It had been almost a year since Mosuli was at a brothel close to the Gerudo desert. Difficult months followed for the young one. She had cried to go back to her home, but the older girls didn´t have the heart to tell her the reality of her situation. So they could only confort her.
Now, she was a Little better. With the naivetivity of a child, she wandered around the market sorrounding the brothel doing odd jobs as part of her "training".
She was buying her sisters objects they needed. The owner of the brothel allowed the girls to have a "pay". Usually sixty rupees a month. Girls who produced more, naturally received more: seventy five rupees. Master was a generous guy.
Mosuli was always trusted to buy first aid supplies and food. The girls understood they wouldn´t be able to buy anything other than that. If Master knew they used their pay to buy something else, he would decrease that girl´s pay. However, there was always one girl who dared authority. The sweet sister, Lein.
Mosuli looked at the sky. With its beautiful pinks and purples. With her Little arms carrying a basket filled to the top, she walked back to the brothel.
It was nothing special. A big cantine downstairs drown in the smell of incense and alcohol, and multiple rooms upstairs with a single fluffy mat in the floor. It wasn´t open time yet, so she went back to the girl´s common room. When her sisters saw her come in, they rushed to grab their things. Some with smile on their faces, others just with blank eyes.
When Mosuli finally could pass to her sister Lein, she smiled at her sight.
"Hello there" Lein signed with her hands. Mosuli giggled "what?" she asked.
"You did it wrong. You´re better understanding it than doing it aren´t you?" Mosuli signed back with master practice.
"Oh, shut up!" Lein playfully bumped Mosuli´s shoulder. "Well? Did you buy it?" Lein asked putting herself in a comfortable position. Mosuli´s ears started to flop when taking out the object. Lein´s face turned into a exasperation when she saw what it was: a new pot.
"I told you to buy something nice, Mosuli…Why did you buy that? Didn´t you say you wanted a rito figure?" Lein asked massaging the bridge of her nose. Mosuli pouted. And when Lein put her eyes on the Little girl again she signed back her response.
"Master could´ve seen it. And the old pot is broken. I cook for all of you, so I need to have good materials!" Mosuli signed with a mighty fake smile.
"Pfft, you really are something, Honeybee" Lein sighed patting Mosuli´s head.
"It´s time ladies, gotta earn Mosuli´s meat pie!" another yelled girl opening the door while everyone hurried to the cantine. It was opening time.
"I gotta go now, see you in a few hours, ok? Remember last night´s lesson!" she told Mosuli before leaving her in the empty girls room. Leaving behind the clacking sound of the door being locked.
Mosuli looked at the pot in her hands.
She really wished it was the rito figure she wanted. She fell into one of the big cushions in a sigh.
She could hear the buzz of tables moving and clients coming in with nice music to dance to. But she could only rehearse Lein´s words from her "training". She didn´t understand why she should be so nice and attentive to those men. Why should she be nice to this men with shady intensions?
She left the lesson slip out of her mind when she looked at the moon behind the small barred window. She wanted to go back to the time she was happy with her mom and dad.
Mosuli silently shed a tear. Mom had left them too soon. So soon, Dad couldn´t handle it and started drinking. If he hadn´t drank himself to debt, Mosuli wouldn´t be there. She felt sorry for her sisters that thought she didn´t know.
Mosuli stood up and, freeing her hands from the pot, she rubbed the tears.
She went to the Little part of the room that could be considered Mosuli´s happy spot where spices and other kinds of ingredients, were neatly organized. And with great speed Mosuli baked the meat pie everyone loved.
There was still time before the place closed, so the girls were still outside.
They always left her inside until sunrise, at closing time. She was always so bored and had nothing to do. There were no books, no toys, nothing. Just makeup and some jewelry. But if at least, Lein could stay with her, like Sorenin did before going away… If she could talk with someone, she wouldn´t feel like that anymore. She would accept anyone, even if it meant teaching them sign language.
"I just want a friend who won´t leave me" was the only thing Mosuli thought before changing her sad face to a cheerful one when the tired girls came back to the room.
A little boy screamed in happiness in the middle of the night when seeing the market. He had been walking for so long with all his guardian´s farm products at his back, that seeing their goal felt like he had finished off the demon King. His guardian smacked his head from up his horse.
"Oi! Don´t yell in the middle of the night, Lonk!" the kid´s guardian yelled at him.
"But you´re doing it too!" Lonk pouted
"Don´t do what I do, just what I say, alright? Let´s go put the goods somewhere safe. After that put the tent up, Lonk. I need to drink something" the man said searching with his eyes the market alley. He showed the Little boy the way and started unpacking.
"But! Don´t leave me here alone! I don´t know this place…" Lonk received a bitter look from the old man.
"I´m not going far away and I´ll have just one drink. I´ll be back before sunrise" Lonk finished putting all on its place.
"…Ok. Tell me you will be back before opening!" he had screamed at his guardian before he went into the streets.
"He´s late" Lonk thought to himself when the activities of the market started as the first rays of sunshine bathed Hyrule. "Well, he didn´t actually answered me… what should I do?" He started to overthink.
The streets started to overflow with people and noise. The people talked loudly and fast. Every noise made Lonk look in its direction. He tried covering his ears with his hands. Even though it was the normal Street noise, it was overwhelming when you had always been on quiet stables. Only hearing the neighs of your trusty four legged companions.
