No matter how many time she played the night's events over in her head, she couldn't figure out how she had ended up in this strange place. She had gotten home from work and made some ramen for dinner before popping on a scary movie just so she could cuddle with Jimmy. After that a bath then bed.
She had done nothing out of the ordinary and this was just making no sense. How had she gotten here? Even if she had somehow started sleep walking, there were no deserts where she lived. How long were they going to leave her in this room? Did she dare to try and escape? She pondered all this until her head hurt.
As she started to pace the floor she looked into the mirror that hung on the wall in front of her. For some strange reason her long red hair, usually a copper auburn, looked a bit brighter in color, as well as a complete mess. She looked at it a bit closer, but shook off her weird feeling, thinking it had to be the lighting. Instead, she tried to comb out the knots with her fingers. It tangled so easily on her and would take some work to fix.
Dropping her hands to her sides, she noted there were bruises marking her pale skin where the woman had gripped her arm. She also saw her night shirt had been ripped by the pull onto the horse. Lack of sleep had also caused her bluish gold ringed eyes to look haunted.
Pushing her glasses up the ridge of her nose she decided to look some more around the room. Nothing in here could really be used as a weapon. There was a small cot in the corner, and an empty dresser with a water pitcher and bowl on top. It was a plain room with a small window that looked out in the direction from which she had came. The breeze coming in felt frigid as she walked to the window and looked down. It was definitely too high up to climb down from.
"I wouldn't know where to go even if I did escape." She commented to herself.
Even from here she could hear the sounds of battle and couldn't help but wonder who was winning. Soon, the bright flashes lighting up in the distance lulled her already tired mind to sleep in the chair beside the window.
It didn't seem too long after, that she woke to the sounds of whispers and the feeling of being touched. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring into the faces of the two little broom-riding women. Now that they were in front of her, with the light of the morning sun spilling through the window, she could study them better. They must have been twins and both were the same olive tan that seemed a little darker than the other warriors'. Their faces looked as though the sun had turned their skin to wrinkled leather and their gray hair was pulled back and reminded her of a treasure troll. Each had a gem on their forehead. One blue. One red. They reminded her of characters from a video game. If only she could just remember which one. Slowly, her attention returned to what they were doing and she realized they were pulling back her hair and touching her ears, mumbling to each other.
"Is there something on my face?" Melissa inquired recoiling back a little.
"Be Quiet. We will be asking the questions." the one with the blue gem replied sounding very angry.
"You speak English!" Melissa exclaimed with relief.
" EnGliSh?" the one with the red stone responded, like she had never heard the word before.
To her dismay, the twins looked back at each other and started to talk in that strange language again.
"We are Koume and Kotake. We do not know this EngLish you speak of. We are currently speaking ancient Gerudo." They responded turning back to her.
Koume? Kotake? Gerudo? Something about those names nagged at the back of her mind. She felt she should know them from somewhere, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"I'm Melissa." She finally spoke up after a minute of silence.
"Well, Melissa, how is it you speak the ancient language of our people? It is only used by us who use magic in the tribe now." They spoke in eerie unison.
"Magic?" Melissa repeated unsure what they were talking about.
"You seem very confused so let's start with an easy question. Where are you from?" the one with the red gem asked.
"I am from a little city called Macon." she replied to them unsure of why this was important.
"Macon? I have never hear of such place. Tell the truth! Your a hylian spy aren't you!" the one with the blue gem spat.
" Hold on sister. She looks too odd to be Hylian. She maybe pale like them but look at her hair. Look at her ears. You cannot deny that she might have just a little Gerudo in her." Said the other trying to calm the blue one down.
Hylian? Another word that she knew she had heard somewhere. Why couldn't she remember where?
"She even speaks our ancient language. Very fluently I might add. "The red one said giving Melissa a small smile.
"So she's a well studied spy. Anyone can learn a language. It doesn't matter if she has our blood or not." the blue continued to argue.
"Excuse me but what do you mean about my hair and ears? Your ears look the same as mine and I didn't think red hair was that uncommon a color. This language is pretty much what everyone speaks where I am from. Please believe me. I'm not a spy." Melissa said trying to defend herself.
