An: Ok . . .I have finished reading through it, so you Casey, can review it since you are the only one who does. Maybe it's not us, maybe people are just not into Zelda anymore . . .or the chapter are too long.

Chapter 12

The Zora Are Not Happy

Aaron narrowed his eyes as he tried to see what was going on at the gates. He poked Ian in the side, but Ian ignored him.

"Ian. . . ." Aaron continued to poke him, but Ian waved his hand. "I'll be right back." Aaron made his way over to where the commotion was, until two large hands landed on his shoulders and turned him around. He managed to take one quick gasp of air before his face was pressed into a large chest.

"AARON, MY BOY!" The Commander in Chief of the Hylian Army held him in a crushing hug a moment longer while Aaron flailed about, his breath running out. He held Aaron at arm's length and gazed at him, misty-eyed. "You ready for your big day tomorrow?"

Aaron nodded, red-faced.

"Oh, your parents must be so proud! I'm proud! I wish you were my son!"

Aaron nodded again "Y-yes, sir."

His forehead creased, and his eyebrows drew together. "What's the matter with ya?"

"Nothing that I can recall, sir."

"You been drinking?"

"No, sir."

The Commander gave him a wry smile. "You been playing with the ladies?"

"No, sir."

"There's nothing wrong with that. A young man like you should be celebrating!"

"I don't want to have any distractions keeping me from serving my country, sir."

The commander gave him a long look. "Is that so . . . . Then you are excused. Say hi to your parents for me."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"And Aaron?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Tomorrow you'll be Sir Aaron." Aaron's stomach did a flip-flop. "So . . . lighten up. You'll still take orders from the King and all, but don't let anyone of a lower rank push you around."

Aaron nodded.

"Yeah. . . . HEY, IAN!"

"W-what?"

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"I MEAN WHAT, SIR!?"

As the Commander started to interrogate Ian, Aaron escaped to the main gates, where a bunch of solders were arguing. He climbed the steps that took him above the drawbridge.

"What's going on here?" Aaron asked.

"Hey, Aaron. There are a bunch of Zora here that we can't get rid of. We might have to call in some reinforcements."

Aaron looked over the edge. In a sea of blue, what looked like a whole army of Zora stood before them, expressionless, except for the leader who was glaring up at them.

"A bunch? That's more than a bunch!"

"Yeah, well, they won't go away."

The Zora was saying something, but his voice was too quiet for them to hear.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Aaron called out to him, leaning over the wall.

"Aaron! Do you want to die!?" asked a man who pulled him away from the edge. "They're armed!"

"We can't hear what they're saying! Don't you think it might possibly be important? They look like they have some sort of letter too."

"Are you going to volunteer yourself to go down there and ask them?"

"That's a good idea!"

"I was kidding!"

Aaron ran into the small equipment room and grabbed a coil of rope. When he came back he was tying it around his waist. The person in charge for today's guarding duty looked at Aaron. "Seriously, Aaron. I can't let you do this."

"Come on, it's not like they're Gerudo. You going to let me drop or what?" They all took the end of the rope, for fear that he might jump over the edge if they did not.

As they slowly lowered Aaron from the wall, the Zora watched curiously.

"Shall I shoot it down?" asked one of the Zora to Luke.

Luke held up his hand. "Hold on . . . The Queen wants to be peaceful."

"But what are they doing?"

"I have no idea. They're Hylians."

Aaron found a dilemma as he stared into the moat below his feet. "I'M GONNA SWING TO LAND!" he cried up to his fellow Hylians, before he started to do just that. The problem with doing that was that his body kept slamming into to the wall. After ramming himself mercilessly for a while he cut the rope, and landed inches away from the edge of the moat in a roll. He almost landed on his sword.

He winced as he pushed himself off the ground . . . and found about 50 Zora arrows pointed at him.

"AARON! SHOULD WE FIRE!?"

"NO! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

"Hold our fire? Can he hold our fire? Sir, what do we do?" the soldier asked his superior.

"Hold your fire."

"What?!"

Aaron looked at the unfriendly Zora. "Hello. How are you fine people doing today?"

Luke looked at him before saying, "Y . . . Your king, has s-sent us . . . a letter." He held up a piece of paper.

"Do you mind?" Aaron asked as he took the letter. He read it and let out a whistle. It was definitely from their king. He loved how they were notified about this kind of stuff and didn't have to deal with annoying negotiations at the gate. "Okay. . . ." Aaron said, still looking at the letter.

