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June 4th, 0AG

Nabooru couldn't help but still feel a little bit nervous anytime she visited Hyrule Castle Town, even if she knew the tension between the Gerudo and Hylian peoples had faded to almost nothing. There was always that one part of her mind lurking in the background whispering suspicions and anxieties into her thoughts as it watched for potential threats. A lifetime of navigating all the pitfalls and intrigues of war and Gerudo politics had made a permanent mark on her psyche, and even now with Ganondorf dead and the realm saved, nothing could truly make that part of her go away entirely. It still whispered in the catacombs of her mind, urging her to keep on the lookout for any rogue Hylian civilians or soldiers who might sneak up behind her for a chance to put a knife in her back. There were still plenty of people who might be willing to risk their lives to get revenge for the death of King Darius Nohansen Hyrule at the hands of Ganondorf. Her logical side dismissed the thought as nonsense, the young Zelda had done plenty to banish most of that lingering anger. Besides, this was the exact reason why Zelda was preparing to deliver this speech to the kingdom at the center of the square in Castle Town.

That was where Nabooru was standing now, waiting patiently for the Queen to emerge from a nearby building where she was doing her last preparations. All the rest of the Sages had already gathered out in the square to stand behind the podium that had been prepared for this occasion. The crowd had already fully gathered long ago out of anticipation of course, the coronation of Zelda as Hyrule's new Queen had taken place at the Castle just an hour ago and everyone had in turn traveled from the Castle Grounds to the town square where the speech was set to take place. Everyone was milling about nervously, especially the sages. Nabooru couldn't help but turn an eye over to them briefly to see how they were reacting to the anticipation. Rauru was the same as always, stoic and unreadably dispassionate, while Darunia was grinning to himself while standing there with his stony arms crossed over his chest. The young Saria was fiddling with a new wooden Ocarina that she'd recently carved for herself, trying to distract herself from the eyes of the crowd, while Ruto was holding her head up high in a snooty manner and ignoring the commonfolk. Nabooru almost chuckled, they were all so predictable in their own unique ways, she felt honored to have stood alongside them against Ganondorf.

Then the door of the nearby building opened and the young Zelda finally emerged with Impa in tow. She was wearing the typical royal dress she always wore in public, but her headscarf had been replaced with the Queen's Tiara, which was far too large for her 11 year old head. It had been fitted with a white silk ring around the base that made it sit on her head comfortably without falling off due to the size difference, and even that slapdash addition wasn't enough to lessen its regal shine. Nabooru still couldn't help but pity the young girl. She, like Ruto and Saria, had been far too young for the responsibility of being Sages and leaders at their ages, but the circumstances they had been forced into had left them little choice. If Zelda and Link were truly to be believed, then waiting the 7 additional years for them all to come of age would have been far too late to save Hyrule from Ganondorf's destructive reign, and they all would have been doomed to an endless repeating time loop.

Nabooru quickly banished those thoughts from her head as Zelda stepped up to the podium and loudly cleared her throat to gather everyone's attention and signal that she was about to begin. The crowd fell fully silent and all eyes settled on her, including those of the Sages.

"People of the Kingdom of Hyrule. Citizens, vassals, nobles, countrymen, I bid you welcome and thank you for attending. As you know, these have been trying times for all of us, and very few of you have been privy to the truth about all of the events that have been unfolding behind the scenes. Now that my coronation has been completed, I have decided that my first formal act as Queen of Hyrule is to divulge to all of you the true story of my father's death and the ensuing conflict against Ganondorf Dragmire that followed. If you are to ever trust my word as your monarch then I believe it is absolutely necessary that you understand the course of events that placed me on the throne. The simple truth of it is this: This is not the first time our people have fought against the depredations of Ganondorf. We have just narrowly escaped the repeating snare of a time loop."

A brief wave of confused murmurs washed through the crowd and Nabooru couldn't help but smirk a little. Zelda was already demonstrating an impressive eloquence for her age, but it'd take an especially skilled orator to explain the confusing knot in their timeline in a simple enough way for the commonfolk to understand. Frankly she was surprised Zelda even wanted to try, but then again this wasn't Zelda's first time around this block after all. She reminded herself that Zelda's true mental age was probably in her late 20s to early 30s if her story was true. She watched the Queen with a look of calm curiosity in her gaze.

"In truth, the Goddesses have been at work manipulating the flow of time in order to prevent a disaster of much greater proportions. It began when Ganondorf first came to our lands and pretended to swear fealty to my father, hiding his intent to betray him. I received a series of prophetic visions warning me of this oncoming betrayal and of the coming of the Hero of Time, and once the Hero came to me as the young boy Link, we devised a plan to try to stop Ganondorf. We would gather the three Spiritual Stones, open the Door of Time, unseal the Master Sword, and take the Triforce for ourselves first so that Ganondorf would not have the chance to steal it. Unfortunately, what we did not realize was that Ganondorf had planned for all of this. He sprang a surprise attack as soon as Link had gathered all three Spiritual stones and stormed the Castle by himself, killing my father and driving Impa and I out before we could meet with Link and open the Door. In desperation I passed the Ocarina of Time to Link as I fled past him, and he went to the Temple of Time and opened the seal. Ganondorf, knowing his plan was now fully set in motion, broke off his pursuit of me and followed Link secretly to the Temple. When Link took the Master Sword, it judged him too young to be worthy to wield it and sealed him away in the Temple until he would come of age, allowing Ganondorf to enter the Sacred Realm and touch the Triforce unopposed."

"In the ensuing years, calamity truly unfolded. He razed Hyrule Castle and its town to the ground, replacing it with his own twisted dark fortress that acted as his seat of power. He ruled the kingdom with an iron fist of oppression for seven long years, trapping the rest of the Sages in their temples and reducing our kingdom to a land of terrified slaves. Then Link was released from his long slumber, and with the help of the Goddesses, set out to awaken and free the Sages. I will not bore you with all the details of this quest, but in the end he was successful in defeating Ganondorf and freeing the kingdom along with the help of the Sages."

"Now you may be thinking this is all nonsense. Nobody ever razed the castle or the town, nor did Ganondorf actually manage to kill anyone other than my father. This all follows shortly. You see, after the fight was over, I was stricken with guilt over my failures as a leader. My father was dead, my kingdom destroyed, and I had stolen the majority of Link's childhood indirectly with my actions just because I was a naive, foolish young girl who thought she could best a seasoned man like Ganondorf at a game of intrigue. He had beaten me handily, and even though he lay defeated in the end he had still laid waste to nearly everything I cared about. In that moment of regret I prayed to the Goddesses, and Hylia answered my prayer with a vision to guide me. If I used the magic of the Ocarina of Time, I could send Link back to his childhood so he could regain the time he had lost. I did exactly that, not realizing that it would be not only him who was sent back. The spell rewound all of time itself backward irreversibly, taking us right back to the beginning and starting what could potentially be a loop in our timeline."

Nabooru nodded a little as she digested this. She'd already heard this tale from Zelda before of course, the girl had told it to her when they gathered to enact their plan to prevent time from looping. But it was fascinating to hear her summarize it again for the crowd, and it helped Nabooru to keep the entire chain of events straight in her head.

"Link had regained his childhood again, as had I. The destruction and enslavement of Hyrule had been undone, and my father was alive again too. But as a consequence, Ganondorf too was back. But this time one thing was different. This time Link and I remembered everything that we'd experienced the first time around. He came to me and we concocted a plan together to prevent the downfall of Hyrule before it could happen. Now we knew what Ganondorf planned to do and we could work around it and surprise him instead of the other way around. The plan we concocted was this: We would travel Hyrule separately, with Link pretending to follow the same course of action as before and gathering the spiritual stones. In the mean time, I lied to my father about wishing to travel Hyrule and meet its people to prepare myself for the mantle of leadership and he agreed. I used that time to visit all the Sages and awaken them prematurely, before Ganondorf even came to kill my father. We sages then laid an ambush at the heart of the Castle, and once Link had gathered the Spirital Stones, Ganondorf walked right into this ambush."

"The battle was difficult of course, but in truth we planned to fake a loss during the first phase because we knew actually defeating him without the Master Sword was impossible. Instead we retreated, allowed Link to grab the sword so Ganondorf could take a third of the Triforce, and sprung the second half of our plan. For you see, the seven year stasis that the Sword imposes on Link is not a permanent one-way trip. Link could return to the point where he left our time by turning around and placing the sword back into its plinth. So, Link took the sword, obtained his third of the Triforce after Ganondorf touched it, then turned and immediately returned the Sword to its plinth so he could re-awaken from the stasis as a child and join the second half of our plan. Now Ganondorf had the Triforce of Power, but Link had the Triforce of Courage and I had the Triforce of Wisdom. With these thirds, as well as the collected power of the Sages, Link goaded Ganondorf into a new fight before he could raze Castle Town, and rather than fighting to kill him, Link distracted him until the rest of us Sages could open the gate to the Sacred Realm together and banish him while he was trying to kill Link. It was a terrifying experience, especially for myself and the young Ruto and Saria, given we were far too small and weak to survive if Ganondorf realized what was happening and turned his fury from Link onto us, but Link succeeded in holding his attention until the banishment took effect. Now here we stand a month later in the aftermath. My father is still dead, we had no way of preventing his death without losing the chance to set our trap for Ganondorf, but thanks to his sacrifice we have saved the entire kingdom from its grisly fate. The town has been spared, none of you have suffered under Ganondorf's oppression, and most importantly, the time loop has been prevented. Because Link defeated Ganondorf here in this time without having to stay through his 7 year stasis imprisonment, there is no fear of me foolishly repeating my guilt spiral and rewinding time again."

Amazingly, it seemed like most of the people in the crowd actually seemed to understand this. Nabooru could see people nodding and whispering to each other with surprised looks on their faces, but it seemed like nobody was raising any objections. There were a few deeply confused or skeptical looks scattered among the crowd, but those were the exception rather than the rule. Nabooru almost figured the speech was done here, but Zelda continued apace.

"Ultimately though, it was not just the actions of myself and Link alone that made the most difference though. I also must acknowledge the role played by Lady Nabooru Quindalo in saving our fair kingdom too. For you see, as powerful as Ganondorf was at the time, he was not acting with the complete support of the Gerudo when he waged his war on our people. In truth, the Gerudo were split into two factions at the time and were engaged in a brutal civil war. I will spare you all of the inconsequential details of this conflict, instead I will merely tell you that it was a divide sparked over opinions about the roles of gender in their society. While we in Hyrule have often hewn closely to a patriarchal social structure, the Gerudo were mostly matriarchal, though there were dissenters among them who believed men like Ganondorf should rule instead. Ganondorf had gathered these Patriarchists into a political coalition that my father had been supporting in the lead up to Ganondorf's sudden betrayal. But Nabooru here was their former Chief before this conflict arose, and at the end of my father's war of Hylian Unification, the divide between Patriarchists and Matriarchists among the Gerudo erupted into bloody civil war. I will ask Nabooru to step forward and explain further."

Nabooru was taken by surprise by this sudden invitation and for a brief moment she internally panicked. Zelda hadn't asked her beforehand to speak at this gathering and that meant she hadn't prepared anything to say beforehand. But by now Nabooru was used to public speaking thanks to her experience as Chief before and after Ganondorf's reign and demise, so she kept that panic under control. She stepped forward and cleared her throat briefly as she thought over what to say. Ultimately she settled on simply telling the truth as simply and eloquently as possible. There was no need to lie here, the only thing she had to worry about was doing it without rambling about pointless details.

"Thank you, Your Highness. Truth be told I didn't even do that alone. I was helped by a noteworthy Gerudo Seer named Mireth Lasheera. Mireth warned me about Ganondorf's inevitable betrayal. She warned me about King Darius's upcoming war of Hylian Unification and helped guide me through it. It was her warnings that helped me to mold the flow of events in order to prevent Ganondorf from unifying our entire people under his rule. Mireth had foreseen a way to prevent the worst possible outcome by staunchly uniting our Matriarchists around me and starting that Gerudo Civil War during the aftermath of the Unification War so that the Patriarchists couldn't fully dominate our society and consolidate Ganondorf's rule. The Civil War was then a vital distraction for Ganondorf. It's what kept his attention diverted from Zelda when she traveled around Hyrule to prematurely awaken the rest of the Sages and set our trap for him. If he hadn't been forced to periodically return to Gerudo Valley to prosecute his war against my Matriarchists he undoubtedly would have sniffed out Zelda's plan and counteracted it. So while I do gratefully accept Her Majesty's commendations for my role in saving the kingdom, I must also share credit with Lady Lasheera, who is currently at home in the Valley. Without her warnings we never could have prevented Ganondorf's domination of the Gerudo people and enabled Zelda's plan to come to fruition."

Nabooru then bowed briefly and stepped down from the stage. The golden Headdress of the Chief nearly fell off her head when she did, but she managed to quickly and surreptitiously catch and straighten it before it fell. Zelda then returned to the podium with a warm smile on her face.

"Thank you Lady Nabooru. I think I speak for all of us Sages when I offer you my utmost gratitude." Zelda said. Then she and the other Sages, even Rauru, actually bowed to her!

Nabooru was actually taken off guard again by this little stunt. Once more Zelda had refused to warn her about her intention to do this, and after so many years of being considered a foe by Hylians and their government it felt surreal and bizarre to be shown respect and even reverence by them. She briefly gawked at this, but then regained her composure and gave a respectful bow back. Zelda then immediately returned her attention to the crowd and resumed her speech.

"It is in the spirit of this gratitude that I would like to announce my next formal act as Queen. I know that my father's actions have left a deep and bloody wound between the Hylian and Gerudo people, a fact that becomes all the more shameful in light of Nabooru and Mireth's selfless actions. Without their help against Ganondorf we would have all suffered immensely underneath his boot. Therefore I believe it is my duty to work toward mending the relations between Hyrule and the Gerudo people. Therefore I now formally decree that no more shall the Gerudo tribe be considered vassals of the Kingdom of Hyrule, but they shall be granted complete formal citizenship within the kingdom as equals instead. I am also abolishing the punitive reparations and taxes my father imposed upon them, since it is those taxes which drove them to the depths of poverty that created the circumstances for Ganondorf's rise to power. The Gerudos are to still be allowed to appoint their own regional Chief as always, and self-determine their titles and practice their own religion. I also would like to formally offer a reward to them in recognition for their selflessness and bravery, in the form of temporary farmland use grants within Hyrule Field. This will allow them to feed their people in the interim years and stop the famine they've been suffering under while I enact a longer term plan to fully integrate their people into Hyrule. This final plan will be such: I will be employing as many of the mages of Ruto Rivana's Zora kingdom as possible in a new effort to revitalize the desert lands that the Gerudo called home. My father is responsible for burning the prairie plains between the Nephra Hills and the Gerudo Desert, which began the famine that was then exacerbated by his taxes, so it is only fitting that I help restore that desertified land back to something arable. Handsome wages are to be paid to every Zora mage who agrees to offer their service in this endeavor, and they shall be expected to conjure water in order to reverse the desertification of that land and return it to a state of lush, arable prairie land. Lady Ruto, do you assent to the establishment of this new effort in union with your people?" Zelda asked.

The young Ruto then stepped forward alongside her and nodded. She was too young yet to be crowned Queen of the Zora, but given her father was too sedentary to leave his throne room, she had been given the right to speak in his stead. She was just as small in stature as Zelda, but her manner was far more childish and haughty. It was a good reminder to Nabooru that the little princess hadn't been allowed to keep her memories from the first time loop. Unlike Zelda she really was an 11 year old at heart.

"Of course! If it weren't for you and Link and Nabooru, my father would have been killed by Ganondorf and my people all frozen for a decade in ice! We owe you plenty, and besides, that pay you mentioned sure sounds nice! My father said that such a big new source of Rupees flowing in would be amazing for the economy back in Zora's Domain, so let's do it!" She said excitedly.

Zelda chuckled a little bit and smiled appreciatively to the Zora Princess. Even though they were the same age and stature, it was clear to everyone with a pulse just how different their demeanors and maturity levels really were. Nabooru could feel the age in every word Zelda spoke, while Ruto was still brimming with youthful naivety and innocence. It was adorable; it made Nabooru hopeful and excited to see what sort of Queen Ruto could grow up to be without the shadow of Ganondorf's rule hanging over her entire childhood. She was quickly distracted from those thoughts as Zelda resumed her speech.

