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love-toxin · 1 year ago

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hyrule spice <3 (rauru, byrne, tauro, link)

(general cws: graphic smut, fem/afab pronouns, breeding, knotting, hylian/zonai relations, pet names/name calling, dirty talk, degradation, squirting, fingering, overstim, bondage, unprotected sex, rough sex)

rauru of hyrule

Rauru never falters, never hesitates. He wants you and you're his. There's no fighting it--there simply can't be any doubt that you have his love.

But as the king of Hyrule, he has a duty to fulfill. Marriage, family, continuance of the royal bloodline...you understand, don't you? Even as a Hylian, you must. As a man and a Zonai, he has needs.

One of those needs, especially when faced with a pretty Hylian like yourself, is to breed.

"Ah, ah, ah--ahnnnngh-!" Is it you now, is it him? Who even cares at this point, you're basically the same being by now; bodies intertwined and moving in unison, every shuffle dictated by Rauru's massive Zonaite body towering over yours. Both his furry, clawed hands rest over yours, palms dwarfing your tiny Hylian fingers as he plants his body firmly into every thrust. The thin, fuzzy layer of hair that protects his cock is now coated in your arousal, sticky and slick from the pounding you've taken so all that rings in your ears is a hefty plap plap plap from behind as you take his thrusts.

Rauru once apologized to you, when you met, about his "off-putting" appearance. His ears, his claws, his snout that makes it difficult to kiss, his fur and his tail...he doesn't apologize for it anymore. He knows now that he doesn't have to, not when he gives you treatment like this.

"Forward," He snarls into your ear, gone mad with the weight of his lust and the frenzy of his mid-month heat. His teeth could rip the flesh from your bones, yet even in this state he uses them only to pierce the sweetest of claiming bites into your throat and down your spine. "Bend...until you break."

He can't be satiated by thought alone. Nor even the touch of his own hands, or a concubine if he owned one. It can only be you. Only your soft, squishy flesh rubbing up against his fur, your hands pinned beneath his claws, and your womb pierced on the tip of his thick, knot-heavy cock that's just begging to lock itself within your cunt and never let go.

Those claws dig painfully into your back, yet it doesn't dissuade you, and he loves that. He loves that at the end of the day, you'll submit to your king as he forces you to the sheets and pins your hips under his, his knot swelling and swelling until he finally breaches that soft place and all becomes right with the world. Through the pain you still adore him, and through the pleasure even more so.

Now, it's just a matter of soothing your bruised, marked-up body with his voice and his doting touch, with kisses and whispers of love and promises of all the gorgeous gifts he's going to present to you, as a token of gratitude for allowing the first of the Zonai to mate with the first Hylian--and person--he's ever truly loved.

byrne the dueling spirit

One hundred years. One hundred years of hard labour, training, and agony. Loneliness and isolation and anger, fury building itself up and up and up until it boils, begging to be let out on anyone close enough to make a decent punching bag.

Byrne doesn't know love. Never has, never feels like he ever will--he only knows pain and weakness, the desire to grow stronger clawing at him like a ravenous dog. Maybe that's why he finally lets loose on you. You were within reach. Never said no, never gave him anything but a smile.

And you're regretting it now, he bets. Because you have a muscled, weighty beast of a man on top of you, and you can feel the way he's learning this kind of touch for the first time as well as you can see clouds in the sky.

Or could, if you didn't have your face forced into your pillow, back arched so deeply the sweat pools like a puddle in the dip of your back. And it shakes and spills with the creaking of your bedframe, your down mattress squealing for mercy as Byrne forces you down and bullies your pussy into submission.

"Shut up." He groans, as if his bandana hasn't been balled up and stuffed into your mouth to quiet your incessant noises. If he didn't like you, he wouldn't say anything. But he can't help but tease you...can't help but make you wish you'd never invited him back to your house in the first place. "....Useless bitch." He grumbles, the smirk on his face going unnoticed as your lust-numbed brain leaks out your ears. Your pussy's cute, but it won't let him go--and even when he tries, your body just sucks him back in like you can't go a minute without being fucked.

But it just gives him the chance to put that metal arm to good use. It isn't rubbing or pinching he uses to his advantage, but a cold, hard, wet slap against your clit that finally shocks you enough to let him go--just barely enough to slide out before you clench down on the tip, though, and your muscles won't loosen as if you've been made to have a vice grip most inconveniently. He's gotta go. "Can't stick around fucking you all day. Let go."

Pop. With a deep, clingy squelch, he's finally pulled free from your soaking wet, tight as hell abyss, contrary to your whines and squirmy wiggling that beg him sweetly for more. To stay.

You're pretty and all. He likes you, and he doesn't like anyone. But he can't stay....and you can't get too attached to him, or else you're just gonna end up heartbroken.

But, maybe...maybe he can spare you a little dignity and make you finish. He thinks as he slides his cockhead through your folds again, unaware of just how hard he's falling in love as he sinks back in.

tauro the scholar

Your scholar is a nightmare because he won't let anything just lie. He needs answers. Evidence. Scientific proof. He needs logic and deciphered clues to figure out life's greatest mysteries.

Hence why he's doing today's case study on your soft, cute, and sensitive little pussy.

"Subject-responds-to-stimuli-even-under-duress," He speaks softly as his free hand scribbles out his notes on the pad between his feet, his fingers on the other hand buried deep within your twitching, stretched pussy lips. The 'stimuli' being him, and 'duress'....well, emotional duress counts. Especially when you've orgasmed 8 times today. "I believe in you, baby." Tauro replies cheerfully to your fucked-out groans, a smile permanently etched on his lips as he curls his fingers deep into your cervix. "I can make you ejaculate today! We're almost there!"

Somehow the sterile language he likes to use--which would normally be a bit of a mood killer in bed--just doesn't faze you anymore with Tauro. He's a bit of a kook, a cute airhead with the kind of knowledge the Sheikah themselves would kill for. A sweet, silly man who likes to tease.

A man who isn't intimidated by the pulses of your pussy nor the jerk of your hips as the pressure pushes down on your bladder, who positions his face right up close between your legs despite you gasping out that you feel like you're gonna pee. Embarrassment is nothing to him.

"That's what it's supposed to feel like."

He growls with an eager grin, fucking your cunt even faster with those thick fingers that's toe-curling but not yet cusping on painful. The bristly hairs on his freshly-shaved chin rub your soaked skin as he leans in, laving his huge, hot tongue over your tortured clit that's been messed with like a hot button all day today.

It's only when your shaking hips and arched back come to a standstill that he's finally satisfied--drenched in your juices, his face glistening as he talks you through and urges you to "let it all out baby, give everything to me" until you're squirting just like he told you he'd make you do for him.

Rarely have you seen such satisfaction on his face upon finding the answer he was looking for. Each tremor comes as he eases more out of you, every gasp and spurt of fluid getting him more excited about the results. You drench him from head to lap and he couldn't be more ecstatic, licking every bit he can get off his fingers and his palm as he looks up at you through hooded eyes.

"Now..." He pants, hair slicked down and tongue lolling out of his mouth as he laps up the droplets sticking to your folds as you tremble. "...Let's see if you can do that again, hm?"

link the hero

Link needs very few, simple things in life to coexist with reality. Those are primarily food, warmth, sunshine...and sex.

Poor hero. All he needs is an orgasm or two to get him back into the fight when he's exhausted from his toils. That's not so much to ask for, right?

That's where you come in. Such a pretty thing--and such a nice girl to help him out when he's in need. Link can show up on your doorstep night or day, rain or shine, healthy or half-dead, and to see you let him in and give him a place to put his feet up makes him feel like he's in love.

And whatever ails him is sure to clear up with a dose of your sweet, slick pussy that he swears was moulded just for him.