"AARON?!"

"I . . . do not unders-stand when your comrades . . . sh . . . sh . . . shout."

Aaron looked back up the wall. "WOULD YOU GUYS QUIT SCREAMING AT THESE POOR PEOPLE?!"

The soldiers only blinked.

"Okay," Aaron said to Luke. "Don't worry, I'll take care of all this for you guys. Just . . ." He made a hand motion to lower their weapons. "Just hold your fire."

He turned back to the soldiers. "THEY GOT A LETTER FROM THE KING TO LET ENTRY FOR ONE ZORA!"

"THEN WHY IS THERE A WHOLE ARMY OF 'EM!? AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THE LETTER'S NOT FAKE!?"

"THEY CAN HARDLY SPEAK HYLIAN! GIVE THEM A BREAK!" Aaron didn't like talking about the Zora when they were only a couple of feet away.

"I will enter," said Luke to Aaron. "If I do not return, my men will attack."

Aaron's eyes widened at the threat. "Sure thing, sir. I'll personally escort you and nothing bad will happen to you."

The Zora gave him a look that made him uncomfortable, but Aaron ignored that and raised his arm to the soldiers. "'KAY, LOWER THE BRIDGE!"

The other guards gave each other incredulous looks, but the bridge was lowered.

Aaron and Luke walked across the bridge. Luke looked at Aaron before asking, "What po . . .sition. . ." he stuttered over the word, ". . . that gives you thi . . .s power?"

Aaron looked back at him, not sure what to say. "I'm not that big, sir. Not yet, anyway. Just Aaron."

Aaron chewed on the inside of his mouth. Where was he in this messed-up hierarchy? There was a complected system of foot solders and archers, captains, colonels, generales, the calvary and a whole bunch of others that he couldn't think of off the top of his head. The longer you were in, the farther you moved up in rank. That was the army. Above them in class were the nobles, dukes, lords, and the Royal Family; though most of these people knew nothing of military, they had to be protected over anyone in the army and the common people. Now the common people were classed by wealth, but he didn't pay much attention to that. He was in the Army. He was going to be a knight. Where did that fit in? Only a few people could be one of the King's knights -- only a handful were deemed good enough -- but what did that mean?

He had asked his father once, and his father had said, "Well, my dear boy, a knight is a class of its own!"

Whatever the hell that meant.

People respected Aaron, that was all that mattered, he supposed. Knight had to be pretty high up there, whatever it was. It was kind of like the Shiekah, who also complicated things to a whole new level.

Basically, you don't mess with a Sheikah. Not even the knights. . . .

But the Sheikah were supposed to be good. Supposed to be.

The Gerudo were bad. Supposedly.

The Zora . . . right next to him, watching him intently. Aaron let out a nervous sigh.

The walk to the castle seem to take forever. The Zora seemed to be moving slowly, but Aaron had to lengthen his stride to keep up with him. Other solders accompanied them to the castle as well. It gave Aaron the impression that the Zora was their prisoner. He hoped there wouldn't be a problem.

"AARON!" a voice called, and Ian jogged up to them, slowing down as he caught sight of the Zora. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open, as if trying to decide how to greet the fish person. He settled for nodding his head rather awkwardly before falling in step with Aaron, the Zora watching them the whole time.

"Aaron," he whispered again.

"What?" Aaron whispered back, slightly irritated. He didn't know why, but he felt like they were carrying a bomb that would go off in any second.

"The Commander said that if I don't shape up, he's not going to let me get knighted tomorrow."

"What?! Ian, no! Why not!?"

"I'm just not as good as you . . ."

"Ian," Aaron hissed. "Don't act that way. For some reason, whenever we train together, you don't try. I've seen you when you try. You're amazing. You have to get focused."

Ian sighed. "What's the point?"

"The point is," Aaron said between clenched teeth, "that you are not going to let me become one of the King's knights by myself. Just now, I climbed down the wall of Hyrule Market to talk to Zora!"

"What?!"

"I need you to be there for me when I do stupid things!" The Zora was still watching them. Aaron wondered if the he was following their conversation. "So try, or I'm just going to have to slaughter you."

"Okay, okay. I'll shape up. Don't do anything thing stupid without me."

"Good. Now go and train for the next 24 hours. You are going to get knighted."