"Thank you, Princess. I am proudly looking forward to watching this initiative unfold in the future. As of now, we still have much to do in preparation first, as there's still lingering damage within Hyrule Castle leftover from our fighting with Ganondorf. But once these repairs are complete and we've ironed out all the employment contracts for all the Zora volunteers, I expect the work to begin in earnest. Until then, I shall be working tirelessly to oversee and facilitate all of this. All I ask of you, my countrymen, is to treat the Gerudo people now as your friends and comrades rather than hated enemies. Take all that I have said to heart and remember that it was their help which enabled the bright future we now are progressing toward. I will make future speeches and announcements as our progress unfolds, but until then I bid you peace and happiness as we step forward into this new future together."

Zelda then bowed one last time and the crowd actually erupted into applause! This part was perhaps the most surprising event of the entire afternoon. Nabooru may have been doing a good job of suppressing that anxious side of her brain, but even her logical side didn't expect the entire populace of the town to fully accept and embrace Zelda's message of peace, especially this wholeheartedly. She saw smiling Hylian faces looking to her as they clapped, and the reality suddenly hit her. Maybe the fear and hatred between their people really was destined to fade away after all. Maybe she could allow herself the impossible luxury of hope. It was going to take a lot of adjustment, living life without the constant pall of dead over her head, but Nabooru welcomed it. She'd always miss the voe that Ganondorf had once been before his fall into corruption, but at least now she had something to look forward to in the years ahead.

Nabooru was talking idly to her Honor Guard near the gates of Hyrule Castle City as they prepared to leave. It was a long walk back to the Valley and Nabooru wanted to be home in time for dinner. She was excited to tell her people about all the events that had taken place here today. They were strapping on their weapons and travel gear when Nabooru was interrupted by the sound of a young girl's voice calling out to her from behind. She paused her talking and turned to look for the source of the sound.

Here was the young Princess Ruto running up to her with two Zora guards in tow behind her. She was wearing a blue velvet gown and beaming excitedly.

"Miss Nabooru! Miss Nabooru! Do you have time to talk before you go?"

Nabooru set down her backpack and nodded, returning the young girl's smile.

"Of course Princess. I always have time for any of the Sages. We fought Ganondorf together, that makes you like my sister in my mind. What can I do for you?"

"Well I had an idea I wanted to share with you! Your people used to have a big city beyond the hills separating Hyrule from the Gerudo Desert, right?"

"Yes that's right. It was named Ven'vhír and it was the capital of Gerudo culture. I grew up there. It's a little bit hard to talk about though since we lost so many people there when Darius sacked it." Nabooru replied, her good cheer beginning to wilt.

"Well, what do you think about rebuilding it once my people finish pushing back the desert and restoring the prairie? I bet you could make it even bigger and more beautiful than before!" Ruto replied, completely unscathed by the sadness in Nabooru's words.

"Well, I do think I'd like to do that eventually, but it's not something we can just make happen overnight. It'll take many many years of hard work, especially since very few Gerudos survived the wars. We're not giving up of course, we're going to pray to the Goddesses for a new generation of children and put everything we have into rebuilding, but it could be a long, long time before we ever reach the same heights as Ven'vhír. Maybe not even in our lifetimes." Nabooru replied.

She didn't necessarily want to outright crush the young girl's aspirations, but she felt it would be cruel to let her live under a delusion that all their problems could be magically fixed in a day. Thankfully Ruto's determination knew no bounds and she crossed her arms and gave Nabooru a frown. "Your people are mages too, right? Can't you use magic to help you rebuild?"

"Some of us are, but admittedly magic is a much rarer gift among the Gerudo. Zoras all have a degree of it innately, but we have to really work hard and train and study for it." Nabooru explained.

"Well sounds like you better get to work then! You got a goal and a dream, all that's left is for you to put in the effort!" Ruto said with determination in her tone.

"Perhaps. Thankfully I expect it will be a lot easier with your people there to help us, Your Highness." Nabooru replied with a gracious smile.

Those words immediately went to Ruto's ego and she beamed proudly.

"You're darn right it will be! And as soon as Link gets back from his trip, he's gonna marry me and then I'll have him come along and help too! If we all could beat Ganondorf together then beating a big pile of sand ought to be a piece of cake!"

Nabooru couldn't help but laugh at the sheer force of Ruto's precocious determination. It was charming and utterly infectious. Even if she had her reservations about the difficulty of pushing back the desert even with Zora help, she pushed them aside and decided to agree with the young princess. She'd already dared herself to try living with hope again earlier after the speech, why not allow herself some hope here too?

"You know I bet you're right. After all, Zoras and Gerudos both live much longer than Hylians. Even if Zelda isn't around to see the payoff of what we're starting, maybe you and I will one day." She said.

"Exactly! And don't let me hear you getting all sad about it in the future either! We'll work together on this and that means we can't lose. As soon as my father passes the crown to me I'll even come in person. I already have a special idea for just how to make a new Gerudo city possible!" Ruto bragged.

"Oh? Dare I ask just what this idea is? Or is it a secret?" Nabooru chuckled.

"Oh I'll tell you! But first, do you know the true origins of the River that carves its way through your Gerudo Valley?" Ruto asked.

"Of course, it's one of the branches of your river, right? Zora's River?"

"That's right! The river weaves up through the hills North of Hyrule Castle, then twists around through those hills dividing your Desert from Hyrule to carve your valley. I plan to harness it."

"Oh? How do you plan to do that?"

"I'm gonna hire a bunch of Goron miners and we're gonna dig a new tunnel through those hills to draw off a new branch of the River. I want to bring the water out of the hills and out onto the plains where Ven'vhír once was. That'll mean you'll be able to revive all those plains and then rebuild the city without even needing my mages to stay there conjuring water long term!"

Nabooru needed a brief moment to digest such a plan. It was ludicrously ambitious to the point of near absurdity. The range of hills Ruto was talking about were called the Nephra Hills and they were far more rugged and impassable than they appeared from the outside. Jagged, sharp rocky cliffs abounded, as well as countless gorges with lethally deep drops. There was a reason why the Gerudo people had resisted King Darius's Hylian Unification war for so damn long. Marching an army through those hills was completely impossible, it had forced him to use Gerudo Valley as the one passable choke point and Nabooru's people had turned it into a meat grinder of epic levels. The idea of marching a hundred Goron miners into those hills to dig and blast a tunnel for Zora's River to pass through sounded like a pipe dream. Granted, if they did somehow pull it off then a revival of Ven'vhír was indeed more than possible with all the water that would provide, but Nabooru had no idea how they would do it. Her initial internal reaction was complete skepticism, but again she decided against crushing the young girl's hope. She admired Ruto's tenacity and spirit and she didn't want to be the one to bury it. Reality would do that on its own in time.

"Well, getting a bunch of Gorons up there will be really really hard, but if you can somehow manage to rope Darunia into helping you with it then he might just be able to cook something up. The man's so determined I doubt even a dragon could stop him." Nabooru said with a smile.

"That's the idea! All I gotta do is appeal to that prideful side of his by phrasing it as a challenge and he won't be able to resist. He and his people make their mining skills the core of their identities and pride, they'd never back down!"

Nabooru couldn't help but chuckle here. She realized now that even if Ruto was stubborn and prideful herself, she was also far more clever and intelligent than she'd given her credit for. If she was capable of this level of sneaky manipulation even from this young an age then maybe she'd make for a skillful Queen after all. It was uncertain if that was enough to make her a good and just Queen of course, but certainly a competent one.

"Well if you could figure out a way to talk Link into marrying you then tricking Darunia ought to be a cakewalk." She laughed.

"Heh, just like I tricked you into not being so sad all the time!" Ruto said proudly, putting her hands on her hips as she spoke.

"Hey now, Zelda gets a lot of the credit for that part too you know! We both owe her a lot for making all of this possible."

"Maybe, yeah. But even if you're right about that, it's still gonna be us that make use of that potential! So don't slack off, Nabooru! If you can't do it for yourself or for me, do it for Zelda."

Nabooru quirked an eyebrow but then laughed softly. "Believe me, I have no intention of slacking off. Now don't you have a domain to get home to? I don't want to hold you up for so long that your father starts getting worried about where you went."

Ruto waved one hand dismissively and scoffed. "Psssh. I once got myself eaten by Lord Jabu-Jabu and my dad still didn't punish me for it. He can wait. But I should go back anyway, if only to start the recruiting process for the project. I'll be in touch though, and you should too! Don't be a stranger!"

Ruto then gestured to her guards and walked past Nabooru through the town gates to leave. Nabooru couldn't help but smirk as she watched the princess go. Gods she was a cute little menace.

Nabooru was briefly lost in thought as she watched the Zoras walk through the gate and vanish into the distance. She hoped there was happiness in Ruto's future too, though a part of her still couldn't help but feel an ounce of lingering doubt. Ruto was so obsessed with Link in a way that felt strange and out of place. Link had always been the silent type, barely even speaking back when they had been planning how to tackle Ganondorf. The way Ruto had once described her encounters with Link, it sounded like she'd built him up in her mind as this dashing romantic swashbuckler who would sweep her off her feet despite the fact that she knew basically nothing about him. There was no way in hell Ruto actually had gotten to know him at any level other than the most cursory surface-level introduction. He was so silent that there was no way he would have told her enough to get to know his personality and form a lasting romantic bond. She was setting herself up for failure by projecting her own mental image of perfection onto him and ignoring the reality of who he really was. Sure, he was a genuinely brave and selfless person based on everything Nabooru knew about him, but her gut told her that he wasn't the sort of voe who would ever settle down into a stable long term relationship. He was the wandering hero type, destined to always leave home and seek out new evils to stop and new people to save. The fact that he'd already departed Hyrule to search something out was just confirmation of that suspicion. There was no way Ruto could ever hope to tie him down; once she realized it she was doomed to heartbreak.

Nabooru pitied the poor girl now. Even if Link did come back from his trip and settle down with her, Nabooru knew from experience that most first loves were doomed to failure simply due to immaturity and inexperience. The best she could hope for was that Ruto would somehow grow out of her childish obsessed infatuation before it took her down the path of heartbreak. Alas, that sort of heartbreak was often the only way vai like Ruto could learn not to idealize their partners. This train of thought eventually led Nabooru's mind back to her own past. How her friendship with her old buddy Laverra had almost blossomed into a love of its own before Ganondorf had taken her life. That brought some of that old grief back to the surface and she couldn't help but stand and stare wistfully out of the gate until finally one of her guards piped up.

"Ummm, is everything alright My Chief? I think we're ready to go."

"Oh, yes of course. Sorry Virena, I just got lost in thought. Come, we should get going. I don't know about you four but my stomach is roaring for some dinner already and it's a long way back."

July 7th, 10AG

Nabooru awoke to the same sound she always heard every morning: The banging of hammers and the clacking of chisels and picks. Behind that din was the crowing of Cuccos in distant coops, and this marked the beginning of a new day in the young Gerudo town of Ven'rakúl. Nabooru yawned and slowly sat up in bed as she tried to shake off the grogginess that was still draped over her like a fuzzy, warm blanket. Today was slated to be a long, busy day.

Sunlight was peeking through around the edges of the curtains that hung over the windows of Nabooru's royal bedroom in the new Rakúlan Palace, and she could distinctly smell the delicious scents of roasting meat and freshly baked breads lingering in the air. Undoubtedly her two head chefs Takama and Rebinu were at it making something utterly delicious for her for breakfast. Only the promise of their culinary brilliance could overcome the sleepiness weighing on her and the dread of dealing with another day of holding court.

Nabooru dragged herself out of bed slowly and made her way to her private bath chamber to splash some water over her face and wake herself up. Then she began to push through her usual morning ablutions, using a touch of magic to clean and pretty herself up. It was nice not having Arbiter Vatorsa or Twinrova around on her court to push her around and drag her into meetings, she could just take things at her own pace. She could take her time, brew herself some tea, clean herself up, and prepare without being rushed.

When Nabooru emerged from her private bedroom and walked out to the throne room, she was struck again with a fresh realization of how different things really were from the days of her youth. Sure it had been ten years now since the founding of Ven'rakúl but sometimes she still felt like that same old 36 year old kid who had been just freshly put on the throne of the old city of Ven'vhír for the first time. She still remembered holding court over a bustling table of advisors and nobles. She remembered Ganondorf and his mothers sitting alongside her, as well as her Grand Vizier and best friend Laverra Oseira. But now things were different. Now Nabooru held court mostly by herself as the sole Queen, occasionally only accompanied by the clan's arbiter Falora Vatorsa. It felt so weird now, sitting alone on a throne to be approached by people rather than sitting at a big table surrounded by advisors. Even if some of those advisors had been her political rivals like Twinrova. It was a relief to be free of their bickering, but lonely to sit there by herself. She sighed as she sat down on her throne and turned to call out to the guards.

"Virena, do we have anyone waiting to approach the court this morning? Any noteworthy appointments?"

"You have an appointment with the Mason's Guild at 1PM and an appointment with the Merchant's Guild at 3. But so far there have been no citizens waiting at the door to speak to you at least." Virena replied, turning to look over at the palace's front gates just to be sure.

Nabooru sighed and nodded. It was still 7AM so there were several hours before her regular appointments. She was surprised nobody had come to see her though, given how busy the burgeoning settlement was with construction and expansion. Usually there was a conga line of people bringing paperwork to her for new construction projects to put her rubber stamp of approval on.

"Hmmm, strange. Is breakfast ready yet then?" Nabooru asked.

"Should be soon My Queen, judging by the scent."

The moment those words left Virena's lips the door to the kitchen swung open and the familiar faces of Takama and Rebinu emerged carrying platters of food out for Nabooru. She clapped her hands together and beamed at the sight of the meal. It was her favorite, roast Lizalfos haunches served with freshly baked and sliced Tabantha Wheat Bread and Goat Cheese!

"Nariva bless you two, this is exactly what I needed." Nabooru said gratefully, grabbing her smaller table and pulling it up to the throne.

"You know we aim to please, Nab." Takama replied with a proud grin.

"Damn right. Now that we finally have a decent supply of Lizalfos meat coming in from hunting parties we can cook this up regularly without breaking the bank. We're gonna cook it for you so frequently now that you're gonna get bored with it!" Rebinu added proudly.

The two Gerudo chefs grinned as they set the food down and they briefly lingered and watched as Nabooru began to dig in. They were among the rare, small number of palace staff allowed to speak with Nabooru in such a casual and familiar manner, and they had earned it. The food was delicious and before long Nabooru was tearing into it with her teeth like a voracious Leever. At least there was one good upside to holding court alone, there was nobody to scold her for her poor table manners.

That is, until one of the palace guards came rushing in with an urgent and shocked look on her face.

"My Queen, a host of Zora diplomats is approaching the palace quickly!"

Damn, and just as Nabooru was really enjoying this haunch. She sighed and set it down onto the plate and then reached out to grab a handkerchief to wipe the grease off of her face and hands. She just managed to get herself presentable when a familiar face strode through the palace doors, framed on either side by spear-wielding Zora honor guards.

"Oh, Queen Ruto! I didn't know you were planning to come visit us today!" Nabooru said, standing up and pushing her table aside.

Ruto smiled confidently and gave Nabooru a reassuring wave of one hand.

"Fret not my dear Nabooru, I'm not here to judge you for your morning routine. I was hoping to discuss a few matters in privacy, if you're not too busy with your breakfast?"

Nabooru smiled and shook her head. "Not at all, you can join me if you like. My chefs always cook extra, so if you're hungry it's no trouble to share."

"I suppose I could have a bite. All I request is we have proper solitude to discuss the matters at hand." Ruto replied.

"Of course. Takama, Rebinu, thank you for the food. If you would?"

The two chefs nodded graciously and turned to leave.

"I'll make sure the rest of the palace staff and guards stay out." Takama replied.

The chefs then dispersed and the guards went with them. One palace guard gestured to Ruto's own guards to come with them, and then the palace's doors were shut and locked. Now they could speak in proper confidence.

Ruto then stepped forward and grabbed a nearby chair to pull up to the table. Nabooru couldn't help but admire how the Zora Queen had grown over the last ten years. She'd transformed from a precocious little girl into quite a gorgeous young woman, complete with a mature body that bore more far more curves than average for her age. She was wearing more traditional Zoran garb this time around, comprised of a dress made of white and blue silks that had been specially sewn to look exactly like a Zora's fins. It blended almost seamlessly with her skin, creating the illusion that Ruto was actually naked and smooth with a dress made of her own fins. She wore a pair of dangling blue crystalline sapphire earrings from her finned ears, and a gorgeous golden Queen's tiara atop her oblong head. Nabooru couldn't help but feel impressed and perhaps a little envious of the Zora Queen's beauty, though she quickly dispelled such thoughts in order to focus on the task at hand.

