Zelda, her eyes pained. "Will I see you again?"

"I should order you to stay behind, but I won't. I never want to give another order in my life. I would like to see you again, and soon."

Impa bowed, her shag of white hair falling across her face, and then followed Aveil outside.

The desert will always welcome those who keep its secrets, Orris said, lowering her head slightly before turning away. Nabooru and Link were on her heels, holding hands.

Amaranth paused in the doorway of the temple and glanced over her shoulder at Zelda.

"We were well met, my sister in arms. As your victor's price, you must tell me – what will you do now?"

"This conflict has gone on long enough," Zelda answered.

Ganon placed his hand on her armored shoulder. "Tonight we will end it."

Chapter Text

Finally they were alone.

Moments ago Zelda had feared for her life as Ganon became the legendary demon king before her very eyes. When she first saw him enter the throne room of her castle, she had thought the dark shadow hanging over him was merely a reflection of his magic. She was keenly aware of his seemingly limitless power, a natural force unto itself; but as she watched him transform into everything that had ever haunted her nightmares, she wanted to flee. Together with Impa and the boy she would run far away from Hyrule. She could train the hero, and then, when the time was right, they would return to confront the monster that faced her with murder written plainly on every line of his terrible face.

And yet she had still been drawn to him. She could not turn her back knowing that, if she did so, the next time she saw him would be the last. Even as he towered over her, she had wanted him to hold her.

Light had all but faded from the temple. The marble glowed with the cool blue of deep twilight.

Ganon gently touched his hand to her face. His eyes shone golden.

"Are you unharmed?" he asked.

Zelda put her hand over his and leaned into his palm.

"I came to kill you," she said.

"I know," he said, stroking her cheek with his thumb.

"I could still kill you."

"I know."

"For some reason I can't kill you."

"There has been enough death in this place."

"Are you still prepared to overthrow my kingdom?"

"Only if you are prepared to reveal your heart to me. I must know your intentions."

"That I can do, but first..."

Zelda stepped away from him.

"Is Orris truly your consort?"

Ganon smiled. "Orris and Amaranth were both designated as my consorts. They chose each other instead. Even as their king I do not wield authority enough to come between them."

Zelda could feel herself blushing, and she looked away.

"There are a few things you need to know," she said, removing her coronet.

"First, we are standing at the gateway to the Sacred Realm, where the Triforce can be made manifest," she continued as she walked to the altar. "As I'm sure you're aware, there are several theories regarding the nature of the Triforce, but what is clear is that it will only appear if its three constituent pieces are assembled. Although I did not mean to shoot Link, the Triforce of Courage transferred to me when my arrow struck him. The two of us should be able to enter the Sacred Realm and summon the complete Triforce together."

Zelda placed her coronet onto one of the indentations on the altar. It began floating.

"Second, Hyrule Castle stands above several portals to other worlds. This temple is one of the oldest parts of the structure, and underneath it is a nexus of such portals. Life has faded from many of the worlds connected to them. As the Sacred Realm is an intrinsic part of our own world, I suspect these other worlds were created by the Triforce. Perhaps you know something of this."

Ganon nodded. "I have read of these other worlds."

The gemstones on Zelda's coronet sparked with light, illuminating the temple sanctuary.

"I have read a fair bit myself," she said. "I have a theory, if you'd like to hear it."

"I would."

"The Triforce grants the deepest wish of whoever touches it, and yet my family has ruled this land for countless generations. How can it be that no one has successfully used the Triforce to shift the balance of power in Hyrule, or to abolish the monarchy altogether? I believe the Triforce, in order to accommodate such wishes, creates separate realms, tiny universes in which the wish of a potential usurper can come to fruition without disrupting the stability of our own."

Ganon considered her words before speaking.

"That is deeply interesting," he said slowly, "but I have another theory."

Zelda acknowledged him with a nod but did not respond. The stones of her coronet were supposed to open the doorway to the Sacred Realm when activated by a song passed down through the royal family. Zelda had hummed the song several times, but nothing happened.

"What am I missing?" she muttered to herself.

Ganon stood beside her. "Try again," he offered.

Zelda began to sing the Ancient Hylian words her mother had once sung to her. The melody was solemn and haunting. Ganon picked up the harmony. Although he sang in Gerudo, his voice resonated perfectly with hers. The radiant light streaming from Zelda's coronet engulfed the altar, and lines of brilliance spread from its base and raced across the floor, converging into an outline of a door on the far wall. As the song reached its climax, the stone face within the shining lines disappeared, revealing another room behind it.

As their voices faded away, so too did the magic light, but an unearthly glow continued to emanate from the newly opened room. Zelda's coronet sank back to the surface of the altar. She picked it up, wondering whether she should leave it behind.