Suddenly a woman came asking for the carrots Price.
"Price? Oh! OH NO, I DON´T REMEMBER IT" thought Lonk to himself while frantically trying to search for the inventory where the prices were written. He stopped middle search "I don´t even know how to read…" he stopped searching and put his most friendly-but-akward-clients smile. "6 rupees each, ma´am" he told her. The lady giggled a Little bit before paying for a pair.
"No need to be so nervous. We don´t bite" the woman had told him while putting her groceries in a small basket "Good luck, young man!" she waved as she went away.
"That´s what I need just now" Thought Lonk when seeing his guardian finally coming back with his cheeks still red.
"Oh~ first selling of the day, Lonk. She took two carrots, 6 rupees each, so did we get our 12 rupees?" the man tested him.
"Yes!" Lonk smiled showing him the money. He was relieved he had got it right.
"Oh~ so now we gotta multiply that three times and we will be over for today. No food until then, Lonk" He told him.
Lonk was so hungry, he did his very best to call the clients eyes to their small tent. After what felt like an eternity, they were over. The sun was an hour away of going down, when Lonk felt the money on his hand. It wasn´t much but it was enough for a normal meal. No dessert tho.
"Go and buy yourself something to eat. I´ve some things to take care of. Now…" He shooshed the kid who immediatly started running.
While he waited for his guardian to come back, he had seen a lot of tasty things. The money he had, wasn´t enough to buy the tastiest, but he would conform if he could taste at least one. He needed to try the pumpkin with meat inside.
There was a very imponent building with a sign illustrated with a woman seductively looking at him. Lonk couldn´t understand what it said, but he was certain there wasn´t food in there. So he went to the inn just beside it and asked for the pumpkin instead.
He could´ve cried when he put it on his mouth. But his dad –the guardian- had told him boys don´t cry, so he hold the tears and ate.
"Look at that, Jo" the waiter told the cook, looking at Lonk´s skinny body. She put her eyes on the kid desperately eating his pumpkin for a second before continuing her orders."the kid probably hasn´t eaten in days"
"It´s not rare, but I´m glad he looks like it´s enjoying it" Lonk still had his eyes a Little watery and you could hear his nose running. "Well? Stop slacking off!" the woman slapped the man´s head with her spoon.
"Why are you always so mad woman!? For Hylia. I don´t know what I was thinking when I married you" the man grumpily continued working.
"Thanks for the food!" Lonk finally finished his pumpkin. He wanted to eat more, but the last pumpkin and drinks had left him broke. So he stood up and left after paying.
Having money was so nice!
Mosuli was going back to the brothel just before dusk.
She had been going around the market, buying things for her sisters. When she was about to enter, the door opened rather violently, making her trip. She started putting everything back on her basket, but the person who had opened the door was looking at her with a dirty smirk in his face.
"Why is he looking at me like that?" Mosuli thought to herself. "Look away!"
When she thought she finally had everything back on her basket, the man talked.
"I haven´t seen you before, are you a new girl?" The man with red cheeks asked.
"…" Mosuli was trying to find a way to pass this man, but he wouldn´t let her, taking it as a silly game.
"Hey, are you deaf?" the man was starting to get angry.
Mosuli didn´t know how he would react, but she answered the only way she could.
"No. I just can´t talk" she signed with her hands. "Please, leave"
"What are you doing girl?" The man laughed at her. Mosuli wasn´t surprised. She sighed, put her fingers together and whistled. Some people around them Heard the sudden noise and turned their head in their direction. The owner of the brothel was just close by the bar when he noticed what was going on. He came almost trotting.
Mosuli didn´t wanna hear the conversation, so she just waited for the problem to be solved behind her master´s back.
She could hear pieces of it: "she´s still on training", "she will be a beauty when she grows up", "She can´t talk", "Isn´t she a burden?"
Suddenly the man went away. And Master looked at Mosuli with his fox eyes.
"I´ll add this to the list" he told her before going inside. He was refering to the list of favors her dad had created. Whenever Master did something for her, he added it to the list of things she would have to pay in her dad´s behalf. The debt was growing longer and longer with each day.
Mosuli was pissed at her own lack of power to do anything else than obey him. She didn´t know what he would do to her or her sisters if she tried to escape. She was just a kid. So just as the sun was setting, Mosuli looked at the Street. There was a skinny boy looking her way. Had he been there all this time? He was being dragged by another man. But he certainly was looking her way with a worried face.
She looked at him for a second, before closing the door behind her. There were just a few minutes before opening time.
"W-wait!" Lonk was trying to stop the man pulling him "she forgot to pick some carrots! I gotta give them back!" He tried to explain.
"Don´t worry about her Lonk! She will be fine. Girls like her gain lots of money in one night" the man said to the kid now walking more at his pace.
"In one night? How?" he was curious to know. Maybe he could try to do that too.
"Someday I will show you. But now let´s go back to the tent. You were so slow at eating that I had to come and search for you!" Lonk had being ate his pumpkin in ten minutes. "You only give me headaches kid." He sighed.
"I´m sorry" Lonk apologized without a real reason. But it didn´t matter to him, he was used to appologize for things he hadn´t done.
"You better be. You will have to earn tomorrow´s brakfast by cleaning the horse understood?" then man agraved.
"Alright…" Lonk turned his head back to the building. "She maybe buys a carrot from us tomorrow" he thought to himself as the night sky started to appear.