"What did you wish to discuss?"

"Well, officially on the record I wanted to inspect and oversee the final stages of the digging for the new Rakúlan Reservoir. We're almost ready to open the floodgates keeping the new branch of the river dammed up inside the Nephra Hills, but we want to be sure it's safe before we do. The last thing we need is to accidentally flood your growing little city because someone improperly measured water levels and flow rates of the tunnel. Unofficially though? I wanted to ask you a bit of a... personal favor." Ruto said.

"Oh, wonderful! I was hoping we could hold some sort of celebration to mark the opening of the floodgates. Seeing water flowing through the artificial riverbed we've been digging for the last few years is going to be a profoundly emotional moment for our people. Yours too, given how much work they've done for us. I want all your workers invited to this celebration. The Goron miners too, they earned the recognition as well." Nabooru replied.

"Of course, of course. Though we can discuss that in further detail after we go over my favor. That's the part that needs privacy. The river party planning we can do while we inspect the Reservoir." Ruto said, her tone becoming more serious.

"Very well. What can I do for you? I'm surprised you'd come to me rather than, say, Zelda." Nabooru replied.

"She can't really help me with what I need specifically. Sure she has shown prophetic abilities in the past back when her dreams warned her about Ganondorf, but as far as I understand it, she didn't intentionally conjure those warnings herself. I am looking for someone specifically who can actually call upon such visions actively."

"Ah. You want an audience with Lady Lasheera then." Nabooru said flatly.

"If it's not too much trouble. I understand she is much younger than you, perhaps closer to my age, so I will understand if she is too busy to deal with my personal frivolities." Ruto replied in an uncharacteristically humble manner.

Of course that immediately sparked Nabooru's curiosity and she just had to know what was going on behind the scenes here. She took a sip of her tea and then dared to pry.

"She is technically a member of my royal court, though I rarely hold full court sessions with everyone in attendance these days. I could easily call upon her to see you. But admittedly it strikes me as curious that you'd even seek the services of a Seer. If I may be so direct, you always seemed to be a woman who was endlessly confident in herself and certain of her success. What sort of matter could make you humble yourself enough to ask a Seer for aid?"

Ruto normally might have taken offense to this, but she was surprisingly calm and contrite. She sighed and frowned as she looked down at the food that Nabooru had offered her. She didn't look particularly interested in eating any of it, though it was unclear whether it was distaste for the food itself or just her struggling with her own emotions. When she finally replied it was with a much more humble and quiet tone.

"I'm just worried is all. It's been ten long years since Link left us and there's still been no sign of his return. I don't necessarily think anything bad has happened to him, honestly after he fought off Ganondorf even as a child I'm not sure anything in the world can kill him. But I have no idea why he would refuse to return home to us. I want to know what happened to him, and if your Seer can tell me then it would be worth all the Rupees in the world to me. At least if I knew the general direction of where he went I could send some sort of search party out after him."

Nabooru's heart sank as she heard this. In truth she missed Link too, but she wasn't particularly surprised that he had never returned. He'd essentially proven her assessment of him as a wandering itinerant hero type correct, and although she'd always happily welcome him back if he did return, she had made peace with never seeing him again. She immediately remembered how badly Ruto had been setting herself up for tragedy by idealizing him and planning out an intricate future for them when he barely had even said two words to her. She felt simultaneously awkward for being placed in this position and immensely sad for Ruto. This was likely going to be what finally shattered the Zora Queen's fantasy about her future matrimony and it wasn't going to be pretty. She shot Ruto a sad, sympathetic look.

"Normally it is considered... well, not exactly proper to approach fully vested and awakened Seers with matters this personal. Elder Seers typically reserve their powers for issues of global importance, like wars."

"This is globally important!" Ruto suddenly snapped, changing from humble to furious in an instant. "The entire legacy of the Rivana royal family is at stake! My father never had any other sons or daughters, I was his sole heir! It is of vital importance that I marry a suitable husband or the entire Zora society could be thrown into a chaotic power vacuum after my death!"

Nabooru furrowed her brow. She knew the smell of bullshit and this reeked. Ruto was making succession out as her primary motive when the truth was plainly obvious. Her thirst for Link was always her primary motivator. She knew if she tried to argue with her about it though it'd just risk jeopardizing their entire diplomatic relationship. Zora mages conjuring water were what kept the Karusa plains slowly growing back into a prairie and their crops properly watered until the river was released. If she pissed off Ruto now then she had the power to sabotage their entire reconstruction effort, and Ruto was exactly the sort of person who would do it if scorned, regardless of how much it would enrage Zelda. She sighed and shook her head as she relented.

"Very well. I will have to go speak to her, and she will need some time to prepare a proper ritual first. Trying to call forth a vision without the necessary ritual will often either cause it to fail entirely, or worse, provide incorrect or misleading information. These rituals can technically be performed at any time of day, but they work best at night, so if you want to maximize your chances at finding Link then the soonest we could do this would be tomorrow night."

Ruto's brief bout of anger rapidly dissolved into relief and gratitude.

"Thank you Nabooru, I knew you would come through for me after all I've done for you. I apologize for doubting you, and for allowing myself to get so heated. Do you mind if I stay in Ven'rakúl until the ritual is ready tomorrow night?"

"That's fine, I can give you and your guards the palace's primary guest room and we have a private spring where you can immerse yourself if you start feeling dried out. Just be ready for the potential possibility that Mireth may not see anything useful. The only Seer who ever had a perfect record of truth in all of her visions was Mireth's ancestor, the Exalted Darshee Lasheera, and she died long ago. No matter how hard Mireth tries, she may still come away empty handed regardless. Thus is the nature of prophecy." Nabooru warned.

"I understand. At least then I will have no regrets in the knowledge that I tried every feasible avenue at my disposal."

Relief flooded Nabooru's veins as her last meeting of the day finally wrapped up. The two Hylian engineers who had been reviewing progress reports with her about the reinforcement and buttressing of the artificial river channel leading to the as-of-yet unnamed Rakúlan Reservoir now turned and walked away. She was left standing by the banks of the still empty river channel, pondering the unfinished rocky buttresses that the Gorons had been crafting and lifting into place. There were still a few more weeks worth of work left to do, but soon it'd be time to open the floodgates and let the Reservoir begin filling. Once it was full enough to begin flowing into the irrigation channels set up in the plains, they'd be able to send all the mages from Zora's Domain back home.

Not that Nabooru wanted to be rid of them of course, their help had been vital. But they all were very clearly not meant for desert life and suffered immensely while working under the direct glare of the desert sun. It pained Nabooru to see them struggle with dehydration every day after working with them successfully for so many years. After Ganondorf's fall and Zelda's hard work to mend the rift between Hyrule and the Gerudos, she had been clinging to the hope that all of the other races of Hyrule could come and mingle with her tribe peacefully, but it was ultimately inevitable that Zoras wouldn't fare the best here. She sighed softly and shook her head, resolving to just focus on rebuilding the city for now. Idealistic dreams of building a multicultural paradise could wait until their people could properly feed themselves without having to rely on Hylian farmland.

Nabooru was distracted from her ruminations before long anyway. A gaggle of Gerudo children ran past behind her and their laughter and shouting forcefully tore her mind out of the clouds and yanked it into the present. She turned to see seven young girls running down the path behind her. They all looked to be roughly 10 years old in Gerudo years, which was about 5 years old for an equivalent Hylian. They must have been playing a game like tag, since one was sprinting ahead of the rest and all the others were chasing her. They came really close to Nabooru as they passed, and Nabooru couldn't help but slide into a more motherly tone when she called out to them.

"Be careful, young ones. Don't play games this close to the construction area. Last thing you need is to fall into the channel! Do you want to be stuck down there? What if the floodgates broke and the water came rushing down while you were trapped?"

The children skittered to a halt as a look of shock crossed all their faces. They likely didn't realize that the woman they were running past was their chief.

"S-sorry Chief Quindalo!" One of them stuttered shyly.

"It's fine little ones, go play in the town square instead, ok? No harm done."

They nodded and sprinted away from her at a perpendicular angle and Nabooru smiled a bit. It was nice seeing so many children around, it was proof of their tribe's growth and recovery after the wars. Then she heard the sound of a more adult voice clearing its throat off to her left.

Nabooru turned and saw the familiar form of Mireth Lasheera standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and a playful smile on her face. Mireth was a young adult Gerudo of about 50 years who had been a friend of hers ever since Nabooru's first coronation as chief many decades ago. She'd been there for her through thick and thin and saved her ass with her Seer visions more times than Nabooru could count. She was tall and thin for a Gerudo, having a bit of a beanpole build that almost made her look frail. She wore deep azure blue Gerudo clothes and a thick set of Seer's robes that would have proven utterly suffocating in the desert heat for anyone who didn't share the Gerudo's natural tolerance for high temperatures.

"I can see it in your eyes Nabooru, you know I'm right." Mireth said softly, her smile filled with a level of smug self satisfaction.

Nabooru chuckled in defeat and shrugged. She should have expected this after asking Mireth to come find her once her daily rituals were done.

"Maybe. I won't deny that I do want a daughter someday, I just refuse to raise one alone. I certainly won't settle for a partner I'm not in love with just for the sake of having a kid." Nabooru replied.

Mireth had been playfully pestering Nabooru with predictions that she'd be having a daughter sometime soon, but Nabooru had argued about it every time. She was always the picky type when it came to suitors and nobody had ever come close to living up to her old flame Laverra. She'd never had the time to really bother with dating either when the duties of a chief were taking so much of her time every single day. They'd gone back and forth about this almost a dozen times over the last couple of years, with very little changing each time.

"I know Nab. You've told me before. But I saw how you smiled at those kids just now, you can't hide how you feel in your heart. You also know how good my track record is with predictions." Mireth retorted confidently.

"Yeah, but that's not what I asked you to come talk to me about. I wanted to ask you a favor, and ideally someplace where we can have some privacy."

To her credit Mireth didn't push the topic any further. Instead she nodded and gestured to Nabooru to follow her. They began to walk Eastward along the dry river channel, moving brisky and keeping side by side the entire way. Once they were mostly out of earshot of the city's populace Mireth shot Nabooru a curious look and spoke up again in a quieter tone.

"What kind of favor is this? I assume you need me to conjure a vision of some kind, but I can't imagine what. The last few years of your chiefdom have been wonderfully peaceful and prosperous."

"I do need a vision yes, but it's not for me. It's for a friend. One who I owe a considerable debt to." Nabooru replied dispassionately.

"Even more of a debt that what you owe to me?" Mireth joked.

"Goddesses above. You know I'll get you an aqueduct to feed the new Nashuwa Gardens at your manor once the Reservoir is finished! You just need to be patient. I know how sacred the Nashuwa plant is, and how vital it is to your duties as a Seer, but we all have to eat first."

"Oh I know, I just enjoy needling you every once in awhile." Mireth retorted.

"Don't I know it." Nabooru grunted.

They stopped in front of a large rocky cliff face marking the edge of the Nephra Hills that separated Gerudo territory from Hyrule proper. The city of Ven'rakúl had been built right up against those hills in order to encompass the mouth of Gerudo Canyon, which was the only main gateway between the two lands. The artificial river had been dug right through those hills in parallel to the Canyon, and the channel led right up to the mouth of that artificial cavern that the Gorons had dug. When everything was ready, the river would come pouring out of this cavern. For now it was closed off with a metal fence, which Nabooru had to dig out the key for. If anywhere was private enough for this, it was here.

"Alright, let me just pop this open. I'm surprised you didn't lead us back to your manor, Mireth."

"I haven't cleaned the place in awhile, to be honest. I'm a little embarrassed by the mess." Mireth replied frankly.

"Oh yes, I forgot how disorganized you can be. It's been awhile since I last had to visit you." Nabooru chuckled.

The lock emitted a satisfying metallic click as Nabooru slid her master key into it and twisted. A shrill metal creak pierced the quiet air as she pulled the gate open. Inside it was mostly dark save for some faint flickering orange light cast by a small handful of standing wooden torches. There was a single stone path carved into the side of the tunnel parallel to the river channel, and it led up to a large set of steel floodgates that were standing shut and holding back the water beyond. Nabooru closed the fence gate behind them and led Mireth over to stand near the floodgates, knowing nobody could now get close enough to spy on them.

"Ok, so what's this favor?" Mireth asked plainly.

"I'll put it simply. I need you to try to find the ultimate fate of our dear old friend Link, the Hero of Time. He's been missing ever since he helped us imprison Ganondorf and multiple people have been worried about him."

Nabooru was intentionally hiding the truth about who exactly it was who was looking for Link, and their true motivations. Lying to a Seer was always a risky play though; even though Nabooru was an absolute master at bullshitting after a lifetime in politics there was always a chance Mireth had foreseen the real reason. In this case if Mireth had, she didn't show her hand right away. Instead she raised an eyebrow and shot Nabooru a curious look.

"Hmmm, interesting. Do you think there might be a new threat to our land looming in the future that might require his heroic strength to overcome?"

Nabooru winced as her mind briefly flickered over to the Wirleth. No, she'd taken care of that. There was no way it'd ever be found and used. She then shook her head.

"Thankfully no, at least not that I'm aware of. I mean, you haven't foreseen anything like that yourself, have you?"

Mireth shook her head. "Thankfully no. Ever since Ganondorf fell I've seen nothing but peace and tranquility in our future. What few spontaneous visions I have had mostly focused on you and your future daughter, but you already made it clear you don't want to hear about that."

The teasing bite in Mireth's tone still felt slightly at-odds with the actual words at the end of that little speech and Nabooru frowned. Was Mireth playing games with her? She held back the urge to grumble about it and instead pressed on.

"Good. We don't need any more threats. I need you to find Link because people miss him and are worried about his safety. He saved all our collective asses by taking on Ganondorf like that and that sort of bravery really makes people love you after all."

"People like a certain Zora Queen, if I'm not mistaken?" Mireth asked.

"Ugh, I knew you were playing with me the whole time." Nabooru grumbled, planting her face firmly in her palm.

"Can you blame me? You are the one asking me to use my divine gift to help settle the aching heart of an unrequited lover after all. That's not traditionally the purview of a Seer of my particular caliber. Usually only novice Seers who haven't had their Awakening Ceremonies end up dabbling in petty affairs like that." Mireth replied, maintaining her lighthearted teasing tone.

"I know, alright? But I'm not just doing this for shits and giggles Mireth. I'm doing it because Ruto and her people are the ones who've made this entire reconstruction effort possible. The only reason we've even been able to start building Ven'rakúl at all was because her mages have been providing all the water in the interim while the miners dig this tunnel. It's worth the embarrassment of asking you this if it keeps her happy and thus our crops properly watered."

"Fair enough, and I am happy to help you to keep her happy. It's worth doing just for the sake of ensuring I get food on my table too. But perhaps, when this is all said and done, you can donate a little bit of your personal wealth to help me expand the ritual chambers in my new manor, yes? After all, a better ritual circle with more supplies will ensure that any future visions you might ask from me will only be more accurate."

Nabooru didn't need to be a Seer like Mireth to have seen this coming from miles away. This time she didn't bother to suppress the irritated groan that came rumbling up from her throat in response.

"Goddesses above, you still know how to properly wheedle and needle at me even all these years later don't you Mireth?"

"I have the Goddesses helping me with it after all."

August 17th, 10AG

Nabooru checked herself in her mirror one last time to make sure her makeup looked flawless. She was still unsatisfied with the gradient of her golden eye shadow, and the lipstick was perhaps a bit too thick this time around, but she was out of time. She had to leave for the Reservoir now or she'd risk being late, or at the very least the last of the Sages to arrive for the party. It wouldn't be a good look if that happened, given this party was taking place essentially right on her doorstep. If Saria and Ruto could travel across the entire width of Hyrule and be here on time then it'd look lazy at best if Nabooru let them beat her there. She straightened the Golden Headdress of the Chief one more time and heaved a sigh. The damn thing was so heavy, and it was just so overly gaudy compared to her old Silver and Amber Tiara that she used to wear before coronation. Even if it had been many years since her first coronation she still couldn't get used to it. Oh well, time to go.