Ganon gently took it from her hand and replaced it on her head. The topaz stone on his own crown cast a soft light.

"The Goddesses created our world, leaving behind the Triforce as an emblem of the demiurgical energy that sustains it," he said. "Without the blessing of the Triforce, Hyrule could not exist. Perhaps it may be possible to create other worlds, but they would fall to ruin were the Triforce not there to continue to supply generative magic."

He paused, and Zelda nodded for him to continue.

"You say that rule of this land has passed down unbroken across successive generations of your family, but you know as well as I do that this is not strictly true. Whoever commands the Triforce is the sovereign of Hyrule, either by birth, by marriage, or by war. Other queens have held the Triforce, as have other heroes, and other desert kings. I would not be surprised if there were Gerudo blood in your lineage or Ordonians in your family tree."

"It is as you say, although the records of such ancestry have been suppressed," Zelda said.

"The stabilizing factor in Hyrule is not the royal family, but the Triforce," Ganon continued. "Just as the energy of the Triforce maintains the magic and the natural laws of this world, a claim on it legitimizes political hegemony. I have read the histories and accounts of the Gerudo kings, which stretch so far back that we cannot date a number of them. The Triforce has been held in their hands before, and it seems they have all desired Hyrule."

Ganon sighed. "I will admit that I myself have been tempted, sometimes quite strongly, to seek the Golden Power. Perhaps I might be able to succeed where all those who came before me failed. If I had the Triforce, the Gerudo would no longer live in the shadow of your castle, and the spring rains and green fields of Hyrule would be ours to enjoy."

He clenched his fist at his side. "It may be that, had I not met you, my desire for these things would have grown until it overwhelmed me."

Zelda watched as he slowly relaxed his hand.

He shook his head and continued. "When heroes, and Zeldas, and even Ganondorfs have touched the Triforce, wishing for control of this land to be passed into what they have understood to be the rightful hands, they were all been wishing for the same thing – the return of order. It may be that, when the Triforce expends its energy to create order, there is an equal expenditure of energy in the direction of chaos. Perhaps this balancing reaction is the origin of the multiple worlds whose entryways are scattered across Hyrule."

Zelda started, and Ganon gave a wry smile. "Not all of the gateways are under your castle."

Zelda's mind raced. Ganon's theory made sense to her. Why would the Goddesses oversee the creation of a new world only to allow it to fall to ruin? Surely they were not so petty.

"If these other worlds are mere shadows cast by the light of the Triforce," she said hesitantly, "then it is not necessary for our own world to be caught in a cycle of destruction."

"Why do you think it would be?" Ganon asked.

"Because it has been," she answered simply. "Our written accounts only go back so far, but the legend of Zelda is older than any book, older even than the castle itself. A demon king will rise in the west, abducting the princess and wreaking untold havoc on Hyrule. Only the chosen hero can reclaim the Triforce, bringing an end to war and ushering in an age of prosperity."

"Thus is Hyrule purified through the blood of the sacrificed," Ganon muttered.

"Exactly," Zelda said. "We understand this to be a necessary evil intended by the Goddesses to prevent stagnation and encourage regeneration, but perhaps this has never been the case."

"The Gerudo have never understood it to be so."

"Then what is this all about?"

Ganon's shoulders sank. "There was an ancient conflict, but we know almost nothing about it."

He was holding something back from her. What did he have to hide from her, here at the end of all things?

"Then I suggest we find out," she said.

Zelda offered her hand to Ganon just as she had when he was presented to her at court. He kissed the knuckles of her silver gauntlets.

She led him behind the altar and through the glowing doorway in the temple wall. The source of the light was a sword emerging from a pedestal covered in glyphs.

Zelda imagined the thrill of wielding the sword, of commanding its heft and weight. She could almost hear the sound it would make as it sliced through the air.

"The Master Sword is the key that will open the gate to the Sacred Realm," she said.

"I will not touch that thing," Ganon grimaced.

"You don't have to. I will draw it myself."

Zelda's eyes widened in anticipation. With this sword in her hands, she need never fear anything again. All of Hyrule would open itself to her. She would no longer be confined to the castle, and she would need no one to defend her. The armor and the crown she wore were nothing compared to the authority invested in this blade. With it she would be the perfect queen, a queen who ruled not with wisdom alone but with the courage to change the course of history.

She would be invincible.

Ganon regarded her with grave concern. How very like him, to fear the very thing he craved. He could overpower her and claim the sword for himself, but she knew he would not, even though he was clearly struggling to restrain his desire. She found his weakness pathetic.

"How about a kiss," she said. "For luck."