"Ha...ha...hah, ah-!" Link huffs out as he comes to a close again, hips bucking violently from below as he lets those animal instincts run wild with you. He can't be stopped, hence why you have to use those handy Lynel-silver shackles to cuff him to your bed, all so he won't break free in the heat of the moment and start fucking you rabidly on the floor of your cottage. Not like that's ever happened before, and he accidentally traumatized your milkman when he came knocking on the door....

"D-Don't strain, Link..." You gasp, his cum flooding down your thighs from hours upon hours of rabid coming-home-from-battle sex. "You'll hurt yourself."

Link doesn't talk much as it is, but the wobbly grin and the rolling back of his eyes in his head serves well enough to say what he thinks about that sentiment. Don't care. Need to blow my load. That's what's written all over his expression, and you can't say you're much surprised...or disappointed.

"Fine," You sigh, swirling your hips in deep circles to slow his thrusts--and to remind him of how much he's at your mercy now, no matter how strong of a warrior he is out on the field of battle. Your chuckle causes his back to arch up off the bed, his wrists pulling hard at the cuffs while his heart nearly beats out of his chest. "Then be a good boy and cum already. I've got a mess to clean up."

Link growls, that feral growl that only comes out when he's really, desperately in need of release. He starts thrusting more violently, his hips barely meeting the mattress anymore as he chases that pleasure against your womb--against that blasted little wall that feels like heaven but constantly stops him from shooting ropes right into the source of that ecstasy he loves. Maybe one day.

For now, it only stops once you've had your cervix appropriately bruised, and he's made you slump over him in a panting, gasping mess as his seed flows out of you and into his sweaty lap. Maybe he doesn't need Hyrule, Hylia's blessing, or the Master Sword, or anything anymore.

Maybe all he needs in this world is you.

#king rauru #rauru totk #rauru x reader #byrne loz #byrne x reader #byrne spirit tracks #tauro #tauro totk #tauro x reader #link x reader #link loz #legend of zelda #spicy writing #ellie writes

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satellitevenusnine · 11 months ago

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The Leaders of the Village

PG, PG-13 max. Paya x Tauro, pt II. i have a lot more written, i just need to get some of it up before the whole thing became too unwieldy. cultural notes are at the end this time. word count: 10,703

ao3 link if you'd prefer to read it there.

***

They didn’t join every night, but quite often.

Tauro made generous portions of hearty meals at midday and handed them out to whomever was at the Zonai Survey lab. Cottla agreed to run them over to Paya if the Chief’s duties meant that she couldn’t eat with him.

Paya gradually had much more energy at the end of the day. She slept more deeply and peacefully than ever.

Tauro’s first expedition away from Kakariko village after their involvement began saw him pouring out his feelings for Paya in a notebook to bring home to her, kept separate from his research notebook, of course. He wasn’t especially given to verse, but he wrote about seeing her gracefulness and humility in the way the Hylian rice bowed under the weight of its grain, caressed by the breeze. He told her about what he saw on the road each day, questions he wished he could ask her, evidence he wanted her insight into.

Paya had so many memories with him and of him in the village, she felt his warmth near her always as she moved throughout her day.

Cottla was a good cook, but she was trying to stuff Paya to the gills in Tauro’s absence. Therefore, Paya did her best to promote movement in her own digestion by walking, scaling the scaffoldings, and providing hospitality to the research teams around the ruins in person.

Her heart felt lighter, bigger, and it buoyed her steps. Her friends and relatives responded joyfully to their Chief in kind, tucking flowers behind her ears as she passed them on the village paths, hands touching hands, slipping fruits and wild-growing treats into the folds of her garments against her insistence that she was well-fed already.

When Tauro returned, he moved his things from the lab to Paya’s loft. It rained on the village that night.

He took her home to Lurelin and showed her the restoration work that had been done. Tauro hadn’t felt the need to wander back in a while but Paya had never seen the ocean and he could hear the siren call of the sea. He taught Paya to sail by the wind and to catch crabs and ocean fish, and they traded them for meals at the restaurant. She tried fish roe for the first time and her big eyes looked at him with such bliss that Tauro bought an entire pot packed with salted roe to bring back to Kakariko.

The children told Paya about being displaced by pirates and she listened with quiet attention. She asked the boys take her around the village and show her what they remembered, other villagers sharing where they had hidden or which path they had taken fleeing with their families. Then Paya and the children prayed before Hylia together.

Paya wore Lurelin wraps for the first time and subsequently spent three days solid speaking to the weavers about how they were made, the history of the materials, and what the motifs meant.

Rozel presented Paya with one of their recovered boats, chief to chief, and she and Tauro got to work fixing it up. Paya worked with weavers like Ralera to learn to make a sailcloth and cushions. Tauro took her foraging in Faron Woods for dye materials. She asked Kinov and Zuta, the little boys, to help her create a design that could represent both their villages. They traced many iterations on the sand before choosing a Sheikah eye encircled by a ring of waves. Tauro sat nearby making nets, floats, and line while Paya and the children painted the boat and got the sailcloth attached.

Rola and Cado came to vacation in Lurelin from Kakariko and they were happy to donate a ring garland they were carrying as the finishing touch.

With shining eyes, Paya placed the garland on the prow of the boat and secured it there carefully with cordage she made.

She and Tauro took the boat out into the bay to spend the night anchored on the waters. The rocking of the boat became part of the rhythm of their joining that night. Their sighs and exaltations blended with the calling of the sea birds. The salt of their bodies blended with the ocean spray. The waters that bore Tauro welcomed Paya as surely as her valley in Kakariko had welcomed him.

She dreamed of diving through the air in a place of golden light, surrounded by clouds. Brilliant yellow trees sang to her from floating islands. A sparkle nearby. A flash of trailing light. Paya reached out her arms and gathered a tumbling star to her heart. She felt a familiar embrace from behind, steadying arms cradling her catch as well. Weightless, they floated above the clouds. Black buds in the trees burst into radiant yellow flowers that caught the starlight with gilded petals. Her silver hair floated around her and her lover. Facing each each other, Tauro cupped his hands around the fallen star and brought it to Paya’s lips. She drank the light in a flowing stream until she was filled and then it spilled down the front of her body. The light within blinded her to the world, timeless, weightless, she could only perceive the prismatic shifting blaze of many colors and sacred harmonies for countless measures. Then, the light solidified in places. She saw Tauro, but he had his back to her. He was sat carving something, something that took up his whole lap.

Paya awoke to the sounds of gulls.

She could still feel the light in her body.

Tauro was curled up around her, holding her close in his sleep. Paya lay listening to the lapping of waves against the boat for some time, letting herself recall the details of her dream as many times as it would take to memorize them. She wanted to take this dream to her grandmother to confirm her suspicions.

Tauro stirred when their shared body heat began to get uncomfortable in the increasing warmth of the day. He unstuck himself, stretched his limbs, gave Paya a squeeze, then sat up and dunked his head over the side of the boat.

She laughed when he shook his hair, spraying water everywhere. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Paya said lovingly as he vigorously rubbed his face. When he kissed her in greeting, she tasted salt and his flesh was chilled.

“Mmmmmph,” Tauro resettled himself next to her onto their narrow sleeping platform. “Good morning, starshine.”

He felt her startled reaction and came awake fully for the first time. “You ok, Beloved?”

“I - I had a dream last night!” Paya exclaimed. “I will tell you all about it, but why did you name me ‘starshine’ just now?”

“I dunno, you’ve picked up a tan while you’ve been here. It makes your hair stand out like star light or something. What did you dream, Beloved?”

She recounted it for him.

“I - I think,” she said haltingly, “I think we were in the Sacred Realm.”

“…Paya?” Tauro’s hushed voice contained no small measure of awe. “Paya, I’ve been carving a cradle while we’ve been here.”

“Lurelin is the only place where you can get this oily, buoyant wood. I think its propagation has become entwined with village life as we’ve used it over time.” He explained. “I didn’t know when we’d be here next. I haven’t forgotten what you said about our joining maybe starting new life.”

