The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

Spirit: The Element of the Gerudo

Spirit: It is the life force that moves within everybody. It is said that one's spirit lives on, even after death. This is the spirit of the soul, an entity of the individual. The individual's soul is the most inalienable thing about them, as it cannot, by definition, be divided. So, when there exists a different type of spirit not characteristic of the individual, is it thrust upon the soul, or does it awaken organically alongside it? For example, the collective spirit of fortitude which fosters brotherhood, or hive-mindedness... Or the heroic spirit of valor, said to reside in the hearts of soldiers and warriors since antiquity... Do they conflict with the spirit of the individual? Or bolster it?

A bright pink light gently nudged Link's eyes open. A beautiful view of the dawn sky over Death Mountain greeted his eyes through the secret entrance to the cave he was in. He had not moved from the six-sided slab in front of the Shadow Temple, for he immediately slept off the exhaustion from its treacheries. The sights in that place made his dreams restless, with unpleasant reminders of the stains of blood, and the instruments of fear-instilling captivity.

The path back to Kakariko Village was teeming with the pleasant fragrance of grass freshly watered from the storm the night before. As he travelled down it, the recollections stuck with him beyond his slumber, catching up to him now that the rush of traversing them had worn off. Impa had mentioned that 'there are things one must do, even though it may seem like they shouldn't.' He thought he may have completed the picture in his mind of what transpired in there during the war.

He came upon the quiet town, just as the sun began to crest over the hills to the east. The light danced off the dew drops on the red tiles of the roofs as they were serenaded by the incessant chirps of the morning birds. One portion stood out as an eyesore, like an ink stain on a colorful canvas. The hilltop estate and everything around it was reduced to ash. Link had nearly forgotten the fire that was raging when he arrived the evening prior.

He walked up to it. A footprint of a great manor, with small to medium auxiliary buildings surrounding it, was all that was left of the blaze.

"A shame, in't it?" said a grizzled elderly voice in a slight drawl. "The last of what remained of the Shadow Folk... gone, just like that."

The man whom the voice belonged to stood next to Link with a hunched back. He wore a blue cloak with white cotton furls, and oversized sleeves he kept behind his back with his arms. He had a lazy grey eye that matched the silver of his long hair, which flowed beneath a hat matching the blue of his cloak. His facial hair was also grey, taking the form of a soul patch beneath his underbiting lip, and a thick moustache beneath a pink nose.

"Who did this anyway?" Link asked him, "Gerudo?"

"Doubt it," he droned monotonically, "they haven't been spotted east of Gerudo Valley for a while now... well, except for King Ganondorf."

Link's blood boiled at those words. Still, he wondered how this man was so sure about that... why the Gerudo would still not be abroad while their leader sat on the Hyrulean throne.

"Looks like their handywork, though, don't it?" the old man said before Link could follow up.

That remark gave something away about him to Link. "You're from Castletown, aren't you? You're a survivor of the siege!"

The man quietly chuckled. "They're oft referred to as 'Gerudo Thieves'. Fitting, seeing as their fires robbed us of our fair city."

Link felt a range of emotions stemming from the memory of when the capitol was ransacked by the red-haired warriors.

"But they're not all bad..." the man added.

"What do you mean?" Link inquired.

"I was in love with one." The man smirked underneath his grey mustache as he turned his head to Link, who was just staring back at him. In response to this, the man explained. "When they weren't warring with us, Gerudo would come to Hyrule Castle Town to look for a man for themselves. Back when I was not too much older than you, a beautiful young vai chose me to be her partner."

"Vai?" Link asked.

"...Gerudo word for woman."

Link wanted to let the old man finish his story, but he was hung up on what the man said about finding men. "What about Gerudo men?" he asked.

The man chuckled again. "Other than Ganondorf... have you ever seen a Gerudo man?"

Link tried to think of Gerudo men other than Ganondorf, and realized the Gerudo he had encountered were indeed all female... the band of women riding west... and the wave of women warriors storming the city...

"Don't you know the only Gerudo male is their king?" The elderly man chuckled once more, then walked off, continuing his morning stroll.

Meanwhile, the town hadwoken up, as it began to buzz with a little morning activity. Link stood there watchingit, having learned more about the people-the women-who serve the sole Gerudoman and his malice.