Gerudo Town - Iffondrel - The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Small drifts of sand rained down from the ceiling every so often, and it was easy to imagine that something was happening aboveground. The muffled sounds of a now lively town space just barely reached the shelter that had been emptied of its previous tenants. The proud people of these lands had finally returned to something of a normal way of life, now that their home was no longer beset by the threat of the gibdo invasion.

Things could've been much worse had they waited any sooner to reach this place. In truth, many of them had been dreading coming out this far – the canyon that served as the only clear path to reach the deserts was a nightmare to traverse, with its ever-changing weather conditions, and the deserts proved even more harrowing with the sand shroud enveloping it. They hadn't even had a guide to lead them through, though he had tried looking for a wayward spirit.

Time stared into the bottom of his glass. He felt as though he'd need another to settle his nerves.

It was difficult being in enemy territory.

Time pinched the bridge of his nose and set the glass down with a deep sigh that reached every corner of the room.

Sky cracked an eye beside him, where he'd been idly reclining into the embroidered pillows and linens covering the floor of what had been the gerudo's temporary bar space. “Need another?” he murmured groggily, stretching his arms above his head. His cheeks were slightly flushed, movements slow as he pushed himself into a sitting position. “I can make the next round – maybe take the edge off. We should enjoy our victories while we can.”

Time leveled a look at Sky, noting just how comfortable he was in the nest of pillows, his own beverage only half-drunk. “I can make my own drink. You deserve to relax after… all of that.”

Time pushed himself up to his feet. His knees creaked under the weight, and he needed an extra moment to find his center of gravity once more. He let slip a grunt of discomfort.

Sky's ears perked, and his face briefly flashed with worry. Suddenly, he seemed much more willing to sit up. “You alright? You haven't been overworking yourself, have you?”

Time gestured for the skyloftian to stay put while he lumbered towards the bar, and he obliged. “No more than anyone else. But I'll admit that I'm grateful to be done with these phenomenons and their temples.”

Time slid into place behind the bar and began pulling at fruit juices and mixers that had been generously left behind for them by Furosa.

Lady Riju had been less than pleased to have so many voe infiltrate her city. But considering it was either them or the ranks of gibdo, she had seen little other choice. It wasn't as if they hadn't been inside here before, and Riju was no fool. Years ago, when they'd first stayed here while investigating ruins in the desert, Wild had been more than happy to tailor the brightly colored fabrics of the vai outfits to each of them, to varying levels of success. Time had had a very lengthy discussion with the guards and Riju herself over the authenticity of his gerudo membership card, which was supposed to allow him free entry into their territory. When he'd asked if they weren't going to honor Nabooru's allegiance with him, they'd begrudgingly allowed him in. But they hadn't been happy with it at the time, and they still weren't now that all of them were here presenting in their normal attire. In hindsight, perhaps Twilight had been wise to stay in his wolf form during his previous travels here. He was the only one the gerudo didn't recognize from their group.

At least now there was a space for them all to settle. The underground bunker beneath the town had been vacated since the conquering of the Lightning Temple. Lady Riju had honored their accomplishments by granting them safe passage through their town and allowing them to use the rooms that had opened up. Giving them access to their supplies – and alcohol – had been a generous bonus, since the trade routes had been opened up once more.

In truth, they needed this reprieve from adventuring. Time needed this, even if he also needed this adventure to end as soon as possible. Even though there was no clock counting down the seconds to the end, he could feel the passage of time grating on his soul. He was overstaying his welcome here. Not just in this town, but this era.

Sky downed the rest of his drink and set it aside with a contented hum. He glanced over at Time, whose movements behind the bar had come to a standstill as thoughts enveloped him.

“That was quite the temple, wasn't it?” Sky asked, interrupting his quiet mulling in favor of easy-going chatter. Time was grateful for it. “I've spent my fair share of time in the desert, but I've never done a dungeon with so many floors!”

Time chuckled at that. “It was something of a unique experience, wasn't it? In truth, that temple reminded me the most of the sort of endeavors I overcame when I was young.” He poured the last of the hydromelon rum into the co*cktail and put the cap on the shaker.

Sky waited until he'd finished shaking the drinks to respond. “It went by pretty fast, I thought. Having so many mirror shields between us definitely helped, though.”

