Within the palace walls, the scene was quite similar. It took every ounce of patience Impa had to deal with the insanity. Fortunately, the bride and groom seemed to have everything together—and that made Impa’s job a heck of a lot easier. If only the king was as organized, I wouldn’t have to make last-minute preparations…The Sheikah chuckled to herself. She walked toward Zelda’s chamber and quietly knocked on the door.
“Come in, Impa!” Zelda called from inside the room. Impa entered; she nearly gasped when she saw the princess in her wedding gown. The gown was made of white velvet with delicate lace adorning the neck and sleeves. A long, silk ribbon was draped over the flared skirt in an elaborate pattern, tied into rose-like bundles at the waist. Upon Zelda’s head was a Hylian crown; attached to it was a long, sheer veil that reached all the way to the floor.
“Princess, you look absolutely beautiful.” Impa breathed. “Malon really did a beautiful job sewing the dress.”
“She certainly did.” Zelda smiled brightly; the Hylian princess could barely contain her excitement. “I can’t wait for everything to begin!”
“Well, there’s still a lot to be done before the ceremony begins.” Impa pointed out. She handed Zelda a medium-sized box; the princess opened it, stared for a few moments, and began to chuckle. Zelda tried her hardest to contain her mirth, but ultimately she burst into laughter. Impa was a bit surprised. “Is there something wrong?” The princess pulled a pair of traveling boots out of the box.
“I think you accidentally got the wrong shoebox!” Zelda cackled. “Unless they’re for after the wedding.” Impa blushed, but soon she was laughing as well.
“Sorry about that.” The Sheikah replied, taking the boots and placing them back inside of the box. “I’ll get your real shoes.”
“Impa, just relax! It’ll all work out. This’ll be the best wedding Hyrule has ever seen. Nothing will go wrong.”
*~*~*~*~*
“Bremor! That post! It’s off-center!”
“What?”
“It’s off-center! Move it about six inches to the left. No, not that way! Your left! Geesh!”
Link chuckled at the scene taking place before him. In less than an hour, a group of eight workers had erected nine tents in the castle courtyard. Several dozen servants were getting tables and chairs ready for the crowd that was certain to come to the wedding reception.
“Where’s the fruit punch?”
“Still in the kitchen!” A pair of cooks were running around like idiots trying to get all of the food ready in time. They couldn’t just prepare one meal for the entire crowd; considering the diverse assortment of races that were to be attending, the cooks had to account for tastes ranging from fish to rocks.
“Raina, has the granite been washed yet?” A teenage girl shouted across the courtyard. A heavy-set woman—the head cook--looked over in her general direction and called back.
“What in Heaven’s name are you talking about? We’re serving gabbro, and yes, it’s been washed!”
“Oh….”
Link watched as the head cook raced past him on the way to the kitchen. He tried his best not to get in the way of the preparations, but he just couldn’t stay still. Link was nervous and excited at the same time. It’s only the most important day of my life. I just wish that there wasn’t so much preparation involved. It’s way too--
“Link?” Came a familiar voice from behind him, interrupting his train of thought. The soon-to-be prince turned around; behind him stood a small contingent of Gorons, led by the youngest member of their tribe. Link smiled.
“Hiya, Link!”
“The same to you, Link.” Link the Goron chuckled slightly as he looked up at his namesake. The young Goron wore a smile, but the look in his eyes told Link the Hylian that something was amiss. He noticed that Darunia wasn’t among the Gorons in front of him.
“Where’s your father?” Link asked.
“Sick.” Little Link heaved a sigh. “Too sick to make the trip from Death Mountain. He and Mama send their best wishes though.”
“That’s too bad.” Link replied. “I was looking forward to seeing them today.” He frowned.
“C’mon, why are you frowning?” Came yet another voice. “You’re getting married for Heaven’s sake!” Link began to chuckle. He knew that voice without even looking. The Zora princess, Ruto, walked up toward Link, Little Link, and the other Gorons with her father by her side.
