The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Gerudo Forest ❯ Chapter 29 ( Chapter 29 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Not wanting to go to sleep again so soon after having her dreams so rudely invaded she decided to find Darmani. When she was sure Ganon was asleep she put on her new clothes. It fit rather well and was extremely soft even though the material looked rather rough. It wasn't her favorite shade of green but it was by far the prettiest shade of red she had seen. She didn't even think the tunic at the shop had quite the lovely shade of her new clothes. It also breathed better than the other clothes she had worn. The best part about them was she wouldn't have to worry about catching them on fire. Leaving Ganon to rest properly in the room she snuck out and down the hall. She wasn't sure where she would find the little goron but the village wasn't that big. How hard could it be? Apparently it was harder than she would have guessed because an hour later she was still looking. None of the gorons she talked to had seen him and she hoped he hadn't gotten grounded. She wondered if maybe he had gone to the track. The only problem is she didn't know how to get there herself. “I guess I better ask.” she thought to herself. Luckily for her a goron passing by was more than happy to show her the way. “The race track? It isn't open yet. They are restoring it right now.” The goron said confused as to why she wanted to go there of all places. “Well I'm looking for Darmani and since I couldn't find him anywhere here. I thought he might be helping fix the track.” She explained. “ Ah well. Let's see if we can't find him then.” The goron said with a gap toothed smile. This was the last place she would look before giving up and hoped it wasn't far. They walked all the way to the village entrance and to a hallway she didn't remember seeing before. “It was blocked off before.” The goron told her seeing the confusion on her face. As they walked through the new hall she could see a light at the other end. They exited into a sort of crater that opened up showing the sky. The sun was starting to set and gave the clouds a pinkish orange lining. She could see the remains of the track. It had been badly damaged. Landslides had taken out a few areas and she could also see where lava had spilled out of one of the volcano's vents creating a wall in the middle of one path. Scores of gorons were diligently working to repair as much as they could before the sun dipped out for the night. “Hey!” She heard Darmani's voice call. She looked around for the source and saw Darmani waving near a group of gorons who had nearly removed all the debris from the first section of the track. He rolled into a ball and shot up the path to where she was spraying dirt and rocks behind him. “Well if you don't need me anymore I shall take my leave.” Her guide said bowing. “Thank you so much for your help.” she said bowing back before he left. Turning back to Darmani she had many questions she wanted to ask him but wasn't sure what to ask first. “ I'm glad you found me. Did you get in trouble with my dad?” he asked. “I was going to ask you the same thing.” she said laughing. “I didn't get scolded to bad.” she said with a smile. “Did they find out you helped me? I was worried you would get grounded or something.” She figured since he was here though it meant no one had. “Nope they didn't.” he said with a mischievous grin. “So what happened? You look pretty black and blue. Dad wouldn't tell me a thing.” He questioned. Did she? She had no mirror so she hadn't seen what she looked like yet. “Well if your dad doesn't think you ought to know maybe I should wait tell he tells you first.” She responded kind of disappointed. She had hoped Darunia would have talked to his son of the goings on. That took out a huge chunk of questions she had since Darmani didn't know anything yet. Darmani looked just as disappointed as her when he figured out she wasn't going to say anything on the matters of the temple. “ So how long do you think it will take to get the track back to the way it was?” she asked changing the subject. “ Well they are saying it might take one month to three but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one.” The little goron said bouncing in place. “ When it's finished I would like to watch you race.” She said with a smile. “ I could send you an letter.” The goron said exited already planning for the race in his head. “ How will the letter find me? We are traveling around. I have no place of residence for you to send it.” she admitted sadly thinking of the Spirit Temple. “Oh that's okay! The postman can find anyone no matter where they are.” the goron said happily. She laughed thinking of the scrawny postman from the game and nodded. They climbed up a large boulder that had fallen off the ridge and sat there watching the sun sink over the ridge. The night brought a coolness to death mountain which was no where near as cold as a night in the desert. Laying back she stared at the unfamiliar stars above them. They twinkled and seemed so vivid. She would never be able to see stars this clearly back home. Thinking of home brought tears to her eyes. She felt so unsure of where she really wanted to be now. Her thoughts kept returning to what had just transpired. Did