"Yeah whatever," Ian said as he parted from the group. Aaron doubted Ian would train for 24 hours – though Aaron might have tried it – but Ian would train.

Ian was good.

Just not compared to Aaron, but that didn't matter because Aaron was a freak, according to Ian.

They were let through the walls that guarded the castle. They were let through because Aaron was with them. His father had been well known in the military and the castle before his retirement. Everyone knew Aaron.

Everything was going smoothly till they got to the doors of the throne room.

When the news got out that a Zora was there, guards started to run all over the place.

"You are not welcome," one of them said, trying to keep from looking like an idiot.

"Yeah, he is." Aaron showed him the letter and smiled, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back. He flashed Luke a reassuring grin, trying to let them know that everything was under control.

The guard looked over the letter, his eyes narrowing. He looked up at Aaron. "And you're sure this isn't a forgery?"

"I went over this with the other guards – take it up with them."

The guard's eyes moved from Aaron to the Zora and back again. He took a deep breath and stood aside, pushing the heavy door open with one arm. He leaned into the entrance of the throne room, "A Zora is here to see you!" he shouted, keeping his head down so the King would have a harder time recognizing – and possibly punishing – him.

Aaron winced at the King's rather loud "WHAT?!" He gave a quick glance at the Zora to try to guess how offended he may be.

The guard faced Aaron before the door finished closing. "He's busy."

"Wait -- would you --" Aaron put his shoulder in the door before it shut all the way. It hurt a little more than he'd expected; it was a heavy door. "Wait a second?" He slipped in.

"Hey! You can't go –" Aaron shut the door.

"You're not a Zora!" The King declared.

"Um . . . no. I'm not, but I–"

"Do I know you?"

"No. Not really. I am Aar–"

"GUARDS!"

"Wait! But they have this letter!" Aaron held the letter up as high as he could, waving it around to make it more noticeable.

"Oh really, now? How do you know it's not a forgery?"

"Well, did you write it?"

"Oh. Well. . . . Somebody retrieve the letter for me." One of the men that stood around the room scampered over to Aaron, took the letter and pranced up to the King. The King read the letter, making little noises to himself. He then look up at Aaron. "It appears that this letter is actually not a forgery!"

"That's good, right?" Aaron asked.

"Is the Zora here already?"

"He's just right outside."

"Oh, damn. Let him in!" Aaron knocked on the door. "My son must be here to witness this event! DAPHNES!" The King leapt off his chair, his large stomach swinging as he waddled down the steps. "DAPHNES!"

The Princess walked into the room from the side entrance. "ZELDA!" he shouted though she was only a few feet away. "WHERE'S MY SON?!"

Zelda sighed. "I don't know, Your Majesty."

"Well, he must be found! SOMEBODY! FIND HIM!"

Zelda looked up to see Aaron helping the Zora into the room. Her eyes locked on him and didn't even leave when he looked back at her.

Him . . .

She suddenly wanted to go over to him, to fling her arms around him and weep. To thank him over and over. But that made no sense. Thank him for what?

Such feelings were alarming. She was a married woman. She was a princess! She shouldn't be having fantasies about random men . . . if that's what it was.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Daphnes smile weakly at her before he followed his father back to the throne. He was more antsy than usual, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

Something was amiss. She looked from the Zora back to the King's fake grin.

"Welcome to the kingdom of Hyrule!" The King boomed.

The Zora twitched his mouth in what might have been a smile, but looked more like a grimace.

"You must be anxious to see the Triforce. It really is amazing. You're lucky that you were chosen on such a noble service. Well, let us get going, shall we?"

The King got up once again. Daphnes followed and so did many of the King's men. "Aar- . . . or whatever your name is, your service here is done ." The Zora's escort was switch to one of the King's men. Zelda went to follow, but the King said, "Oh, Zelda, you can stay here."

And they were gone.

Zelda glared at them for a moment before turning her gaze to Aaron. She hadn't completely dissolved her glare in time, and Aaron bowed to her. Once he did so, he realized that he had forgotten to bow to the King and his son.

"I'm sorry," he said, though he had remembered to bow to Zelda, so he shouldn't be telling the Princess that he was sorry.

"You. Look up at me."

He did so thinking, Oh shit, I'm in trouble.

"Who are you?"

"Uh . . . My name's Aaron. I'm a squire. I'm supposed to be knighted tomorrow."