Paya lay pensively staring at the sky for a moment. She twined her fingers around Tauro’s when he reached for her hand. “It feels like I am still dreaming,” she murmured. “But I believe life may be growing.”

She met his eyes through his wet curls. “You have been carving a cradle?” She smiled so sweetly Tauro felt it like a physical touch.

“Beloved, I…” tears filled his eyes and he fell quiet. She opened her arms to him and he covered her with kisses until she was breathless. “I think you have your own light,” he said finally, voice full of emotion, “and I want to be near it always. The cradle was supposed to be my promise that I’m giving all of myself to a future that we build together. Vows before Hylia or no vows, babies or no babies, I want to see you and Kakariko thrive. But if there are babies, I wanted to be prepared.”

Paya melted. She couldn’t help it. It was her turn to cover him with kisses. “Yes, I want you by my side,” she sighed. “Tauro, will you put your roots down beside mine?”

“Yes, Beloved. I think we’re cultivating something beautiful.”

Paya agreed. They got along very agreeably until the early afternoon.

“The cradle is meant to float on water,” Tauro explained in their tent back on shore. “Carissa was hanging on to it for me so you didn’t discover it accidentally. You could tie it alongside a boat or anchor it with a line on the beach since the bay is more protected. Then the ocean rocks the cradle for you.”

Paya ran her hands over the tight grain of the wood. It warmed to her touch.

“I figured in Kakariko, we could set the cradle near the Hylia statue and let the mill races do the rocking.”

She closed her eyes and pictured it, smiling when she thought of her village flocking to the cradle under Hylia’s watchful gaze.

When she looked at Tauro again, tears began to flow. “I hope we get the chance to use it, Tauro. Thank you.”

He held her as she shed a few happy tears, sharing a few of his own.

“Me, too, Beloved. I’ll be here regardless. I know not every pregnancy bears fruit, and there’s danger ahead for the foreseeable future, but we’re facing it together.”

In the loft at the Kakariko village hall, Impa listened to Paya’s dream, poked and prodded her body some, took her pulses, asked a few very personal questions, and declared her to be in the childbearing year.

“If you’re not bearing life now, you will be soon,” Impa said matter-of-factly. “I had a dream before each of my children started quickening. Your mother had a dream before she found out she was carrying you.”

“She did??” Paya asked. “Do you remember what she dreamt?”

Impa looked toward the ceiling as she tried to recall. “I believe she was eating a papaya and spit out a seed that grew into a baby.”

“Oh! She didn’t visit the sacred realm?” Paya asked.

“No, and neither did I in my dreams.” Impa replied. “But neither of us were pregnant when the Age of the Demon King was returning. I believe the veil is thinner now, destinies are more weighty. More Honored Ancestors may be choosing to come back to Hyrule now. They know better than us what the future holds.”

Paya blinked, slightly in shock. “May I call Tauro in, Grandmother? I feel like he needs to be part of this conversation.”

“Good idea. We should start planning your vow ceremony as well.” Impa said in her gravelly voice. “Some of your duties will have to be modified or delegated while your body and your vitality are changing. You’ll have to name a successor in case you pass from the birthing.”

“Grandmother, tha-that is too much to think about all at once. Please, I need to get Tauro.”

Making a noise of acquiescence, Impa waved off Paya’s protests and gestured toward the staircase that would take her down into the main hall.

Tauro was transcribing some notes from his research notebook to be distributed to the various team leads when he heard Paya descending from the loft.

“Paya?”

Dorian the bodyguard cleared his throat from a corner near the door.

“Lady Paya?” Tauro corrected himself. “Do you need me?”

“Yes, Mr. Tauro, would you come with me to the loft, please?” She bowed with her hands clasped over her heart, sort of out of habit. Tauro could see her mind was occupied.

When they were in the stairway, Tauro snuck an arm around Paya’s waist.

“Beloved, are you here right now?”

The question seemed to ground her some. She steeled herself, looked him in the face and smiled, “I am with you. If everything goes well, you and I will have a — a baby.”

“Tauro, we are going to be parents.”

His smile was radiant. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He tossed his hair back, cradled the back of her head with one hand, kissed the center of Paya’s Eye tattoo, and pressed his forehead to hers. She held his gaze, eyes shining, and drew his exhaled breath into her Hara.

He kissed her and she answered with a passion too big for the tiny stairway they occupied.

Impa cleared her throat from the zabuton cushion on the floor of the loft.

Paya and Tauro ascended the rest of the stairs and sat down on the edge of her bed together. He was dabbing his eyes and she was beaming at him.

“I can see the connection between you is robust,” Impa said. “Good. Paya needs to keep her heart channel clear in order to nourish the life coming through. She told you about the vow ceremony?”

“Uh, she told me there would be one if life came from our joining,” Tauro said, “I’ve known that from the beginning. We haven’t discussed details.”

“Hylia will hear your vows to serve creation.” Impa began, “You have participated in perpetuating a lineage that has been recorded since the days of Hyrule’s founding. In order to fulfill the requirements of the ceremony, each of you will undergo ritual purification and spend time in meditation with your ancestors and the unborn generations to come. Tauro, do you have anyone from your village who can guide you in this?”

He nodded. “Our chief should be able to, or he’ll know who to ask.”

“Mmm,” she acknowledged. “You have the option at any point to refuse to continue. The purpose of the purification is to arrive before Hylia in a state of truth. You must have no room for doubt. The vows must be made while your energies are aligned as one, with one vision.”

Paya rubbed circles on Tauro’s back as he sat in quiet focus.

Impa continued, “The vows themselves are simple enough. You pledge to honor and uplift the parts of yourselves that are coming forward in the next generation. You toast each other with good rice wine and petition the village to accept your vows. The strength of their voices will carry your vows to the Goddess.”

“The dances, too. Right, Grandmother?” Paya added.

“Mm. Dances carry the energy in joy and exultation to grant the both of you happy lives, but the acceptance of the people is what seals the ritual. Particularly for us, Paya, as servants of this village.”

Paya bowed her head.

Impa raised her chin. “Given the events that are happening across Hyrule, I will invite a select few individuals from each tribe as our honored guests. A blessing shared multiplies and we all need reasons to celebrate now.”

Tauro spoke up, “I can ask the Zonai survey team if anyone would be willing to carry messages in the course of their fieldwork.”

Paya nodded, “Any members of the research team are welcome to join the festivities as well.”

Tauro sat up straight and heaved a big sigh. “I’m a little out of my depth here. But I’m excited!”

Paya caressed his face. “Deep breaths, remember?”

He gave her a heart-melting smile and nodded. “We got this. All of it. And I’m glad we get to mark this milestone with something meaningful.”

Paya was astounded to find that making the ceremonial arrangements felt much much lighter on her back than her duties as chieftain. Instead of thinking purely in terms of survival or propriety, she was free to be inspired. She felt sure in her decisions. She was drawn ever more deeply into the lives of her people as she went to them seeking their contributions and their company. Three generations of Sheikah gatherers roamed the hillsides with her to collect ingredients and decorations. They exchanged stories, sang songs, spun histories, and told jokes over the hours spent reaping the abundance surrounding the village. Cori the Survey Team member finally had success in growing a whole crop of Sundelions and Koko was given a few to weave into a crown for Paya. Lasli came home at Claree’s behest bearing fabrics from the Hateno dyer’s. The afternoon Paya spent at Enchanted draping fabrics for her ceremonial robes became a precious memory of laughing and dreaming with the sisters.

She was in the forest looking for hearty truffles with Mellie, Trissa, and Nanna when the guardsman Cado came running up to her.

“Lady Impa requires your presence, Lady Paya,” he gasped, “there has been news of Master Link and the Yiga Clan.”

Paya tipped her basket over as she launched herself toward the path to the village.

Tauro had also been summoned to the main room of the village hall. Impa sat in state on the dais.

