Thank you all for staying around and thanks a lot for the nice comments.

As to the question regarding Lato's name: It's pronounced Lah-toh. :)

o-o-o-o-o-o

They rose far later than usual. When Link finally untangled himself from the other man, Lariana was already up and about. She'd kindled the fire, a pot already set in place to heat some water for Ganondorf's morning tea.

She smiled warmly, her gaze almost teasing. Puzzled, Link looked around, finding Ganondorf still asleep, partly wrapped in his blankets.

That was unusual.

Ganondorf was always the first of them to be awake. Then again, it had been a rough night.

Link decided to let the man sleep. He started packing his things quietly, except for his occupied bedroll, before he joined Lariana at the fire.

"I am glad you two get along better," she said with a smirk. There was no jealousy in her voice.

The Hylian frowned, deciding to change the subject. "He had a very vivid nightmare last night and thrashed around. Didn't you notice anything?"

She shook her head. "No. Nothing."

So Lariana had been very soundly asleep, also. Ganondorf was the only one with a nightmare last night. Link stared into the pot with water, brooding. Their nightmares surely were not a coincidence. He guessed it was Teneb's way to fight them. Soma contacted them only via dreams and visions, so it was safe to assume her brother had similar powers.

What if Teneb concentrated his attacks on Ganondorf now? He'd tried to persuade the man to join him once. That hadn't worked, but Teneb had spoken of how he and Ganon were similar... What if Teneb could invade the Demon King's dreams more easily than Lariana's or his?

Worried, Link looked over to the huge man.

He had to talk to him about this. And they had to find a way to guard themselves against these nightmares.

"The water is simmering. The tea will be ready soon. How about you wake your nightly companion?" Lariana proposed with a cheeky grin.

Link snorted. "He's your lover. How can you be so lighthearted about this? Not that there is anything between him and me, we merely choose to take up the same side of the camp so he doesn't wake you.."

She laughed. "A heart can be in more than one place and yet not be divided. It seems that's not common in Hyrule. I assure you, you have no jealousy to fear from me, Link. I know that I have a place in Gan's heart always. No matter who else has one."

A deep, rolling grunt followed her words, muffled doubtlessly by either a part of a blanket, an arm or a pillow.

"You two are loud. Don't you know a King needs his sleep?" Ganon rumbled from his place.

"A king cares for his subjects, yet you left me all alone shivering in the night. So you cannot be my king, obviously," Lariana said, voice all theatrical gravity. Link saw the mischievous gleam in her eyes, however.

Ganondorf gave another grunt.

He rose slowly, dragging his fingers through his messy hair. Aside from that and several marks on his skin left by blanket folds, he looked surprisingly refreshed.

Link watched the man do a short combination of stretches before even combing out the knots in his hair. Meanwhile, Lariana threw herbs, berries and sweet bark into the water.

When the Gerudo joined them, the tea was ready.

Link fetched the bag with the porridge oats, using tea water that was remaining in the pot to cook up some sweet pulp. He added a few more berries as well as apple slices and a bit of a cinnamon stick.

When the porridge was done, they ate in silence for a while.

"What happened last night? Link told me you had a nightmare," Lariana finally asked.

Ganondorf hummed, and shrugged. "I thrashed around. Link woke me, but I was so deep in the dream, I mistook him for an enemy first. I attacked. He dodged and I woke. We talked. That's it."

"We talked about my daydreams. Two times now I dreamed of following a path through a forest to a lake, with a bright crescent moon shining on it," Link added.

Lariana put away her empty bowl. "Dreams have become our most important clues. A crescent moon over a lake sounds to me like a hint towards the crescent lakes in the northeast of Praelar."

"That sounds too simple," Ganondorf said. "However, it also sounds reasonable. I suppose we could travel to the lakes. The library will hardly run away in the meantime."

"Then it's settled."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Link stood, taking the empty bowls to clean them. An quarter of an hour later, they were horseback and on the road.

When they had been on the road for an hour, they could see people in the distance, maybe another hundred horse lengths away.

Several wagons stood at the side of the road, a dozen horses grazing a little farther off. Some of them still had their tack, some were packed only with bags.

Link could also make out a lot of red haired people, shades from darkest cherry to bright cinnabar. Together with the dark olive skin, there was no mistaking the people up ahead as anything but Gerudo.

Surprised, he looked over to Ganondorf. "I thought your people died in the last war with Hyrule. The genocide.. There haven't been any Gerudo around for over half a century!"

The Demon King gave a derisive snort. "I am surprised you actually call it the genocide it was intended to be. Hyrule made sure the history records mentioned none of it. I looked when the castle was last in my hands."

"'Intended to be'?" Link halted Epona. He did not want to have this conversation in earshot of a Gerudo caravan. Lariana followed his example.

