'
The two guards outside the town by the gate give Link a smile in respect.
"Oh, you are the voe who punished the other voe... The one who has caused us, and many other women, a lot of trouble around here..." The first guard points out.
The second guard nods.
" We are very grateful for your help. For a while, we were thinking about building a prison outside the walls just for him... But, hopefully, that won't be necessary. Now when you gave him what he deserved ..."
Link nods.
" I hope that creep will only be a fading nightmare you won't get bothered by again..." he says and inhales deeply. Nervous that the guards might deny him to enter.
" Now..." he exhales and get them to grunt asking.
He puts a smile on the lips.
"... Can I ask a favor of you? I would really appreciate it if you told the princess I'm back from my mission and need to gain permission to enter the town..."
The guards drop their smiles in surprise.
They start eyeing Link and know how much the women in the dating class would love to meet him. Not only does he look strong. He is also really handsome and seems to be a guy with a good heart.
But... The law says that voes can't enter the town unless he is born as a Gerudo male. Only then, he could enter the town.
So... Despite they wouldn't mind seeing between the fingers, the law is still the law.
Not only that, the Gerudo culture also says that girls in a certain age aren't allowed to be around voes. So, it would be rather wrong of them to let him inside.
The first guard starts shaking the head when the second guard remembered that Link mentioned something about a mission. A mission from the princess herself?
" I'm sorry, but..." The first guard starts saying.
"... Wait... What mission? Has the princess sent you on a mission on her behalf?" The second guard interrupts.
At first, Link started to feel down due to the rejection. But, the hope starts getting up again when the second guard asked about the mission.
He nods.
" Yes... Princess Riju wanted to help me get ahold of an old friend of mine... So, she asked me to get back the mirror shard your former chief brought over to Death Mountain. So, I need to get to the throne room where the twilight mirror is. Hyrule and Calatia need all the help they can get. And I know that my friend from the Twilight Realm is the right person to do that..." he explains.
The guards look shocked from the information.
The first guard clears her throat.
"... The former chief?... Are you perhaps talking about Lady Urbosa?" She asks and gets a nod from Link.
She gives the other guard a side-look.
The second guard looks asking at Link.
"... Can you please prove it by showing the shard to us?"
Link takes the bag off of him, where he kneels down and starts searching through the bag.
The somewhat excited guards keep their eyes on him.
The moment when he holds up the shard against them, they wide the eyes in surprise.
" Here... I have the lost shard. Can I please meet the princess now? Tell her, Link, the one who helped her with the divine beast is back..."
The news about he was the one to help Riju with Vah Naboris, startled them. For each moment, he gets more and more fascinating.
The second guard nods.
"... I will tell the princess... Please, wait here until we say otherwise..." she gulps and enters the town where she walks over to the castle.
***
It takes a while, but the second guard gets finally back, where a group of guards followed her to the gate.
The captain of the gerudo guards narrows the eyes at him.
"... Don't make any sudden movement, and follow us... And we will take you to the princess..." The captain tells him and turns around with a low scoff.
Link raises an eyebrow over her cold encounter, but he shrugs it off and starts following her with careful steps. The other guards who came along with the captain start surrounding him from all sides to prevent him from running away.
The women in the town who have never taken a step outside the town's walls stare shocked at him. Obviously surprised, and amazed at seeing a voe for the first time. In their eyes, he is like an exotic animal.
Even though Link is feeling somewhat bothered by their gazes, he still tries ignoring them and keeping his eyes in front of him.
The awkward walk to the castle feels very long and kinda embarrassing, as he was a prisoner. Or an object for everyone to stare at.
But, a few minutes later, he can finally exhale in relief from shutting out the townies' gazes. Since he is finally inside of the castle where Riju brights happily up of seeing him.
" Link!..." she bursts out excited but cuts herself where she clears the throat to calm down.
She shifts a little on the throne, where she leans the head at the backhand. She tried to look neutral and as she wasn't very eager to talk with him.
"... Oh?... you are finally back? And It also seems you managed to bring the missing mirror shard with you..."
The guard captain gives Link a stern look when they halted at the floor in front of the throne.
"... Do or say anything unnecessary, and I will personally take care of you..." she hisses.
Link blinks surprised.
Then he gives her a short nod to give her any kind of response who hopefully won't tick her off.