Time smirked as he poured their drinks into two new glasses. Wild had been trying to move around the statues to reflect light around the high-roofed interior, but there hadn't been much need. The only real issue had been in the heights of the light beams, which had been “solved” by putting Four on Wars’s shoulders and having Twilight hoist Wind up high enough. From there, Legend and himself had been able to manipulate the light across the rest of the temple without much issue, while Wild and Sky cleared many of the sand drifts concealing things of importance. Riju and Hyrule, meanwhile, had worked together with surprising synergy in activating the lighting-based terminals.

The only hiccups had come in the form of enemies and traps. Had Four not been so small, he would've gotten skewered by a spike trap when he'd gone a bit too far ahead. And… and they'd accidentally set off the fire trap after they thought they'd disarmed it. Sky had laughed it off at the time, but had it been anyone else… Well, those corridors had been awfully cramped.

Evidently, there were still new enemies to be had as well. New to the others, anyway. Gibdo, keese, and constructs were nothing out of the ordinary in these lands. But finding an anubis in that desert temple had been something of a rude awakening, and nobody but Time had known what to do about it. He hadn't seen one of those in so… so long. And the other heroes couldn't fathom how the odd, floating monster that shot fire from its mummified body was also weak to fire. He was just grateful that there'd been no iron knuckles in that place.

The Gibdo Queen awaiting them at the top of the temple had been a harrowing fight. Time had been more than happy to riddle it with elemental arrows alongside Wind and Wild. Never had he seen a room bathed in so many fireballs, lightning bolts, and swaths of ice.

Despite all that, it seemed as though many of the heroes could hardly sit still long enough in the aftermath of their victory. The moment the desert had been freed from the sand shroud, they'd all become so much more active, finding new things to do around each corner.

Time just needed to sit for a while, and he was thankful for the company that he had down here. It was peaceful. He could almost pretend he could relax.

Almost.

Time came out from behind the bar and passed one of the drinks to Sky, who reclined once more with a blissful sigh. Time didn't sit down just yet.

He restlessly tapped the toe of his boot against the ground and readjusted the belt around his waist, fidgeting where he stood. “Do you think the others need us anywhere? We've been down here a while, and nobody's come to get us.”

Sky blinked slowly. Time didn't think he'd said anything out of the ordinary. Had he?

“We just got out of that temple not too long ago. Everyone's resting or doing their own thing – you should, too. Didn't you ever take breaks after defeating a dungeon?” Sky asked.

Time took a sip of his drink and eased himself slowly into the pillows. It felt horribly uncomfortable, and his skin was crawling, as if there was sand beneath his tunic. There probably was. “I didn't have time for that,” he confessed, nursing his beverage.

Sky took a sip for himself. “The man who could control time didn't have enough for himself?” He meant it jokingly. Time did not laugh.

Sky shifted atop the pillows, quickly changing tact. His voice was soft and easy to listen to, and Time felt himself relax just a bit. “I know going through dungeons and temples is a difficult experience. I always hesitated before going into one, just because I didn't know what to expect, or how long I would be in there, or if I would even find what I needed. But I was always grateful that, by the end of it, when the monsters were felled and I was one step closer to the end, I could always return to Skyloft and sleep in my own bed. I know this isn't quite the same, but… I can still find comfort here.”

Time stared down into his drink again, deep in thought. “I used to have that, when I was a child.” The alcohol must be getting to his head. Or perhaps it was just easier to talk when it was only Sky listening – he was one of the few heroes that had never been impacted by Time’s adventures, and it was something of a relief that he could speak to the chosen hero without feeling the weight of his burdens passing to another. “There was no place safer than my bed in Kokiri Forest. If I could've slept in just a little longer, I would've. The floors of the Temple of Time were much colder.”

Sky raised his head in surprise. “Why on earth would you sleep there? I thought you didn't like that place.”

“I didn't know where else to go. So I always ended up back there.” Time set his now emptied glass down.

Sky hesitated, appearing torn. When he spoke again, it was more gentle than before, and Time wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He was fully aware of the degree of caution that Sky and Warriors had been treating him with over the past several weeks. He just didn't know what he was supposed to do with their shift in demeanor. It made him feel so much older than he actually was. But that was nothing new.

Perhaps I've said too much.

“Why don't we call it for the evening? I think I've had enough to drink, and you've earned a good sleep,” Sky suggested. Time returned his offer with a blank stare. Sleep was the last thing on his mind. “Or… if you're not tired, maybe we can try that spa treatment that Wild was raving about? That sounds nice, doesn't it?”