“Long time no see, Princess.” Link took her hand and kissed it in a proper fashion. “And greetings to you too, Your Majesty.” Link bowed lightly at the Zora king. He turned back toward Ruto. “How’re things at the Temple?”
“Not too bad. I never thought that looking after the place required a lot of cleaning as well—and the Water Temple is huge!” Ruto complained. The Zora princess chuckled slightly. “Oh, well.” She looked at the small group of Gorons nearby and smiled; she knelt down to Little Link and took his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. My name’s Ruto. I’ll bet you’re Darunia’s son, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Little Link answered. He didn’t know exactly what to do about Ruto’s hand, though. After a few seconds of staring awkwardly at it, Little Link shook it and let go of it as if the hand were poisonous. Ruto laughed.
“What a cute kid.” She winked. Little Link blushed, thoroughly embarrassed. The young Goron wasn’t used to formal gatherings yet; he hid behind one of the other Gorons. “Where is Darunia, by the way?”
“He’s ill.” Link stated. “He won’t be able to come.”
“That’s a shame.” Ruto frowned. “Is everyone else here, though?”
“Everyone except for Nabooru and her party.” He looked at the sundial in the far corner of the courtyard. “Hmm. She was supposed to be here an hour ago. I wonder what’s keeping her.”
“She does have the furthest to travel.” Ruto pointed out.
“True.” Link’s voice trailed off. At that moment, he heard a slight commotion coming from near the front castle gate. From the sounds of it, a group of women was arguing with the front guard. “That could be her now.” Link noted. He quietly excused himself and made his way over to the gate. One there, he saw a party of four Gerudo thieves yelling at the front guard; much to Link’s surprise, though, Nabooru was not one of them.
“Listen, ladies. If you don’t have an invitation, you are not allowed inside. That’s the rule!” The guard stood firmly in front of the gate. The mere presence of four thieves was enough to make him nervous; the fact that they were also quite angry did not help matters any.
“Uh, hello.” Link piped up. He caught the attention of the four thieves.
“Link, we have to see Princess Zelda!” One of them—obviously their leader--demanded. What she said next made Link gasp in terror. “Nabooru had been murdered!”
Silence. The news hit Link like an earthquake. Nabooru—dead?! Of all the things the thief could have said, that was the very last thing Link wanted to hear—especially on his wedding day. This means trouble…He thought. The Hero of Time looked at the guard.
“Let them in.” He said in a low voice. Reluctantly, the guard opened the gate, allowing the four Gerudo into the courtyard. Link took the four of them aside. “When did this happen?”
“Kirei found her this morning.” A different woman pointed at the leader. “She was on the temple steps.”
“I went inside to see if her assailant had hidden in there.” Kirei added. “All I found was a polishing cloth, but as soon as I entered I felt another presence there, almost as if someone was watching me. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but I am certain that something evil was there.” Link listened intently as Kirei told her tale. He was still shocked that such an event had taken place just before his wedding; Link was more concerned about who had done this terrible deed. Who would want to kill a temple Sage? He asked himself. What happened next answered his question.
“Link, your hand!” Kirei gasped. He looked down at his right hand; a small triangle appeared, giving off a pulsating glow. Immediately a wave of terror broke over him.
“It’s resonating….” Link breathed. “The Triforce pieces only resonate when all three are in the same…oh, no….” Without saying another word, he burst into a dead run toward the castle. He had to warn Zelda immediately! Just before he reached her chamber, a strong hand grasped his shoulder, halting him in his tracks. Impa stepped in front of him, shaking her head.
“You know you’re not supposed to see the bride before the wedding.” She lectured in mock frustration. Link wasn’t amused.
“Impa, we have a big problem.” Link held up his right hand for the Shadow Sage to see. Impa’s face fell.
“The Triforce is resonating?!” Impa’s pulse began to quicken. She knew exactly what that meant. The Sage of Shadow knocked on Zelda’s door. Without even waiting for Zelda to reply, she opened it. Zelda looked up in shock when she saw Link enter the room behind Impa. Link, in spite of the situation, did grin slightly at his bride-to-be.