Where had she ended up? Just how far from her home had she been spirited away? Why would they think her a spy? She was unsure how to prove that she had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The red one listened to what she had to say and could see her worry and confusion. "Please don't mind Kotake. She has just been on edge because of the battle last night. There is nothing wrong with your hair and ears."
So the blue one was Kotake and the red was Koume. Melissa decided she liked Koume. She seemed the more understanding of the two even if this felt like they were playing good cop bad cop.
"Look last night I... I just don't... I don't know how I even got there." Melissa just blurted out. "I went to sleep in my own bed and just woke up in the middle of a desert. Can you please tell me where I am?"
Koume gave her a pitying look. "Well I can't answer how you got here, but I can tell you where you are. This is the Spirit Temple of the Gerudo desert. Our tribe moved from the valley and had to make this our home due to the advancing of our enemy's army."
That made Melissa stop and think. Hylian...Gerudo...Koume... Kotake... The answer that had been eluding her finally crashed down on her like a ton of bricks. The reason she kept hearing things that sounded as if they came from a video game is because she was in one. Did that mean the dark man she saw in the distance yesterday was... She shook her head. She didn't have time to think about this.
"Are you really believing all this rubbish?" Kotake asked throwing her hands up in disbelief and upset that Koume was explaining things like she believed what Melissa was saying. Koume on the other hand, seemed to be ignoring her sister. It seemed there was more on her mind than she was revealing to anyone.
"So everyone there speaks this language and your hair and ears are common." Koume spoke to herself, deep in thought, before turning back to Melissa. "I have never heard of this city you speak of but that doesn't mean it's not real. So tell me, now that you know where you are, is your city very far from here?"Koume questioned.
Melissa was unsure how to tell her that it was a whole other world away. Best to leave them in the dark about it.
"I'm not really sure. I have never seen a Gerudo Desert on any maps." Melissa said truthfully.
"That's probably because it's some city in Hyrule." Kotake said with great disgust. "I guess our land isn't even good enough for their maps."
"What's a Hyrule?" Melissa asked feigning ignorance.
"Wha?! You haven't heard of Hyrule either?" Koume said with slight surprise.
This seemed to shock them even more. The two witches eyed her for a minute before Talking amongst themselves again in the same strange language.
"Well I don't know if you're telling us the truth or not, but it's about time for the morning meal." Kotake said bringing Melissa's attention to how hungry she was.
"We will send someone up with some proper clothes." Kotake said looking her up and down, making Melissa very self-conscious about the fact she was only wearing a night shirt. " When you're done, she will take you to the main hall to eat. After, I am sure our Lord will want to question you as well. Also, while outside your room you will stay with who we send at all times. Is that understood?"
Melissa nodded and the mention of their Lord sent a shiver down her spine. If they were speaking of who she thought they were, she would rather stay locked in this room.
They turned to fly out, but Kotake hesitated by the door. "Oh and if you think you can just run away, don't think you will get very far. There are guards at every entrance and exit. You don't fool me at all, but your fate is sadly not up to me. Our King will know exactly what to do with you." Kotake gave a menacing smile before closing the door behind her and once again locking it.
These event left her even more confused than before. How was she to get out of this? She didn't want to meet their king and the prospect of it was starting to make her sick with worry. She paced the room trying to think of what to do. After a while she heard the sound of the lock being opened.
"Hello?" said a young short haired girl with yellow eyes. She peaked around the edge of the door.
"You can speak English to?" Melissa asked relived.
"Not so fast. I can't speak as well." the girl said shaking her head.
Melissa bowed her head in apology which only made the girl chortle.
"My name Chara." the girl laughed studying her.
" And I'm Melissa." Melissa replied introducing herself.
The girl nodded and set straight to work. Melissa was unsure about stripping in front of a stranger, even if it was only to her underwear, but Chara gave her no choice. The girl just yanked the shirt off of her and handed her a set a clothes.
"The desert very hot. You thank. You see." Chara said chuckling as Melissa clung to her old shirt.
The garb she was handed, looked like the warrior's outfits from the night before. It was a beautiful shade of green and somehow who ever had picked it out had gotten all the measurements right. It fit her perfectly and surprisingly suited her frame when she finally put it on.
"Now we eat." Chara said heading to the door after Melissa had finished inspecting herself. "Follow please."
Melissa had no choice but to do exactly that.