Nabooru strode through the palace briskly and swung the front gates open with all the confidence and composure she could muster. The morning desert sun glared down at her blindingly and the bustling sandstone architecture of the town of Ven'rakúl sprawled out in front of her. It was only about 9AM but the city was alive with excitement. The celebration marking the opening of the Floodgates was about to begin. Dozens of Gerudos were milling about, many making their way to the Reservoir in the heart of the town. Nabooru could see excited smiles on their faces and various pieces of food in their hands as they walked across the sandstone cobbles toward the square that sat adjacent to the Reservoir. Ven'rakúl had been planned out with the Reservoir in its center, the Town Square sitting alongside it on its North side, and branching aqueducts taking water out through the town in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. Nabooru joined the crowd on their way to that square, doing her best to hide her nervous anxiety the entire time. Normally she wasn't this anxious about a political event, but all the Sages were invited to attend, including Ruto, who had been actively avoiding her ever since the incident with Mireth. There was a social land mine planted there and Nabooru wasn't exactly eager to tiptoe around it in front of her entire tribe.

Fortunately the crowd didn't prove to be that much of an obstacle and she arrived roughly on time. The only Sages that had beaten her there were Zelda and Rauru, who both had a tendency to come to these sorts of events early anyway. Nabooru brushed her way past the crowd of Gerudos, noticing some Hylians, Zoras, and Gorons in the gathered throng too, and approached Zelda with a polite bow.

"Good morning Your Highness. Are you ready to make your speech?" Nabooru asked cordially.

"You can just call me Zelda now, Nabooru. I don't mind. I am indeed ready, though I want to make sure I understand the plan correctly. You wanted me to speak first, yes? Why not lead the ceremony yourself?" Zelda asked.

"I'll still give an intro, but you should be the first major speaker. It's because you made all this possible. If it weren't for your speech after Ganondorf's defeat ten years ago, and the treaty you wrote up for us to sign, this Reservoir never would have been built. Our kingdoms would still be at each other's throats at best, if not back to full blown war again. This is the least I can do to honor your efforts to mend that divide." Nabooru replied.

Zelda gave her a grateful nod. "I suppose I cannot argue with that logic, thank you. Are you aware that Queen Ruto also wishes to deliver a short speech too?"

Nabooru did her best to hide the brief wince that nearly rose to her face.

"I am, yes. She probably wishes to thank her mages for their decade of service here in the Karusa Plains restoring our farmlands. Still, I am a little worried. Did she tell you what happened last month?"

"No, but it doesn't take the Triforce of Wisdom to tell something serious took place that has been weighing on her. She's been holed up in Zora's Domain for weeks and canceled all her diplomatic visits since then, other than this one. Was it something you were involved with?" Zelda asked inquisitively.

Nabooru gave her a grim nod. "Long story short, she came and asked to meet with our local Seer. She wanted Lady Lasheera to try to divine where Link has been, and she didn't like the answer she got."

A look of morbid understanding came over Zelda's face. "I had a suspicion it was something like that. Though I myself would like to know what the Seer might have said, if it's not too intrusive. I may not share in Ruto's romantic obsession with the Hero, but I am worried about what could keep him away for so long."

Nabooru shook her head. "It's not intrusive, no. Mireth didn't say where he'd went, but she did say that Link will likely be returning sometime soon, but he's not going to be reciprocating Ruto's obsession. You can guess how that went over."

Now it was Zelda's turn to give a grim nod.

"Absolutely. At least I can take some measure of solace in the knowledge that Link is alright. I just hope that Ruto doesn't use her little speech to say or do something drastic."

"Now you understand why I'm so nervous." Nabooru replied.

Zelda gave Nabooru another nod with a sympathetic look, but their conversation trailed off to an end there. More of the Sages were now emerging from the crowd and approaching the podium that had been erected for the speech, including Darunia, Saria, and Ruto. Ruto was wearing her favorite formal white dress, while Darunia and Saria were in their typical casual outfits. Darunia was entirely unbothered by the desert heat, while Ruto was greedily sucking down water from a large metal canteen. Rauru greeted them all, then turned to Zelda and Nabooru with his usual stern expression.

"All we're missing now is Lady Impa."

Zelda knew this was less an observation and more a subtly pointed request. She nodded and quietly snapped her fingers behind her back, sending a signal to ears hiding in the shadows. Then, the figure of Impa seemed to emerge like a flowing liquid out of a dark covered alleyway between two nearby buildings on the Northern edge of the Square. Nobody seemed to even notice Impa's presence despite the obvious use of magic on display, but Nabooru knew that was just how the Shadow Sage's tricks worked. Impa walked up to put a hand on Zelda's shoulder and then leaned in to whisper in her ear. Nabooru didn't need to overhear what was being said to know that Impa had likely scouted out the entire town for any threats and was now reporting in to Zelda. Impa may be the Sage of Shadow but that didn't mean she would take her duties as Zelda's bodyguard any less seriously. Nabooru took this opportunity to step up to the podium and clear her throat loudly, grabbing the attention of the crowd for Zelda and getting the proceedings started.

"Attention everyone! We're ready to get started. I'd like to thank you all for coming to this morning's celebration. The final preparations should be wrapping up back at the mouth of the Channel Tunnel, we'll be signaling to them to open the floodgates at the end of the ceremony. As part of the ceremony my people will begin planting sacred palm trees in a circle around the boundaries of the reservoir, with the final planting set to coincide with the arrival of the water from the channel. While my people work on the trees and the Goron workers perform the final checks on all the seals and buttresses I'd like to invite Her Highness Queen Zelda Iliana Hyrule to address the crowd, since it was her diplomatic sway and hard work that made all of this possible."

Nabooru then bowed politely and stepped aside for the Queen, who was waiting to take her place at the podium. Zelda launched into an elegant and well-rehearsed speech for the gathering, but admittedly Nabooru mostly tuned it out. Zelda had already run the contents of this speech by her ahead of time so she was quite aware of what it contained already. She only listened for a few moments to verify that Zelda hadn't decided to go off-script with improv, then let her gaze wander. She examined the horde of people in the crowd first, noting the variety of races that had gathered. All of the Zora mages that had been working here were attending, as well as a majority of the Goron Miners that had dug the channel. Only those responsible for performing the final checks and opening the gates were absent. Every Gerudo in Ven'rakúl was here too, save for the guards whose duty was to keep watch over the city limits and the Valley during the ceremony. She even noticed some Hylian nobility there, undoubtedly to show the bare minimum of cordial respect for Zelda's initiative. Nabooru was surprised that any of them had bothered to attend at all, given the fact that the Hylian Nobility still blamed the Gerudo people for King Darius's death.

Then her gaze wandered over to the Sages. She curiously took in their demeanors, hoping to glean some manner of forewarning should any of them be aware of something bad about to happen, like, say, Ruto losing her cool and causing a scene. Fortunately all of them seemed relatively relaxed and peaceful, even Ruto herself. The aquatic monarch was standing off on the edge of the group of Sages underneath a sun shade and nursing her canteen of water quietly while watching Zelda speak. If there was any malice lurking in her mind now, she was doing a flawless job of hiding it. Given what Nabooru knew about Ruto's impulsive nature, she took this to mean that Ruto actually was at relative peace for now and didn't plan to cause any real trouble.

Feeling reassured by this Nabooru allowed her mind to wander for a bit now. She no longer needed to search for any potential lurking threats and this meant her subconscious mind took the wheel and steered her gaze for awhile instead. That gaze ended up lingering awkwardly on the wonderful curves of Ruto's body for many long seconds before Nabooru realized what she was doing and tore her eyes away. She looked over at the Gerudo workers who were planting the palm trees now while scolding herself. Ever since that night when she'd held Ruto in her arms behind the waterfall she'd felt a lingering longing in the back of her heart, as well as an instinctual attraction to the Zora queen's body. The sight of Ruto in that gorgeously stitched white satin dress had spoken right to the part of Nabooru that felt this attraction, and her conscious mind felt ashamed of it. She wasn't ashamed out of any sort of internalized homophobia of course, that was a Hylian thing that Gerudos didn't have in their culture. The shame came from feeling like it'd be exploitative to pursue any such feelings given the heartbreak that Ruto was enduring over Link. Even looking felt like a transgression. She really did want the best for Ruto, and that desire is what helped her to keep her instinctual side in check. Well, that and the understanding that Ruto had a lot of work to do to get over Link first anyway.

Then before Nabooru knew it Zelda had finished her speech and stepped aside. Ruto screwed the cap shut on her canteen and stepped forward to make her own speech next. Nabooru could feel her heart begin to speed up a touch as Ruto cleared her throat, but for now she remained dispassionate and cordial as she let the Queen of the Zoras speak.

"Thank you, Your Highness. I am honored to be welcomed here in the city of Ven'rakúl. It wasn't too long ago that our people once met here in the flames of war, so the fact that we can meet here again in the name of peace is a testament to the charisma and diplomatic skill you have shown in creating the pact that now binds us. Zoras, Hylians, and Gerudos alike should never again meet as foes, and it is my hope that the work of our mages here in the Karusa Plains will ensure that for centuries to come. The new branch of Zora's River that our Goron Allies have now dug will not just be a new source of lifeblood to the Karusa Plains, but a watery road that the Zora people can traverse safely to come here and visit the city of Ven'rakúl quickly and easily. Zora caravans can come up and down the river at will and even stay safely in the filled reservoir for extended visits, should the Rakúlan people welcome us. I hope that the flow of our river's waters will last as eternally as the friendship between our people."

Ruto then bowed deeply to the crowd and stepped down from the podium with a confident, proud expression still lingering on her face. Nabooru was surprised by the energy and sincerity of her words after the way the meeting with Mireth had gone and she found herself casually admiring the charisma and self-assured poise that the Zora Queen seemed capable of when she wasn't carried away by her pining for Link. Those feelings lingered for several moments and mixed with the physical attraction from earlier, creating an intoxicating brand of infatuation. Nabooru caught herself cursing the unfairness of the fact that a vai as elegant and beautiful as Ruto could be trapped in such a pointless, one-sided obsession without any hope of reciprocation. Even after the way she'd seen Ruto act in the Lasheera Manor, Nabooru couldn't help but fantasize about how different things could have been between them if Ruto had never fallen for Link.

Then Nabooru heard the sound of Arbiter Falora Vatorsa clearing her throat pointedly just off to her left. She internally swore to herself, it was her turn to actually deliver a speech now and she hadn't realized it. She adjusted the golden headdress atop her head and stepped up to the podium again as she scrambled to banish those confounding thoughts and focus on the now.

"Thank you, Your Highness." she began, nodding to Ruto as she passed and returned to her place among the other Sages.

Nabooru then stared out at the edge of the crowd and saw a messenger off in the back arriving and waving his hands at her enthusiastically. Relief flooded her as the message landed in her mind; the engineers had confirmed that it was safe to open the floodgates and proceed. She nodded at him and raised both of her arms up into the air as she began to speak, a gesture that indicated to the messenger that she understood his message and now wanted him to return to the floodgates and tell them to open them. If this all worked out perfectly without any interruptions to their carefully choreographed timing then the water would arrive right at the end of her speech. The messenger saw it and turned to immediately sprint away, heading back up along the channel toward the now opened mouth of the channel tunnel.

"My friends, it has been a long time now since I was first crowned chief, and I admit that I haven't been the best leader over the years. I've made my fair share of mistakes, from failing to warn everyone in time about Ganondorf's prophesized corruption to letting the Matriarchists pass laws to ban the entry of foreign voe into our lands. But I like to think I've done at least a few good things too, and I think that signing the triad treaty written by Queen Zelda is perhaps the accomplishment I will feel proudest of for the rest of my life. Perhaps helping Link and Zelda to defeat the King of Evil is the most famous and impactful deed that I've done overall, but the work that we're finishing here today will have just as far-reaching and influential consequences, if not more. What we've accomplished together in these ten long years of digging and land reclamation will echo through the annals of Hylian, Zoran, and Gerudo history alike."

"As you all know, it was the words of my dear friend Mireth Lasheera that guided me through the storm and brought me to where I am now. Her divine foresight got us through Ganondorf's vile schemes with as little bloodshed as possible, and for that I trust every word she says. Not long after I regained my crown in the aftermath of his fall, Mireth gave me one final vision in her capacity as my official court seer. She told me that if nothing was done, the lingering hatred and mistrust between our peoples would have driven us right back to war again, and that time it would likely end in our defeat. The Hylians would slay me and drive the last few surviving Gerudos into the deep desert, where we'd vanish from history for millennia and never play another role in this world's destiny again. But she also told me that the woman who bore the Triforce of Wisdom would not let such a dire fate come to pass, and that as long as I let go of my anger and agreed to trust her, we'd enter a new era of prosperity together as a unified kingdom."

"It was hard, I'll admit. I lived through the horrors of the War of Hylian Unification that Zelda's father, the late King Darius, waged against my people to bring us under the Hyrulean flag. I saw his soldiers sack the city of Ven'vhír and burn the prairies and farmlands of the Karusa Plains. I led us through the famine and times of banditry that this led our people to. I lost so many of my people, even my best friend. But I knew Mireth was right. Tabulating wrongs and accumulating resentment accomplishes nothing. Seeking revenge would have led me down the exact same path that it led Ganondorf down. Zelda's Treaty was my chance to not only avoid that path, but to redeem my mistakes and those of my people who had chosen to follow Ganondorf. It was our last best hope. I chose to turn away from that dark path of vengeance, and I want to thank all of you, Gerudo and Hylian alike, for choosing to follow in my footsteps and reject that path too. It's because of all of you that we've come this far now."

Nabooru took a breath at this point in order to hold her emotions in check. Opening herself up and being vulnerable like this wasn't easy, especially after so many years of putting on a facade of the tough, unflappable arch-thief and Gerudo Chief. She could see all those eyes frozen completely on her now, including those of Ruto. And for some reason that she couldn't really understand, it was Ruto's eyes that seemed to draw her attention most of all. She knew that it was Zelda and her people that she needed to impress the most, but in that moment they barely even entered into the equation. Instead, she felt another sudden impulse strike her. She wanted to do something spontaneous and unplanned. Something perhaps reckless and even stupid. Her reign as Chief of the Gerudo had been marked by plenty of stupid spur-of-the-moment decisions after all, why not add one more to the pile?

"Therefore, in the spirit of embracing this new future of unity and prosperity, I would like to offer a token of my thanks to Queen Ruto Rivana of Zora's Domain for her work, and the work of all her people toward revitalizing the Karusa Plains. As the water begins to flow into the Reservoir now and the final, 29th Palm Tee is planted into the ground, I would like to formally christen this completed waterworks project as "Rivana Reservoir", in honor of Her Highness Queen Ruto. May her reign be long and prosperous, and the friendship between our people eternal."

Nabooru then turned to face the Reservoir and produced a small musical instrument from a compartment inside the podium. It was what the Gerudo called a Maraqé, being a simple small white flute that produced fluttery, airy notes when blown into. This particular one had belonged to her mother Sabiru and it was carved out of polished white Molduga bone. She began to play a song that Link had taught her, one which had unique magical properties. She'd never been talented with much magic other than the Spirit Magic that came with her title as the Spirit Sage, but she'd practiced this for years now and after failing to produce rain for most of that time she was now relatively confident that she finally had it down. The flow of river water was finally arriving in a turbulent dark churn from the channel and she could see the final Palm Tree rising up as her workers placed its root ball into the ground. The sharp, whimsical notes of the Song of Storms began to flow out over the assembled crowd as Nabooru played, and slowly but surely the magic took effect. Dark, sodden grey clouds seemed to materialize out of nowhere directly above them with supernatural speed.

Nabooru had tried using this song to help water the Karusa Plains a few times before, starting once Link had taught it to her after Ganondorf's defeat, but she'd never really been able to master the magic in it up until recently. Musical magic was a finicky thing and Link was one of the few people who had the natural talent to master it quickly. Nabooru's years of practice had barely conjured a light drizzle up until now, but this time it actually seemed to be working. Now the storm gathered above them and rumbled with thunder, causing the crowd to crane their necks and stare up at the sky with confusion and amazement. The heavens then opened up and a deluge of plump, crystalline droplets came cascading down upon them in a squall.