Zelda grabbed the collar of Ganon's shirt and pulled his face to hers. As the kiss deepened, he drew her to him, and she delighted in the feel of his body, which was protected only by the soft linen robes favored by the Gerudo. His only armor was the divine power within him. She considered taking it from him as the heat of his mouth pressed against hers. If she wielded the complete Triforce, could she not become a goddess herself? How easy it would be to let other worlds splinter and fall away as she led Hyrule into a new golden age, marrying the magic of the past to the technology of the present. If this man were no longer bound to the Triforce, then she could have him as well, joining his state to her own.

But first, the Master Sword.

Zelda released Ganon and mounted the dais that supported the pedestal holding the sword. She wrapped her hands around its hilt, feeling the energy of its potential vibrate within her. It had been meant for her, and she had been born for this moment.

The muscles of Zelda's arm sang as she drew the sword. She raised it over her head in triumph, blazing with strength. A white light enveloped the room. The temple walls began to grow thin and fade away.

Without thinking, Zelda stretched her arm out to Ganon. He dashed forward and grabbed her hand. She twined her fingers through his, and in that moment their world fell away.

▲    ▲    ▲

Zelda stood on a terrace looking out over the ocean, its water sparkling under a clear sky. Boats plied the waves below her. A city spread along the coast like lace lining a cerulean tapestry. The salty breeze caressed her skin and lifted her hair.

Her vision doubled, and she could see herself gazing at the sea. She wore a simple shift so white that it shone, and she was so slender she wondered how she wasn't blown away by the wind. A second later she realized that her bare feet weren't actually touching the floor.

She felt a presence behind her, and she turned.

A man that was not a man but clearly a god emerged from the doorway leading onto the terrace. He was as large as a mountain, and his skin was as dark as oil. His veins pulsed with lava, and his hair burned like a beacon fire. His eyes glowed with a molten gold, and their light was warm.

"Hylia," he said, his voice like distant thunder.

She wanted to run to him, but she knew she could not.

"It has been some time since we last met," she said, or perhaps she sang. The shape of her words was rounded, their tenor mellifluous, their rhythm simple yet deep. Her language was unfamiliar to Zelda, but somehow her meaning was clear.

"How I have missed you," he said.

She shook her head, her hair scattering tiny bursts of light. "You know why I have come."

"How I have longed for you." He crossed the terrace, and she marveled that such a small platform hanging into the open air did not shake under his weight.

"Spare me your insinuations," she hissed, her voice cutting the space between them. "We have made a terrible mistake. I came to prevent you from committing an even worse error of judgment."

The god frowned, baring his teeth. He had many of them, and they were sharp.

"We have done nothing wrong," he said.

"You purposefully misunderstand me," she countered. "Even now you prepare to cast out into the Great Sea. Have you not already gone far enough? This is an affront to the Goddesses who created us."

The fire on the god's head blazed, and she could feel its searing heat caress her face.

"The Goddesses have given us great power. Surely they did not intend for it to be contained."

"The Goddesses intended for the Triforce to stay in Hyrule."

"We are the Triforce, Hylia. Everywhere we go is Hyrule. Should we leave this land, Hyrule will follow us."

"The Triforce was not meant to be separated. It is bound to the Sacred Realm. Why do you pretend you do not know this?"

Her heart ached. She too had dreamed of flying across the borders of Hyrule and over the sea, but she was a warden created to protect this land, as he was, as was their distant counterpart in the forests to the south. They could not abandon their duty.

"The Sacred Realm will continue to exist regardless of our movements; magic will continue to flow through its gates regardless of whether we are here to keep them open. Have you not considered, my radiant beauty of dawn, that it would be better for the tribes of this land if those gates were never open, and if we were not here?"

"Then you mean to take me with you?"

"If you will come with me, sweet Hylia, and bless the wind in my sails."

She glared at him. "You utter blasphemies. Would you shun the divine responsibilities for which we were given eternal life?"

His smile vanished. "What good is eternal life if we do not use it to its fullest?"

"We are undying so that we may be unwavering in our purpose."

"We have been given unlimited time so that our purpose may change as we do."

Zelda saw and felt her face grow cold. "If the Triforce is divided, Hyrule will crumble."

The god stepped forward, and the terrace trembled under his foot. "The Triforce was split between three entities so that Hyrule would not crumble if it were separated."

"You have no way of knowing that."

"And that is why I would like to test it."

"You will not test anything with my people's lives. Your own people have suffered enough."

The sky darkened as black clouds roiled in over the mountains. His temper was terrible, but she knew she had nothing to fear from his anger.

"How have my people suffered?" he growled. "Their cities are like jewels on the surface of the earth, and they have climbed to the very heavens using the wonders they have wrought. They live for the promise of the marvels of a new day, while you force your people to cling to the faded wisdom of the past."

