The Second Stonepact

Several servants stuck their heads through door-cracks and around corners as a Goron trio made its way through the halls of Hyrule Castle. It had been a long time since anyone remembered more than a single Goron in the castle; usually they were there to move the heaviest of furniture. Occasionally one of their elders would come to try and get a handout directly, but usually that was handled by the embassies. This day, however, three marched through the halls, a look of confidence resting especially on the one toward the front. While Hyrule’s largest guards escorted the Gorons, the way they walked you might have thought they were simply a bodyguard.

The front of the three, Dagoro by name, idly raised a hand to rub at his bicep area, running a finger across the tattoo that still felt fresh on it. The Patriarch’s print was now branded onto his stone-like skin, and he reminded himself of it often. Unfortunately, the gesture was loud enough to cause a couple of the guards to flinch in surprise, and Dagoro lowered his hand hastily, giving them a nod in acknowledgement. To say many Hylians were unnerved by Gorons would be putting it lightly. The kinship they had once possessed so many years ago seemed as forgotten as their city.

Behind Dagoro were two of the Goron elders including the chief elder himself, though they both kept their reserves. They came to advise Dagoro, should he need it, but their presence served mostly to keep this official and momentous. Together, the three shook dust off the stone walls and threatened to unseat pictures from where they hung on the wall as they thundered through the halls. The King of Hyrule had been told long in advance of their coming, but even if he had not he would’ve heard from far enough away.

At long last, they came to a halt in front of a huge pair of doors. This place was a labyrinth, to say the least, not completely unlike how the insides of Death Mountain were. Dagoro was still at a loss for how these Hylians could navigate them, though; everything looked the same! Stone passages were so much simpler. Only a handful of moments passed before those two doors opened gracefully, a young woman many Hylians likely would’ve considered beautiful emerging. With her golden hair and serene reserve, Dagoro recognized her as the Princess of Hyrule herself.

Immediately the guards lowered their eyes and fell to one knee at her entrance, and Dagoro and the elders followed in suit. Each one had reservations for kneeling to a Hylian, but the Royal Family had once been the closest allies to the Gorons. They would show respect.

“Rise,” the woman spoke clearly, like a river cascading over the rocks into a waterfall, “he will speak to you, Patriarch.” Her words were soft, but Dagoro suppressed a grimace as he rose to his feet. The elders would need to stay behind, then. Wordlessly, he followed Zelda through the large doors, his heavy footsteps shaking the ground as he walked even on the carpets now. All the way to the center of the large room they walked, and as the King of Hyrule turned to meet him, Dagoro lowered to a single knee once more in continued respect.

Zelda retreated to the side of her father, and the King of Hyrule’s voice struck the air a moment later. Strong were his words, even by evaluation from a Goron, “You need not kneel before me, Patriarch. If you are truly who you say you are, and your arm marks you well, then we are equals. Times have been better, and perhaps we have failed your people more than once, but I have not forgotten the Stonepact. So long as the Gorons honor the light and the goddesses, you are our allies—our brothers, even.”

Had Dagoro been the emotional type, perhaps he would have shed a tear for that. The king’s last sentence had been quoted word for word from the Stonepact, a treaty between Hylians and Gorons to protect peace from evil. It was something every Goron from Death Mountain knew and something that each took great pride in. In recent years it often felt as if the Hylians had forgotten their part in the Stonepact, as if they had been abandoned by their closest ally, but the king’s words were strength to his heart. Even as he rose to his feet, the Goron felt anxiety fall slack.

“On our honor, we remember the Stonepact as well. To protect these lands from evil until our homes are no more. It is with great regret that we understand our portion of the Stonepact has expired, as has our city,” Dagoro responded, sorrow clear in his voice despite strength in tone. So long as the Gorons continued to call Goron City their home, they were bound to war with the Hylians. He knew the Hylians meant to go headfirst into war in the south now, and the Gorons would be obligated to follow. By becoming Patriarch, however, Dagoro had freed them from that when he declared Death Mountain abandoned. Unfortunately, it meant that the Stonepact was in a precarious place.

The king only nodded with solemnity, though, and Dagoro watched him as he made his way to a desk, picking up a document that was covered both in Goron and Hylian characters. Holding it up, the king looked at Dagoro carefully. “You have relinquished Death Mountain and therefore your burden to us, Patriarch. Yet this…” he raised the document up gently, “this ‘Second Stonepact’ would bind you to us once more. You ask much from us in return, however.”

It was a time for confidence, and Dagoro carried more than perhaps any of his brothers. Nodding his head, he placed a hand over his chest in reverence to his words, “We do. You have graciously honored the first Stonepact and provided us with temporary home here. But our people are dying in this place, and your people respect us no longer. We cannot continue to live here, but neither can we afford to send a brother for every two into war with you. My people need a home, your majesty.”

With a sigh, the King of Hyrule placed the Second Stonepact onto the desk once more, his eyes watching Dagoro closely. For a long moment he stood there in silence, and the Goron waited patiently. Finally, he drew himself straight and spoke, “Your people have always been our friends, and that has not died with the first. By your promise of continued alliance with Hyrule, to fight the darkness when you are ready, on this day I bind myself, my family, and my people to this Second Stonepact.” The king spoke with a smile but left his sentence in such a way as if he were going to say more, so Dagoro held his silence, though he too risked a smile.

The King of Hyrule took his signet ring, pressing it into the hot wax and sealing a document into an envelope on his desk. Collecting it, he walked to Dagoro, now having to bend his neck back to meet the Goron’s eyes. With a smile, the king handed the large stone creature the papers and spoke once more. “Snowhead is yours, brother, and we will do everything we can to help you settle it.”

Dagoro’s smile broadened further than ever as he grasped the paper, and with a shout of joy he bent down a bit, snaking his arms around the King of Hyrule and pulling him into a bone-crushing, Goron-hug before the king could even respond.

“We are bonded once more. You have given my people a home, and we are indebted to you for it, brother.”