Zelda gave him a sad smile. "It's a bad time to be a knight." She sat back down on her throne.

"You think so?"

"There's going to be a war." Zelda sighed, leaning heavily on the armrest and letting her gaze fall to the window.

"Well, wouldn't that make it a good time to be a knight? The more I can do in my service, the better."

Zelda turned her gaze back onto Aaron. He was a weird man, and she almost told him so, but thought against it. Besides, maybe he was just trying to flatter the Royal Family.

"What if your orders went against your better judgement?"

Aaron looked around to make sure no one else was in the room. He was surprised that there didn't seem to be any guards around. The Princess was completely unprotected. "I shouldn't be telling you this . . . but I only really pretend to follow orders. To tell you the truth, just very recently I climbed down the city wall on my own volition." He shrugged. "If something doesn't seem right, I feel like I should fix it, you know?"

She looked at him, somewhat startled. "You couldn't possibly–"

"Don't tell anyone, would you? I'm trying to keep a good image."

Zelda nodded. "I understand." Maybe she'd request his company more often. She found him interesting.

The Triforce was carried on a pillow by the most trusted of the King's men. The trek that they would have to do was somewhat long; by long, it is meant that the King couldn't simply walk to the destination. He was required to ride a horse, and he had the courtesy to have everyone else require a horse as well.

Unfortunately for Luke, Zora did not ride.

"I will not g-get . . . on that . . . th-thing . . ."

"Oh, come on, son! There's no trick to it! You just simply hoist yourself up there. Somebody help the chap, won't ya?" boomed the King. Nobody seemed to want to touch the Zora and the Zora didn't seem like he wanted to be touched, either.

"I will walk," he said stiffly, though he was still trembling, and flinched whenever he looked at the horse.

"Suit yourself."

They made their way up the mountains that surrounded the country -- or countries, depending who you asked.

The King started a long boring rant about the history of the rocks they walked on. Daphnes played with the mane of his horse.

This was bad. Why had he been sent to accompany them? How could they possibly outsmart the Zora, when the Zora was obviously smarter than his father? The Zora could probably kill them all before anyone did anything. They were doomed. Man, they were doomed.

What was the actual plan on getting rid -- but not really -- of the Triforce? No one ever told him! Indignant panic flooded his body, making him sit up straighter and turn bright pink. No, why would they enlighten him about the plan? He was only the man who would someday rule the country! For people who would someday depend on his judgement, they didn't seem to care much about it.

"And as you can see here, this practically area is a very traditional kind of rock . . . very gray, for here in Hyrule, we are very traditional. It's actually the same type of rock we passed only moments ago . . . and we're about to come to more in just a second–"

"Dad," Daphnes interrupted, "where are we going?"

The King laughed. "Why, to get rid of the Triforce, of course! That's why we came all the way up here!"

Daphnes raised an eyebrow at his father, who had already turned around. This had to end badly.

They finally stopped at their destination: a large cliff, overlooking the sea before them.

"To insure peace and prosperity between the races, we shall toss the Great Triforce into the sea!" The King exclaimed. The Zora's eyes widened, and he pressed his lips together, almost -- but not quite -- suppressing a grin.

"Why would we throw it into the sea? The Zora live in the water! They could find it if we throw it into the sea!" Daphnes hissed to one of the men.

The man shrugged. "We're not really getting rid of it, remember?"

As Daphnes looked carefully, he could barely see what looked like a black thread tied carefully around the Triforce. It was even more difficult to see with the constant glowing of the sacred relic, but Daphnes could see the thread going off the edge of the cliff. He wondered how good the Zora's eyesight was.

"Now! Toss the sacred relic!" The men holding the pillow threw all that they were holding over the edge. The Zora stepped forward to see. the movement was quick and silent, and some of the men drew their weapons. Only a splash could be heard as something fell into the deep waters.

The King laughed nervously. "We don't want you tumbling off the edge, now."

The Zora glared at the King. "I have jumped off of mu . . . ch . . . higher b-before." The Zora went over to the edge and peered into the ocean. "Why does it glow not ?"

"Hmm?" asked the King confused.

"Doess . . . the Triforcce . . . not glow?"

"Oh, well--" The King stammered, realizing he forgot that part of his plan. "The water's very deep and dark. The whole thing's gone by now."