She smiled, and somehow it was even worse than his scowl. "Believe me, I know about wisdom, and it does not disappear when a new sun rises. I have a passing knowledge of power as well, and I know just how easily it can be wrested away."

"Are you threatening me, Hylia?" The god's voice slid like velvet against her ears.

She glided to him until her face was level with his. "I will do whatever it takes to keep the Triforce in Hyrule."

He flung out his arm, pushing her away. "You will not hold me against my will!" he bellowed.

"Then I will imprison you so deep underground that the very land you wish to leave will hold you in my stead."

"You do not have the power to do this."

"Oh?" Under the darkening sky, the sea grew violent. She looked at it, gave an icy smile, and returned her gaze to him. "You might be surprised to find that I have the power to do a great many things."

He clenched his fists, and lightning struck the surface of the ocean. "If you fight me, I will visit such horrific destruction on your people that they will beg you to banish me."

Her eyes glittered. "Then you will be known to us as 'Demise,' the one who brought about his own downfall."

Zelda wanted to call out to the goddess, to call out to herself. As she opened her mouth, the flow of time shifted and began to race forward. She watched helplessly as the ocean shrank away underneath a merciless sun, its cool water replaced by burning sands. Great migrations of people poured into the barren desert, chased by an inexorable wall of flame. Zelda looked to the east, where she saw only a towering column of smoke rising from the earth.

Hyrule itself seemed to scream, a wail that filled Zelda's heart until she could no longer stand it. Her vision faded into darkness. As the anguish of the war-torn land faded, she thought she could hear herself weeping quietly.

▲     ▲     ▲

Zelda stood with the Master Sword in one hand and Ganon's fist crushing the fingers of the other.

She dropped the sword, which clattered on the stone dais. She did not let Ganon go.

"Did you see – "

Ganon clutched her hand tighter.

"The Triforce," he muttered.

Zelda followed his gaze. Although they were still in the small chapel behind the main sanctuary of the temple, intricate stained glass windows illustrating the six tribes of Hyrule now stretched to the ceiling. Strong light shone through the windows, casting colorful patterns onto the surface of the water that surrounded the raised platform. The center window facing the sword's pedestal depicted the familiar forms of the three ancient wardens, and hovering in front of it were the three sacred triangles. They were so magnificent that she could hardly bear to look at them.

She felt the magic of the Triforce flowing in and around her, filling her body with radiance. She could hear it singing to her in the voice of the goddess Hylia, a song with words that transcended the flow of time, glorious and triumphant. Zelda knew that she could listen to the voice for only so long until it transformed her into something she would not be able to recognize.

"You get one wish," Ganon said, choking on the words.

Zelda tore her eyes away from the Triforce and looked at Ganon. Snatches of his thoughts flickered through her mind. She saw the ocean spilling back into the desert, the masts of ships sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain, a Gerudo woman weaving a speeder through the sails, her red hair streaming behind her.

"You wish to return water to the desert?"

Ganon shook his head, and Zelda saw a terrifying curtain of water crashing into the mountainside buildings of Fort Lanayru. She caught a glimpse of something else – a wave enveloping her own castle – but the vision was cut short.

"What do you wish for," he whispered.

Zelda inhaled sharply. No one had ever asked her that question, but the answer came to her immediately. She imagined the Gerudo woman riding the speeder through the air, her hair unbound, her bronze skin bare under the sun, her eyes wide, laughing. She became that woman, and she looked down to see Ganon standing at the prow of a ship and waving to her.

The song of the Triforce reached a crescendo, Zelda knew that the time had come. Leaving the Master Sword behind, she sprang forward. The heels of her boots did not touch the water as she ran. When she placed her hand against the shining surface of the Triforce, she held only one thought in her mind.

Let us be free. Please, let the three of us be free.

Golden light erupted into the room, and Zelda's heart soared. As quickly as it had appeared the radiance shrank, pulling itself back into the mark on the back of her right hand. She had lost the Triforce of Courage, but she was filled with certainty that Link would find a use for it. Next to her, Ganon stared in amazement at the Triforce that had returned to his own hand.

"Nothing has changed," Zelda said, "but we are free. We have always been free."

"Should we leave this land," Ganon answered, "Hyrule will follow us."

Zelda let out a breath and smiled. The path lying ahead of her was clear.

"Oh great Demise, he who brought about his own downfall. Do you still wish to visit destruction on Hylia's chosen?"

Ganon looked at her with wonder in his eyes. "Assuming I do?"

"Do you have strength enough for one final earthquake?"

"Of course, but..."

"The castle has been evacuated. Should its walls crumble, no one will be the worse for it. My father is a better architect than he is a king, and Impa is a better politician than I am a princess. Let the soldiers build the railways, and let the children of the slums loot the ruins of the palace. Magic will continue to flow from the Sacred Realm no matter what we do. We are only closing the gate before we leave."

