Blinding Darkness - Zelda X Ganondorf

Chapter 4

     Zelda closed the doors at the observatory wearily, shutting out the noise of the mobs of people, leaning against it for a moment and closing her eyes.

     And then she remembered that Ganondorf was still watching, and she immediately straightened, mentally kicking herself for letting that moment of weakness slide.

     "Uhm, well, shall I take you on a tour of the Castle then?" She said quickly, trying to smooth over the awkward moment. "I can show you your room. You must want to retire for the day and spend it to yourself." 

     "That would be very welcome," Ganondorf replied, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. 

     A bit disconcerted, Zelda showed him around the Castle, from the Dining Hall to the Library to the Meeting Rooms, although she stayed clear of the secret entrances and the armory for the moment being. Because despite what she could tell herself, she still didn't completely trust Ganondorf. After all, he had kidnaped her, seized her kingdom, and tried to kill Link time and time again.

     He was coolly polite, nothing like the infuriatingly teasing figure he had been when she had made her offer. He attended to the tour with a kind of unimpressed indifference, eyeing the golden ornaments and the jewels encrusted seemingly everywhere as a skeptic. 

     Ganondorf was uncomfortably perceptive, Zelda found. He seemed to see right through all of her actions, her choices, her words, and read her intents that even she might not even have known herself. 

     He unnerved her. Threw her off guard. And she wasn't used to that.

     Did he really believe in peace? If he didn't, then why did he accept?

     What if he just wanted the chance to probe the heart of Hyrule, to use its many secrets hidden within its halls in his plots?

     Zelda slowly rolled back her shoulders, loosening her neck muscles. Her gaze slipped through the lines upon lines of writing that she was supposed to read before the meeting tomorrow. She flipped the page to see how much longer it continued, and promptly gave up.

     Her father was sleeping. She wanted to consult him so badly, but she knew better than to disturb his rest.

     She yawned, leaning back onto the back two legs of her chair.

     Ganondorf's room was at the opposite side from hers of the third floor, one of the numerous guest rooms arrayed on this floor. 

     He couldn't be placed further from her, but to Zelda, no distance was far enough.

     What must he have thought of her? 

     More importantly, why did she care what his opinion was?

     Zelda angrily pushed her chair away from the desk and sagged in the seat, completely drained.

     All right. It was time to see Aria again. She could make no sense of her papers, and she was definitely not ready to talk to her people yet. And there was no way, no way, that she would go face Ganondorf.

     She knew that Aria would be training at this time, so she tried to read a book while she waited, giving up after she failed to flip more than three pages after half an hour of "reading".

     Finally, finally, Aria was off from training. Zelda leapt up from where she was sprawled on her bed and, her pulse speeding up from excitement, descended the stairs to the first floor, where the Knight's Barracks was.

     She found the girl lingering behind as the other knights-in-training trickled out of the room, their eyes widening as they caught on Zelda, then bowing hastily and hurrying away.