The skeptical Zora was sent back to his people after giving the promise to tell his queen that the Triforce was indeed thrown away. The King and Queen felt instantly relieved once the Zora had gone, but what they did not know was that the Zora had been watching their act from the ocean. Scouts had been placed all around the Hyrulian kingdom, and Luke had been communicating with them in high-pitched sounds that weren't really sounds at all, but waves that were felt. It was a way that the Zora were able to communicate underwater, much like echolocation. It worked much better in the water. Zora were only able to hear out of water in close proximity, but thankfully, ever since the group had gone outside, the other Zora were able to hear just fine. They were even luckier when the group moved close to the ocean.

So these Zora scouts saw when the thin-black-threaded Triforce was thrown over the edge and they saw a group of Hylians, sitting on a small ledge in the middle of the face of the cliff, catch it. The hidden Hylians's position was impossible to see from someone who stood on top of the cliff. When the Triforce was dropped, the hidden Hylians were able to pull it up with the thread, so easily that only the help of the Triforce could have allowed them to do it so effortlessly. One of the Hylians dropped a rather large stone into the waves to make the splash, almost hitting one of the Zora scouts in the head.

With the Hylian's deceit found out, the Zora quickly returned to their Domain to tell their king and queen, shaking with anger.

Nabooru had stolen a horse and zipped out of the valley. It wasn't all that hard. Nobody questioned her when she saddled the horse up, for why would they? She was just taking it out for some archery practice. No one noticed the cloak she grabbed and stuffed into the saddle bag. Maybe she was taking a little ride around the valley. No big deal that she happened to end up at the Gerudo gates that led to Hyrule Field.

Having Niesha and Yasha be at the post for the day was lucky, too. It had been so easy for Nabooru to say something, frame Yasha for it, and get the girls fighting. Nabooru's work was really too easy.

After crossing the bridge, she took off at a gallop into the forbidden green grass of Hyrule Field. She didn't run the horse for too long -- it would be bad if it dropped dead on her. She slipped off the sweaty, skinny beast and let it graze as they walked through the endless green.

She didn't know what the big deal was. No Hylians out here to come to seize her for being on their land. What was stopping the Gerudo from coming here and just taking over?

Stupid Ganondorf.

She hated the way he was letting the Hylians bully them around like this! She knew what she would do; she'd camp out here for a bit. If nothing happened to her, then it would be safe for the Gerudo to come out here too, right?

The horse was guzzling down the grass like it had never eaten before. At least the beast was getting something out of this. Nabooru sat down on the ground and crossed her legs, bored. She didn't think about how boring this would be when she'd first thought up her plan. There was seriously nothing around, but green. In the distance she could see mountains. There was something else, too, but she couldn't tell what it was, so she decided to go in that direction. It looked like a giant rock in the middle of the field. Maybe it was its own mountain. Nabooru headed out, pulling the reluctant horse with her.

After a few hours of walking, Nabooru climbed back on the horse. Unfortunately, every few steps the horse would try to stop so it could graze. After the fortieth time or so of yanking its head up, Nabooru gave up. She sat there on the horse, staring off in the horizon, when she thought she saw something moving. She squinted, cupping a hand around her eyes, and could just barely see what looked like a horse-drawn wagon lumbering toward her.

At first, Nabooru didn't register this as bad. She was still trying to figure out what this wall of stone that may or may not have been its own mountain was, and didn't much care for a stupid wagon. Then she remembered that whoever was in that wagon was most likely Hylian, and certainly not Gerudo. Her muscles seized up, and she gazed at the oncoming vehicle in horror before realizing that she was only giving them a great view of her non-Hylian face. She pulled her cloak out of her saddle bag and flung it over her, pulling the fabric to hide her features. She looked at the flashy tack that adorned the horse. There wasn't any way she could hide that. It just screamed, "Gerudo."

"FALON!"

Nabooru turned her face, startled at the foreign word. A blonde Hylian girl sprinted up to her. She was obviously one of the people who traveled with the wagon and as she slowed down, she covered her mouth, her eyes widening.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I saw your red hair and thought you were a friend of mine . . . who, eh, has red hair!" She was breathing hard from running. "Terribly sorry! Goddess, this is embarrassing."

Nabooru tried to smile, but her muscles were still stiff from panic, and she was sure it didn't look right.

The wagon pulled up and Nabooru looked over the people in it, wondering if she could outrun or outfight them. The driver was a short, fat man. He was accompanied by two young men, the youngest more a boy than a man. "Why, who is this?" asked the short man.