"Are we leaving, then?"

"I can feel the feathers of the goddess at my back, and I can fly as swiftly as thought."

"Very well." Ganon raised his hand, and his Triforce spilled illumination into the room. "Then I will give this cursed sword and its bloody legacy a fitting burial."

Without singing, and without making any sound at all, Ganon allowed his face to relax. Although her link to him had been broken, she could still sense his pleasure at finally having a reason to unleash the full extent of his power.

The earth began to shake. The song of the Gerudo Valley was familiar to everyone in Hyrule, and it came easily to Zelda. Ganon joined her after the first two bars, his eyes shining as golden as the Triforce on his hand as the pillars within the temple walls cracked.

Zelda closed her eyes, and the roar of falling marble debris became the still and silent dust of limestone. She opened her eyes, and she stood with Ganon in his chambers within the palace of Fort Lanayru. Ganon took in his surroundings in awe as the clear light of the full moon fell through the high windows. The scent of sand and spice filled the air.

Zelda faced Ganon and took his hands in hers.

She kissed him for all the things she couldn't say to him and all the things she would never be able to say to him. She kissed him for this lifetime, and she kissed him for all the lives they had ever met and raged and fought. She kissed him because, no matter what had happened in the past, she was herself and she loved him. She kissed him until the heat of his hands on her skin made her forget that anything but this moment had ever existed between them.

"I want you," she said.

He brought his lips to her ear and whispered, "I know."

She laughed and tried to push him, but he drew her closer as he unlaced the ties at the back of her cuirass. She batted his hands away and unlatched the clasps of her shoulder guards. He took them from her as she removed her gauntlets. The cool air felt wonderful on her skin. She lifted her tunic above her head and let it fall to the floor.

Ganon drank her in with his eyes before embracing her, the sleeves of his robe enveloping her like wings. Underneath the sandalwood that had been smoked into the fabric was the smell of fire and blood. She pulled the robe away from him and tossed it to the ground before unhooking the collar of his shirt. He shrugged himself out of it as she undid the sash at his waist. He took her in his arms, and she could feel his heart beside hers, his every muscle alive with the enormous energy running through him. She kissed him again, and he pressed her body against his, making his desire clear.

She turned in his arms and unlatched the leather straps of her shinguards, kicking them off along with her boots. Before she could straighten herself Ganon scooped her legs from under her and kissed her as he held her, his hands strong and sure.

She smiled against his lips. "Take me to bed. Now."

Ganon set her down on the edge of the raised sleeping platform. She knelt on the quilt, her knees sinking into the rich fabric. She loosened his pants and tugged them down his waist. He stepped out of them and joined her on the bed, leaning over her and kissing her hungrily. She could feel him against her, a hardness against her softness.

Zelda grabbed his shoulders and moved him to the side, flipping herself on top of him. She trapped his leg between hers as she ran her hands along the length of his shaft. She hummed a water spell, and her palms became slick with moisture. She began to stroke him, gently at first, and then with greater pressure.

His face twisted as she moved her hands. He said her name, his voice filled with need.

She looked down on his body, thick with muscle and traced with scars. Only jagged white lines remained where her arrows had struck him. How amazing it was, to sit on top of a god, manipulating him where he was most vulnerable. How amazing it was, that she herself was once a goddess, a goddess who had torn her land apart in order to spite him. How amazing that they should both be here, lying on the same bed, desiring nothing but the touch of the other.

"Gods, Zelda, if you don't stop..."

She had no intention of stopping. She had seen him at his most powerful, and she would not rest her hand until she saw him at his most defenseless.

Ganon's face was transformed as he gasped for release. She teased him, denying him until he spoke her name again, begging. His body was rigid with tension, and his arms bulged as he grabbed handfuls of the quilt. He was delicious.

He roared as he came. Zelda watched him, savoring every twitch of his flesh under her hand.

As Ganon's breaths slowed, he stared at her with reverence. She grinned back at him.

"You once cautioned me that the stone corridors carry echoes," she said.

"Then the Gerudo will know that their king has returned!"

Ganon laughed as he sat up and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

My sweet golden girl, he whispered into her hair. You are worth more to me than all of Hyrule.

My fine desert lion, she responded, enjoying the taste of the Gerudo words on her tongue. To be with you I would give up a thousand kingdoms.

I have wanted to taste you for so long, he whispered, trailing kisses down her neck. His lips lingered on the peaks of her breasts, but she pushed his head down, hurrying him along.

He positioned his head between her legs, and she gasped as he pressed his nose against her clit. His beard was enticingly rough against the insides of her thighs. She could feel him smiling into her, and then he licked her, ever so slowly. It was like a harmonized chord, many sensations coming together into one blissful note.