Ganondorf really have feelings for her like he claimed or was this a trick? She couldn't understand how he could feel that way for her when he barely knew her. What bothered her was she was starting to want it to be true. She knew Jimmy loved her for real. She shouldn't even be thinking about this but, she kept finding herself contemplating the idea to stay now and it worried her. “What's wrong?” Darmani asked noticing her wiping her eyes. “ It's nothing.” She lied. He just shrugged dropping the subject. “ It's about dinner time.” Darmani said getting up. “Oh? Ok.” She said lazily. “You coming?” He asked. “Yeah I guess.” She responded pushing herself up. They made their way back into the warmth of the village. Dinner time was livelier than she thought it would be. The center of the village had been turned into a place for everyone to come and eat. There was a group of gorons laying out a beat on drums setting the mood. They must be celebrating that the volcano had finally quieted down. Tables had been placed to the side and she could already see a fair few gorons chowing down on rocks. Darmani led her to the table where Darunia sat. To her surprise Ganon was sitting next to him. He motioned to her to sit next to him. Luckily there was proper human food waiting for her. “ You feeling better?” Darunia asked looking around Ganon as she sat down. “Yeah fresh air does wonders. How about you?” she asked making small talk avoiding looking at Ganondorf who was watching her. She could feel her face get hot under his stare. She felt so self conscious she was unsure if she could even eat. “I am tougher than I look.” Darunia joked then frowned when no one laughed. “Is something wrong?” He asked looking at Melissa, who was picking at her food, then to Ganon who was watching her do so. “Huh? Oh! Yeah I'm fine. The food's good.” She responded watching some of the gorons getting up to dance to the beat of the drums. Darunia gave up with her and talked with Ganondorf for a while. “ I heard you were leaving tomorrow. Where is your next destination?” Darunia asked. “What do you think? Ganon said nudging Melissa to get her attention. “ Owwwie!” she said rubbing her arm snapping from her thoughts. “Sorry. Looks like you might need a little more ointment.” he said with a mischievous look that only Melissa noticed. She tried to pretend she hadn't heard him. “Well the statue said the pieces from the spirit, fire, and forest temples have already been claimed so that leaves the water, and shadow temples right? Also I'm not quite sure if this is an actual temple but there is mention of a Temple of Time sometimes.” She replied not looking forward to the shadow temple at all. “The Temple of Time is real but it lies in castle town. It is usually inhabited by the six sages.” Darunia confirmed. “Probably best to leave that one for last.” Ganon said distractedly. She wondered what the look that had briefly crossed his face was about but thought best not to ask. “ What do you mean usually inhabit?” Melissa asked lifting what looked like mashed potatoes and sniffed them. They smelled weird and not quite appetizing. Definitely not mashed potatoes she thought putting her spoon back down. “ Well not all of us live there now.” Darunia said with a smile. It took a few minutes to realize what he had meant. “Your a sage.” Melissa said slapping her forehead. “ I should know that.” How could she forget that Darunia had been the fire sage. Darunia looked confused. “What do you mean you should know that? Not many know the identity of who the sages are. Why would you know?” Should she tell him about the game? She didn't think he would believe her anyway. It was apparent that Heather her fellow guardian hadn't said anything to him. She was curious if she could name all the sages though. “ Ok correct me if I'm wrong but there is you, Ruto of the zora's, Saria of the kokiri, Impa of the sheika, Rauru who I think is hylian, and Nabooro of the gerudo.” Darunia's mouth dropped open and Melissa noted Ganondorf look away at the mention of Nabooro. It made Melissa wondered if the rumor of Ganon and Nabooro being an item was true. Deep down it made her feel a little jealous. Just a little. “ You got most of them right. Rutulla is the water sage so you were close but how do you know the name of my fellow sages?” Darunia asked when he had recovered from his shock. “ Does it really matter? You know I came from a different world. Is the fact I know the name of the sages really that shocking?” she responded. “I guess it doesn't.” Darunia said frustrated she wasn't really telling him anything. Melissa figured she had eaten all that she was going to and watched the dancing gorons trying not to giggle at how silly their dancing looked. She was also noticing Ganon drinking a good bit of what she figured was alcoholic beverages. He seemed to have gone back to being broody again. Had it been the mention of Nabooro that was bringing on this behavior? “Are you okay?” She whispered to him. “Never better.” He said right before he chugged down another mug. She gave him a worried look but who was she to stop him. In addition to the dancing she saw a group of goron children which included Darmani sitting in a circle with an elder goron. She guessed the elder was telling stories to the young ones before they would