Hello all. I am so sorry for my year and a half long hiatus but I kind of had a lot going on. Shortly after the last chapter was written, I found out I was pregnant. That, combined with both a new home and a new job, kept me quite busy. Now, my son is eight months old and I finally feel inspired to continue this story!

But enough of my dribble drabble...

Chapter 6 – Sky and Sand

"Do you think one of us should go on ahead and inspect Vah Medoh and Vah Naboris?" I asked Link softly. It was late morning and the heat from Death Mountain was finally a distant memory as we trotted back through the Lanayru Wetlands. We were headed next to Tabantha, the home of the Rito.

I gazed up at the sky to where I knew I could spot Vah Medoh, even from so far away. She was still gliding above the spire of the Rito village, but she seemed lifeless – as if she were gliding along the currents with no purpose.

Just like you, Zelda.

I shook the thought from my head. Of course I had a purpose. I helped defeat Ganon, didn't I? I kept him at bay for a hundred years for Hylia's sake! I helped restore Hyrule to at least a measure of what it had been before the Calamity struck. I…

A pit opened up in the bottom of my stomach. Have I already served my sole purpose in life?

"Yes," Link suddenly said. I did a double take to the man on the chestnut mare next to me.

"W-what?" I gasped.

He looked back at me, his eyebrows knitting tightly as they often did when he was confused.

"I… I'm sorry, Link. I was lost in thought." I kicked myself for looking such a fool. Hadn't I asked him a question?

He grunted silently - his unique, yet rather unrefined, form of acknowledgment. "You asked if one of us should go on ahead. I think that would be a good idea." He was looking forward, his eyes no doubt on the mechanical bird in the far-off distance. "We aren't far from the Wetland Stable. We can stop there to make the necessary arrangements."

He went silent again as we turned along the path and headed north towards the very same stable we had rested at not long ago. It was mid-day when we arrived to find the stable had an uneasy stillness to it. Link looked back to me, a slight warning in his eyes, before urging Epona ahead.

"Lawdon?" he called out as he jumped off his horse, patting her slightly as a way of telling her to stay put. I watched him warily approach the stable desk as a strong gust of wind blew from the direction of Death Mountain.

Something wasn't right. A shiver ran down my spine as I glanced around us – down the road, across the river. I couldn't even hear the chirp of a bird or the rustle of a deer in the forest.

Link emerged from the stable then, joining me in the fruitless search. "Lawdon!" he yelled even louder. "It's Link! I'd like to board a horse!" I brought my own horse next to Epona and hopped off as well. I followed Link around the back of the stable to where the forest began.

We need to leave.

The thought niggled at the back of my mind. Where were Lawdon and Yolero? Even Ami should be there, sitting by the fire, acting bored and uninterested, yet wise beyond his years.

Link's eyes met mine behind the stable, and they were no doubt filled with both worry and confusion. We wordlessly made our way back to our horses. "What do you think happened?" I finally implored, petting my white stallion.

"I don't know," Link replied quietly. I glanced over to him. He was restless. His eyes were darting around and I could see his sword-hand twitching ever so slightly. He unhitched the Sheikah slate from his side and began staring at it intently. All I could see was a faint blue light reflecting in his already fierce blue eyes.

"Here," he said sternly as he handed me the device. I narrowed my eyes at him as I took it. "Just press that button when you're ready." I jerked my head up to meet his eyes.

"What?" He was avoiding eye contact. "I'm not…" I paused to gesture wildly to the empty stillness around us, "just going to leave you here!" Hell, I didn't even know what here was anymore! There was nothing, not even a sound. We were waiting for an ambush, I just knew it!

But Link turned back to me, the measure of seriousness plain across his face. "Zelda," he said in as equal amount of tone as he had displayed before, "please go on ahead to Rito Village. I'll take care of everything here."