Impa acknowledge their presence with a nod. Wasting no time, she said, “I have just received word from my sister Purah that Link has defeated the pretender Kohga in the Depths and learned the location of the Demon King. We do not know when he and the Sages will move against Ganondorf. He has yet to find the sword that seals the darkness, so it may be some time. But the Yiga Clan is without a leader. They still present a danger to travelers, but we may yet be free of them.”

Paya was still catching her breath and she reeled a little at the news. Tauro went to her and let her steady herself with their joined hands. “You ok, Beloved?” He asked. She reached for him and he wrapped his arms around her.

She began to cry with mixed emotions. “Oh, Tauro!” She sobbed, “The Yiga have caused so much pain here. I should be glad they were thwarted but I tremble at the thought of Master Link facing the embodiment of evil!”

He just nodded and stroked her hair.

“Be steady, child,” Impa warned. “Don’t let your strength waver now.”

Paya couldn’t help herself and she cried even harder.

Tauro rocked her a bit. “Lady Impa,” he said, “May we be excused?”

Impa sighed and nodded.

Tauro led Paya up the stairs to their little loft. They sat side by side on the bed while she bawled on his shoulder. He made soothing noises, stroking her hair gently and kissing her head. “I’ve got you. We can do this,” he said over and over.

When her crying began to lose force, she drew away some. “Aiee, my chest is tender,” Paya grimaced. She wasn’t meeting his eyes when she reached for his hands. “Thank you, Tauro,” she said.

“Oh, Paya…” the tone in his voice made her look him in the face.

“I still believe in Link.” He told her, “But I wish we could make our family together in a world where there was no cause for you to cry like this.”

Her face crumpled again as the tears flowed, silently this time.

“The Yiga broke into this hall once,” she admitted quietly. Tauro’s grip on her hands tightened. “They had stolen an artifact I was supposed to keep safe for the Hero. Dorian had told them the location of the artifact in order to spare my Grandmother and I from their wrath.”

Tauro hissed as he sucked in air through his teeth.

“Beloved… that’s terrifying.”

Her expression was pained as she closed her eyes. Then she sighed a big sigh and her face shifted as she seemed to resolve something. “Yes. It was.” Paya agreed, eyes snapping open, “But I am stronger now. I am Chief. I bear new life. Kohga’s defeat means that I have outlasted his destructive agenda against our people. You and I can make our vows without the threat of him hanging over our lives.”

His respect and admiration for her caused Tauro to practically glow. “That’s right, Beloved.” He said proudly. He tucked some of her disheveled hair back behind one ear. “Your family and this village have kept going through it all.”

Paya snuggled into him for a side hug and they just breathed deeply together.

“You ok, Paya?”

“I am well, Tauro. Thank you. I love you.”

Paya had her first bout of morning sickness about a week later. Tauro and Dorian became couriers while she conducted ceremonial arrangements and village business from her bed in between naps. Impa taught Cottla to make acorn cakes for Paya’s breakfast and Mellie delivered ceramic jugs of umeboshi and plum vinegar to the village hall. Rola made Paya a snack food of deep fried lotus seeds and endura carrots that she said was traditional for morning sickness in Lurelin. Paya ate small, frequent meals just to have something in her stomach and drank more herbal teas than she ever had in her life, but she was able to keep her food down. The Zora delegation from the Domain arrived when she was taking one of her many trips to the privy following her morning brews.

“Excuse me for not being present when you arrived, Queen Yona,” Paya bowed deeply when she got back to the village hall. “Please be welcome.”

Yona and her two ladies in waiting curtsied. “Lady Paya, it is delightful to meet you, especially under such wonderful circumstances. Please, do not trouble yourself with formalities overmuch. I was recently a new bride myself and I am so grateful to be able to share in the joy of your own ceremonies.”

Paya blushed, beaming. “Yes! Many blessings to you and King Sidon!”

Yona clasped Paya’s hands in hers and smiled from eye to eye. “May the waters we share flowing through our lands, flowing through our veins, bless our unions and unite our people.”

Paya bowed her head, the iron eye charms on her kasa clinking. “May it always be so, Lady Yona. Thank you so much for coming to Kakariko.”

Teba and Saki flew in that afternoon. Rozel and his son Numar came in from Lurelin before the sun set. The first feast was laid out in front of the village hall and Paya was almost too tired to put in an appearance. She leaned on Tauro long enough to call everyone to the meal and Impa oversaw the festivities after that.

“Do you want me to come with you while you rest, Lady Paya?” Tauro asked.

“No, Tauro,” she said. “Please enjoy the celebrations and get to know our guests.”

Paya gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Come find me when the evening winds down.”

He smiled lovingly and said, “I’ll be there with leftovers.”

She laughed, energy flagging but still with some warmth.

Impa patted her hand as Paya made her exit and told her to put on thicker socks before she went to bed. “Don’t let the Kidney points in your ankles get cold,” she directed.

Paya felt a bit like someone had cast a spell on her that increased the effects of gravity as she climbed the staircase to the village hall. She took her time to take each step carefully. As familiar as her home was to her, she could feel some clumsiness setting in from fatigue. Her stomach began to rumble ominously when she finally got under her futon quilt and she felt a tear slip out as she thought about trying to get up and brave the party or wait for Tauro and risk nausea setting in. She was startled out of her overwhelm when the door to the hall banged open a floor below her and she heard footsteps in the stairway.

“Lady Paya!” Cottla’s piping voice shouted. “Are you still awake?!”

Before she could even answer, the little girl entered the room bearing a plate of food. “Mr. Tauro said you didn’t get anything before you left!” Cottla said in a slightly accusing tone.

“Bless you, Cottla!” Paya said with great relief, sitting up in bed. “Come sit with me while I eat, if you please. Oh! Unless you want to get back to the party?”

Cattle’s mouth twisted up into a pout. “Daddy says I have to go to bed after you eat.”

Paya smiled, “All the more reason for you to keep me company. Would you like to sit in bed next to me or pull up a seat?”

Cottla gave Paya the plate and clambered up onto the futon next to the Chief. Paya gave her a morsel of something gooey, saying, “Lasli brought this back from Hateno. They call it ‘cheese’ and it’s made with cow’s milk. What do you think?”

The girl’s eyes went wide. “MMMMM!”

“I like it, too. It is especially good roasted like this. Do you want to try some with an apple slice?”

“MM-HMM.”

“How about with these poached tomatoes?”

Paya took nibbles of everything and fed Cottla from her plate while asking her what she thought of their guests.

“It’s fun to have more Lurelin people around! Rola is laughing a lot. I like that.” She paused to contemplate for a bit. “I always thought the grownups in the village were big but the Rito and Zora are even bigger! How come Tauro is the only Hylian near their size?”

“Mmm.” Paya covered her mouth until she was done chewing. “All the people of Hyrule can come in all shapes and sizes. The previous Zora king, King Dorephan, would not be able to fit in the village hall according to Master Link.”

Cottla was stunned. “Wow! How come HE didn’t come?! I wanna see.”

Laughing, Paya squeezed her in a side hug. “You will have to travel to him someday, little one. We may be smaller, but we also walk a lot more quickly than someone of his noble bearing.”

“Link told me about the Skyview Towers! I wanna get shot into the sky and glide to Zora’s Domain!” Cottla spread her arms and mimed zooming across the sky.

Paya shook her head slightly at the thought, putting the empty plate to the side. “You are much more adventurous than I am, Cottla.”

“I dunno. I don’t think I wanna carry a baby in my belly. Isn’t that gonna hurt coming out?”

“I don’t have any experience, but yes, it is supposed to be very painful.”

Cottla was looking at Paya like she was crazy.

“You don’t ever have to carry a baby if you don’t want to!” Paya reassured her, “but for myself, I have been able to find paths to prayer through pain. Like when I received my Eye tattoo. It did not feel like when you meet with an accident. You are able to prepare. There is a rhythm. And I felt connected to all my ancestors who had also undergone that rite of passage. Giving birth is supposed to be kind of like that.”