Time stiffened. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he had no intention of being in a situation where he couldn't have his weapons on him while in this town. “Pass,” he responded gruffly. Awkward silence filled the air between them, and Time began to fidget restlessly once more. “Where are the others right now? Do we know?”

Sky puffed out a sigh, but answered in the hopes of mitigating his worries. “Probably still where we last left them, I imagine. Twilight must still be in the training grounds, otherwise he'd be here joining us for a drink. Hyrule, too, must still be off training in the Gerudo Ruins with Riju, setting off their lightning. And Four and Wind… well, they're somewhere in town.”

“Warriors and Wild haven't come back yet, have they?” Time fretted.

Sky hummed in consideration, not sounding very bothered by their absence. “Probably not? They said they'd check in with us when they got back. I doubt they'd forget that, so they must still be out in the desert.”

Time nodded stiffly. The captain had assured he wouldn't be gone long – that he just needed to check something now that the sand shroud was gone – but that had been six and a half hours ago. “Maybe I should…”

Voices sounded from the direction of the bunker entrance, and Time perked his ears in anticipation. Footsteps were racing towards him, and he immediately reached for the biggoron sword that was within easy reach.

Wind rushed into the room, stopping just inside the entryway, and his eyes flicked around restlessly.

Time was on his feet in an instant. “What? What's wrong?” he demanded.

Wind didn't seem to notice the way Time's knuckles gripped his sword so readily, busy as he was in searching the rest of the room. “Did you happen to see a little gerudo girl about this high–” he raised his hand to be almost level with his own height “–come in here and hide a stuffed animal?”

Sky sat up a bit straighter with an easy smile. “Playing games with the kids, are you?”

“Sky, please, she's timing me, and I gotta — wait hold on!” Wind rushed forward, darting behind Sky and yanking something out from the mound of pillows. Sky cried out in protest as his back support was rudely robbed from him, and Wind held up a large orb with an odd rune on it. “I was looking for this one! But that's not…”

“You've been in this room for twenty-three seconds,” Time kindly informed him, lowering his sword.

Wind cursed and swiveled on his heel, ready to run back out into the world. He very nearly crashed into Four, who poked his head inside.

“Cool your horses, I already found it,” he said, causing Wind to deflate. “Did you seriously not hear her mumbling about where it was?”

Wind sighed and picked up the orb he'd fished out from under Sky. “I was trying not to listen, in the spirit of the game.” He smiled weakly. “Dalia's just as energetic as Aryll, so I wanted to play by her rules. She was so excited for it, too.”

Four laughed at that. “We might just have to play with all the kids then, don't you think? I doubt they'll leave you alone if they see how willing you are to go along with their games.”

Wind walked out with the orb held over his head. “Wouldn't be the first time! You remember the kids on Windfall Island?”

“Those kids are fiends!”

Time listened as their voices faded into the distance, chattering about the local children in their eras. He heard the delighted squeal of a young gerudo girl as Wind agreed to play hide and seek with her again, and his breath caught oddly in his throat.

“I'll be right back,” Time promised.

Sky rolled over with a grunt, watching him leave carefully. “They're not going to get in trouble just because you take your eye off them for a moment,” he said lightly, the corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. The skyloftian's gaze drifted down to Time's hand, where he was idly turning the silver band around his ring finger, and sympathy crossed his face.

“Nor will I,” Time answered, turning his back.

“I'm holding you to that!” Sky called as he was left behind.

Time walked down the narrow hall. The whole place smelled of sand and steel. His nerves prickled, and his hand shifted from his ring to the pommel of his weapon.

He paused where the room began to open up into the main space. The boys were already gone once more. The bunker was empty, save for a few. Legend was down the adjacent hallway where their beds were located, resting after their slog through the dungeon. Were he wiser, Time might’ve done the same. Instead, his thoughts couldn't settle quite right, and there was a wrongness that he couldn't ignore.

The clink of a spear on the rocky earth alerted him to another, and he wheeled around.

He was fixed by the cold glare of a tall gerudo warrior that was stationed in front of a door. She wasn't poised to attack him, so Time stepped back. He didn't draw his sword, but he held fast to his wariness. It was the only thing that'd kept him alive this long.