I furrowed my brows. There was no way I was leaving him here. "No." I stomped my foot into the soiled, empty, untrodden ground. "I'm not leaving you this time, Link." This was absolutely ridiculous. He was insane. I knew there was something ominous and foreboding approaching us but I put my trust in him. In me. In this goddess-forsaken device. Why couldn't it take two people?!

Link stared at me. His blue eyes were piercing and more serious than I had ever seen them. I took a step back, the Sheikah slate gripped fiercely in my shaking hands. "Fine," I finally responded. "I'll go to Rito Village." I turned fiercely to him then, clenching the ancient device even tighter. "But you have to promise me, Champion of Hyrule," I said sternly as my voice shook ever so slightly, "you will come and meet me in Tabantha as soon as you are able."

I held my head high. I was the Princess of Hyrule. The rightful heir to the royal throne. He was my knight, my protector, my…

"I promise," he said rather quietly. By now his sword was unsheathed and his shield was clenched in his right hand. "I'll be there in a couple of days," he said a little more loudly before rushing over to where I stood, getting impossibly, dangerously close.

And then he pushed the button.

My entire body felt like it was freezing cold and boiling hot at once. I was being split into a million pieces yet shoved together at the same, as time and space seemed to merge together until there was nothing discernable as a logical reality.

But as quick as it happened, it was gone, and I was standing in front of a Sheikah shrine on a platform high above Lake Totori, that much I could discern. The platforms around me rose around the high stone spire like a village built around an enormous tree trunk. It seemed to spiral on towards the sky and down towards the lake with no end in sight.

"E-excuse me, miss…?" a large blue Rito man spoke as he made his way slowly towards where I stood, bewildered in the mid-day sun. He was holding a large accordion and accompanied by many young Rito, of all different colors of the rainbow, it seemed.

"I-I'm Zelda, sir," I said while bowing slightly, unsure of what title I should actually be calling him, "Princess of Hyrule." I straightened up and puffed out my chest, hoping to display some sort of poise and regality to… whoever I was speaking to.

But the Rito smiled and held out his right wing while clutching his accordion ever so gently. "Welcome to Rito Village! I have no doubt you have had a long and tiring journey, your highness." He bent lower, bowing to me even more graciously than anyone in Kakariko or Goron City. And his eyes never left mine. They were piercing and dark, much like the eyes of a Rito I once knew, but also kind and gracious, like the eyes of a Sheikah musician who once roamed the castle halls.

I shook it off. "Yes, thank you," I said in response, while placing my hand in his outstretched wing. It had only been a few moments, but to me it felt like ages since I had slept. The Sheikah slate's teleportation was academically intriguing, I would give it that, but it was also exhausting and draining on the traveler as well.

Did Link feel like this every time he used it? Or did he simply go on, as if nothing had happened - ignoring the pain and the unreasonable exhaustion that accompanied this unnatural travel?

"I am Kass, by the way," the large blue Rito finally said, as he led me down the spiraling stairs of Rito Village. "I have heard so much about you throughout the years, but I scarce believed I would ever see the legendary princess with my own eyes."

Swallow's Roost read the sign said above the doorway as we passed a rather dark red – maroon? – looking Rito. I shook my head to stay awake. I still hadn't responded to Kass's introduction, but I was having a hard time forming a coherent sentence, even to myself. I smiled at the maroon Rito as we headed inside, the flat beds looking as comfortable in the bright daylight as a feather-down mattress in my own quarters in the dark of night.

Kass talked to the innkeeper in hushed tones, but I paid them no mind. I was used to people talking about me with no intention of ever finding out the specifics. I was the Princess of Hyrle, risen from the dead, defender of Hyrule against the Calamity Ganon.

But where was Link?

It had only been a few hours now since I had left. He was no doubt making his way towards the West as I thought. But my mind was a mess – what had happened at the Wetland Stable? Did he make it out alright?

He survived Calamity Ganon's malice, for Goddess's sake, Zelda! Of course he is alright.