make them go to bed. Darmani waved to her and she waved and smiled back. Maybe she should go listen to the stories to. It would be a good chance to learn a little more about this place. As she went to get up Ganon grabbed her arm. “ Don't go yet.” He said slurring his words a little. Uh oh! She thought. Last time he had gotten drunk it hadn't turned out so well and he had definitely had more than last time. “Would you dance with me?” he asked looking at her intently. “You want to dance in that condition?” she asked unsure if he just didn't know how drunk he really was. “What condition?” He asked getting up pulling her with him in one strong motion. For being drunk he still had pretty good motor function. “Come on.” He said gracefully pulling her to the dance floor cape whipping out behind him. “Wait!” she protested but he just yanked her arm whipping her around to face him. She tried not to cringe as a jolt of pain went up her arm. He positioned her arms around his shoulders the best he could because of how short she was compared to him and placed his around her waist. He started dancing as if the gorons were playing a waltz which they weren't of course making the dance completely awkward for the song. He didn't even seem to notice and eventually even she couldn't hear the beating drums. She giggled when he twirled her around which made him smile. Even with her bad dancing skills she managed not to step on his feet but once. This didn't seem like a dance the gerudo would perform. She figured as king he would have to know other dances for diplomatic purposes. Most thought of Ganon as just a thug but, from what she could tell about him he was a well educated man. She wondered why she was just now coming to this realization. The alcohol must have been taking more affect because his dancing was slowing down. Eventually they ended up just slow dancing in place. She placed her head on his chest sighing. There was something she just had to know and it wouldn't leave her alone until she asked him. “Is there something wrong? I kind of noticed your reaction to Nabooro's name and was just wondering if you and her...” Ganon stopped at hearing her question cutting off her last sentence. He pushed her away looking grumpy. “ You shouldn't ask things that are none of your business.” Melissa realized that she should have just kept her mouth shut. Somewhere inside she knew this would be a sensitive subject but she had already opened the door and wouldn't let his moodiness detour her. “ Were you two a couple?” She pushed. He turned and walk away. What was he hiding? “Wait! Why are you so upset? You should be able to tell me anything. Why are you running away?” she asked chasing after him. He ignored her until she put her hand on his arm trying to make him stop and face her. She knew that she wouldn't actually be able to make him stop if he didn't really want to. Her touch seemed to make him snap. “ I run from no one! I said it's none of your business. ” He spat at her. “You are to never ask me about her again! Understood!” He growled snatching his arm back. The look of anger on his face made her step back. He grabbed her shoulder squeezing it harder than he had meant to. “Do you understand!” he said again. Something in her just snapped as well. She pulled away from him mirroring his look of anger. “You know what? Screw you! I have had enough of you and all the bad stuff that keeps happening since I came to this place. Maybe I should have taken the wizard up on his offer.” Melissa yelled at him before running off leaving him watching after her. She hadn't really meant it but he didn't have to be a jerk. How hard would it have been for him to say “Yes I am upset and yes we were a couple”. She didn't even have to hear his answer to know. The way he was acting said just as much. She just wanted to hear it from him. She didn't want to go back to the room because she didn't want to sleep. So the next best thing was to go outside and sit with Trinexx. The horse seemed happy to see her. In the fresh air she could clear her head. Her anger was now fizzling out and she felt stupid. She knew her anger at him not wanting to talk about Nabooro was irrational. She shouldn't be so angry. She sighed throwing her arms around the horses neck. “What am I to do Trin? I didn't mean to make him angry. I said somethings I didn't mean. I don't even know why I wanted to know so bad.” The horse whickered in response. She sighed feeling like arguing was all that she seemed to do with him. She had never argued this much with Jimmy. She sat there stroking Trinexx not knowing what to do. It was getting late now but now and she didn't want to go back to her room in fear of running into Ganon. Maybe he was drunk enough he wouldn't remember her asking in the morning. She realized they had never actually picked out which temple they were going to next. The prospect of going to the Shadow Temple scared her. There were lots of creepy things to run into there. Dead hands, wall masters, gibdo, redeads, and stalfos were only a few of the creatures she didn't want to see. She guessed if he asked her again she would probably push for the Water Temple. Mulling over things in her head she could feel her eyes get heavy. She fought it for a while but ended up deciding to go back to the room and face the music.