Cottla still look suspicious but her curiosity was piqued. “I’ll ask you about it again after the baby comes out.” She said.

Paya laughed. “I will have more to tell you then. I guess I will let you decide how adventurous I really am.”

Nodding in agreement, little girl picked up the empty plate, bid Paya goodnight, and trundled down the stairs to her own bed in her own house.

Paya sat up listening happily to the merriment in the village round while she digested. She gave a little prayer of gratitude for the blessing in disguise of being sick enough to take frequent breaks from socializing. She could get used to new people at a more leisurely pace. Her natural shyness was less at odds with her responsibilities as Chief than when she had started, but Paya was too worn out by the physical demands of pregnancy to be outgoing. She fell asleep still sitting up and when Tauro woke her up in the middle of the night with a kiss on the forehead, she had a crick in her neck from her head falling forward unsupported.

“Beloved, I’ve got some more food and your evening tea if you need it.”

Paya stretched her legs under the futon quilt and rubbed her neck.

“Mmmmmmm.” She roused slowly. “Thank you for this. And for the plate earlier. My stomach only started warning me of trouble once I was tucked in bed.”

“Cottla is always happy to look after her chief,” Tauro smiled indulgently. “Paya, I know this is a lot. How are you holding up?”

“It’s challenging, to be sure,” she said, “but I have found some enjoyment in overcoming challenges lately.”

“You really have, Beloved.” Tauro stroked her face. “I knew you were special when I first got to Kakariko, but just in the time I’ve known you, you’ve really bloomed.”

Paya blushed and leaned into his touch. “I can only reach for the Sun because you have been there to support me.”

She parted her lips as he leaned in for a kiss and her stomach gurgled loudly.

“Oh! Excuse me!”

Tauro laughed and kissed her cheek instead. “Here, scooch up a bit.”

Paya held her plate and scooted toward the foot of the bed while Tauro got in behind her. He nestled her in between his legs and began to rub her neck and shoulders.

“ooooooohhh,” Paya sighed. “How do you know better than I do what I need sometimes?”

“I’m trained to observe and put together patterns. I’m not keeping an eye on you like Dorian is supposed to but I notice when your energy feels off.”

“You do not get tired of looking after me?”

“It’s not a chore, Paya. I love being around you, and I especially love being around you when you’re feeling your best.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder as he worked on the crick that had developed.

“Tauro, I — I have never experienced the kind of love you are capable of,” Paya tried to explain. “I did not know that I was worth the effort.”

He turned her face toward his. “The ‘loving you’ part is not an effort. As for the other stuff, I don’t feel burdened by responsibility. Do you feel burdened by caring for the village?”

Tauro went back to work on her neck.

“I think I see your point,” Paya said after some thought. “Some people do not think much of serving others, but my service is an extension of my love for my people. I remember what makes Dorian smile. I know Trissa’s joints bother her when it rains. I try to understand what people need to be comfortable. Perhaps… perhaps I spent so long in hiding, I did not understand how I could be known. Perhaps I did not understand how limitless love really is.”

He sighed, wrapped his arms about her waist, kissed her cheek. “I feel it, Paya. Like we exist inside of love instead of the other way round, and it keeps growing.”

“Yes!”

“Mmm.” Another kiss. His voice low, next to her ear, “You are infinitely worth knowing, Beloved. Please trust me.”

“Yes. I trust you.”

“Don’t forget your tea and snacks.”

Paya picked up one of the onigiri from the plate in her lap and stopped halfway to her lips. “Tauro, is this fresh fish roe on top?”

“Mm-hmm. Queen Yona brought some hearty salmon roe as a present for our ceremonies. I thought I’d add some to your plate.”

She burst into tears.

Tauro rocked her some and made soothing noises.

“icanNOTbeLIEVEhowLUCKYiaaammMMmmMMmm,” Paya wailed. “WHY AM I CRYING ALL THE TIME??”

Tauro buried a laugh in her hair. “Ohhhh, Beloved, I’m sorry you’re feeling so raw. I think this is better than when you tried to bear it all silently, though.”

She sobbed and hiccuped and rubbed her eyes, but she nodded in agreement.

“You want your tea?”

She nodded again.

“Thank you, Tauro,” Paya sniffled.

He planted slow, deliberate kisses from her neck to her shoulder while she drank off her herbal infusion in one go.

She shuddered a bit from the bitter taste and couldn’t help making a face, but the kisses were a welcome distraction. She relaxed back onto his chest and reached up to stroke his hair. Paya took a moment to just breathe with Tauro before going back to the food he had brought her.

“Did you get a chance to speak much with Queen Yona?” She asked between bites.

“Yeah, she was telling me about the structures that fell in the domain! They aren’t just Zonai in design, they appear to have been a COLLABORATIVE EFFORT between the Zonai and Zora!! Link and Sidon were able to use a waterfall to ASCEND to a TEMPLE on the SKY ISLANDS where they did battle!!!”

“!!!” Paya said with her mouth full.

“I KNOW! Teba and Saki had stories about their Rito ancestors and the Zonai as well.” Tauro continued. “I’ve asked if folks would be willing to be interviewed by Survey Team members and they agreed. It’s like catching fish in the shallows! We’ll be able to leave a record of primary sources accounting to all these happenings across Hyrule.”

Paya giggled. “What did the Zora delegation think of your Lurelin sayings?”

Tauro gave her a squeeze. “They kinda sounded like dolphins when they laughed.”

Paya had to shush herself so she wouldn’t wake the village with her own laughter. “Oh, I would love to see if you would find King Sidon a kindred spirit! We should see if he and Queen Yona would like to visit Lurelin with us sometime.”

“I think they’d be fantastic fishing partners!”

Paya nibbled on a seedcake and gave Tauro a bite of spiced coconut cream. He licked it off his lips with relish.

“Do you and Chief Rozel need anything special for your purification rites?”

Tauro shook his head “no.” “Mmm-mm. When all the guests have arrived, we’ll go out with anybody who wants to participate in holding down the Yang side of the ceremonies and we’ll gather materials from the countryside.”

A small silence.

“Tauro, our vows are in a day or two.”

Another squeeze.

“Is there anything we should have a heart-to-heart about before we get really busy?” He asked her.

“Nothing is weighing on me, sweet one.” Paya told him. “I could float to Hylia Herself. And you?”

He leaned his cheek against her hair and let out a deep breath. “That sounds about right. I love you, Paya.”

Paya brought one of his hands to her lips to brush a kiss across his knuckles. “And I love you, Tauro.”

They rested in each other’s arms.

The morning sun brought more guests to the valley. Isha and Ashai formed the Gerudo delegation and the first rays of sunlight flashed off their golden adornments. A much smaller figure was with them, one with the gray hair of the Sheikah tribe.

Dorian roused Paya when the watch alerted him of visitors in the pass.

She was there to receive Josha with open arms. “Little Sister of the Village, welcome home!”

Josha bowed before running to embrace Paya. “Lady Paya!!” She shouted, wrapping her arms around her chief’s waist.

She pulled back to give Paya a big eyed expression. “You’re making vows with TAURO???”

Paya blushed and nodded. “I.. umm.. let’s not be rude to our guests, Josha. Would you like to make introductions?”

Josha sighed and turned back to the Gerudo. “Jewels and Wifey here were kind enough to escort me from Lookout Landing.”

Isha blushed angrily and began muttering while Ashai sighed in turn. “Those are not the most flattering nicknames, little vai.” Ashai said firmly.

Trying to reel it back, Paya bowed deeply. “Please! Be welcome to Kakariko Village. I am Chief Paya of the Sheikah tribe. Thank you so much for going out of your way to bring young Josha to us safely.”

Isha and Ashai genuflected in the Gerudo way. “I am Isha, hereditary keeper of the sacred wisdom that forges the Daybreaker and the Scimitar of the Seven.”