Yes, I thought finally, sleep finally overtaking me, he'll be alright.

The sound of a high-pitched scream shook me from my restless nap. I bolted upright in the inn hammock, looking frantically around to find the source of the noise.

But there was no one.

I quickly climbed out of the bed, my legs shakily making their way towards the entrance to the inn. "Is anyone there?" I screamed. The sky grew dark as I spoke the words. "Hello?" I tried to scream again, but my voice fell quiet. The sky grew black as the entire world seemed to shake.

My eyes shot open. The bed I had been sleeping in shook violently, launching my extremely startled form onto the ground of the Rito Inn. I landed on all fours, just in time for a large boulder to come crashing through the inn roof, smashing its way through the wooden floor no more than a meter or so away. I scrambled backwards, trying to gasp or scream but nothing came out of my lungs. The large hole that now bore through the floor was cracking and splitting and growing wider with each second that passed. I clumsily made my way to my feet, grabbing one of the perimeter posts and holding on for dear life.

Another boulder smashed onto the walkway outside the inn, destroying any dream I had of escaping on my own two feet. The panic began to set in, slowly at first, and then in a rush of adrenaline and fear combined into one horrible manifestation that forced me to scream. More boulders were falling.

The spire the Rito had built their entire lives around was collapsing.

I scrunched my eyes shut, trying to think of something that would get me out of there. More rocks rained down on the inn roof, puncturing fist-sized holes into everything they touched.

My head was certainly going to be next.

"PRINCESS!" I heard someone call. But my eyes were shut and my mind frozen in utter distress.

I didn't even feel it when the large blue Rito I had met only a short while earlier grabbed me from what would have certainly been my grave. My eyes were still shut when I realized I was still alive, the cold rush of the air and soft feel of feathers beneath me the only clues I needed to know what had happened.

"WE NEED TO GET SOMEWHERE SAFE!" I heard Kass yell. Even as he yelled, I could only barely make out what he was saying. The sound of an entire village collapsing was drowning out all else. I gripped tightly onto Kass's back, assuring him he need not worry about balancing me any longer. I then steeled myself to finally look at what was happening.

We were flying south, I could tell that much by the sun to our right, but nothing prepared me for what I saw drenched in its golden glow. Vah Medoh had crashed into the side of the Rito Village rock spire and sent the entire settlement crumbling into the lake. The Divine Beast herself finally came to a halt, halfway submerged under the most southern part of the lake – and from what I could see of her front, exposed half, she was mostly in pieces.

What happened?

Just like Vah Ruta and Vah Rudania – after their lights went out on the Sheikah slate, it was only a matter of time until it seemed as if someone flipped a switch, rendering the beasts to be nothing more than a collection of metal and spare parts.

I shivered violently.

Clutching onto Kass's back, we flew ever south, over the highlands and canyons of what I knew to be the lands of the Gerudo. We soon entered into the dry, barren desert-lands, known simply as the wastelands, before I knew where we were headed.

"To Gerudo Town?" I questioned Kass through his thick feathered exterior.

I hadn't been there in… a hundred years. My mind raced as I thought of the hometown of my dearest friend and mentor.

The last time I had been there, sitting within the great beast and protector of the desert, Vah Naboris, I had said some unsightly and unwelcome things to Link.

Link… was he alright? Had he noticed the distress occurring at Lake Totori and followed us to the desert?

The goddess knows only how much I wished to see his face again.

I spent several days under the quiet surveillance of the chieftain Riju and her bodyguard. Riju's unexpected youth and surprising wisdom, coupled with her fierceness beyond her years, left me awed in her presence. As a result, I found little use for myself other than twiddling my thumbs and hoping for Link to show up – some how, some way. From my discussions with Riju, Link had somehow conjured up a rather convincing disguise in order to sneak into the city. And that, more than anything, I truly wanted to see.

But several days passed, and no one arrived.

No female Rito, nor Gorons, nor Hylians even dared make their presence known.