The guard captain narrows the eyes at him and starts walking away where she gives the other guards an intendedly nod. The other guards start scattering as well. Walking out from the room where they would listen from outside and be ready to protect their princess.
Link gives the guards a few looks before he moves the eyes up toward the throne, where Riju gives him an apologising smile.
" Pardon the guards... They are only doing their job. And due to the law where voes aren't permitted to enter the town, it's against our culture to let you be here... So, don't blame their cold treatment toward you..."
Link shrugs.
"... Don't worry, princess... I don't mind that. I am only relieved to finally be here with the missing shard... Now, I can finally meet Midna again and ask her to help me with saving Hyrule and Calatia from Zant..."
The princess hums thoughtfully.
" Midna?... Isn't that the twilight princess?" She asks curiously.
Link nods.
" That's correct... And, we need her help to solve our problems..."
Riju looks over to the curtains where the mirror is hidden behind.
"... You are right... Even though our problems with Vah Naboris are solved, where is still a greater risk to take care of... No one can completely rest until that is taken cared of... It's only a matter of time before princess Zelda is out of time and can't control the beast... And when that happen, I dreads many people's lives are at a risk..."
Link nods.
" Correct, and that's why we can't keep dragging on..." he says and starts getting restless. Why is he just standing there as he needs the princess' permission to use the mirror? Maybe he should only walk over to the mirror and put the shard back?
But... What if any of the guards would enter and try to stop him? It would only be a pain in the ass and take unnecessary time from him. Time he might not have to spare.
Riju nods agreeing.
" You are right, so... You are allowed to use the mirror as much you need. I'm honestly curious about seeing how the mirror thing will work, since I never got the chance to see it with my own eyes..."
Link nods.
" Thank you, princess..." he says before walking over to the curtains to pull them to the side where the mirror will get in sight. The curtains were kinda heavy, but that didn't stopped him.
Seeing the mirror again makes his heart to pound in excitement and he exhales a short gasp. Finally...
Link takes out the mirror shard from the bag where he carefully puts it back to its original place.
Despite the excitement, he is also feeling somewhat nervous. What if Midna can't help him with his problems?!
The second when the shard clicks from getting putted back, the mirror brights up with a sound from turning on.
Link takes a few steps backward where he stares amazed at the mirror where it seems getting deeper. There its black tunnel has greenish spikey circles moving around in circular movements. The tunnel almost looks as it has a pulse.
Riju and Link stare speechless at the tunnel where a tall silhouette soon appears. They both flinched a little.
Link squints the eyes where he tries seeing the silhouette's face. A few seconds later, he sees a green-grayish face where the ends of red glowing hair is tied in a ponytail underneath the small and pointy chin. Midna.
His lips curled up in relief and happiness where he exhales softly. Out of nowhere from seeing his best friend again, he feels a bit teary eyed.
"... Midna..." he says softly while the twili walks gracefully out from the mirror where its tunnel disappeared the second she gets out.
The beautiful woman with the red and yellow eyes are looking seriously at Link.
" Finally... What took you so long?"
Link grunts confused.
"... "
Midna grins.
"... I have been ready for ages to give you a helping hand. But, what could I expect when it comes to you... But alright, I did broke the other mirror... So, part of you being late, might be my fault as well..." she teases before she gives him a genuine smile instead.
"... It's nice to see you again, my friend..."
Link clears the throat several times while blinking.
Then he nods.
" Likewise... I have been looking forward to the day where I will finally meet you again... And, now the day is finally here... And, I assume you can help me?"
Midna gives him a nod.
" I do... My people and I have been working to create tools to solve your problems... Like separating the good and the evil from your husband, and then banishing the evil from the world... I also have a solution on our problems with Zant, so he will never cause any problems again..."
Link parts the lips in surprise. So, she can also help him with getting rid off the evil in Ganondorf's soul?! From now on... Ganondorf will be free from his evil side?!
The news give him hope for the future. Maybe he will never need to be worried about Ganondorf turning evil again. Perhaps he can have a peaceful life after the events at hyrule castle...
That - ... Sounds like a fairy tale. A happy ending.
It also sounds as a happy ending where he will never get worried about having Zant lurking around in the shadows...
Link smiles brightly.
" Oh?... If that's the case, why are we still hanging around here? Lets save everyone..." he says cheerfully.