Peace, my lady, he murmured, the vibrations stirring her to greater arousal. I will be gentle.

He was gentle, but only at first. His tenderness gave way to hunger, his tongue moving against her with mounting urgency. He ran his hand along her leg before shifting to slide his fingers into her. He had made her so sensitive that even the touch of his thumb and ring finger on her folds made her buck her hips involuntarily. He responded by moving his mouth to her swollen clit, pressing it between his lips and circling it with his tongue as he moved his fingers. She cried out from sheer overwhelming pleasure.

"Please..."

He raised his eyes. "Not so fast. You toyed with me, and I will have my revenge."

She reached forward and ran her fingers through his hair, pressing him back down into her. The Triforce on her hand flared with light.

"We can play later," she panted. "I want you now."

"As her Highness commands," he said, thrusting his fingers and tonguing her clit with enough force to send her over the edge. He continued to flick his tongue over her as she came, riding out the waves of her pleasure, each more intense than the next.

Zelda had slept with men before, employing the stealth that had been part of her training to leave the castle under the cover of darkness and engage in all manner of nocturnal adventures, but she had never experienced anything like this.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" she asked him.

"We've had lifetimes," he said, raising himself so that his face was next to hers. He stroked her arm, the Triforce on his hand shining. The desire in his eyes seemed almost dangerous. She was reminded of how he had stalked toward her on the bloodstained floor of the temple, larger than life in his dark armor, seething with menace.

Great Nayru, how she wanted him.

Zelda sat up, pulling Ganon along with her. "I'm going to ride you," she informed him. "Are you ready?"

He kissed her and drew her to him as he moved along the quilt. He put his back to the wall, and she straddled his waist, his cock hot against her stomach.

Ganon put his hands on her waist, supporting her. "I wish you had been so forthcoming earlier," he said. "It would have saved us a great deal of trouble."

"I told you I wanted an adventure in the desert," she answered, grinding against him. "When I left the castle with you, I had no idea we would end up like this. I was sent to spy on you, but I couldn't understand why. I had been having nightmares for weeks, and I felt that I was confronting something so much larger than myself. Being with you was like standing on a thin bridge over a raging river. With one misstep, I would fall and be swept away."

Ganon's breaths had grown rougher. "And did you lose your footing?"

"I must have, but instead of falling I flew." He was so hard against her, and she felt herself melting for him. She ran her palms across his beard and kissed him, raising herself over him, delighting in how the tip of his cock burned just under her. She bit his lower lip playfully, and he moaned into her mouth. His voice reverberated through her body. She lowered herself, and then he was inside her.

"By the gods, Zelda," he groaned, holding her eyes in his as he helped her move. She let him into her slowly, testing the limits of her body, but he fit her perfectly. He filled her to her core. As she began to guide his thrusts her desire swelled.

Ganon kissed her neck and ran his lips along her ear. If you're not careful I'm going to lose control.

She pressed her nose into the hollow under his jaw and lowered her fingers to the stiff point of his nipple, squeezing it until he gave another choked moan. "I've had enough of being careful."

His mouth found hers, and as he kissed her he brought his fingers to her clit. With him filling her, and him caressing her, she surrendered herself to her aching need. What use were gods and kingdoms when his arms were so strong around her, and his tongue so sweet on hers, and his cock so deep inside her?

Zelda cried out his name in a plea, and he called for her in response, his voice heavy and gorgeous. She came like the sunrise, a sudden burst of brilliant color into an infinitely open sky.

They held each other as universes spun around them.

▲     ▲     ▲

When it was over she sat with her back to him while he patiently unpinned and unbraided the pleats in her hair. Although the moon was much lower in the sky, its light was still strong enough for her to appreciate just how many books and maps covered the tables and lined the walls of the room.

"So this all used to be an ocean," she remarked.

"On the other side of the desert lies the sea," Ganon answered.

Somehow this did not seem strange to her. "What do you mean?"

As he combed her hair with his fingers, he explained to her about the tunnels hidden under the sand, and how he had discovered them as a boy, and how he had managed to navigate them, and how he had finally emerged to see a shining expanse of water stretching out before him.

Zelda considered the possibilities this discovery represented, and for the first time in her life she felt completely unburdened by responsibility.

"Was all of this worth it?"

Ganon's fingers stilled, and he leaned forward to embrace her. She could feel his heart beat against her skin. It was, for me, he answered. No matter how many lives we are born into, I will always pursue you.

Zelda sighed. "Perhaps in this lifetime we can end this conflict." She hugged his arms closer around her. "When we meet again, one day in the distant future, I do not want us to be enemies. We've been trapped in the past for far too long, and the world is so much larger than Hyrule."