Ganondorf let Lato walk another few steps before turning him around again, smiling viciously at the Hylian. "Hyrule intended to get rid of 'the thieves' once and for all. The King started a war under the pretense that the Gerudo were a danger to Hyrule's citizens. When it became clear that actual negotiations were nothing but mockery, I returned to our lands. I sent my people away."

Link stared. "All of them? You sent all of them away?"

"As many as were willing to go, yes. There are other countries less hostile. We tried to make peace with Hyrule for a long time. I suppose for as long as I was king of the Gerudo, peace just wasn't meant to be," Ganondorf answered.

The former hero looked past him towards the Gerudo of the caravan. They waved, some even got on their horses. It seemed they would ride out to greet the travelers - or maybe they had recognized their King by now?

He fixed his eyes back upon Ganondorf. "They survived."

"They survived," the Demon King nodded, "and they found a new home, thriving peacefully."

"They are coming," Lariana interrupted softly.

Ganon gently nudged Lato around. Three riders approached, their spears lifted in the air, a cry of joy on their lips. One of them wore a shawl.

Fascinated, Link watched them hail their King in their lilting, beautiful tongue, while lowering the spears and clasping forearms with the man.

They exchanged words in their language, eyes sparkling still. Even Ganondorf wore a content, proud smirk. Link noticed that his posture had shifted subtly. He was not wearing regalia or crown, yet the man sat in his saddle like the King he was, radiating authority and benevolence.

In this moment it was hard to believe there was evil in this man. It was hard to believe he had besieged Hyrule Castle, taken the princess captive and battled Link years ago. Had his former task to defeat the Demon King warped his perception of the man so thoroughly?

In the last years, Zelda had confided things in him he did not want to believe. Things about the kings of Hyrule and deeds that provoked war. Vanished records, altered history. She'd told him about the genocide her greatgrandfather had attempted.

Link didn't want to believe her then. And yet, becoming a diplomat, learning about the different peoples of Hyrule, made him discover hints to these truths.

Ganondorf might seem evil in a way, but he was driven by the will of the Goddesses. As was he. As was Zelda. That was one truth. They all were pawns.

But this didn't mean Ganondorf couldn't be a great King. Not as King of the Demons… but as King of the Gerudo. Those were different roles, and Link felt ashamed he only thought of this now.

"It seems there is some trouble with one of the wagons, and the carpenter is heavy with child."

Ganondorf's dark voice startled Link from his thoughts.

"How long until birth?" Lariana asked, looking at the spearwoman with the shawl around the shoulders.

"Not long. It might even happen tonight, with all the trouble we are facing today," the shawl-wearer answered.

Ganon hummed. "Then let me have a look at your wagon and your carpenter."

He nudged Lato into a walk. The three women fell in beside him, while Link and Lariana took up the rear.

When they reached the wagons, more Gerudo came to greet them. Ganondorf introduced them to his people as his friends, which made Link wonder if he and Ganon were, indeed, friends now.

He could not ponder long over this, however.

More introductions kept him busy.

"Welcome to our caravan, Link from Hyrule and Lariana from Praelar. I am Kalaan, leader of this caravan," Kalaan greeted them kindly. She was a strong, huge woman with short, bright red hair.

"This his Hali, my wife. Toonsha, our musician and market crier."

Kalaan pointed towards two women to her right.

"This is Aru, responsible for the caravan's safety, head of the spearwomen. Our carpenter, Uru, is her sister."

The woman with the shawl winked at Link. He blushed, and returned a smile.

Aside from the introduced women, there were a bit more than another dozen people around. It was a big caravan, three wagons stacked high with precious goods, a fourth stood a little aside from the road in the grass.

"Uru lies in the wagon over there. She is sleeping for now. We wanted to reach the next town and see if there was a healer available. Uru has developed a fever and seems to become weaker every day," Kalaan said, her voice grave now.

Lariana smiled. "Let me have a look at her, then. Maybe I can help."

"Gladly! We trust in our King's friends. Follow me!" Aru said, leading Lariana to the wagon.

Ganondorf stroked his beard. "And I shall see to your broken wagon."

o-o-o-o-o-o

It took them an hour to repair the broken wheel of the front wagon. Link assisted Ganondorf in retrieving a tree branch thick enough to craft a few wooden studs. The Demon King used a bit of magic together with a few tools to make the wheel whole again.

After that, the Gerudo gathered their horses and children, rolled up their carpets and readied for travelling again.
Lariana came to Ganondorf and Link with a worried look.

"I think it would be wise to travel with them for a bit. Uru is very weak, and her birth is indeed close. I can strengthen her and sing her through it."

"Yes. Let's do that," Link agreed immediately, earning an amused look from Ganon.

"You seem to be eager travelling with my people. It pleases me you want to learn about them - or is it just Aru you fancy?"

The former hero felt a little heat creep in his cheeks. He looked the other man straight in the eyes. "Both."