It was almost as if the entire world stopped when Vah Medoh fell. As one of the Guardians of Hyrule herself, her demise seemed to foretell the eventual destruction of all of Hyrule herself.

But Hyrule was stubborn. She refused to fall.

Several more days passed. I spent the majority of the daylight hours perched upon one of the eastern watchtowers of Gerudo Town. Only a few parties of travelers appeared at the gates those days – mostly groups of men hoping to glance a peek at the town made up of entirely women inhabitants. But the others were honest travelers – trying to make their way and their fortunes through the mysteries of the Gerudo desert.

Almost a week after the fall of the Rito homeland, a young Hylian on a horse approached Gerudo Town.

My heart almost leapt out of my chest when I heard the news.

"Halt!" I heard one of the guards demand. "You are a Hylian woman, aren't you?" she then asked. From what I could tell, she was eying the newcomer skeptically.

"Of course I'm a Hylian woman," she responded – her voice shaking ever so slightly. "Do you believe me to be anything other than who I claim to be?"

This Hylian woman's voice was so clear and strong and confident, that I shook my head "no" in response. As a result, I eagerly awaited the reply of the only two Hyrulians that mattered.

My heart beat loudly in my chest. It was Link! I absolutely knew it. That blond hair, that rather undeveloped male physique – it could be no one else but him. Especially with that cocky-yet-humble attitude of is.

But the young Hylian rider was halted at the gate despite his over-effeminate appearance.

My heart was beating louder and louder. I leapt from the Gerudo Town wall and dashed towards the entrance. Bursting through the front gate,

"May I ask who demands their presence within the sacred walls of the Gerudo tribe?" My voice was clear and strong, vastly different from the fluctuating emotions within my own chest.

The Hylian woman on the horse glanced over to me, her familiar eyes narrowing at me as to acknowledge a long lost friend. "I am but a simple Hylian traveler, my lady" the Hylian said, "who wishes to spend but a night at the inn."

Damn, he was good. He even sounded like a woman.

The Gerudo guards clicked their staves upon the ground, giving me a look, as if they sought my approval. I straightened up, realizing my restored prominence, and nodded in approval.

"You may enter," the Gerudo on the right said sternly. Her eyes narrowed on the Hylian woman as she slowly made her way through the front gates and towards the inn. She was skeptical and almost surely onto our scheme.

I liked her.

The Hylian woman requested her own room, separate from anyone else – and I suspected why.

But the confidence, the voice, the eloquence, and even the knowledge of the local language baffled me. There was no way this was Link! He was so foolish, so oblivious, so uncultured and so shy!

And if this was him… did I even truly know him anymore?

My Hylian guest nodded her veiled head towards me as she was given the key to her room. I swallowed the lump as I followed – my heart leaping and sinking at the same time with the thought of whatever was going to happen next.

The moment the door closed and the Hylian flopped on the bed, sighing in relief, I wasn't surprised. I wasn't glad or ecstatic or overjoyed in the least, like I thought I would be.

I was angry.

"Where were you?" I nearly screamed, unable to control my own emotions despite the years and years of diplomatic training

Link's eyes shot open as he pulled the veil away. The corners of his lips tightened in what I assumed to be frustration, but I didn't care.

I was in danger and he wasn't there. That's what I was really mad about it. The world was falling apart and he wasn't there to save me, as he had promised. He deserved this – he deserved to be punished for making me worry and wait and –

He was just looking at me as he sat on the bed of the Gerudo inn room. His lips were still tight, but his eyebrows were relaxed to an almost state of worry. His eyes reflected the candles in the room as I struggled to maintain my composure.

And in that moment, I honestly don't know what happened. Whether it was the goddess's will or the desert heat, I kissed him violently as he sat on that clay-formed bed dressed in women's clothes.

I promise the next chapter won't take a year+ to be released! Stay tuned for what leads into Breath of the Wild 2…

-KnT (Brigette)