“Sorry – didn't notice you there.” She must've been in his blind spot when he and Sky had gone into the tavern area. “I'm surprised to see anyone still here. Chief Riju still has you stationed in front of the storehouse? I thought they'd already moved their resources back to the main building.” When the heroes had first arrived, the gerudo had been running low on supplies since they couldn't access their main storehouse. Time couldn't imagine there was much more to protect down here.

The guard looked him over with a scathing look, and Time stared her down just as intently. “You're the one who claimed to know Nabooru in a past life, aren't you? It's been a few years – I'm surprised you're still around.”

So am I.

She gestured to the steel bars covering a small window into the storeroom. “Anyway, this isn't for storage. It's our prison. We caught a voe infiltrating our town without permission. An egregious offense, if you weren't aware.”

Time frowned. “A voe? But what did he do?”

The guard scowled. “Have we not made ourselves clear?” She pounded the butt of her spear against the ground with her next words. “No! Voe!”

“But you can make exceptions,” Time pointed out, fighting to keep his tone from getting heated.

“For Champion Link and his entourage.” She sniffed ruefully and turned her head to the side, but never took his eye off of him. “I'll confess, I respect you heroes. But that doesn't mean I want your group around longer than need be. It goes against what we've known for millennia. So behave yourself!”

Time looked from the stubborn guard to the small window into the room. It took him all of two seconds to decide what needed to be done.

Time peered in through the opening and rapped on the metal bars with his gauntlet. Tink tink tink!

“Hello? Who's in here?”

A hylian man perked to attention, standing up quickly. He had dark, short-cropped hair and small eyes, and he still possessed all the traveling gear he must've been caught with. “Oh! Hello! You… you're a man, aren't you? I have no idea how you got here, but you must have a lot of guts to make it past all the guards! How have you not been caught yet?”

Time's fist closed around one of the bars. “I have my ways.”

The soldier guarding the cell peered around the corner of her stationed post. “Hey! What are you up to? Did you not just hear me?”

Time narrowed his eye at her. She wasn't pointing her spear at him just yet, but he was fully aware that he was trying her patience. With Wild and Riju both out of town, it'd be rather foolhardy to act beyond the rules put into place by this warrior tribe.

“You didn't give me a good answer as to why this man was locked away, so I figured I'd ask him myself,” Time said.

The imprisoned man rushed to the bars, his voice pleading. “My wife and daughter are in this town; please, they must know I'm here! I realize I shouldn't have come, but—!”

The guard stepped towards them, and the point of her spear glinted in the light of the torches.

Time didn't waste a moment in unsheathing his greatsword.

“I heard yelling, what's going – Time!” Sky's groggy voice sharpened the moment he stepped out and locked eyes on the drawn blade. He rushed forward, clamping one hand on his shoulder, and peered around him. Time flicked his eye towards him to see the Master Sword strapped to his back. “What's wrong? Did monsters—?”

“Keep that voe in check!” the guard snapped. She had her weapon raised, but he realized a bit too late that it was in a defensive stance, while his own was readily leveled at her. She hadn't been about to strike. “If you're not careful, our hospitality can be revoked. And if you care so much about who we allow inside our walls, then maybe you ought to set a better example!”

Sky's eyes stretched wide in alarm. “I am so sorry, ma'am. He's just on edge after our exploration of the Lightning Temple.” His voice was calm and placating, and his less-than-honest reassurances settled the tension between them. “Defeating so many of the monsters in these lands have left us a bit too quick to draw our weapons, but I would never dream of pulling a sword on a warrior such as yourself.”

Time shot him a dirty look as he lowered the tip of the biggoron sword. Had Sky always known how to talk so smoothly?

Sky tugged on the back of his tunic. “Perhaps it's time to set the sword down, don't you agree?”

The warrior watched them warily from her station. “Be sure of it,” she grumbled, drawing her spear back to her side.

Sky guided him back into the alcohol cellar. The moment they were far enough away, Sky rounded on him. “What did you do?” he asked with whole-hearted exasperation. “I thought you weren't going to get into trouble? You're as bad as the ones you worry most about!”