Chapter Text

"Take me across the desert. I want to see the ocean."

Ganon returned from washing himself to find Zelda standing between Acacia and Mallow, fully dressed and with sand goggles perched on her forehead.

Your horse is saddled and ready, Acacia informed him.

We've prepared a horse for Zelda as well, Mallow added.

The sun had only barely risen above the horizon, and already Zelda had marshalled his spearwomen into her service. Ganon's heart swelled with affection. He stepped forward and kissed her. She brought her hand to his face, drawing him closer while stroking his freshly trimmed beard.

Acacia coughed delicately, and Zelda released him.

"Before we deal with matters here," she said, "I'd like to ride to the Temple of Din and see your tunnels for myself."

Ganon considered this statement, which was most assuredly not a request. The day would bring with it all manner of demands on his time and his patience, and although he felt more energetic and refreshed than he had in years, he had no desire to attend to the business of state immediately. He had just escaped death – or something far worse – and the dawn was the best time to ride in the desert. He would give word from Orris time to arrive, and in the meantime his mothers could handle everything in his stead.

"Very well," he said. "We will leave at once."

Zelda took to her Gerudo mount immediately. She stood in her saddle and laughed as she raced him across the dunes to the temple. He took her hand and led her to the chambers cut into the foundation stone and down the twin passageways that stretched into the great cavernous space below. He could not stop himself from snatching glimpses of her face as she marveled over the incredible scale of the architecture.

Ganon touched the glyphs carved into the wall and called them to life. They appeared as broken and garbled as they had before, sending out runners of light that fizzled into the darkness.

"Let me try," Zelda said. She asked him to repeat the spell he used. He did, twice, and on the third time she joined him, harmonizing with his every note. Her clear and beautiful voice spun out into the inky stillness, and glowing glyphs began to spiral around them. Illumination slowly spread from where they stood.

Ganon was struck by a sudden inspiration to weave in the melody Zelda had sung at the altar of the temple within Hyrule Castle, and as he shifted the chords of his song Zelda bolstered it with a lilting countermelody.

He was amazed to see figures materialize in the vast underground space. There were only a few blurry shadows at first, but then more and more popped into existence. He saw hundreds, and then thousands, of people bustling about. They were from every tribe of Hyrule, and he even spotted a few from tribes of which he had never heard or read.

The dust of ages fell away from the enormous pillars supporting the ceiling, and the collapsed entrances to the doorways lining the walls opened. Glyphs floated freely in the air, forming signs and lanes for the foot traffic and even what appeared to be advertisements. The bridge over the far chasm grew several stories, each of which was filled with people.

As the light of their song continued to spread, Ganon realized that the grooves carved into certain sections of the floor were indeed rails when several trains materialized on top of them. They were nothing like anything Ganon had ever seen before, sleek marvels of design and engineering.

The entire scene before them was like something from a dream. Ganon glanced at Zelda and saw that her eyes were wide with wonder. She nodded at him, and together they brought their song to a close, allowing their voices to fade into echoes. The structured chaos around them vanished, the last lights winking out like stars before the sunrise.

"So that was the world before the first war of the gods," Zelda muttered.

"That world can be ours again, in time," Ganon responded.

"I can't do anything about time," Zelda smiled, "but for now, I think I've found a map."

She hummed a variation of the song Ganon had used earlier, and a set of luminous lines appeared in front of them, surrounded by text in Ancient Hylian. Zelda touched the pads of her fingers to the image, and it moved along with her hand. As she expanded the scale of the map, she was able to trace the route of the tunnels all the way to Castle City. She began to scroll east past Death Mountain, but Ganon stilled her hand with his.

"Go the other way. Go west."

With a decisive swipe, Zelda pushed the map all the way to its westernmost corner, where a single tunnel line stretched out into an aquamarine field.

"I guess that's as far as they ever went," she muttered.

Ganon touched the terminus point, and it pulsed under his finger. Marine Observatory, the label read.

"So this is the edge of Hyrule," he said. "With all of their magic and technology, they never ventured beyond it."

"You know," Zelda said, "I've always dreamed of the ocean."

"And now you want to see it for yourself."

"Oh, I want to do more than just see it."

Ganon thought of the salty breeze on his face, and how the water had stretched on forever, interrupted only by small islands. He imagined what it would be like to sail over the waves, navigating by the stars. He pictured the storms over the sea, the water above spilling luxuriously down into the water below.

He reflected on his home in the desert and the inner rooms of his palace, cool havens fragrant with the scent of spiced tea. He had been a king, and before that a prince, for almost as long as he could remember, and he found that he had no knowledge of what it might feel like to have the weight of responsibility lifted from his shoulders. He was proud of his sisters, and proud of his tribe, and he knew that their fate ultimately rested in their own hands, not his.