Some of the Hylian Nobles in the crowd seemed irritated by this. Their carefully tailored silken outfits and makeup were getting ruined by the torrent. The common Hylian citizenry seemed less irritated but more confused than anything. But the Zoras were clapping and cheering in delight; to them this downpour was immensely enjoyable and was helping to banish the unpleasant heat and dryness they'd been enduring to attend this ceremony. The gathered Gerudos were even more jubilant. The younger vai had never even seen rain before, and the older ones hadn't since the onset of the drought so many decades ago that had turned the Karusa Plains into a tinderbox for the Hylians to then burn. To all of them there could be no stronger symbol of the changing fortunes of their people than the sight of rain falling on their town. Nabooru was grateful for the fact that the rain helped to hide her tears too, as she couldn't help but get teary-eyed when she saw the craggy old Arbiter Vatorsa break down in jubilation and amazement at the sight of the storm. She was one of the oldest surviving Gerudos who had made it through all the wars and suffering that their tribe had seen. Living to see rain return to their lands, if only briefly, must have meant everything to her. Nabooru didn't even care that the water was streaming down her face and ruining her own makeup, she smiled anyway. Part of her wished that her old friend Laverra could have been here to see this now, but she knew that Laverra was watching her from the heavens along with Nariva and would be proud of her.

Thankfully the storm conjured by Nabooru's song hadn't lasted long. The clouds parted after just a minute or two, giving the gathered Hylians and Gerudos enough time to dry themselves off and return to their celebrations. A party had been planned for the entire evening after the speeches were finished, and it lasted all the way to sunset and beyond. Now a cool evening breeze was flowing over the city of Ven'rakúl and torchlight was illuminating the town square. Everyone was now dancing, laughing, talking, eating, drinking, and generally making merry in the square. Bards were scattered around the edges of the crowd plying their trade to keep the party's tempo going, while Gerudo shopkeeps and cooks manned stalls at the edges of the square to sell food and goods to the revelers. Plenty of booze was flowing among the crowd too, provided both by the local Oasis Tavern and the stalls that lined the square. This ensured a constantly lively and jubilant atmosphere among the crowd.

Nabooru paced the crowd and mingled with everyone over the course of the night, determined to enjoy herself at least a little bit. She of course didn't let herself get TOO sauced on the Hydromelon Rum that was being sold all around the square, but she did allow herself the joy of indulging one of her favorite foods, roast Lizalfos haunch. She by now had washed the makeup off of her face entirely after the rain had ruined it, so she didn't really have any reason to worry about all the grease from such a rich and marbled meat potentially messing that up. She ate like a voracious Molduga and then contentedly strolled the crowd to socialize with people as was expected.

Things didn't get really interesting though until Nabooru finally found herself accidentally bumping into Ruto in the crowd. She politely tried to give Ruto an offramp from any conversation and slide away, expecting her to be uninterested in talking after the Mireth incident before. But surprisingly Ruto seemed actually interested in striking up a chat with her and gestured to her to stay.

"Nabooru dear, I'm really curious about something. If it's not too intrusive or frivolous to ask?"

"Hmm? Sure, I'm fine clearing up whatever might be bothering you. If it's about Mireth-"

Ruto shook her head and very gently interrupted her. "It's not. I was actually wondering if there was any particular reason why you'd needed to rely so heavily on my mages over the years if you had the power to conjure rain out of thin air with nothing but a flute?"

Nabooru laughed in resignation. "You must be the twentieth person to ask me that tonight. I should have known I'd have to deal with this interrogation for daring to play it at the ceremony. There's a simple explanation, I only mastered the magic a few months ago. By the time I could reliably conjure any amount of rain, the channel was already mostly complete. You have to understand something about me Ruto, I've never been particularly magically gifted. Magic tends to skip a generation or two in my family. My mother was a prodigy with her spellcasting, whereas I barely managed to learn enough Spirit Magic to properly inherit the title of Spirit Sage in time. I can't just pick up a spell and instantly cast it perfectly like Link. He's one of the Goddesses' chosen after all, he could cast Din's Fire without even needing to practice!" Nabooru said with a laugh.

"Hah, fair enough! He is wonderfully special, I certainly can't argue with that." Ruto replied with romantic whimsy oozing off of her voice. She took a brief moment to bask in her own admiration of him before regaining her focus on their conversation. "Ah, but I digress. I apologize if my tone was accusatory, I understand now. The song is likely some form of water magic and you yourself told me that Gerudos aren't naturally inclined toward the element. Heaven knows you couldn't teach me fire magic no matter how hard you tried!"

Ruto began to laugh cheerfully and Nabooru allowed herself the indulgence of joining in.

"I do have one more question though before I leave you to your evening. I'm quite curious if there's any sort of specific reason why your people chose to plant 29 trees exactly around the Reservoir. The way you spoke of it during your speech sounded like it was a very conscious and intentional decision."

Nabooru brightened with relief in response to this. She hadn't actually been eager to discuss the Song of Storms again after all, so this topic felt pleasantly harmless by comparison.

"Oh! Well that's an easy one, even if it might seem a little strange to an outsider. It's nothing profound or religious though, just an old cultural quirk. The number 29 is considered a lucky number in old Gerudo folk tales. It's nothing backed up by any actual research, be it magical or scientific, just the result of centuries of old wives tales solidifying in the common cultural zeitgeist."

"Ah, that's actually quite fascinating. I had thought it might be something sacred, given the profundity you had placed on it during your speech." Ruto observed casually.

"Ah, not at all." Nabooru chuckled in amusement. "Old Gerudo witches did have a tendency to try to design rituals and spells with the number 29 used prominently in them. For example, drawing polyhedrons on their spell circles with 29 vertices, or adding 29 doses of an ingredient to their potions. But our religious priestesses don't really use numerology in their worship. Worship of Nariva is much more focused on music as well as serpent symbology. The High Priestess will typically carry a live snake with her whenever attending ceremonies, for example."

"Ah, I see. I suppose that just leads me to my next point of curiosity. It seemed like there weren't any religious elements to the opening ceremony for the reservoir, is that correct? I had expected you might thank your Goddess for the blessing of this water." Ruto replied.

"Ah, no not at all. Our Goddess, Nariva, is a Goddess of the Desert. Water isn't exactly her element either. I suppose it would make sense for our people to try to pray to someone for rain if rain actually was a semi-common occurrence here. But if we don't count the storm I summoned at the ceremony with that song, we haven't had a drop of rain here in almost 25 years. Even before the draught that marked the start of my reign as Chief when I was young, it was still rare enough that our people never connected religious prayer to it. If you try to pray for a storm for decades and it never ever comes, you eventually have to learn to stop and try something else." Nabooru replied casually.

"Ahhh, I suppose that makes sense. It's interesting, up until now I've never known a single thing about Gerudo religion or cultural practices. It's quite fascinating to have a chance to learn it now. I suppose we have Zelda to thank for that opportunity." Ruto remarked.

"Indeed, and believe me I've taken plenty of opportunities to thank her for making this sort of thing possible for the last decade. I bet you understand just how nice it is that I can explain who Nariva is to curious outsiders rather than pretending not to worship her to keep murderous Hylian soldiers from trying to execute me for Heresy against Hylia." Nabooru said with a dark little chuckle.

"Indeed, and judging by what you've told me about the ways Nariva has guided your people, there must be something to her, even if she doesn't appear in a physical incarnation to you like Lord Jabu does for us."

"Indeed. Though I do... ah, apologize for how Nariva's word landed for you the other evening." Nabooru said cautiously, referring to the prophecy that Mireth had delivered.

"Don't worry about it. I've been meaning to eventually apologize to you about my behavior that night anyway." Ruto replied, finally showing some contrition in her tone and posture.

Nabooru shot her a tentatively curious look.

"Really? Don't take this the wrong way or anything, I'm not trying to imply that you're impolite, but I kinda got the impression that you probably were going to eventually write off what Mireth was saying as hogwash. Forgive me for being direct, but you've always struck me as being the type who was too confident in her romantic pursuits to ever give up, even if a Goddess told you it was hopeless."

Ruto shrugged and waved one finned hand in a slightly dismissive manner. "Oh don't worry, I don't take offense. You are right after all. I'm not going to let your Seer talk me out of trying my hand anyway. Besides, based on what you said during that speech of yours, it really does sound like you believe that Fate is what we make of it, ultimately. Mireth said she'd seen the future where the Hylians and Gerudos went back to war if nothing was done, that's what spurred her to take action and actively help you to change that future. I feel a lot better now if only because it means I can see Mireth's warning to me as something that will only come to pass if I don't take action to change it. I just have to shake up my tactics and try something different with Link once he does eventually return."

Nabooru sighed sadly as she heard this. The part of her that had been idly fantasizing about a future where Ruto managed to break her obsession with Link was now feeling quite crushed. Of course she felt thoroughly silly for ever indulging herself in such foolish fantasies in the first place; logically she knew that it was extremely unlikely that someone as headstrong as Ruto would ever give up. But it still hurt deep down. The silly, sentimental, emotional side of her still wanted to hope that there might be a spark there between them after that night behind the waterfall, regardless of how foolish and unlikely it was.

"Well Ruto, I wish you the best of luck with that. I'd offer you some advice if I wasn't even less experienced with romantic affairs than you. As you can see, I've never really managed to find anyone to settle down with myself after all. I wouldn't know how to help you to court him."

"Well I am grateful for the sentiment, thank you. Don't worry, even if your Seer won't help me any further I still have a few other ideas for avenues I will be pursuing in due time. I have a meeting planned with a Hylian matchmaker tomorrow evening, which will give me plenty of time to sober up and make the swim home after tonight's celebration is over." Ruto replied with as much confidence as ever.

"Ah, very well then. I hope you find the love that you deserve. Just be careful when making the trip home through the Valley this time, alright? Fortune may not guide the timing of one of my nighttime walks through there again if you end up having a bad evening again." Nabooru warned her softly.

A conflicted look came across Ruto's face at this point. Frustration blinked across her features briefly, as if she was insulted by being reminded of that moment of weakness. Then she seemed to have a flash of insight and realize that perhaps Nabooru was trying to drop a hint at her. The smallest mote of guilt just barely touched her face before she then tamped it down and resumed maintaining her proud facade.

"Don't you worry about THAT. That was just a brief break in my confidence. Now that I have a plan for what to do, I shouldn't need you or Mireth again."

Nabooru practically winced. She knew that was coming but it didn't make it sting any less. Whatever fantasies she'd had left to cling to now felt thoroughly dead. Then she sucked it up and replaced that moment of grief with relief and resolve. Better to have closure now than to let it linger unrequited.

"Of course. Safe travels, Your Highness."

Nabooru sighed in exhaustion as she strolled around the square and oversaw the cleanup process after the end of the celebration. It was deep in the early hours of the AM now and all the guests had retreated to their accommodations for the night. Hylian and Goron guests had taken rooms in the handful of Rakúlan Inns that had been prepared for them, while the Zoras were sleeping peacefully at the bottom of the new Rivana Reservoir. Most Gerudo civilians had returned to their homes, leaving only Nabooru and a handful of guards to walk around picking up scattered trash and mopping up spills. Normally it wasn't a Chief's duty to do such menial chores, but Nabooru took pride in her little settlement and wanted things to be clean by the time their guests woke up to leave tomorrow morning. She also felt a certain camaraderie with the Rakúlan Guard and wanted to lead by example rather than sitting atop her throne and letting her "lessers" do all the work for her. She was currently mopping up a pool of vomit from a drunken reveler when she heard a familiar voice clearing its throat and speaking up behind her.

"Well that went better than I had expected."

Nabooru set her mop down and turned to see Mireth Lasheera standing behind her with her arms crossed and a slight smile on her face.

"Sa'oveer. Of course it's you. Come to scold me about not getting enough sleep?" Nabooru grumbled.

"Some way to greet your old friend Nab! I came to congratulate you for a job well done." Mireth protested lightly, her tone rather unserious.

"Well if that's truthful, I accept your well wishes with gratitude, and if it's not truthful then I can assure you that the channel to your Nashuwa Garden will be the very next project my people will be working on."

Mireth gave a soft, airy laugh as she replied. "You know, you could make a decent Seer yourself Nab."

"Heh really? Wasn't it you who said awhile back that sometimes one doesn't need hints from Nariva to recognize and predict obvious patterns. You've only pestered me about that Garden a few dozen times by now." Nabooru replied, then picked the mop back up and resumed her work.

"Touche. Though to be truthful there was a third reason why I decided to come talk to you." Mireth replied, casually following Nabooru along as she worked.

"Yeah? Gonna ask me when I want to pray for a daughter?" Nabooru asked in a deadpan tone.

"Not exactly, but it is tangentially related. I think I foresaw the suitor you're going to end up choosing." Mireth said, her face becoming visibly smug.

Nabooru froze in place like a deer that just locked eyes with a Lynel.

"I'm not going to get out of this conversation by playing dumb am I?" She grumbled.

Mireth's expression grew even more smug. "Nope."

Nabooru sighed and set the mop down again, then looked Mireth right in the eye.

"So what do you want? Just to playfully tease me about my taste in vai? Or do you want to wheedle me for some other concession?"

"Oh I actually don't want anything more from you. I'm getting everything I want already, I don't need to wheedle you for anything else. I just want to see you happy, and in the interest of that pursuit I wanted to offer you my help."

"Free of charge huh?" Nabooru asked.

"It's the least I can do for my old friend."

Nabooru shot Mireth a stare laced with suspicion.

"Let me guess, you foresaw me and Ruto hooking up and wanted to offer hints about how to make it come together? Or you saw a fight and wanted to help me avoid it?"

"A little of both to be honest." Mireth replied casually.

Nabooru honestly wasn't sure what to think. She'd waffled around between giving up hope on Ruto and regaining that hope enough times now that it was setting off red flags. Even if this could somehow work out, her mind was telling her that it'd take a considerable amount of work and emotional struggle to get there. Was it going to be worth it? Just because Mireth had foreseen it being possible didn't mean it would live up to everything Nabooru wanted in a relationship. Mireth of course picked up on the conflicted look on Nabooru's face along with the long pause that was manifesting and decided to speak up in reassurance.

"Don't worry Nab, I understand why you'd be feeling so indecisive at this point. Ruto is more than a bit of a handful in a lot of ways and that can make for some... unpredictable and unstable situations. Tell you what, why don't I just drop you one quick little freebie? Next time you spot an arising opportunity to help her, take it. It'll pay off."

Mireth then turned and began to leave. Nabooru instantly recognized this, it was the exact same bluffing tactic that she and Mireth always used when messing with each other playfully. Mireth was trying to goad her into asking for more information. Part of her did want to ask too, but her instinctual need to stall for more time to think was strong enough that she resisted it.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. But be careful Mireth, this may be a matter you might not enjoy getting yourself entangled with again. You got a pretty direct sampling of how Ruto could be once before after all."

"If I can help you through the fall of Ven'vhír then I can help you to tame a whiny fish." Mireth joked as she walked away.

"Alright, but don't you dare tell anyone else about this! And don't let Ruto hear you calling her that or she'll flood the entire damn city!" Nabooru called back after her.

"Oh I know."

September 9th, 10AG

Nabooru always was grateful for the cooler climate of the kingdom of Hyrule whenever she traveled out beyond the Nephra Hills and into Hyrule Field proper. It was a wonderful break from the brutal desert sun, and the nights were even milder too. The sun was now fully set as she approached the gates of Hyrule Castle for her appointment with Zelda and it still felt wonderfully temperate. No icy cold desert night winds were lashing at her as the darkness settled in. She found herself idly smiling as she approached the Castle Guards and spoke to them, and before long she was being led inside to the throne room.

Zelda was seated atop her throne in full royal regalia that evening even though it was late enough that regular daytime court hours were over. She had just finished dinner and the dinner table across from the throne was currently being cleared off and wiped clean by the castle's servants when Nabooru entered. She performed the customary bow when she approached the throne, as was proper for a vassal of the crown like her, and Zelda gestured for her to stand.

"Good evening Chief Quindalo. I trust your trip was pleasantly uneventful?" Zelda asked cordially.

"It was indeed. It's nice that I have time to come on these trips more often now that the channel work is finished, I always love the mild weather you have out here." Nabooru replied.

Zelda smiled a little bit, finding a similar contentment in their ability to talk so casually nowadays. She stood from the throne and stepped down to be level with Nabooru, and once the servants had cleared the table off, Nabooru produced and unfurled several scrolls over the now clean and dry oaken tabletop.

"Here are the first proper crop assessments of the season, as you requested. As you can see, the irrigation provided by the now operational Rivana Reservoir is already making a significant impact. The Rakúlan Merchants Guild is estimating a 96% increase in yields of Tabantha Wheat and Hylian Maize. It's even increasing the yield of our desert staple crops. Hydromelon yields are set to increase 37% and Safflinas are up 46% and 53% for Warm and Cool, respectively. As you can see by the estimated total harvests, assuming no blights, birds, or insects descend by harvest season, we should be set to reach the full self sufficiency threshold this year. Optimistic Guild members even are extrapolating that if the growth continues, we could even produce a surplus for export next year." Nabooru explained.