"I don't know," answered the girl. "I thought she was Falon, but obviously I was wrong. What's your name? I'm Lilly. This is my father, and my brothers, Mark and Chris."

Nabooru blinked, trying to make sense of her strange-accented babbling. "Um . . . well . . . I'm . . . nobody, really!"

"Where are you heading, Miss? Are you traveling all by yourself?" The driver looked up at her kindly.

"Yes. I'm not going anywhere. I was just riding for fun. I was just wondering what that thing was, so I thought I might go over there." Nabooru waved her arm toward the object in the distance.

"You mean Lon Lon Ranch? We're going there ourselves! Why don't you travel with us? It's not safe for a pretty lady such as yourself to be traveling on your own."

Nabooru's face flushed with anger. "I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!"

The older boy laughed. "I like this one, Pop."

"Good. Why don't you marry her?" The boy closed his mouth and blushed.

Nabooru's mouth dropped open. "HE WILL NOT MARRY ME!" Marry?! What the hell did that mean!?

The short man laughed. "Don't worry, Miss, I was only kidding. Come with us!" Nabooru's horse decided that it would like to follow the big horse pulling the wagon, so it made the choice for her. She sat sulkily on her mount. How was she going to get herself out of this one?

"So, where are you from?" asked the younger boy.

"Nowhere," Nabooru answered.

"That sounds interesting."

The older boy eyed the gold harness her horse wore. "You some sorta princess or something?"

"I'm a no one."

He stared at her for an uncomfortable while. "Sorta fancy-looking for a nobody," he said. "You hiding from someone?"

"So what if I am?!" Nabooru demanded.

"Well after we stop at Lon Lon Ranch, were heading off to Hyrule Castle Market Town. We're farmers and we have friends at Lon Lon, so once we visit there, we all go into town together."

"That's amazing," Nabooru said sarcastically.

"I'm sure the Lon Lons would love it if you stayed for dinner! They always are glad to have company to feed!"

Nabooru was about to decline the offer, but her stomach gave her away.

"You seem hungry already!"

She frowned, but didn't argue. Part of her was desperately curious to try some Hylian food, anyway.

As they traced the outskirt of the rock wall -- that was definitely man-made -- they found an opening and traveled through it. The rock wall opened up into a small alcove where Lon Lon ranch was nestled.

A young woman that might have been a little older than Nabooru and Lilly stumbled out of the barn. Nabooru assumed this was Falon, for she had a shock of brilliant red hair. "OH, TALON!" she cried. "THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE! HELLO, EVERYBODY!" And she disappeared into the house. After a moment or two, the girl came out again, dragging behind her a young man with dark hair.

"It's so good to see you guys again! Mary home with the kids?" asked the man.

"Yep. She's just popped out another one, so I thought it best she stayed home."

The dark haired man laughed. "You guys got your own little zoo at home, don't ya?"

"When are you two gonna start having kids?" asked the short man.

Falon blushed. "Oh, I don't know. Talon wants to wait a little longer, until we have more money."

"Talon!"

"I only want what's best for the kid!"

Nabooru noticed another man leave the barn, holding a bucket of water. He was glowering, like the conversation sickened him. Nabooru couldn't say it was all that appealing, either.

"Oh, who's this?" Falon clapped her hands together and stood in front of Nabooru's horse. She blew into its nose and stroked its face. "Is this a new girlfriend?"

At first Nabooru thought she was talking about that horse, and raised her eyebrows at the strange girl, but she soon realized she was talking about her.

"No. I'm no one's friend!"

"She's just a traveler we met on the way here. I thought she deserved a good meal. You don't mind, do you, Talon?" said the short man.

"Of course not! We love having company over! Falon is a wonderful cook!" He kissed Falon on the cheek and she giggled. "Come inside! You must be hungry! Ingo can take care of the horses. INGO!"

The grumpy man came over at the sound of his name, a scowl still plastered onto his face. When his eyes landed on Nabooru's horse, they lingered on its gold-and-ruby incrusted tack. Nabooru frowned at Ingo. She knew a potential thief when she saw one; she'd seen that appraising, eager expression on her friends and in her mirror.

She climbed down from her horse. "Actually, I think I rather take care of my own horse."