He considered the woman standing beside him, infinitely wise, infinitely courageous, and infinitely powerful. What could she do if she were not tied to her own monarchy – what might she be capable of, and what might he be able to achieve with her at his side? Hyrule was not ready to accept what he wished to ask of her, and what he wanted for himself, but perhaps if they left for a time and waited for tensions to settle both of their peoples might be willing to welcome them back on their own terms.

"If it is truly your wish to venture out to sea," he said, "then you won't go alone."

▲     ▲     ▲

It was not easy to end the war. Many had lost their lives, and the blight on Lake Hylia had grown worse during the fighting. The foundations of the western railroad had been decimated, and the damage to Castle City was considerable.

Although the castle walls had come down, burying the Temple of Time underneath them, Hyrule Castle still stood, albeit much worse for wear. Assisted by the ever-capable Impa, Zelda's father had converted the building into a shelter, and the grounds of the castle were filled with people from all over Hyrule, in the process becoming much livelier than they had ever been.

Because of her newfound ability, Zelda was able to transport herself and those within the circle of her magic between Fort Lanayru and Castle City at will, and treaties were swiftly renegotiated. Impa still scowled at Ganon, unwilling to abide his closeness to the princess, but he found that King Gustaf had become surprisingly friendly, if only in private. Apparently Zelda wasn't the only member of the royal family to have experienced relief now that the gate to the Sacred Realm was sealed.

Orris stayed on in Castle City, but Amaranth returned to Fort Lanayru with Link and Nabooru in tow. Nabooru already had the makings of a fine Gerudo warrior, and Link insisted that he be trained as well. Ganon had stridently objected, but Zelda calmed him, assuring him that it was better for the child's energetic talent to be directed by skilled teachers. A Deku boy named Fado had tagged along with them, and Aveil's dapper Zora boyfriend had already taken him under his wing in the greenhouses.

Zelda had written to Romani Ranch on Link's behalf, and Ingo and Talon agreed to send Malon to Fort Lanayru along with several ponies and a small Gerudo escort. In response, Malon had sent a message to Ganon saying that she was interested in staying in the desert and learning metalwork. He had been surprised and strangely flattered as he wondered how so motley a collection of children had all decided to come together within his city.

Meanwhile, Ganon set Aveil and her crew loose under the Temple of Din. Within a matter of days she was able to figure out how the rails worked. To his surprise, their function had nothing to do with magic but rather with the same principle of directed magnetic lift that powered the spinner and the sand speeders. Before the ink had even dried on the renewed trade agreements with Hyrule, Aveil was running small carts up and down the tunnels. The Goron archaeologists in residence at Fort Lanayru helped her team open a tunnel directly from the city to the station under the Temple of Din, and they had already started clearing a passage leading to Castle City.

They were joined by former soldiers and refugees looking for work and adventure, and before long the rails to the ocean were fully operational. The Zora and Hylians displaced from the polluted lake made the journey to the sea as soon as they were able. Next to the water the sand was not so barren and harsh, and from thick mats of seagrass rose large palms whose wood was easy to carve and magnificently buoyant. More boats skimmed the waves with each cycle of the moon. Orchida, who made the trip along with Astera, was able to locate a number of freshwater springs, and the Gerudo lost no time in setting up the beginnings of a system of irrigation to service what had become a rapidly growing settlement.

Surprising changes had visited Hyrule as well, but Ganon could sense Zelda growing more distracted by the day. She often lost her train of thought, and she had begun to toy with her magic carelessly, twisting it through her fingers like a child might play with a stylus in a stuffy classroom. Her boredom mirrored his own impatience with the bureaucracy that piled around him, keeping him awake long into the night and away from Zelda's arms. When he came to her one evening in secret, brushing the papers from her desk and asking if she wanted to go away with him, her response had been immediate and as sweet as wine on his tongue.

So it was that they found themselves on the shore of the Great Sea. He had stolen a moment alone with her away from the celebration that marked the end of the preparations to send them out into the unknown on a ship salvaged from the ruins of a long-lost civilization. They would have nothing but their wits to aid them, but Ganon felt no sense of foreboding. No matter what the waves might throw at them, they had already survived far worse.

They stood facing the ocean, their backs to the boisterous uproar sent up by the voices of all the tribes of Hyrule. The wind ran through Zelda's hair, and for the first time in weeks her eyes were bright and full of life.

"Before we leave," she said, her voice as soft and lovely as the breeze, "there's something I wanted to ask you."

"My heart is open to you, Zelda."

"What was your name, before you were Ganondorf Dragmire?"

He smiled as he brought his lips to Zelda's ear and told her.