"Wonderful. It's exactly as I had hoped. Has your Seer received any other visions pertinent to these outcomes?" Zelda asked.

"No, but I don't think that's a problem. Remember, most elder Seers primarily receive visions as warnings of oncoming calamities. That basically means that No News Is Good News, as the old saying goes."

"Excellent. Do you feel confident in signing the release to return usage of the temporary farmland grants that I gave to your people at the start of our Treaty?" Zelda asked.

"Not quite yet, there's still a few weeks left until harvest season officially starts and we don't know if locusts or blight might strike before then. I will at least sign the return papers once we have our harvests in hand and all counted up, which won't be too long in the grand scheme of things. I hope the Hylian commonfolk haven't been too impatient about the ending of the grant, have they?"

Zelda shook her head. "Just the typical levels of impatience. Our own crop yields have still been more than enough to feed everyone while building a stockpile out of the surplus, so it's not like our agreements are causing problems. It's just the typical grousing from the nobles about wanting more of their profits from their lands back. It's nothing I can't handle."

"Alright, good. I know that if the population of Ven'rakúl continues to grow at its current rate that I'll eventually have to appoint a fresh batch of my own new nobility in time, but for now I'm just enjoying not having to deal with that particular nonsense yet." Nabooru chuckled.

At that point Nabooru's ears picked up the sound of a door quietly clicking open behind her. That was curious, usually when she had diplomatic meetings with Zelda, Zelda would instruct her staff not to interrupt them unless there was an emergency. Was there an emergency taking place now? She turned in her chair to look over at the source of the sound, expecting to see a Hylian Guard approaching them in the usual shiny polished plate armor that they wore. Instead she saw a short, stocky blonde haired Hylian civilian wearing an eerily familiar disheveled green tunic.

Electric recognition arced through Nabooru's veins as she realized who this was. Certainty followed when she saw the long, straight blonde bangs of hair sticking out of the pointy green cap that he wore. It had to be Link! He definitely looked different in some ways though, the biggest of which was the dense bushy blonde beard he now sported on his face. If Nabooru was into voe she probably would have found it to be ruggedly handsome and attractive. He had an unfamiliar new sword strapped to his back and his clothing and gear looked worn and dirty from many long weeks on the road. Zelda saw him quickly and gasped as the same amazed recognition struck her too.

"Link!" She exclaimed.

Zelda leaped up from her chair and sprinted across the room to wrap her arms around the bedraggled Hero where he stood. The door was only barely swinging shut behind him when she got to him. He didn't even flinch from the impact when Zelda threw herself against him and hugged him tightly, but he did gently raise his arms and return the embrace in a tentative way, as if he thought her fragile and didn't want to damage her.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" Zelda said, her tone bordering on a sob of relief.

Link was still the man of few words that he'd always been; he didn't speak at all and just let his arms do the talking as they embraced. Nabooru got up from her chair at this point purely to greet Link and show him the respect he deserved, though she waited for Zelda to eventally release the vice-like grip of her embrace first. Once Link was free, Nabooru approached him with a nod and a warm smile.

"Good to see you again kid. I had a feeling you'd be back eventually."

Link locked eyes with her and returned her nod quietly. He still didn't speak, but that was ok. Nabooru knew that their respect was mutual and she could sense that it was still there in the way he looked at her.

"Where were you gone to for so long?!" Zelda asked insistently.

"Termina. Then Dantun." Link replied, his tone gruff but not rude.

"You were in Dantun?! I thought they were undergoing a civil war?" Zelda asked fretfully.

Link nodded quietly.

"What happened? Did you get involved in that war?"

Link merely nodded again.

Zelda furrowed her brow and fretted quietly to herself, unsure of how to proceed. She clearly wanted to interrogate the man, but Link was always difficult to squeeze any detail out of. It seemed like she was already aware of this place called Dantun that Link had mentioned, but was unsure of what to make of his involvement in their war. To Nabooru it was all gibberish anyway, she'd never set foot outside of Hyrule or Gerudo territory in her life and wasn't familiar with their neighboring kingdoms at all. All of the desert land West of the Nephra Hills was either claimed by Hyrule or nobody at all, and all one could find out there was hundreds of miles of empty dunes and eventually the Western oceans. She was of course at least a little bit curious about the Kingdoms that Link had named, but she wouldn't lose sleep over them. Which proved to be fortunate, since Zelda turned to her and politely requested some privacy.

"Lady Quindalo, I would like to debrief Link in private. Would you be willing to end our meeting early and return to these matters later when I'm done speaking to him?"

"That's perfectly fine. I am a bit curious as to what he's been up to but you both can fill me in later when you've had some time to talk. Mind if I take one of the castle guest rooms in the mean time so I don't have to make the trip back and forth?"

"Please, by all means! I will send a messenger when we're done."

September 10th, 10AG

Unusual circumstances often led to unusual responses, of this Nabooru was quite aware. The return of the Hero of Time was a big deal for everyone in Hyrule and word was spreading like wildfire all across the kingdom. This quickly electrified the public to such a degree that Zelda felt the need to make a formal announcement to the kingdom. Nabooru didn't exactly care what Zelda told her people, but she did need to know what the official story was anyway so that she could tell it to her own people. This led to the decision that the Sages should hold a private meeting to discuss what Link had been up to and what their next steps should be moving forward. Since Nabooru hadn't left the Castle since she first arrived last night to speak to Zelda about crops it meant she and Zelda were already there together when the appointed time arrived. This meant that they had to sit and wait briefly for the others to come.

Ultimately none of the Sages were late, but Ruto was naturally the first one to arrive. She had a hungry look in her eyes as she stormed in and searched for Link. When she didn't see him she turned to Zelda and asked about him with predictable impatience.

"Zelda, where is he? Where is Link?"

"He will be joining us shortly, once all the other Sages arrive. He needed some time to gather his bearings and clean himself up. It has been a long night for him, you must understand. He has been walking across the entire Hyeran Continent for the last several months and last night was the first night of sleep he's had in a warm, soft bed."

Ruto crossed her arms and nodded petulantly. Nabooru raised an eyebrow, it was amazing how differently the Zora queen acted when the topic of Link was on her mind. She'd gone from an eloquent and intelligent speaker the last time they'd talked to a churlish little child in demeanor now. Ruto was still quietly fuming as she walked over to take her pre-arranged seat at the table, not bothering to continue speaking.

The other Sages soon filed in one by one, with Saria being the last to arrive. Darunia simply sat on the floor as always, since his impressive bulk would have shattered the spindly little human-sized chairs that everyone else used. Once they were all settled in Zelda cleared her throat and spoke.

"Thank you for coming everyone. I know this meeting was fairly impromptu but the nature of the events that have taken place over the last 24 hours have warranted it. I'm sure you've heard the rumors flying around already, that the Hero of Time has returned to us. I am pleased to report that these rumors are indeed true."

With that Zelda snapped her fingers to set off a small spell, which Nabooru assumed was a signal that zipped out of the room to notify Link that it was time for him to come speak. A few moments later that assumption proved correct; the door behind Zelda clicked open and the Hero stepped out in a fresh set of clean pressed clothes. He had shaved his beard off and was back to his usual clean, smooth-faced self, though Nabooru could see a few new scars on his arms and face. He was wearing his usual green tunic and hat, but hadn't brought his weapons into the room this time.

"Link!" Ruto shouted excitedly, then jumped up from her chair and sprinted over to embrace him.

Nabooru couldn't help but wince at this display. She didn't bother to hide that reaction since she knew Ruto was too occupied with Link to even notice. A dread-soaked realization hit Nabooru at that point too; the rejection that Mireth had predicted could very well happen here and now. This meeting was about to turn into a merry little shit-show and she wasn't particularly excited to witness it.

Fortunately Link seemed willing to tolerate the vice-like hug that Ruto subjected him to. Perhaps he was used to Darunia's own displays of bone-shattering affection by now and there was little Ruto could do that could match that. Still Nabooru could see a hint of discomfort and sadness in the Hero's eyes and she knew that the inevitable was coming. He really wasn't into her and it showed. Then Ruto did the thing she always did, she swapped rapidly from overwhelming affection to scolding anger in a heartbeat.

"How dare you leave me alone for these ten long years! What a man you are, accepting my betrothal only to then leave the kingdom for a decade! If my father were still around he would refuse to bless my union with such a deadbeat spouse!"

Link stared at her with discomfort in his gaze but didn't respond. Nabooru wasn't sure if that was his usual silent nature or a legit uncertainty of how to respond to such behavior. Zelda thankfully saved him from having to respond by loudly clearing her throat.

"Lady Rivana, we would appreciate it if you saved your personal issues with Link for after this meeting is over. Some of our assembly members need to return to their people fairly quickly." Zelda said, gesturing toward Saria.

"Hmm, fine. But don't you go running off after the meeting is done Link, I will find you if you do!"

Ruto then reluctantly returned to her seat and Link awkwardly walked over to sit in the chair that had been provided for him. He then gave Zelda a brief nod, as if indicating to her to speak for him.

"As you all are aware, Link is a man of few words. He has asked me to summarize and retell the story he told me last night after his arrival. The long and short of it is this; he visited two different kingdoms and saved both of them from calamity over the course of the decade he was gone. The first was a land called Termina, which he described as being in some sort of parallel realm to ours, similar to the Sacred Realm. He found and defeated an evil spirit that had been imprisoned within a mask and prevented that spirit from crashing the moon into Termina, which would have ended their world. Then, after that, he returned to our realm and traveled to our neighboring Kingdom of Dantun next in order to intervene in the bloody civil war they have been undergoing."

Zelda then unfurled a huge scroll onto the table in front of them and Nabooru could see it was a map of the entire Hyeran Continent. She could see several different kingdoms sprawled across the continent including Dantun, Bensor, Holodrum, Labrynna, Akkala, and Hebra. Zelda pointed down at Dantun specifically and drew attention to a dotted line dividing the kingdom roughly in half down the middle along a mostly vertical axis.

"The details of this war aren't particularly relevant, but you at least need to know this. The King of Dantun caused a violent schism between the noble houses of his kingdom by passing a law that raised taxes considerably on one of these houses while favoring the others. This war turned into a blood-soaked twelve year nightmare that killed countless thousands. The reason Link intervened was because of the threat of the conflict boiling over Dantun's borders with us and affecting Hyrule itself. Apparently the rebelling noble house attempted to harness Shadow Magic in order to cast a large-scale mass-killing curse against their foes. While it did prove sufficiently lethal, it wasn't targeted properly and killed a large number of Dantunian civilians, while also causing a cascade of terrible side effects across the kingdom. The worst of these side effects was the creation of a massive dead zone in the center of the kingdom where no plant life can survive and no magic can function. This wasteland has come to be known as the Dead Lands, and there was a suspicion that they could potentially grow and spread if either side of the conflict continued to misuse Shadow Magic. This was the purpose of Link's intervention; he wanted to prevent these Dead Lands from spreading beyond the borders of Dantun and entering Hyrule."

Rauru rubbed his chin thoughtfully and watched as Zelda used a quill to draw the boundaries of the Dead Lands onto the map.

"A noble enough purpose indeed. I assume that you succeeded, given the fact that you felt the time was right to return home?"

Link nodded quietly.

"I must admit I am curious to know the nature of the curse they attempted to cast. Most Shadow spells are not capable of affecting such a wide area. But I think it safe to assume that you were searching for and destroyed any documents or information about this curse in order to prevent it from being used again?" Impa asked.

Link nodded again, as wordlessly as ever.

"Do you think this null zone will eventually shrink and go away on its own?" Nabooru asked curiously.

Link shrugged and shook his head, raising two hands in bemusement.

"Hmmmm, I see. Is the civil war still going, or did you manage to put an end to it?" Rauru asked.

"It's over." Link replied.

"Well that at least puts my mind at ease. Now I know that you kept me waiting for a good reason." Ruto noted.

All of the Sages turned to shoot Ruto a series of disappointed looks, except for Saria. It seemed like by now everyone had learned to expect this sort of obsession from Ruto, but still didn't enjoy witnessing it. Saria meanwhile was still looking down at the map in amazement.

"I still can't believe there's another whole kingdom that far East beyond our forest! No Kokiri has ever gone that far without getting lost and turning into a Stalchild!"

Zelda smiled softly, grateful for the distraction from Ruto's nonsense.

"The Lost Woods are an effective barrier to everyone, Kokiri included. I am fairly certain the Goddesses enchanted those woods so deeply specifically so they can act as a protective barrier for our Eastern border, lest evil ever arise in Dantun. Fortunately Link's work there means we won't ever have to worry about that theory being tested."

"Damn right! I expected nothing less from my sworn brother!" Darunia proclaimed with a big toothy grin.

Darunia then reached out to give Link an open-palmed slap on the back and Link's face went pale with fear when he saw it coming. With one deft motion he dove out of his chair under the table to dodge the strike, leaving the Goron's meaty hand to swat at open air and clip the top of the empty chair, snapping its back off entirely in one clean blow.

Where others might have taken offense from someone actively spurning their affection, Darunia was a good sport and simply broke out into a deep belly laugh at the sight.

"Woops, heh! Forgot how much these Hylian chairs hate me." He joked.

Link didn't have any words in response of course, but a look of mixed fear and amusement played over his features as he crawled back up onto the chair and tried to sit comfortably despite its lack of a back.

"So what are you going to do now Link? The fact that you left on this journey so soon after having defeated Ganondorf makes me think you're too much of a man of action to be satisfied with a sedentary life of peace and quiet." Nabooru chimed in.

Link furrowed his brow as if trying to decide how to reply. All of the Sages turned their gazes to him expectantly, even Zelda, implying that none of them knew what he was going to do next. Eventually he found his words and spoke in a quiet tone.

"I'm joining the Hyrulean Royal Guard. Even if there's no wars or crises left to fight in, I can still teach our soldiers everything I know about combat."

Nabooru wasn't surprised of course, this was probably the only way Link could keep an active warrior's lifestyle even during peacetime. Darunia seemed quite proud of him and beamed down at him undeterred. But strangely, Zelda seemed a little bit taken by surprise, and perhaps even slightly hurt. Unfortunately Ruto's reaction was as negative as Nabooru feared, and her fury drew everyone's attention away from the Hylian Queen.

"What do you mean?! Do you not realize how disruptive such a profession would be to our marriage!? A Royal Guard would be expected to spend almost all day at the palace every day! Training the guardsman would take even more time! You're supposed to come with me and become King of the Zoras!"

Nabooru winced again. Oh boy, here it comes.

"I'm not marrying you." Link replied tersely.

Link and Ruto locked eyes at that point and a deadly, razor sharp silence draped itself over the room. Even Saria couldn't ignore or deny this tension any longer. They all watched the duo with painfully taut tension on their faces as Ruto tried to decide what to say.

Fury began to churn on Ruto's face, and a flush of red and purple flowed over her features as the redness of rage mixed with the bluish areas of her skin. Link didn't back down though, he seemed no longer willing to put off this conversation. Even if it had to happen in front of everyone he'd grown to care about.

"We need to be ready next time a threat arises. The best way for me to ensure the kingdom is always safe even after I'm gone is to pass on my skills to the next generation. Training the guard is more important than marriage. Hyrule must survive." Link added firmly.

Damn, the guy really meant it. Nabooru had never heard him speak this verbosely before. He must have been summoning up the words to specifically make a point to Ruto about how serious he was.

Ruto took a few more tense moments to churn over her response, and amazingly, she managed to avoid exploding in fury. Instead she turned to Zelda with a deadly coldness in her demeanor.

"Your Highness, I would like to formally request the return of the Zora's Sapphire to my family. If the bond of betrothal that it represents is no longer being respected then it belongs back in our domain."

Looking surprised at Ruto's restraint, Zelda gave her a weak nod. "Of course. I will see to it that the stone is removed from the plinth before the Door of Time and returned by a secure escort of guardsmen as soon as possible."

"Very good. If you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." Ruto replied, then stood from her chair and made directly for the exit with haste.

Nabooru furrowed her brow as her sense of empathy flared up. Goddesses above how she pitied the poor vai. Ruto pushed the door to the room open and vanished and nobody else seemed to bother to get up and stop her. Even Zelda seemed unsure of what to do. Eventually she cleared her throat and broke the silence.

"Well, seeing as how we've covered the main points of the discussion I think it would be wise to move on."