Time tossed his sword onto the pile of pillows in frustration and leaned heavily against the nearest wall, causing an assortment of pots and ceramics to clatter. He ran his hands over his face, feeling out the scar marring his right side and pressing his fingers against his temple. “If you want an apology out of me, then you're not getting one,” he growled. Sky startled at the tone of his voice, and he went on. “Sky, that man, he's a prisoner, and his only crime is that he wanted to see his wife and child. That's not—!” He was beginning to shake, and that wasn't something he was prepared for. He was normally so much more resilient. “That's not fair!”

Sky swiftly bridged the gap between them, bringing an arm around his shoulders and drawing him close. His eyes were wide with panic, but his words remained soothing. “It's alright. It's alright, Time. We'll do something about it, okay? You're right, that's… I won't stand for that, either.”

Time took a shuddering breath, and for a moment it felt like the strength he carried within himself left him entirely. He sagged against the wall before gently removing Sky's arm from around his shoulder.

Then the sensation left him, and he felt in its place a vision of clarity. “So you'll help me break him out of prison.” It was a statement, not a question.

Sky opened his mouth. Closed it. Then tried again, his words only slightly accusing. “I thought maybe we could try appealing to the gerudo? Not everything requires a fight when we could be…” His smile was desperate. “A bit more diplomatic?”

Time grimaced. He didn't trust himself for that. He'd hardly known speaking to do much good in situations like these. Actions have always spoken louder than words. “Riju's out of town, though. Nobody else is going to listen. And I won't have that man rotting away in a gerudo jail cell. You've been locked up before, haven't you?”

Sky flushed bright red, and Time didn't think it was just from the alcohol. “Getting caught the way I did was a mistake and also besides the point!” he spluttered indignantly. “Time, my gods, I don't know if we should be breaking the rules of a culture that's being generous just by letting us walk around. I'd really rather not make enemies of them.”

“I'm not making enemies,” Time hissed. And maybe that wasn't entirely true. His timeline – his actual timeline, the one he was meant to belong to – had had their relations with the gerudo race sullied beyond all hope with the rise of Ganondorf, despite his best intentions. And it was frustrating, but he carried the scars of their swords all the same. He heard the way they cursed his name in the same breath that he heard Ganondorf's taunting laugh. It made his blood boil to have done so little for the skilled thieves that had taught him so much in a different place in time that was fated for ruin.

Time turned his back to Sky and began inspecting the shelves behind him. Sky hovered over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

Time bumped a small vase, and it shattered on the floor. He winced at the sound it produced. “There must be… this bunker isn't as well constructed as the rest of town. I figured there could be some weak points that could be exploited.”

“Time, if you decide that we need to resort to blowing up walls, then I don't think I should help you with that.” He lowered his voice to a mumble. “Not here, anyway.”

“Then we'll find another way, now won't we?”

The patter of boots on the ground signified that they were being swiftly rejoined by another, and Sky let out a tired groan.

Four poked his head around the corner. “Is someone breaking pots in here?”

Wind poked his head out in the space above Four's. “Hey, that guard lady looked pissed. What did you guys do?”

“It was just a misunderstanding; I'm taking care of it right now,” Time breezily assured. He rapped his knuckles against the wall behind some books. It didn't sound very thick.

“We're breaking a man out of prison,” Sky answered more up-front.

“So that he can see his family,” Time reminded sourly.

The younger heroes paused at that, sharing a look. Wind was the first to step forward. “Okay. What can we do to help?”

Time gestured to the shelf behind him. “This wall runs adjacent to the cell. I figured there might be an access point somewhere.”

Wind gave a nod and began to search the shelf with him, moving aside books, vases, even the nearby barrels set against the wall.

Four smirked as they set their plans in motion. “It looks like the jailbirds know what they're doing.”

“We are not—” Sky protested.

“No, he's right,” Wind assured, getting down onto the floor to move aside some large vases on the bottom shelf. His face split into a wide grin, and he set the jar aside to wiggle further beneath the shelf. The jar wobbled before falling, where it fractured into several large pieces. “We know exactly what we're doing.”

“If you're going to be making that much noise, then I'm going to distract the guard,” Four ultimately decided, slipping away.

With him gone, Time crouched down beside Wind. “I take it you found something?”

Wind hummed in confirmation. “There's another storage space under here! Looks like it goes right under that room we passed on the way in. That's the prison, right?”

“Perfect,” Time breathed. He waited for Wind to vanish into the newly uncovered crevice before getting down on his hands and knees and crawling through with him.

Sky glanced nervously at the doorway before swiftly making up his mind and following after them.