“And I am Ashai, a teacher in the wider ways of Hyrule. Our Chief sends her best wishes for your health and happiness, and her regrets at having to miss an opportunity for jubilation. I’m sure you can imagine that her duties as Sage and Chieftan are no easy burden.”

Paya placed her hands over her heart. “Yes, I pray for her and the other Sages’ success every day.”

Ashai took one of Paya’s hands between hers, “As do we all, Lady Paya.”

Josha was bouncing a little in excitement. “Hey. Hey Chief Paya, I was wondering if you could talk to the Boss Lady for me about letting me go into the Depths once the Demon King is gone.”

“I’m sure Chief Paya has plenty on her plate right now, little vai,” Isha said. “I know you’re enthusiastic, but at least let her have her wedding first?”

Josha’s face fell and she tried not to pout.

Paya withdrew her hand from Ashai’s and knelt so that she and Josha were eye-to-eye. “If we see the Demon King defeated, ask me again, Little Sister.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that!”

“I know you will.”

Bludo the Goron Elder was the last of the tribal dignitaries to arrive, making quite an entrance by rolling thunderously into the village. His booming voice as he greeted Paya seemed to resonate off the cliffsides. Kakariko looked completely transformed, both by the unusual activity of so many guests from many tribes and by the beautiful decorations that were almost in their final positions. Even the scaffolding around the Ring Ruins had been decorated with garlands of flowers and swags of vermillion fabric. Fruits from all over the world were piled in front of the kaeru guardians.

The afternoon sun raced across the valley floor. The last garland was secured in place upon the statue of Hylia. When all was in readiness, a gong rang out. The doors to the village hall opened and a figure with sun-kissed skin and silver hair appeared. She was clothed simply in a white cotton juban set and straw zori sandals. A taiko drum sounded from somewhere on the mountainside. Impa, veiled and carrying her mendicant staff, made her way to the staircase in front of the village hall, guarding Paya’s descent.

Chief Rozel blew a conch horn in the middle of the village round. Tauro emerged from the inn clad in a white cotton sarong. Numar, Bludo, Dr. Calip, Dorian, Teba, Olkin, Steen, and Cottla formed a line behind him, all dressed similarly.

Yona, her ladies in waiting Chroma and Kiya, Isha, Ashai, Josha, Saki, Koko, Nanna, Claree, and Lasli arrayed themselves alongside Impa.

Tauro lit a torch off one of the fires surrounding the Goddess and, one by one, the others in line behind him lit their torches in prayer. Tauro began to lead a procession up the village path that switchbacked up to the forest, the points of light showing their progress with one doubled at the end where Dorian kept a close eye on Cottla.

Impa struck the ground with her staff. The drum responded with a cadence. Paya felt the trance state begin to take hold and sank into a meditative breath. Impa struck the ground twice more and a grinding sound from deep beneath their feet signaled the opening of a new pathway. Cool blue light outlined the trajectory of a staircase descending into darkness.

The drum beat echoed, ringing slightly off the black ceramic walls of the stairway. Faintly lit constellations gave the impression that the space underground was limitless. Paya had to touch the walls to orient herself. Her companions lined up behind her and followed Paya down into the embrace of the abyss.

The forest procession’s torchlights illuminated a low dome. A willow rod frame had been covered with mats of woven cattails and then packed with earth on top. Tauro used his torch to light a sacred bonfire. When the blaze reached a certain height, Chief Rozel began to whisper to it. He fed it pieces of all the food that had been prepared for the celebration and the crackles as the nourishment was consumed sounded like a conversation between the chief and the fire. Numar played a pipe made of two hollow gull’s bones while his father and Tauro brought in coals and glowing rocks heated in the heart of the fire. The dome’s opening was barely able to fit Bludo, and even the Hylians still had to crouch and crawl into the sacred space. The opening was blocked with another mat behind the last person entering the dome, all of the participants sitting arranged around a central hearth. The lilting, keening song reverberated within the willow dome as the light from the fire was cut off.

Paya showed no hesitation on her descent into the Earth. The drum beat from the village began to get fainter and fainter, but the rhythm of her steps and the ringing strike of Impa’s staff created a song that drowned out thought. The group traveled from constellation to constellation, cosmic motifs sprawled across the walls and ceiling. The more time it took reaching their destination, the less it felt like time meant anything. There was only one direction: forward.

Those beings with the ability to sweat were starting to show it as they sat around the central hearth of the Yang ceremonies. Cottla had been given a heavy wool blanket to block some of the heat and her gourd of water was the biggest out of the participants. Dorian wiped his brow with his bare arm as he watched his daughter’s face in the scant light from the coals. Chief Rozel also glanced at her from time to time.

Numar’s song and the heat filling the dome had a hypnotic effect. Tauro sat still with legs crossed in the lotus position, letting the heat and the sweat and the closeness of many beings become sensations he was experiencing without judgement. Rozel held up a hand and the pipe melody cut off on a plaintive note like a bird crying. Rozel kneeled in front of Tauro, both men brushing their hair back to expose their foreheads. In unison, they clasped the back of each other’s skulls and pressed their foreheads together. Eyes wide, one inhaled while the other exhaled, and vice versa. Rozel drew away to pick up a sheaf of dried leaves.

“This Son, Tauro, comes to speak with the Village across the Deep Water where the Ones who have come before reside alongside the Ones who will be born. We give thanks to those who gave us life and gratitude to those whose lives come through us. Let all our relatives be here with us now, speaking the language of love.”

Rozel spread the leaves over the hearth, sending up a curling veil of herbal smoke.

Paya was better able to perceive the walls around her again as a cerulean glow grew closer. A natural spring emitting from the bedrock was augmented with masonry made of luminous stone. The familiar celestial designs decorated an egg-shaped room, half craggy, half constructed. Paya knelt before the spring and Impa kneeled next to her, striking her staff against the floor one last time to punctuate the journey. Impa found a bamboo dipper on a protruding rock and rinsing one hand, then the other, poured a tiny amount of water into her left hand and passed the dipper to Paya.

“I would advise that you take only a small sip of the sacred water,” she said loudly enough for all to hear. “This is a salt spring.” She brought her cupped hand to her lips.

Paya took Impa’s advice, the tang of salt and the mineral taste of granite got between her lips and gums and lingered in the back of her throat.

One by one, the Yin procession repeated the ritual of rinsing hands and cleaning the mouth. One of the Zora assisted Saki with cleaning her feathers and poured her libation directly into her beak.

When Koko, the last participant, had completed the ritual, Impa turned to Paya and gestured for her to enter the water.

The smoke from the herbs on the smoldering coals rose like shades of spirits. Cottla began to cough and someone handed her water over.

Tauro began to sway a bit. The pulsing glow from the coal bed was casting uncertain shadows and the spaces between his companions began to feel like they were populated. It sounded as though the wind was picking up outside the walls of the structure. He focused on his breathing. The air was uncomfortably smokey and Tauro turned his mind toward gratitude for each inward breath that came easily. When Paya came to his inner vision, Tauro smiled and relaxed. It was gratitude all the way.

Paya found the waters of the spring to be slightly warmer than blood temperature. It was salty enough that she felt floatier than normal. Impa indicated that the others should also enter the water. She herself stayed kneeling at the edge instead.

“Lie on your back,” she instructed Paya. “Friends and relatives, please arrange yourselves around our Lady.”

The companions found the most comfortable places for each of them to stand on the uneven floor of the rock pool. Paya lay with her head toward Impa, hands clasped over her heart.

Reaching under the water to cradle Paya’s head, Impa instructed. “Please support our Lady and the new life inside her.”

Flesh and feathers easily took the weight of Paya’s body, buoyed by the salt water.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

The shape of the room made Impa’s voice sound like it was coming from every direction.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

When the others joined in, their blended voices resembled the divine harmonies of the sacred realm in Paya’s quickening dream. But they were real, more penetrating and complex even though her ear canals were under the surface of the water.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…..”

