Fan Fiction Friday: Koume and Kotake – Creation of Fire and Ice, Part 5

Ten years later

Koume had woken early, and, lying in her bed, she lazily conjured a small flame and allowed it to dance between her fingers.  She smiled at the pleasant warmth that crawled towards her wrist, before allowing the flame to expand into a burning ball of fire.  Out of all the earth magic that she had learned over the years, this was her favorite.  Mesmerized by her fire, Koume became lost in the memories of the last decade.

She remembered her jealousy as Kotake had outshone her, progressing in her own magic, while she still couldn’t connect with the spirit of the earth.  Koume had wanted to flee back to her clan, to be celebrated for her triumphs as she had been before their journey across the Desert Colossus.  But the Sand Goddess, Daenia, had soothed her, before disappearing herself.  Months had gone by as Kotake flaunted her skill around the temple before Koume had finally summoned her first flame.  The Goddess of the Sands hadn’t even been present at the time; still missing from their “lessons” for many moons now, and Koume had felt an insidious resentment bury itself into the depths of her being.

But she struggled on, and finally, she seemed a match against Kotake’s frost.  It had been such a thrill to melt Kotake’s strong, thick barrier of ice into a mere puddle!  And whats more, with a flick of her wrist, she had evaporated that puddle until the floor beneath was dusty and dry.  Suddenly, the possibilities of earth magic had seemed infinite!

When the Sand Goddess returned to them after several months of absence, she had the pleasure of discovering Koume’s success.  And, oh, how Koume had reveled in that!  Daenia had then shown them a secret room, hidden deep within the temple, and filled with scrolls of spells from which they could study all the magic that she had ever discovered, and learn it for themselves!

Distracted by the endless opportunities to develop her sorcery, Koume learned to ignore Daenia’s long absences, and instead, threw herself into her studies.  She developed a desperate hunger for the power that came with magic.  And how she had assuaged that hunger!  Koume found every excuse to perform her magic, and soon, living and breathing creatures became subject to her prowess.  The rush that Koume felt as she used her magic to control another life was addictive, and she couldn’t get enough.

Koume smiled as she brought her attention back to the real world around her, where she found the Goddess of the Sands once more in her chambers, like so many years ago.

“Your Grace!” Koume breathed, shocked that Daenia now stood in front of her.  “I’m sorry’ I was not expecting you.  It’s been so long…”

Daenia smiled enchantingly.  “It has been longer than usual, my child,” she replied serenely, aware that her absences were lengthy, but necessary.  “We must find Kotake, as I have wonderful news!  Come with me!”  And so she lead Koume through the temple in search of her twin.

 

---

Kotake gazed out of the window in her own private quarters.  As per her morning habit, she watched the sun rise above the horizon, filling the sky with the most beautiful colors, and casting light on the dunes below.  As she gazed at the sands, Kotake succumbed to her own daily torture; a terrible reminder of events long past.

 

Kotake and her sister had studied earth magic for a year before the first visitor to the temple arrived.  It was another Gerudo by the name of Korathe, whom Kotake had known well.  With the Goddess of the Sands absence and Koume’s self-imposed solitude as she studied her magic,  a friendly face was most welcome to Kotake.  Korathe had greeted Kotake in disbelief and excitement as she explained that their tribe believed that the sisters had perished on their quest. Korathe couldn’t believe that they were hiding out in the temple this whole time!

Kotake had laughed and told her friend of the Sand Goddess and their promise to free her from Hylia’s curse.  Korathe’s familiarity became a stony silence as she listened, and she began to treat Kotake as though she were mad and full of blasphemy against their Goddess.

“How can you say such a thing, Kotake?  You think our Goddess would succumb to the curse of a false god?” exclaimed Korathe in an accusatory tone.  “And you would make up these lies that the Goddess would even appear to you and your sister?  We are but lowly servants to Her Grace!  We come here to offer our blood in fealty to her, not to build stature based on lies!”

A heated argument broke out between them, and Kotake felt her anger rising.  She decided that she would prove that what she said was true, and so she summoned a frost to her finger tips.  Kotake allowed her frost to permeate the room, spreading over the floor and walls, bringing the warm and dry temperatures of the temple to a freezing sub-zero.  She watched with a cool satisfaction as Korathe’s eyes went wide.  Kotake had believed that Korathe was impressed, but she soon realized that it wasn’t awe that filled her eyes, but fear.

“Witch!” Korathe hissed, as she pointed at Kotake.  And with that, she turned on her heel and sprinted towards the exit.

Kotake was stunned by her friend’s reaction.  She had expected Korathe to understand…to believe her.  But she had no faith!  It made Kotake so furious!  She ran after Korathe, yelling and demanding that she stop!  But Korathe didn’t stop.  Instead she shrieked that their whole clan would know of Kotake’s lies!  Kotake, lost in her own shock and fury at Korathe’s words, summoned a glittering ball of ice in her fist.

“STOP!” she boomed, and she threw the ice with all her might in Korathe’s direction.

Unknown to Kotake in that moment, Koume had broken her solitude and witnessed Korathe’s accusations of witchcraft.  She had seen Kotake’s panic and anger and had acted in her own fury.  As Kotake’s ice hit Korathe, so too did Koume’s fire.  Kotake, realizing what they had done, ran to where Korathe should have stood.  Instead, she found only the charred remains of a friend she had known since childhood.  Kotake let out a howl of regret and her tears rolled steadily down her cheeks.

“She would have told our clan that we were evil, Kotake!  We had to take control!” Koume growled.  She had seemed so unaffected by this murder, and it sickened Kotake to her core.

“We killed her, Koume!” Kotake sobbed.  “She’s our friend, and now she’s gone and it’s all our fault!”

