The Hero, the Princess, and the Cursed King

Chapter 32: Returning Home

[Ganondorf]

"Guys, I can see the desert!" Ganondorf said over his shoulder as he peered through the carriage window, watching the grassy fields turn to sand.

"I want to see." Link moved to the other window. "It's beautiful." He spoke with a quiet reverence. "I've missed the desert."

"Me too." Ganondorf smiled. "I can't wait to feel the sand between my toes, the sun on my back, and--"

"The soft desert breeze." Zelda closed her eyes, imagining it.

"You have to be careful," Link said, sitting back down. "If you get a sunburn before your coronation, your maids will lose their minds."

"I know." Zelda pouted. "I'm going to have to walk everywhere with a parasol."

"We'll have to do something fun after your coronation when your skin tone doesn't matter as much." Ganondorf sat back down, too, the carriage jostling as they transitioned onto the dessert roads. He, Link, and Zelda were riding in the lap of luxury as they headed to Gerudo Town. The carriage had plush cushion seats, real glass windows, and plenty of room. Though he knew they all would have preferred to ride on horseback outside, Zelda had to ride in the carriage, so he and Link had joined her.

The week before their departure had been chaotic. Zelda had finally let Ganondorf and Link help her with some of her royal duties. It had been a blur of picking flower combinations, chatting with snobby lords, and trying to prepare the Gerudo Army for their march back home. So, though they'd spent a lot of time together recently, this was the first time they'd been able to talk alone with just the three of them.

Taking full advantage of the long journey, they'd talked about everything and nothing. It had been four days so far, and they hadn't run out of conversation topics yet. With Ganondorf and Link teasing each other, Zelda engaging intently in Ganondorf's deep philosophical discussions, and Link making stupid jokes just to make Zelda laugh, it felt like they were children again. The only thing missing was the hideout's fabric walls and the desert's shifting sands.

However, they still hadn't talked about what had happened during the war's last battle--or the Battle of the Cursed King as people had started calling it. It seemed almost like a taboo subject, and Ganondorf didn't want to bring it up. He wasn't sure if the others were ready to talk about it, and he wasn't even sure if he was. Mostly Ganondorf was just happy to spend time with them, even if it did require a delicate dance around the elephant in the room.

"Yeah! We could go seal surfing." Link's eyes shone with excitement. "We haven't done that in years."

"But I'm so bad at seal surfing." Zelda laughed. "Remember that time I fell off mine, and you guys didn't notice I was gone until you'd rode all the way back to Gerudo Town?"

"That one was on Link," Ganondorf raised his hands in innocence. "He challenged me to a race, so I had to beat him."

"If I recall correctly, I actually won that race."

"You guys are forgetting the bigger picture," Zelda said. "You left me alone in the desert, without a seal, and miles outside Gerudo Town."

"But we came back for you," Link laughed.

"And then I won that race back home," Ganondorf smiled.

"That's because I also had Zelda on my sand seal."

"Excuses, excuses!"

"That's it!" Link pointed dramatically at Ganondorf. "I challenge you to another seal surfing race when we get to Gerudo Town, and then we'll see who the real winner is."