Tauro could feel … weight. And presence. The increasingly piercing sound of the whistling wind and the dense smoke in the air were competing for his attention. He turned his focus toward his awareness of Others. It was hard to keep his physical eyes open to see anything through the dim haze. His hand traced outlines in the air of what he saw with his eyes closed. He was reaching, but not quite certain of how to bridge the gap.

“M-Mommy?” Cottla croaked, deep in her own vision.

Tauro felt warm hands on his shoulders.

Paya had not been supported like this since before she was born. The chant had become the heartbeat of the Earth which bore her. Her breathing came slow and even. Her experience touched on the edges of all the lifebearers before her who had lain in this pool, an unbroken passage through which Paya herself had emerged. She felt the resonance of their emotions carried in the water: excited, trepidatious, ecstatic, despondent, grieving, fulfillment, letting all of it wash over her. She touched those moments of pain and insecurity with tenderness, and sank beneath the current of pure feeling to find a deep well of love. All of the beings before her had contributed to its’ depth in some measure. Paya felt an outpouring of love so strong it made her shout for joy. The chanting grew stronger in response.

Tauro sat in the cradle he had carved. His life givers, each in their own boat, towed him between them. Although the water stretched from horizon to horizon, there was no current or wave to disturb the surface. It was flat like a mirror except for the wake produced by their three vessels. No words were spoken. They did not turn to look at him, and still he felt loved and safe. Tauro gazed upon the star-filled sky. A warm glow grew in their sightline. Tauro felt an awareness turn toward him composed of the attention of many beings. His parents cast ropes into the source of the light and they were all hauled in together by many crystalline hands. He felt rather than heard the greetings. He was reminded of the great shoals of fish that used to support giant marine predators, many members of the collective would flash an emotion or sensation like sunlight shining off scales. Tauro couldn’t begin to number them if he tried. His mind struggled a little to comprehend the incomprehensible.

He took deep breaths into his Hara and did his best to open his heart.

Paya gave thanks for her village, and for her valley. She could feel the turn of its seasons from many perspectives through the ages. She felt her belly swell and empty, she felt the pain of birth, she felt what it was to see a child walk away from you and not look back. She felt the bones of her Ancestors surrounding her in the Earth, she felt the trees in the forest that fed the living drawing nourishment from her relative’s bodies. She felt every bee sting, every bud breaking forth in spring, every granite slab broken up to make gravestones that had happened in that valley for 10,000 years. And there was so much love in everything.

Paya realized how many changes to the Sheikah way of life had truly happened over the years. But the drastic changes to the land? Those were few and far between even in the ages of legend. Shaken a little by the realization, she let the flow of love that was so close at hand lift her heart. Their ways would continue and adapt as they always had.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

Underneath the droning chant, Paya began to perceive another, faster rhythm.

Patterns of light eddied and swirled around him. Tauro felt some beings respond with curiosity to the cradle he sat in. He thought of Paya and the whole collective became excited. He felt giddy in the midst of it. A warmth enveloped him.

He was moved by the depth of emotion on his behalf. He received an image sent by the collective of his cradle rocking and then so many cradles in many different waters. None were exactly alike but they all felt familiar. Familial.

The sensation was physically palpable, given the weight of an embrace. Being held by so many relatives brought tears to Tauro’s eyes.

He had never been one to miss the company of other beings. Tauro could happily spend days, weeks, months, with no one to speak to and no thought of companionship. At least until he had fallen in love with Paya. It struck him that his love for her had led him to this new place of connection with himself and those who bore his heritage. The collective community responded to this thought with delight.

Tauro flipped his hair back and felt many consciousnesses behind the pressure against his forehead. His eyes were open but all he could perceive was the shifting light. He exhaled and felt the light draw him in. When he inhaled, the life force of uncountable beings suffused him. Many voices lifted in sacred harmonies.

Paya was reminded of how often she took comfort in listening to Tauro’s heartbeat. What she heard now was much quicker, much higher pitched, like the fluttering wings of a rock dove. The rhythm was strong and regular.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

Her Eye tattoo began to prickle as if the striker were once again piercing her flesh. Once again, Paya could feel in her own body how it felt for each of her Ancestors who had visited these waters when they received their own tattoos. A hundred strikers pounding in syncopation interwove with the gentle heart tones of the new life she bore, underscored by the buzzing, hypnotic chant.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

The light of the star that had inhabited her in her quickening dream began to glow again. She felt it in every fiber of her being. Paya was being uplifted by the foundations laid by her Ancestors, uplifted by her lover, her peers and relatives, and by the sweetness held in the promise of a heartbeat. She overflowed with love and felt it seep into the bedrock of Kakariko. She felt the footsteps of her descendants on her body, an echo of when her physical form would be laid to rest beside the village.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

Paya felt rather than heard a dragon roar from far, far above the Earth and opened her eyes.

Tauro startled back into his body as the reverberations of the roar began to recede. Chief Rozel had scraped the last of the embers into a small pile in the middle of the hearth as the other celebrants sang lively, wordless chants, drumming on chests or thighs. Teba added piercing ululations while Bludo’s voice shook the ground they sat on.

Tauro waved and gestured toward his water. Many hands passed the container, from one to the other, until Tauro was able to quench his thirst. Rozel grasped his shoulder and Tauro began to laugh for joy. Rozel joined in, then Cottla, then Calip, then everyone in the willow dome. The glow of the coals began to die as everyone leaned on each other and shook with laughter.

Even when the entrance to the dome had been unblocked, the darkness did not abate. Once people had made their way out of the shelter, the glow of blue nightshades and silent mushrooms led them back to the path toward the village. Their silent and orderly ingress was not repeated. Folks were still laughing and hanging on friends as they headed back down the mountain path. They split up into their accommodations for the night, Tauro staying at the Inn.

“Are you well, child?” Impa asked.

“Yes, grandmother,” Paya responded. The pitch of her voice seemed to create resonant vibrations in the granite walls.

“Thank you for holding me,” she addressed her companions tenderly. “I believe I can get up now.”

The others withdrew to the edges of the pool while Paya sat up.

Koko had very big eyes when she approached her chief.

“If I carry a baby, am I going to do that?”

Impa answered instead. “Every lifebearer will have a different experience, but yes, you will be given a ceremony here.”

Paya opened her arms to Koko, smiling. “Little Sister, I felt every lifebearer who has ever called this village home.”

“A- All of them?”

“…Yes. Your mother, too. And mine.”

Koko leaned into the hug. “She was here in these waters?”

Paya rocked Koko, big as she was. “Yes. When she was carrying you.”

The companions began to chatter a bit, particularly those who had never experienced a Shiekah ritual. Impa cleared her throat.

“Thank you, friends and relatives, for choosing to be here tonight. Let us return to the village in a reverential attitude.”

Paya and Koko led everyone back up the steps toward the surface. It seemed to take much less time than the descent. All was silent when they emerged in front of the goddess statue. The bedecked village was lit only by fireflies at this hour. Paya knelt in front of Hylia and prayed. Most of her companions joined her. When she got up, she embraced each of them in turn. Gentle laughs, palms laid adoringly on cheeks, kisses and preening.

“I will see you all in the morning!” She called as they parted ways.

Impa struck her staff three times and the stone slab covering the staircase grated back into place.

The dragon’s roar echoed throughout everyone’s dreams that night. Those who were more spiritually inclined caught a glimpse of the sacred realms and saw a small figure holding aloft a dazzling blade while atop a pale dragon.

Nanna, Claree, and Lasli came to the loft shortly after Paya awoke, laughing and chattering. Claree and Lasli carried the robes for the vow ceremony and Nanna carried a tray of breakfast foods.

Paya broke her fast ravenously, really feeling her appetite for the first time in weeks. When she was ready to be dressed, she stood in her underskirt and breast support in the middle of the loft. Looking down at her own body, she noticed the curve of her hips and belly starting to swell as well as how much her chest strained the wrapped support fabric now. Paya’s ceremonial robes were made of soft silks traded from the great faeries and they flowed over her new contours like water. Claree and Lasli chatted and gossiped with Paya as they helped her arrange her finery just so.