“Link! You’re not supposed to see me before the wedding!” She gasped.
“Zelda, I’ve just spoken to a group of Gerudo women at the front gate.” Link began. “They came bearing bad news.” The Hero of Time hesitated. “Nabooru has been murdered.” Zelda’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Who would want to kill a Sage?” Was the first thing Zelda said after a few moments of horrified silence. “Unless….” Link immediately showed her his right hand. Reflexively the princess ungloved her hand and looked at the back of it; sure enough, her segment of the Triforce was resonating as well. It took her a few moments to realize what was going on. Her face fell.
“It can’t be true!” Zelda’s voice was little more than a whisper. “He’s been sealed away in the Evil Realm!”
“That’s what I thought!” Link replied. “But something tells me he found a way to break free.” Zelda immediately stood up and looked straight into Impa’s eyes.
“Are all of the other Sages here?”
“All except for Darunia.” The Sheikah answered. “He has fallen ill and is not able to make it here for the wedding.” Zelda nodded in response.
“Call all of the rest of them together. Tell them to meet me at the Temple of Time in ten minutes.” Impa immediately complied and left Zelda’s chamber. The princess turned to Link. “You meet me there as well. I need to change out of this dress first.”
“This isn’t exactly how I envisioned our wedding day to be.” Link sighed, brushing his hand across Zelda’s face.
“I know.” Zelda kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Let’s just hope that we can straighten this out. Now scoot! I still have to change!” Link winked at Zelda and quietly exited the room.
*~*~*~*~*
Ten minutes later….
“Nabooru is dead?!” Ruto gasped in horror.
“And somehow Ganondorf has escaped his imprisonment.” Zelda showed the four other Sages her and Link’s right hands, which were still glowing with their respective pieces of the Triforce. Rauru shook his head.
“I don’t think it was Ganondorf that killed Nabooru, though.” He spoke up. The other people in the room looked at him, curious as to why he thought that. The Sage of Light continued. “All of us sealed him in the Evil Realm, but he still had the Triforce of Power in his possession. With all seven of the Sages still alive, the force around the seal was still strong. But when Nabooru died, the seal weakened a little bit. That was the only way he could even get a foothold on the seal.” Rauru heaved a sigh. “But even with one of the Sages dead, that still shouldn’t have been enough for Ganondorf to break free, even with the Triforce of Power.”
“Unless Darunia’s illness has something to do with it.” Saria pointed out. “If Darunia is weak, then his power is weak as well. That plus Nabooru’s death could have been enough to allow Ganondorf to burst the seal.”
“That’s entirely possible.” Zelda added. “But right now we need to figure out what to do. It seems that Ganondorf has already taken the Spirit Temple. We need to keep the other five temples sealed off from his power.”
“What about the Fire Temple?” Impa questioned. “If Darunia is weak, the Fire Temple can easily be taken. We need to protect it.”
“Leave that to us.” Zelda looked at Link, who nodded. “The best thing right now is for everyone to return to their respective temples and seal them. Link and I will head to the Fire Temple. Once that temple is sealed, we’ll head to the desert and see what we can do about Ganondorf. I talked to Kirei of the Gerudo before coming here. She assures us full cooperation.”
“And another thing.” Saria mentioned. “What are we going to do about the Spirit Sage? Who will take Nabooru’s place?”
“I don’t know.” Zelda admitted after a short period of silence. “I feel in my heart that the identity of the new Sage will be revealed to us in time…somehow.” Zelda heaved a sigh. “I just hope it’s soon, because without all seven of the Sages, we have no hope of sealing Ganondorf away again. For now, it would be best just to make sure that Ganondorf doesn’t gain control of any of the other temples.”
“That sounds like the best plan of action.” Ruto replied. “That being the case, we’d all better get going.” She lifted up her hands, as did Impa, Saria, and Rauru, turning into tiny balls of light and disappearing into the sky. Zelda and Link looked at each other.
“At least we don’t have to worry about them.” Zelda stated. “We need to find Little Link and the other Gorons and head up to Death Mountain. It may already be too late….”