"Nonsense! You must be starving! Dinner will get cold! Let Ingo do it. He's been doing it all his life. He's my best friend, that Ingo!" Ingo had an expression on his face that didn't seem to match the statement, so Nabooru was a little confused. She didn't bother thinking about it for too long, though. Let the Hylians deal with their own stupid problems, so long as they left her alone.

The others turned to go back into the house, and Nabooru grabbed Ingo by the collar of his shirt. "Don't even think about taking anything that is mine!" She opened her cloak to flash one of her scimitars at him. His eyes went wide for a second. "Got it?" He nodded his head. "I'll know if you do, so don't try to outsmart me." Then she walked into the house with the others.

"Let me take your cloak," Falon started to say.

"No!" Nabooru put her hands up. "I . . . need it to stay on because . . . it's cold . . . in here."

"Oh." Falon blinked. "Do you want me to make a fire?"

"No, no, no. Don't want you to waste your firewood. I'll just keep this on."

"O . . . kay."

Nabooru ate her meal in silence. The food was foreign to her and give her a bit of a stomachache, but it tasted good. Everyone else talked loudly to one another, trying to catch up on their lives. "Oh, we should give Ingo some dinner, too!" Talon said, getting up.

"Oh yes! Of course!" Falon kissed her husband's cheek, told him to sit back down, put some food on a plate, and left.

"So," Talon said, looking at Nabooru. "Where did you say you were from?"

Nabooru blinked before swallowing her food. "Well, I'm not really from anywhere. I thought I'd get away for a while, you know? This is just like . . . vacation!"

"Traveling for the joy of traveling! Now that's the way to live!" the short man said.

"You are such a beautiful girl. I can say that now that Falon is gone." Talon laughed. "But you shouldn't be wandering by yourself."

Nabooru grimaced and fought the urge to pull out her scimitars. "Would you guys stop telling me that shit? I can take care of myself a lot better than any of you buffoons can!" All the men at the table looked at Nabooru with wide eyes, startled that the young girl had cursed in front of them.

Lilly sighed. "Ignore them. They're a little sexist sometimes."

Nabooru gave the men another glare before stuffing her mouth with more food that made her sick. She had to keep excusing herself to go to the bathroom, where she'd crouch on the floor and pray to the Goddesses to never let another bite of overly-rich Hylian food pass her lips going in either direction. Then she'd vomit again.

Much later, after her stomach had settled down some, Nabooru, Lilly and Falon were in a large room with simple yet homey decorations. They were to have the main bedroom, while the men slept in the guest room. Talon graciously gave up his bed for the girls -- and he wanted to spend some time with the guys as well, since he hadn't seen them in so long.

Nabooru stood there awkwardly with her cloak still on while the other two girls got ready for bed. "Here, I got you some more blankets." Falon handed Nabooru the bundle of cloth.

"Thanks." Nabooru clutched her cloak. No one had made another offer to try to take it away from her again, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Lilly and Falon climbed into the big bed.

"You know, I think I'm going to sleep on the floor," Nabooru said. "It'll leave more room for the two of you."

"You don't have to be afraid, you know," Falon said. "I won't tell anyone what you are."

"WHAT!? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

"You're a Gerudo, aren't you? I won't tell anyone. As long as you don't steal anything. We're short on money here, and we need everything that we have."

Nabooru eyed Falon, her lips pursing. Lilly blinked at both of them. "She's a what?"

"Do any of the . . . men think that, too?" "Men" was such a foreign word to her. It was disgusting to even say it.

"Talon must know. And Ingo too. The others may not because they're not from around here, but Talon, Ingo and I have lived her for quite some time now." Nabooru had a murderous look on her face, as if she was about to go slaughter Talon and Ingo at that moment. "Oh, but please! Talon wouldn't hurt a fly! And Ingo is very sweet!"

Nabooru looked at the young red-haired woman, feeling a mixture of pity and incredulity for her naivete. "I hate to tell you this, sister, but that worker guy doesn't look too friendly to me."

"Um, well." Falon blushed. "He's not very happy with Talon at the moment . . . or me . . . since we got married, but I'm sure he'll forgive us eventually. Talon's his best friend."

Married . . . there was that word again. "What the hell does 'married' mean?"

Lilly stared at Nabooru. "You don't know what 'married' means?"

Before Nabooru could snap at Lilly, Falon interrupted. "The Gerudo culture is different than ours. They don't believe in marriage." She blushed and looked up at Nabooru from under her eyelashes. "Or so I've been told. I could be wrong."