September 10th, 10AG

Nabooru had a sinking feeling in her gut as she left the meeting with the Sages and strolled down the halls of Hyrule Castle toward the exit. If history was going to repeat itself again then she felt like she knew exactly where the Zora Queen had headed when she'd stormed out of throne room. Nabooru hadn't been able to leave early to follow her since it was her responsibility to see the meeting through to the end, but she began to make a beeline to the drawbridge outside of the city as soon as it was over.

Sure Nabooru wasn't exactly eager to throw herself back into the middle of Ruto's problems again, especially since she had a feeling that Ruto likely wouldn't greet her in a friendly manner at first. But her conscience was protesting far too loudly to allow her to simply walk away. Sure she'd resigned herself to some measure of closure and given up on her unrequited feelings for the Zora Queen earlier, but that didn't mean she had to be callous and neglectful. Besides, Mireth's words were echoing in the forefront of her mind and she was certain that this was the opportunity that she'd meant. So she rushed out of the Castle and navigated the city streets as quickly as she could, not caring that she didn't have any of her own personal guards to escort her. She no longer feared the general Hylian populace anymore now that racial tensions had faded away to nothing, but even if she still had a reason to be paranoid it wouldn't have distracted her from her pursuit. She felt she had a duty to Ruto not just as a fellow Sage, but as a friend.

Ruto was exactly where Nabooru had expected. She had jumped into the moat outside of the walls of Hyrule Castle City and curled up underneath the drawbridge to hide herself in the crevice where the wood met the stone. She was sitting in the water with her head just underneath the surface in order to muffle her sobs so that passers by coming and going over the drawbridge wouldn't hear her. Nabooru climbed into the water, not caring about her outfit getting soaked, and waded over toward Ruto with a sympathetic look on her face. The water was up to her stomach but she didn't care. Once she got close enough for Ruto to notice, Ruto lifted her head above the surface and spat out a lungful of water to speak.

"Nabooru? What do you want now?" She growled with venom in her tone.

"I wanted to come and help you again Ruto. I had a feeling I knew where you'd be going after that." Nabooru replied gently.

Ruto actually seemed conflicted for a moment. Nabooru could see instinctual defensive anger cross Ruto's features, followed by guilt and uncertainty.

"But... why? Why would you care? You don't have need for me or my people anymore now that the Reservoir is finished."

Nabooru shook her head and put her hands on her hips.

"You really think that little of me? I know my reputation as a thief has still lingered a little but that doesn't mean I view everything so transactionally. I came to help you because it's the right thing to do. Because us Sages have to stick up for each other, and because I do genuinely like you and care about you. Despite how hard you sometimes make it."

That look of guilt intensified on Ruto's face and she sighed and gestured to Nabooru to join her. Nabooru slipped down under the wooden drawbridge, not caring that the water was now up to her neck down there. She was just grateful that the flow was so gentle that she didn't have to actively swim to fight it. She sat on the stone bottom of the channel next to Ruto and leaned against her comfortingly.

"I'm sorry Nabooru. You don't deserve my cynicism. I guess I'm too used to how everyone else has treated me. Nobody else has come to find me the last few times I've done this. Not Link, not Zelda, and certainly not any of my people. You're the only one who's ever cared lately."

"Yeah? Do you want to talk about it, or would it be better if you just had someone to lean on?" Nabooru offered.

Ruto clenched her eyes shut for a brief moment as indecision reared its ugly head, and for a few moments the sobs threatened to return.

"I am ashamed, Nabooru. It's hard to talk about all this because of that shame. I feel like such a damned fool."

"Then don't talk about it. You don't have to if you don't want to. You should know after last time that I'm perfectly happy to just be here for you quietly."

Ruto lifted her gaze to Nabooru and she could see gratitude in her eyes.

"Thank you. You are a wiser counselor than any vizier or servant in the world."

"I learned from the best." Nabooru said, recalling back to her late friend. A bittersweet smile crossed her face as she remembered the same warmth that Laverra had shown her in similar situations.

Then the two of them sat together in silence for awhile and seconds turned to minutes. Ruto eventually put an arm over Nabooru's shoulders and leaned back against her to return her affection. They didn't sit there for as long as they had before in Gerudo Valley, but Ruto did take the time to savor it before eventually opening up.

"You don't think I'm a fool for being blindsided by what happened, do you? For pursuing him so blindly for so long and refusing to see the truth?"

"Not at all. I've seen this kind of thing happen many times. Unrequited love is tragically common regardless of sex or gender. I've seen voe pine for vai, vai pine for voe, and everything else in between. Love makes you blind and even the wisest aren't immune to its beguiling trickery. I'd wager even someone as old and venerable as Rauru has had his flings of foolish passion." Nabooru said.

"Have... have you experienced it too?" Ruto asked gently.

"In a way, though my situation was a bit different. I can tell you my story if you think that would help."

Ruto nodded sheepishly and Nabooru couldn't help but give her a sympathetic look. It was humbling to see how those feelings had reduced the haughty queen to such a low, almost childlike state. It reminded her that love could do that to anyone, from the lowest serf to the highest chief or king. The story she was about to tell was almost similar in a way, and it wasn't going to be fun being that vulnerable. But if showing her own follies to Ruto might make her guilt and sadness feel easier to carry then it would be worth it.

"When I was a young girl, just old enough to go to school and learn our people's history, I met and befriended one of my classmates named Laverra Oseira. She was kindhearted, clever, quick-witted, and above all, sharper than a razor-edged scimitar. That girl was smarter than anyone else I knew, even Ganondorf, and you know how he had a knack for the arcane. Her only real weakness was that she was a bit sexist against men, a habit she'd absorbed from her mothers. Back then Gerudo society was split between two factions, one which believed any Gerudo male born should be crowned king, and one which believed only women should be chiefs, and the chiefdom should be passed down in my family matrilineally. The latter was also virulently sexist against men and ended up getting a law passed to ban all foreign voe from entering our territory. These factions were known as Patriarchists and Matriarchists, and Laverra was one of the Matriarchists. I was charmed so deeply by her despite seeing the sexism in her heart, so I did my best to help her see the errors in her ways, and amazingly, she eventually listened."

Nabooru sighed as she tried to figure out how to work in all the context she needed to provide in order for Ruto to understand the whole story. The events of her early life were a mixed up mess of political machinations and it was hard to tell the story without really going off into the weeds on numerous tangents. Ruto seemed to be following along fairly well though, she nodded and listened intently.

"It's a rare thing for someone with hatred in their heart to realize the error of their ways and completely rebuild their entire paradigm structure for you. But it took time, and during that time her words caused some problems. Remind me, have I told you that Ganondorf and I were also friends before he fell to evil?"

"I seem to remember that, though I don't recall if it was you telling me about it or the rumors making it to me from elsewhere. Do go on though."

"Well we were. Laverra and Ganondorf were my two best friends all throughout childhood. They both cared deeply about me and had my back all throughout the struggles of my early life, such as my coming of age trial and my first coronation as chief. But Laverra's hatred drove a wedge between her and Ganondorf and that distrust lingered even after she changed her beliefs. Over the years my fondness for Laverra grew deeper and deeper, and as we navigated the tragedy and bloodshed of Darius's war of Hylian Unification, I began to develop romantic feelings for her. The duties of chiefdom meant I never had time to pursue those feelings though, and even if I did, it wouldn't have been appropriate. When I was crowned, I chose to appoint her as the Grand Vizier of my Royal Court, and it wouldn't have been a good look if the tribe's chief decided to fuck her Grand Vizier." Nabooru laughed bitterly.

"I see. I'm so sorry. Things must have really gone downhill once Ganondorf fell to corruption."

"That's putting it lightly." Nabooru laughed darkly. "Before long I had to deal with a war on two fronts. Darius's Hylian army trying to conquer and vassalize us into the Kingdom of Hyrule, and Ganondorf shattering my heart by betraying me and leading the Patriarchists in rebellion against me. And at the height of it all, he took his revenge against Laverra for all the hatred and abuse she'd shown toward him when we were all children. He tried to blackmail me into surrendering the throne to him by holding a blade to her throat. When I refused, he actually went through with it and killed her right in front of me. It was a sight that has lived on in my memory ever since. I never got a chance to tell her how I felt and it's a regret that will follow me to my grave."

A heartbroken look crossed Ruto's face and this time she was the one to show initiative and pull Nabooru into a hug.

"I'm so, so sorry. You didn't deserve a betrayal like that."

Nabooru returned the hug and sighed softly. "I know. My logical side understands it, and everyone else has told me the same. But I wasn't lying during my speech back at the Reservoir; I made a lot of stupid mistakes the first time I was chief as a youth. I fucked up so much. I couldn't list all the blunders I committed, especially when it came to how terrible a friend I was to Ganondorf. I know Mireth was right when she predicted he would inevitably fall to darkness no matter what I did, but that doesn't stop me from going over all my mistakes in my mind and blaming myself for his fall every night as I try to sleep. Hopefully my admitting that will at least help you to feel not so alone in your own mistakes."

Ruto nodded emphatically and hugged Nabooru tighter. "It does. Thank you."

They held each other tightly for awhile longer and the embrace helped soothe the pain that both of them were feeling. Ruto's sorrow of rejection was mercifully dulled and Nabooru's stabbing memories slowly faded back into the past again where they belonged. Now Ruto had a chance to experience the soothing feeling that came from showing empathy to another person as she comforted Nabooru's old sadness. There was a wonderfully unifying sense of connection in such mutual soothing. Now it wasn't so one-sided with just Nabooru soothing her, and Ruto liked that feeling. She'd never really felt it before in her life, certainly not with Link, and she savored it. Perhaps this was what actual connection was supposed to feel like.

"I know what you're going through is hard now, Ruto. But I want you to think of it this way: at least you took all your chances. You didn't sit there in quiet paralysis, unable to do anything. You didn't let Fate pass you by until it was too late. You played your cards to the best of your ability, even when life dealt you a shitty hand. I will always regret never telling Laverra how I felt, but you will go through life knowing you did everything you could." Nabooru said softly.

"Maybe. But I know I'll probably still find things to regret. It's my fault for always coming on so strong, and for acting so angrily with him whenever I had a grievance. I threw it all away by behaving the way I did. I should have been kinder and less forceful."

"Maybe. It's hard to say whether this particular Fate was fully set in stone or not, but acting and making mistakes is still better than lingering in a limbo of uncertainty without any closure." Nabooru replied.

Then the irony of those words struck Nabooru like a Goron rolling at full speed. Here she was constantly denying her own feelings for Ruto and putting herself back into that exact same limbo a second time while preaching the opposite. She was such a damnable hypocrit. She should be telling Ruto how she felt right now! No more of this stupid, pointless pining!

But ultimately Nabooru couldn't bring herself to do it, at least not yet. Her conscience again spoke up in protest, telling her it would be wrong to take advantage of Ruto while she was still hurting on the rebound. She needed to give Ruto time to heal first before doing that or she'd be no better than any of the womanizing Hylian voes that she'd had to deal with before. So she bit it back for now, grateful for the distraction when Ruto replied and changed the subject.

"I suppose so. I'm sorry for dragging you out here in the middle of the evening and trapping you in another damn waterway when we both have so many responsibilities to see to."

Nabooru shook her head. "Don't worry about it. We finished the meeting and I don't have anything left to do in the city. All I have left to do now is make the long trek back to Gerudo Valley, and to be honest it's nice to have an excuse to put that off."

Ruto laughed softly and nodded. "I can relate to that. I know the responsible thing for me to do would be to go back and ask Link for more information about the state of Dantun since their border is so close to the edges of our Domain. But, truth be told, I've never been outside of Hyrule, and to continue to ignore the world outside of our borders feels increasingly irresponsible in light of the Dantunian civil war. But I also don't want to speak to that man. Ever again even, if possible."

"I don't blame you. And for what it's worth, I've never been outside of Hyrule myself either. I haven't even seen most of the other regions within the kingdom. Gerudos may be resistant to desert heat but I don't think I could cope well with the caldera of Death Mountain." Nabooru chuckled.

"Hah! Imagine how I must feel then!" Ruto joked.

They both shared in a brief moment of mirth, then Ruto turned and shot Nabooru a proud smile. "You've never been to Zora's Domain before either, have you?"

"Nope. I'm not exactly what you'd call a skilled swimmer."

Ruto's grin widened. "Well this is certainly not a fair exchange! I've gotten to visit your little valley many different times now over the last decade, but I've never once invited you to mine? I really am neglecting my diplomatic duties! Especially since you named a whole Reservoir after me! How would you like to come visit the Domain tonight?"

"Now? I mean, I could always send a messenger back to Ven'rakúl so that Arbiter Vatorsa doesn't think I've gotten lost or kidnapped. But I did just say I'm not exactly a good swimmer."

"Psh, that's not a problem. I can swim you there. You just put your arms around my waist to cling to my back, and as long as I don't dive down far enough to submerge your head under the surface then you should be fine." Ruto replied confidently.

"R-really?!" Nabooru stammered, surprised that Ruto would allow her to do something like that. She figured that asking a Zora to ride them like that would be considered more than a little degrading and undignified, especially for a Queen.

"Of course! I am quite a strong swimmer after all, you've said it yourself. Remember when you scolded me for not swimming home last time in the Valley?" Ruto said, sliding a playful barb into her retort.

Nabooru took it with grace and decided not to protest.

"Ok but, uhh, isn't the entrance to Zora's Domain underwater? Won't I drown?"

"Only a few of the entrances are! There's multiple underground waterways sure, but Zoras are amphibious after all, it makes sense we'd have surface-level entrances and open-air chambers too. We may embrace peoples' fish jokes about us but we can be just as comfy in the air as well! Now come on, I've made you sit out here in discomfort long enough!" Ruto protested.

Then Ruto's stubborn side came into full force and she stormed out from under the drawbridge before then reaching back in to grab Nabooru and pull her out too. Nabooru gasped and laughed a little, but ultimately didn't put up a serious protest. Ruto aligned her body parallel to the surface of the water and then pulled Nabooru up on top of herself so Nabooru was "riding" her with her arms around her waist. Then she kicked her finned feet and spread out all of her other fins, taking off upstream like a torpedo. Nabooru sputtered but continued to laugh as she was pulled along for the ride. Water sprayed up in her face and constantly made her close her mouth and eyes by instinct, but Ruto kept her above the surface so she could breathe.

The speed that Ruto conjured was unreal. In mere moments they were rocketing toward the end of the moat, about to slam into the iron bars. Sure Zora's River fed the moat, but along the way it passed through two grate inlets as it went under the wall, leaving a gap of land between them. Nabooru's nerves flared with fear when she saw the oncoming impact, but she didn't have time to react. Ruto dipped downward for just a brief moment and then leaped upward into the air, breaching like a dolphin at insane speeds. They leaped over the gap of solid ground and landed back in the river on the other side with a loud sploosh. Nabooru was grateful for all her years of training to be a warrior; the strength required to hang on after that impact was considerable. She managed to maintain her grip, but her arms burned with exertion. Ruto deftly adjusted her course to stay parallel to the water's flow after that angled landing and continued zooming up the river, making immense progress in moments due to her sheer velocity.

"Sa'sheer! You're a maniac!" Nabooru laughed, unable to resist the instinctual urge to curse in Gerudo.

Ruto didn't hear though thanks to the water coursing over her. They hopped up numerous small waterfalls along the way, knocking aside a handful of Octoroks and bypassing grumpy Deku Scrubs on the shores. Before she knew it Nabooru saw a huge waterfall looming ahead of them after passing through a set of twisty, narrow rapids. She didn't know what to expect since she'd never been here before, but she trusted Ruto to aim their next jump properly too. Ruto reached the base of the waterfall in an eyeblink and began to actually climb it directly upward, laughing at both gravity and the falling current as if they didn't even matter. Fear again electrified Nabooru's nerves as she tried to ponder how this was physically possible, but still there was nothing she could do but hold on. About halfway up Ruto then pushed laterally toward the interior of the waterfall with immense force, causing them to jolt out of the water and go shooting toward the rock face behind it. Thankfully there was a passageway tunneled into the rock there right at the halfway point and Ruto had aimed them at it flawlessly. She deftly oriented them around so they could land on their feet and Ruto gently pushed Nabooru's hands free so they could both land upright without tumbling into a pile of broken bones. Nabooru skidded a little as her waterlogged shoes slid on the smooth stone, but again her decades of training paid off and she managed to stay upright as she stumbled to a halt.

Ruto however had done this so many times that her landing was utterly graceful. She made Nabooru look like an awkward, bumbling clown by comparison. She even raised her hands and struck a gymnast's pose as she came to a halt, smiling and showing off.