Koko arrived with the crown of sundelions and Nanna helped bind Paya’s hair in a way that complimented her flowers. They all embraced before Paya descended into the village hall and waited for her cue at the doors.

A taiko drum and Rozel’s conch horn were the cues she was waiting for. Dorian and Steen threw the doors open for her and Paya began to make her way down the stairs.

Her golden robes draped off her shoulders and glinted like molten metal in the sunlight. The vermillion lining was visible on the turned back cuffs of the large sleeve openings. A thin, trailing ribbon-like scarf called a tenne flowed behind her and over each arm. Her embroidered indigo obi was worn a little high up and it tilted slightly over her more rounded belly. Wooden kanzashi hair sticks secured the garland of flowers to her head. The finest, sheerest silk veil, a simple circle draped over the top of Paya’s head, shimmered with a changeable weave of gold and undyed fibers.

Tauro, dressed in his own finery, stood up a little straighter when she appeared. He stood in front of the statue of Hylia decked out in elaborate jewelry made of stone beads and a beautifully patterned Lurelin sarong in shades of green. His chest drape also went over one arm. His head and his feet were bare. His smile stretched from ear to ear.

Her hands were clasped in front of her heart and her affectionate gaze was on his face. When she met him in front of the Goddess, he reached for her and she took his hands.

“Friends and relatives,” Impa called from off to the side, “those who have traveled great distances to be here and those who were born in the shelter of this valley, please be welcome!”

Paya and Tauro turned to bow at the beings gathered around them.

“We will now hear your petition to the community. Paya, you first.”

Paya blushed but she held her head high.

“My people! My Goddess! Ancestors! I stand before you with the father of the life growing within me. The next generation of the Sheikah breathes and has a heartbeat in me. I have been faithful in my duties as a Daughter who serves. I come before you in the spirit of the love that has flowed throughout the ages between the beings that populate this valley. Tauro and I have planted a seed together to tend it and watch it bear fruit, and to grow old in its shade. I pray that you open your hearts to us!”

Paya squeezed Tauro’s hand and he planted a kiss across her knuckles. Impa directed the young Sheikah girls to circulate among the crowd with lacquer cups and rice wine.

“Family!” Tauro called. “I stand before you with the chief of the Sheikah people. I ask that you hold us with hope. Creation is still healing. I come before you in the spirit of change and evolution. Our footsteps tread new ground even as we rely on the wisdom of the ancients. With Lady Paya, I reach new heights of understanding and new depths of feeling. Chief Paya and I have dreamed a common dream of peace across Hyrule, and raising a family free from fear. Do you share this dream with us?”

Toasting the couple with their cups of wine, the crowd roared with one voice “HAI”

Impa called out, “Do you affirm the union of Chief Paya and Tauro of Lurelin?”

“HAI”

“Is their child a child of this village?”

“HAI”

Impa herself served Paya and Tauro their servings of sake.

“Let their love be blessed for all time!”

The happy couple toasted each other and everyone drank off their cups in one go.

Paya parted Tauro’s hair and tucked his errant locks behind each ear. He laid a palm at the back of her skull with the gentlest of touches. She brought him close as she mirrored the gesture. He kissed the center of her eye tattoo and pressed his forehead where his lips had lingered. Staring into her eyes, he was reminded of falling into the swirl of consciousnesses that was the village beyond the Deep Water. He inhaled as she exhaled. As he exhaled, Paya inhaled, and Tauro’s breath nourished more than just her own body.

Cheers broke out as they kissed each other, touched with an edge of passion.

Rozel blew the conch horn again and the feast was on.

People were free to make plates and mingle. Many small tables and chairs had been placed at the edges of the village round. Claree brought Paya a michiyuki robe protector and helped her to put it on. The diaphanous veil was taken away for safekeeping. Tauro fretted playfully about losing access to Paya’s bare shoulders and a casual onlooker would not have been able to tell whether she was blushing from the rice wine or the attention.

Tauro and Paya mostly stayed in one place as guests orbited around them. Dear faces circulated in and out of conversation. Many toasts were made, although Paya toasted with cool water going forward. Taiko drums began playing and the space in front of Hylia became a dance floor. All those beings who shared in the dream of Hyrule’s liberation found some release from tension that day in joyful celebration.

Isha and Ashai cleared the floor for a couple’s dance with scimitars. The sunlight as it gleamed from their swords and jewels became a part of the dance. The beauty belied the risk the dancers undertook, and the utter trust on display culminated in a kiss that sent up cheers from the watching village. The Gerudo were given thunderous applause.

Teba and Saki dazzled with an aerial dance. Saki had borrowed Paya’s tenne silk scarf and she really looked like a figure out of legend. A portion where they flew high and then fell together wheeling with claws clasped drew gasps and cries of disbelief from the audience. Back on the Earth’s surface, they preened each other as the ceremonial party shouted their praises.

Rozel and Numar coaxed laughter from everyone by doing the Bolson dance. Josha, Koko, and Cottla performed a short routine they had choreographed themselves featuring adorable ending poses. As night began to fall and the flow of wine began to make folks a little silly, the Zonai Survey Team members started up a kickline.

The Zora enthralled the crowd by swimming up the waterfalls surrounding the village hall and then performing acrobatic dives into the pool below.

That was about the point that Paya’s energy began to wane. She squeezed Tauro’s hand, he took one look at her face and nodded. “I’m ready to turn in if you are, Beloved.”

She took her time getting up from her seat, took a deep breath, and addressed the village. “My people, thank you so much for making this day one that Tauro and I will cherish forever. I need to take myself to my rest now, but I beg that you continue to avail yourselves of the food and music until you have had your fill. Kakariko has never been so full of beings of all nations in my lifetime. I would ask that you make the most of this opportunity to connect.”

She bowed deeply. “Good night, all.”

A chorus of “Good night”s came back in reply.

Tauro waved. “Sending love to everyone!” He added. “Good night!”

fin.

***

author’s notes/cultural notes: tauro having a notebook to write to paya when he’s not with her is inspired by early examples of japanese poetry, which i believe are called “wandering songs,” or “traveling songs.” folks used to think of marriage/romance as exchanging parts of your souls and you had to nourish the bit of your partner in yourself when you went wandering, so these poems were written by a traveling spouse speaking to the part of their beloved that they carried with them.

additionally, the bit about the hylian rice comes from a japanese proverb: minoruhodo, kobe wo tareru inaho kana or “those who have accomplished the most, look to the noble rice stalk to see how the more fruit one bears, the deeper one bows.”

sheikah wedding rites are modeled after jinzen shiki, or “civil” Japanese weddings. since i do not support imperialism in my faith, i chose to omit iconography associated with the wedding of the taisho-era emperor in favor of a fancier version of wedding traditions my rural ancestors would have had.

tauro's yang-side ritual was inspired by ceremonies on turtle island that i have been invited to participate in. i chose to omit specific practices that didn't feel right to share, but hopefully the idea of connecting to a greater collective and a communal well of wisdom is being honored.

isha and ashai are lovers because I think it’s a fucking crime that we don’t have gerudo wlw rep. yes, i am choosing to vent about it here. also, i think it would be hilarious for the ‘voe and you’ teacher to be queer.

earliest you can detect heart tones on something like a fetal doppler is 10-12 weeks gestation, if anybody was wondering. you can actually hear the heartbeat with analogue tools like a pinard's horn starting about the same time the pregnant parent starts to feel kicking, about 20 weeks or halfway through, but we're gonna pretend the ritual was like a magical doppler.

#paya x tauro #loz totk #totk #tears of the kingdom #breath of the wild #romance #lots of plot incoming because i have some weird ideas about how the civvies would try to come up with a contingency plan if link fell to ga

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