Koume embraced Kotake and attempted to comfort her.  “It’s okay, Kotake…it’s okay.  She deserved it.”

 

Kotake broke free from her terrible memory, and realizing that her face was wet with tears, she brushed them away.  She turned away from the window and found both Koume and the Sand Goddess in her doorway.

“Kotake, you do not need to weep,” Daenia soothed, “for today is a joyous occasion!  It is time to go home.”

And so, Kotake followed both the Goddess of the Sands and Koume to the center-most room within the temple.

---

Daenia lead the way as Koume and Kotake followed keenly behind her.  She could feel the excitement fizzing between them as they trod the passageway in her wake.  Daenia could understand their excitement; she was often absent to them over the past decade, tucked away in the most secret of chambers in her temple, as she searched for some loophole that would release her from Hylia’s bonds.  But at last, she had found it!  There was a way…just one way, to break such a strong curse.

As she entered the enormous room, Daenia looked upon the likeness of herself in the huge statue that had been dedicated to Her Grace so many lifetimes ago.  She knew that Koume and Kotake had spent much time here, but they did not know of her private chambers that lay behind the face of her effigy.

“It is time to show you where I have been in my absences from you,” Daenia said simply as she gestured towards the effigy in front of her.  She heard Kotake gasp as the face of the statue seemed to melt away to reveal a narrow passageway behind it.  Daenia summoned the platform that would allow them to cross to the entrance of the passageway.

Daenia watched as Koume and Kotake took in their surroundings.  She could appreciate their fascination: it wasn’t every day that a mortal could look upon their Goddess’s own private chambers.  But Koume and Kotake would not remain as just mere mortals for long!  But of course, their willingness to give up their mortality was important to ensure that the magic would work…

“Great One, why have you brought us here?” Koume asked curiously.  “After all of this time, why show us this place now?”

Daenia had known that the sisters would wonder at why she was finally revealing this place, especially after so many years of secrecy.  And she was ready, at last, to tell them everything.  “Koume, do you remember in the early days of your learning, before you reached the heights of accomplishment in your magic that you have reached today?

Koume seemed to flinch as her past struggles were brought up without warning.  “Yes, I do,” she replied gruffly, clearly disgruntled by the topic, “it was a difficult time.  I wanted to return to the Fortress.”

“Yes.  And when you spoke of your clan and your wish to return to them, I believed that you longed for a man who might be waiting for you.”  She looked on as Koume remembered the conversation.  “But you told me that the Gerudo do not marry.  You told me that there were no Gerudo men.”

Daenia noticed that Kotake seemed confused as they spoke of this matter.  It seemed that Koume had not shared that meeting with her twin.  “When you told me this, I realized that not only had Hylia cursed me to imprisonment within my own temple, but she took action to thwart any path to my freedom!”

Koume and Kotake glanced at each other, unable to comprehend what Daenia was explaining to them.  But Daenia remained patient and continued. “When your blood returned my powers to me within my temple, I believed the curse to be broken.  But I couldn’t understand why I was unable to leave my prison, and so, I trusted that earth magic, spelled by those faithful to me, would break the barrier.

“Then, when I learned of the fate of my proud Gerudo men, I understood!  My right hand…my salvation, the great Demise, was defeated before he could lay claim to the Triforce.  Before he could undo my sister’s curse in it’s entirety!”  Daenia could feel the air around her vibrating as her anger had built up, and knowing that this would only frighten Koume and Kotake, she breathed deeply and calmed down.  “Hylia must have taken action to prevent Demise from fulfilling my prophecy.  And in doing so, she condemned our men to extinction!”

Kotake grasped Daenia’s words before Koume had taken them in.  Anger was etched across her face.  “You swore on the souls of every male that Hylia would succumb to the power of Demise!  Hylia knew that!  In her contest against the prophecy, she wiped our men from the face of our land!”

Koume seemed to be frozen in place but Daenia could feel her piercing gaze, boring into her soul.  It’s no matter, thought Daenia, brushing Koume’s reaction aside.  She might have swore on their souls, but Hylia had enacted that magic!  And Daenia could see that Kotake understood that well, even if Koume didn’t…yet.

“The Hylians believe their deity to be kind and gracious, but I see the truth!  She allowed our people to die before she would share the Triforce and her lands with us!”  Kotake exclaimed as she shook with fury.  “We must have revenge!”

“And you will have it, my child,” Daenia replied softly, giving a sly smile.  “While you were left to study earth magic alone and without me, I used my own divine powers to find a crack in Hylia’s curse.  It would seem that, although Demise was felled, fragments of his soul remained intact and in our world.  Both of you,” Daenia paused and looked meaningfully into each sister’s eyes, “will summon these fragments, and use your earth magic to protect them, until the time is right.”

“And what of you, Your Worship?” Koume queried, betraying no emotion.

“With my last breath, I will do as Hylia must have done to break my prophecy in ages past…I will give up my immortality,” Daenia replied, slowly.

Now Koume gasped and Kotake uttered, “No!”

Daenia carried on as though she hadn’t heard them, “I will give up my divine powers and succumb to frailty, decay, and eventual death, in order to take back what Hylia stole from us.  My sacrifice will breathe life into a Gerudo son, whom you will teach in the old ways, to lead your people to greatness once more.  With my sacrifice, and the strength contained within the soul of the great Demise, he shall be Power incarnate.

“And one day, he will be your King.”

 

 

Artwork by Courtney Chitsiga.  See more of her work here.

Judy Calder is an Original Content Editor for Zelda Dungeon.  She enjoys lengthy debates about the Zelda timeline and anything to do with Ocarina of Time.  Follow her on Twitter.