"Nabooru please!" Link cried, chasing after the gerudo once more.
"No, I refuse to believe there is some "dark figure," she said, making air quotes, " that wants to kill the sages." The sage began to walk away once more, leaving the Hero of Time behind, sighing in frustration at the stubbornness of her. He thought over how to convince her but knew there was only one way.
"Darunia's dead!" He called, lowering his gaze to look at the sand. Immediatly he heard Nabooru's receding footsteps pause, than grow louder as she approached him once more.
"What?" She hissed, gripping his shoulders.
"Darunia, this thing I'm telling you about, it-it killed him." Link felt tears begin to well up as he thought of his fallen friend.
"No." She whispered, making Link lift his gaze and stare into the surprised eyes of Nabooru, on the brim of tears herself. Link was caught off guard by the sudden show of emotion from the tough, fearless gerudo commander. He lifted his hands to lightly grasp her wrists before pulling her into a comforting hug.
"I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear, not sure how to comfort the tanned woman. They stayed there for many moments before a strange female rounded a nearby corner. She was clad in traditonal gerudo clothing but was quite pale compared to most gerudo. He examined her body and clothes, she was wearing pale purple baggy pants and matching yellow vest and top, before moving up to her face, being greeted by messy blonde hair and large blue eyes, at which point he realized that he was staring at the girl he came with. It was Zelda
~<Minutes Earlier>~
"There we are." The older gerudo sighed, tightening the revealing top. Sheik, now Zelda, rose from her crossed legged position to look at herself in the nearby mirror. A small gasp escaped her lips as she saw herself. She wore traditonal gerudo style clothes, purple baggy pants, yellow vest and top with red pointed shoes. She slightly dispproved of the revealing nature of the outfit, but was thankful to not have to wear her sheikah garb.
"Thank you." Zelda said, turning and bowing towards the gerudo.
"It was nothing, now go find your boyfriend." The older woman responded, shooing her out of the room.
"He's not my-" but stopped short as she thought about it.
'Well he kinda is.' She thought, walking down the hall. As she wandered she heard voices and made her way towards them. She rounded a corner and saw Nabooru and Link, embracing. Her eyes widened as she stared at the scene before her. Link stood there, with Nabooru in his arms and calmly rubbed her back. Zelda looked over to Nabooru, her head resting on Link's shoulder, sniffing occasionally. She looked back at Link, who in turn looked at her. His eyes showed confusion, then shock, then understanding.
"I'll explain." He mouthed, to which she responded by mouthing, " You better." After their short, silent conversation Link waved a hand as if to say "Go away." Zelda rolled her eyes before turning back the way she came and walking away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Shh. It's okay." Link whispered, still holding the silently crying Nabooru. They had stood there for a while, long enough for Zelda to show up and leave. Nabooru laid her head on his shoulder, her tears wetting his green tunic. After many silent, teary moments Link finally spoke.
"Do you want me to take you to your quarters?" He murmered, his mouth inches from her ear. Nabooru gave a soft nod in response. Link carefully moved one of his arms from around her to under her knees, swiftly picking up the gerudo commander around her shoulders and under her knees.
'Thank goodness for the Golden Gauntlets' he thought, noticing her lack of weight since she would normally be too heavy for him to pick up, but now she was light as a feather. He walked softly down halls, taking directions he'd memorized in the past. Most of the time was spent in silence, her head resting on his chest, tears slowly rolling down her face. Eventually they came upon a group of gerudo women talking quite loudly, upon noticing the person Link carried they began approaching the pair. They made their way towards Link and the sage, speaking still quite loud only to be stopped by Link's glare and shake of his head with silent words.
"Shut up." He mouthed, making them silent and move out of his way. He passed them with only a nod and continued on his path to Nabooru's quarters. He reached her door and was greeted by a guard, who saw Nabooru and quickly opened the door, letting the two in.
"Leave us." Link muttered as he passed the guard, who nodded and walked away after closing the door. Link carefully moved over to the female's bed, placing her down on it.
"Thank you." Nabooru breathed, closing her eyes slowly and breathing deeply. Link only bowed in response before making his way to the door. He reached for the handle but stopped short at the sound of Nabooru's voice.
"Link?" She asked. Link turned to see the Spirit Sage sitting on her bed curled, her chin resting on her knees.
"Yes?" Link responded, forgetting formalities.
"You can decline if you wish, but will you stay here?" Nabooru's voice quieted as she finished her sentence. Link inhaled sharply at this, caught very off guard by the sudden request of the commander.
"Of course." He answered finally, walking back over to Nabooru and sitting down next to her. She situated next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Link again was surprised by the gerudo's actions but didn't let it show.
"Nabooru, was there something between you and Darunia?" Link asked, after a long period of silence.
"Why do you ask?" Nabooru responded, moving herself again to instead sit cross-legged next to Link, who was on the edge of her bed, his feet on the floor.
"Well, normally your always so calm, tough and nothing gets you." He began, explaining his thoughts. "But when I said that Darunia was murdered, you fell apart. You looked sad, depressed...." he paused, searching for the right word.
"Heartbroken."
Nabooru let out a deep breath and spoke.
"Yes, there was something between me and Darunia. I guess that after we confined Ganondorf everything went back to being normal, than one day I was visiting Impa and he showed up, delivering something I believe. He saw me, walked over and we talked. I guess I took a liking to him because after that I wanted to see him again. So one day I traveled to Death Mountain and found him and again we.. talked. And talked, and talked, and talked."
Link listened intently to her story, paying attention to every detail and shooting in questions, which she answered.
"At one point, after a visit here, I did something I never thought I would do. I kissed him." She said quietly. Link felt his eyes widen and opened his mouth to speak but didn't, closing it again.
"And, well the rest just went up from their. We grew closer, but kept it a secret, I mean who's ever heard of that, a gerudo and a goron, in love!? It's crazy!" She went on, telling of some important moments and some more....personal.... moments, but Link listened, feeling the sadness and tension disappearing as she spoke. Finally she finished, releasing a breath and falling backwards onto her bed, before quickly sitting up again. She looked at Link, who only looked back.
"Link, can I do something. I-I feel like it might help me." Nabooru said, moving closer to Link. He was curious to know what this was, but figured that if it would help her, than he should, so he nodded. Link hadn't even finished nodding when Nabooru wrapped her arms around Link's neck, pulled herself to him and kissed him on the lips.