Nabooru ignored that, crossing her arms over her chest. "What is it, anyway? Some rite of passage?"

"Well . . ." Lilly said. "When two people love each other, they decide they want to–"

"Love?! Now I know why it isn't in our culture."

"You don't believe in love, either?" Lilly asked.

"Love is stupid. It makes you stupid! How would you like to live your whole life stupid all the time!?"

Lilly sighed. "Yeah, I guess."

"Wait a second. . . ." Nabooru tapped her lips with one finger, thinking. "You guys are Hylians, right?"

"Obviously," Lilly replied.

"So you must know about birth control!"

"What?!" Lilly and Falon asked at the same time.

"You know, having sex without making a baby?"

"Well . . ." Lilly blushed, and Nabooru realized that Hylians blushed a lot more often than Gerudo. Why was that? "I'm not the best person to ask. I'm still a virgin, and my mom obviously doesn't use any because she keeps having more kids."

Falon face was much redder than Lilly's. "What do you want to know about them?" she squeaked.

"I need some. You have any?"

"I'm actually out, but you can go to Hyrule Castle Market Town. There's this woman that I go to. You can come with us when we go tomorrow."

"Why do you want birth control potion if you don't believe in love or marriage? Are you planning on screwing a guy just for the sake of screwing?"

"Hey, shut up, blondie! It's not your place to ask my intentions."

"Unless you do love him, and you don't want anyone to find out, so you're buying Hylian birth control. That's so romantic!" The scimitars were out.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

Lilly and Falon screamed.

The men wondered how much fun those girls were having upstairs.

Nabooru slept on the floor that night.

"Knighting is always an exciting time," the King said idly. The thrown room was filled with people who were apparently important. Daphnes didn't particularly like knighting. Well, now it was okay, since all he really had to do was sit on his throne and do nothing, but eventually he would be King, and the King had to knight the soldiers. As easy as the job looked, Daphnes had surprisingly little faith in not accidently cutting off an ear. Yep. . . . He could just see himself doing that. Zelda would be proud.

"Isn't that the man that was in here yesterday?" Zelda whispered into Daphnes's ear. This startled him, for Zelda was almost always silent at occasions like this one.

"W-what?"

"The man over there."

Daphnes narrowed his eyes as he tried to see in the distance. He looked back at Zelda and there was a smile on her face.

"I have a good feeling about that man," she said. "He should be a good knight."

"You have a feeling?" Daphnes grinned back at her.

"You had a feeling about the Triforce, right? Can't I have feelings, too?"

"Of course!"

Among the group of young men who stood proudly, waiting for their name to be called, was Aaron. He put a hand on Ian's shoulder. "See? You made it, man!"

Ian let out a sigh. "Yeah. Just barely, though."

"What are you talking about? You're one of the best men in this room."

"Not really . . ."

"Look at that guy," Aaron pointed at a somewhat short man, shorter even than Ian, who was unnaturally thin. "You could blow that guy over by talking to him."

Ian laughed. "You're right. How can he even pick up a sword? It looks like his arm would break!"

They both started laughing until they accidently bumped up against someone quite large behind them.

"Excuse me," the man said in a deep voice before moving around them to stand next to the shrimpy guy. Aaron and Ian watched him with wide eyes. Had they been making fun of a guy who was friends with that?!

Aaron's name was called and he suddenly lost feeling in his whole body. This was what he had been training for his whole life. This was his destiny, waiting for him to step up and kneel before the King. He moved forward, hardly aware that he was doing it. He let out a breath before kneeling down, staring at the bottom of the King's robes. A list of Aaron's accomplishments was read, and the King noticed that he had far more than the others.

"Well my boy, you seem to be of something of a prodigy . . ."

"Your Majesty," Aaron managed, his mouth dry and his throat numb. He was a little afraid to look up. The King might recognize him from yesterday, and he hadn't given the best first impression.

The King placed the tip of the sword on either side of Aaron's shoulders, mumbling the phrase he was suppose to say. He had said it a dozen times already, the only difference was that the names changed. Right after he was done, a messenger ran into the room. "Your Majesty!"

The King sighed and turned to Aaron. "I'm sorry about this."

"No, it's okay. I don't mind."

"Your Majesty." The messenger handed the King a letter. The King read it quietly to himself, but Aaron was close enough to be able to hear what he said.

"War . . . with the Zora?"