"Gah, by the Goddesses!" Nabooru grunted as she steadied herself.

"Ta-da! I told you it would be no trouble." Ruto bragged.

"For you at least! It's lucky I have the strength and coordination of a veteran warrior, a lesser vai would have smashed themselves into a pile of limbs upon landing like that!"

"I knew you'd be fine, I have seen you fight before after all. Come on, let's go!"

Ruto then confidently strolled onward down the stone passage with that same carefree confidence, not seeming to mind how close Nabooru had come to shattering most of the bones in her body. It was almost charming in a funny and exasperating sort of way, though Nabooru ultimately decided she was just glad that this was keeping Ruto's mind off of her sorrow. She set off behind her, shoes squishing and water dripping off of her body.

Beyond that dark corridor was a huge open underground cavern that was half-full of crystal-clear water and lit by several torches in free-standing sconces. The light here was curious though; even though those torches were the only visible direct sources of light, most of the ambient light was soft blue rather than the orange it should have been. It was almost as though the water itself was emitting its own sort of faint natural light that kept the whole place illuminated at any time of day or night. There were pathways carved into the rock all around the edges of the cavern, leading to numerous doors made of intricately carved corals. More of those doors were visible under the water too, and Nabooru saw countless Zoras swimming around or walking to and from their business. It was a beautiful place, and especially novel and foreign to Nabooru. The humidity was intense here, but since the ambient temperature was pleasantly cool it never felt smothering.

"Well, what do you think? We've been sprucing the place up a lot in the years since my coronation. Lots more chambers have been added as our population has grown, and I added doors to them all. My silly old father never really cared about things he regarded as frivolous, like doors and privacy." Ruto laughed.

"It's gorgeous. I've never seen any architecture like this before. Though you know I'm only ever going to be able to see half of it." Nabooru said in a playful tone.

"That's fine, I wouldn't want to bore you with a complete tour of every single corridor anyway. Besides, the most important part is above water. Come on!"

Ruto then scampered up a stone pathway angled upward toward one of the passages near the top of the chamber. They turned a few corners and walked up numerous slick wet steps until they emerged into a throne room. A few Zora guards wielding coral-decorated spears bowed to Ruto as they entered, and Nabooru saw someone who she assumed to be an advisor or servant come scurrying up to them with a coral slate in hand.

"Your Highness, how did your meeting go? Did you speak to the Sages? When is the wedding?" Asked the servant.

"There will be no wedding, Zafia. I would like you and the guards to step out for awhile, I wish to speak to Chief Nabooru with some privacy.

"No wedding?!" Zafia gasped.

It seemed like the young Zora woman was quite aware of Ruto's obsessive love for Link, as she seemed gobsmacked by Ruto's words and the casual way she spoke them. She didn't want to disobey her Queen though so she turned and began to head for the exit.

"Alright Your Majesty, but what should I tell the others?"

"Tell them I'll be fine, I have a fellow Sage to help me. And make sure they don't interrupt us, I'm not in the mood for petty matters right now."

Nabooru and Ruto sat side by side at a broad rectangular dining table in the throne room of Zora's Domain now, sharing a meal and enjoying each other's company in solitude. Over the course of their long conversation they'd grown hungry and asked the servants to bring them dinner before going back to giving them privacy. Since the throne was elevated so high and the Zoras didn't have any tables high enough to reach it, they'd had to simply set it down on the floor below the throne and sit together to eat. Now they were mostly finished eating and had settled into picking at the leftovers gradually while talking. While Nabooru had tried to shift the topics of their conversation to more pleasant matters a few times, inevitably Ruto's grief periodically re-emerged and intruded on it.

"I wish the process of accepting this loss could be faster. I have a sense that some part of me has been aware of Link's disinterest from the beginning and I've been spending over a decade living in denial. You'd think that'd make all of this easier, but no. It just makes me feel like a damned fool."

"You have to remember that emotions aren't necessarily always rational, Ruto. In my experience, a person's mind really does seem to be divided into two parts, one driven by logic and the other driven by feeling, and their thought processes don't always align. The logical side of you probably knew that Link's silence was a gigantic red flag from the beginning, and he only wanted the Zora's Sapphire to gain access to the Sanctum behind the Door of Time. But your emotional side was likely seeking any reason to find romantic love in his gestures, and old Zora traditions about the stone gave it all the fuel it needed."

Ruto winced. Nabooru's insight was so damned sharp and incisive that it had hit home just as hard as it always did.

"Perhaps. But why must we all be made this way? If each of our peoples were created by a different deity, what sense does it make that they would all choose to grant each of us this same mental weakness? I hate feeling like this. This impulsive urge to lash out when I'm angry, or obsess blindly over perceived love, it all has only led to self-destructive ends. I feel cursed by it all! Surely the gods must be laughing at what they've wrought."

Nabooru sighed and shook her head. "It's pointless to speculate on the machinations of the divine. I spent a long time wondering why Nariva let our people suffer they way they did and it never led me to any answers or peace. It's the mental equivalent of getting lost in the endless dunes; before you know it you're walking in circles and only making yourself more and more miserable while accomplishing nothing."

"I suppose. Distraction seems to work to a small degree at least, judging by how our long conversation has helped. But the lingering pain and anger still keep finding their way back up to the surface. It feels like we're only treating the symptoms, not the underlying cause." Ruto replied.

"I mean, that is true in one sense. But this wound is still fresh, it's only been hours since you received it. It takes anywhere from months to even years to dull the agony of lost love. You can't expect it to go away so quickly, and there's no magical potions that can heal such a malady as easily as a gash or bruise."

"How I wish there were." Ruto lamented bitterly.

"So do I." Nabooru agreed.

They picked sadly at their food for a little while in silence at that point. Nabooru had an instinctual urge to at least try to press a little deeper into Ruto's psyche in order to attempt to help her more. But doing that could be intrusive and reckless at best, and risked setting off Ruto's anger even more. Then Nabooru felt her conscience awaken and prod her onward to at least try. After their earlier conversation in the Castle moat she still had the feeling of hypocrisy fresh in her mind. She didn't want to make the same mistake she'd made with Laverra by spending her life standing by and doing nothing. Even if she didn't actually romantically pursue Ruto due to the problematic nature of rebound predation, she still had to try to help somehow.

"Ruto, maybe it'll help you feel better about what happened if you try thinking about what led you down that path. Do you know why you latched onto Link so obsessively?"

Ruto furrowed her brow and idly pushed her food around her plate with a fork as she pondered the question.

"I don't know, it felt so natural at the time. It felt like it sprang right out of me in the moment. But I was a little child back then, I think such immaturity is probably normal for that age."

"Perhaps, but it did linger far beyond childhood after all didn't it?" Nabooru retorted.

"Ugh, that's true. I suppose I should have seen his decade of absence as the lack of interest that it was. But some part of me felt like I had to hold on. I don't know why, but for some reason, his love felt like one of the few good things I had in my life to cling onto. If I let it go and acknowledged that Link didn't share my feelings then I had nothing else to bring me comfort."

Nabooru furrowed her brow. "Really? You are royalty though, surely you have had access to plenty of wealth and luxury over the course of your life? You could easily afford to pick up a hobby like art, or music, or cooking? There's so many avenues to fulfillment that a wealthy upbringing can open up."

"Yeah but all of that paled in comparison to the joy I felt when I was with Link! Even if he never said two words to me, just seeing his smile and watching his heroic deeds was enough to completely wash out anything else in my life. Delicious foods tasted like ashes in my mouth when compared to the happiness that his smile brought me!" Ruto protested.

"Hmmm I see. Seems to me like material possessions never really gave you much joy in general then, am I right?" Nabooru asked.

Ruto nodded softly as the anger faded a little again. "Gaudy baubles and gourmet cuisine lose their shine when they are so commonplace as to be normal. Hell, I didn't even really care about the Zora's Sapphire in the material sense, just the ideals it represented."

"Ah, the stories of true, eternal love?"

Ruto smiled as she replied. "Yes. I can still remember my father telling me those tales when I was a little toddler. He told me that the Sapphire was an heirloom passed down by his family for generations, with each new prince and princess using it as a gift to their chosen true love to symbolize their bond. Those few times that he had the time between his royal duties to tell me those stories are some of my most cherished memories."

This struck Nabooru deeply and suddenly she had a sense that she was beginning to uncover one of the myriad roots of Ruto's problems.

"You didn't get to spend much time with your father before he passed, did you?"

"Hardly any. He was a deeply religious man, so whenever he wasn't occupied with his duties to the throne he was praying to Lord Jabu. He tasked our servants with taking care of me most of the time. I guess I always looked up to him for being so dutiful, even though I missed him a lot." Ruto replied sadly.

"I see. Those servants who took care of you didn't treat you poorly did they?"

"I... they had quick tempers sometimes. They often scolded me harshly for every minor mistake I made. But they told me it was for my own good; they said they had to train me to be a prim and proper princess so I could take up the throne when father passed on. What choice did I have other than to believe them, even if their punishments were so harsh?"

Now things really began to come together in Nabooru's mind. She set her own fork down and reached out to gently take Ruto's hand and give it a comforting squeeze.

"No wonder you feel the urge to lash out so strongly whenever you feel as though someone has failed you. You absorbed those same stringent standards from the ones who raised you, and your father was too distant to give you any counter-examples."

A look of horrible, mortified realization came over Ruto's features as Nabooru's words sank in. She wanted to deny this and say that it was only fair to be angered by the failures of others, but now she could hear it when her inner child told her that those levels of anger weren't fair to anyone, including to herself. She didn't deserve to be treated that way when she was young, nor did anyone else deserve to be treated that way by her. The guilt multiplied and tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I... I've been no better than any of them. Goddesses above, I..."

Ruto trailed off at that point and began to cry, and Nabooru feared she might have pried too deeply and dug up too much. She turned away from the table and scooted close enough to hug Ruto again, and Ruto gladly accepted the embrace and leaned into it.

"I'm sorry. Perhaps I've been callous to intrude so deeply onto your past like this."

Ruto shook her head. "N-no... I needed to realize this eventually. Now I know why I pushed Link away with my anger. Th-thank you Nabooru. At least you're staying here with me through the pain."

Then they held each other again for awhile longer as Ruto cried it out. Nabooru lost track of the time once more, but at least this time she knew that the messenger she'd sent would keep her people from assuming the worst. She could stay overnight here in Zora's Domain if she had to.

Once Ruto's crying eased off and she regained her control she gently pulled away from the hug and wiped her face with a napkin.

"Thank you, really. I do feel a bit better now at least."

"Of course. I think you needed to learn this so you could eventually ease up on yourself too. You know you probably obsessed so strongly over Link because your father's neglect left a hole in your heart that you were desperate to fill. I don't mean this in a gendered sort of way either, since you know that most of us Gerudo do fine without any voe in our families. I mean it in a parental way, or in a lack of general companionship. The moment Link asked you for the Sapphire it was probably the first moment of connection you'd felt from anyone other than your father in your entire life. That's enough to make anyone desperate to cling to it."

Ruto took a moment to digest all that and eventually nodded as a sad look came over her face once more.

"Maybe you're right. I don't think I ever consciously blamed my father for any of my problems because I admired his dedication to his duties. But in hindsight, perhaps never having enough parental guidance or affection from him was a root cause to many of my problems."

"Indeed. It's funny, the more I get to know you the more I realize how similar we are. I too struggled from a lack of parental guidance when I was younger."

Ruto turned her gaze up to Nabooru and gave her a painfully sympathetic look. "Your parents neglected you too?"

"Not to the same degree. My first mother, Riola, died before I was old enough to remember her, and my second mother Sabiru did her best to raise me alone. Sabiru was a good mother, she didn't neglect me like your father did. But she passed from disease when I was 32 years old, which is 16 in Hylian or human years. She hadn't even had the time to teach me everything I needed before she was gone, and I had to take the Chief's golden headdress just a few years later without any further guidance."

Ruto seemed similarly surprised by how strangely similar their life paths had turned out to be, though she quickly redirected that surprise and sadness into empathy.

"I'm sorry you had to go through something like this. I guess we both did the best with the hands that life dealt us." Ruto said, returning the squeeze on Nabooru's hand firmly.

"Yeah. We both had to take on roles of monarchic leadership when we were far too young. Your father never taught you how to court a voe, and my mother never taught me how to handle the emotional strains and stresses of leadership, which I faced alone. Hell, not long after I took the headdress the oldest remaining member of the Vhíran Royal Court, Arbiter Falora Vatorsa, retired. She was replaced by those damnable witches Twinrova, who took the job specifically to sabotage me. Everyone else on the court was roughly the same age as me, or only slightly older. So much for having older, wiser figures to guide you through the life of a chief huh?" Nabooru chuckled bitterly.

Ruto laughed with her. "I never even had much of a court, just my dear advisor Zafia. I faced it all alone and it's a miracle that so far my worst mistakes have only been to drive Link away."

"Well, can I tell you something honestly that might help? I'm not sure whether you'd take it positively or negatively though." Nabooru said gently.

"Hmmm? Well now I'm too curious to say no. Go ahead." Ruto said, finally easing back and letting go of Nabooru's hand.

"Well, truthfully, I don't think anything you did ultimately pushed Link away. Regardless of your furious outbursts at him, I don't think he ever felt any romantic attraction to you in the first place. Link has always been a man of duty, even moreso than your father. His first and only care has always been for the safety of Hyrule. Everything else has always just been a means to that end for him, and he pursues it with dogged one-track-mindedness. I don't think he even realized how much you felt for him, even when you told him explicitly to his face. So I don't think you should beat yourself up for your anger or blame yourself for pushing him away. Sure you still should work on controlling those angry outbursts, but there's no use in wallowing in guilt over something you had no control over in the first place." Nabooru replied.

Ruto furrowed her brow quietly as if trying to decide how she felt about this. She eventually drew in a heavy sigh and nodded.

"Perhaps you're right. I'm not sure whether it's comforting or distressing to know there was nothing I could have done though. Maybe I need more time to process all this. You've given me a lot to think about tonight, Nabooru. For good or ill, your words have revealed a lot of things about me and my past that I'm going to need to come to grips with."

"I understand. Would you like for me to depart now? We've been speaking for many hours so I should probably get started on my journey home right away if I'm to avoid trekking through the darkest hours of the night."

Ruto tilted her head thoughtfully. "I could give you a guest room to sleep in overnight if you like. Just because I need some time alone to think doesn't mean I can't invite you to stay and enjoy Zora hospitality."

"I am grateful for the offer, but I think I have some introspection of my own to do tonight too, and I find the long quiet of the road to be a great place to do it. I don't fear bumping into the occasional Stalchild or Peahat on the road, and I think the moonlit solitude will help me think." Nabooru replied with a subdued confidence.

"Very well. Before you go though, I have just one more question. Would you be willing to come visit the domain again sometime soon? I think... even with the difficult topics we have discussed, your support and companionship has meant the world to me tonight and I could use some more of it in the difficult days ahead."

Nabooru looked up into Ruto's eyes as she formulated a response and noticed something striking. There was genuine affection and longing in the Queen's crystalline violet eyes. She hadn't seen Ruto look at anyone other than Link with that sort of soulful gaze before now. There was beauty in it, especially in the clarity and sharpness of the color in those pupils. How had she not noticed that before?

Then some feelings reawakened in Nabooru's heart that she hadn't felt since that night when the two of them had sat together under the falls. She felt a piercing, painful longing jab through her heart. She wanted so badly to go over and embrace the Zora queen again, both to soothe Ruto's sadness and her own longing. She wanted so badly to admit to Ruto how she was feeling, but again she held herself back. No, not until Ruto had healed from her loss, at least a little. She'd give her the same time and distance to heal that she'd expect for herself if she had been in Ruto's shoes. She still didn't know if their circumstances would even allow such a romance to exist, but she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. For now she'd hold back that longing just a bit longer and wait until the Zora Queen's heart was ready to speak of it. But until then, she still shot Ruto a wistful smile and nodded.

"Of course, you need only summon me and I will be there as quickly as these two feet can carry me."

Ruto looked relieved and gladdened, then briefly indecisive as she tried to decide when to invite her.

"Well, how about in five days? We celebrate a minor holiday in honor of Lady Nayru then, I would be honored to host you as part of that celebration."

"I'll be there. I don't think we have anything planned for then back home in Ven'rakúl, but if there is then I'll use my authority to delay it. If the Arbiter wishes to complain then I'll deal with it afterward."