It was some time later before Aria made it out of the bathing room, dressed in clothes that were a little too long and a little too loose. She'd been given a simple tunic and rather baggy pants. Her hair was left down to dry, despite Nabooru's attempts to put it up in a high ponytail like her own. Aria was escorted to her own bedroom, but not before she had them make a quick detour to the stables to check on Titan. He was doing fine, their horsemaster had rewrapped his leg and she'd been told he would make a full recovery within the month.

Aria's room was rather bare. Everything was made of stone. The windows were basically holes in the wall, with no curtains to block the wind from coming in. Her bed, at least, was rather comfortable. There was one pillow, and two sheets, one thicker and heavier than the other. That night, when the winds came, she was thankful for that heavier blanket. It was better than sleeping in her cloak, but it didn't keep out all of the freezing cold winds. For a place that was egg-burning hot in the daytime, it sure was cold at night.

Aria was half tempted to start a small fire in her bedroom to keep the cold at bay, but the smoke would probably cause too much concern from the other inhabitants of the fortress. Instead, she just curled up in a ball and tried to sleep through the night.

The heat of the sun woke her up the next morning. The early hours of the morning were the most comfortable to sleep in, but how quickly they had changed. Perhaps the closer you go to the center of the fortress, the warmer the nights were.

A gerudo brought her a new set of clothes and told her she was to be escorted to breakfast and then to the training room before leaving the room to allow her to get dressed.

Aria tugged on the skin-tight black pants, boots, bindings, and blue tunic after she checked on her bandaged side and rebandaged it. The woman who escorted her to the dining hall left her at the door to join her friends. Aria glanced around for a friendly face, but she didn't spy anyone familiar.

The nervousness that wracked her body was like an invitation for her energy to unravel the knots she'd woven them into. Aria bit her lip, before she found the end of the table that had less people around them. Sure there was a huge table that had no one sitting at it, but something told her that's not where she wanted to sit. She was given a few glances, but was disregarded for better conversation.

Aria ate lightly, picking at a little meat, a bit of eggs, and this weird gritty, mealy, white goop that tasted okay with a bit of pepper and salt. It didn't take too long before one of the gerudo came over and sat next to her.

"Hey stranger, I'm Faruin. You probably don't remember me from the bathing room. I was the one holding up Nabooru."

"Oh, Hello! I'm Aria."

"You know, I've never seen anyone surprise Nabooru in a water fight like you did. You lasted a lot longer than we all thought you would."

"Umm.. thanks, I guess. I'm not really a warrior like the rest of you…"

"Oh, I'm not a warrior. I have the basic training, but I'm one of the architects and carpenters here. All of us have the basic training, but you… I heard you do magic and that you survived our ambush and the desert."

"Yes? Sort of. I mean.. It's not.. I wasn't very honorable.. I just listened to advice of an old warrior and well hid under his body and.." Aria's brows furrowed. She didn't want to dwell on the ambush, or feeling the life fade from the Bjorn's body as he protected her in his final moments.

"It's not dishonorable to hide or listen to someone more experienced than you in war. You survived. It's a hard lesson, but it's one every warrior learns."

"I'm not a warrior."

"You keep saying that, but I think you'll prove us otherwise."

Aria shook her head, it wasn't worth arguing about. "So, how come no one is sitting at that other table?"

"Our king sits there. Occasionally Koume and Kotake do as well, but they prefer their meals in private."

"What's he like?"

"King Ganondorf? He's-"

"Ganondorf? That's an odd name.." Aria couldn't help the slight upward tilt at the corner of her mouth.

"King Ganondorf. You have to be respectful to him. He's a powerful man, but he's got a bit of a righteous temper."

"I've never heard of a temper being considered righteous before. Koume did mention he was powerful, and he knows magic too. Is he more powerful in his magic than Koume and Kotake?"

"I...I'm not sure. I suppose one of them would be able to tell you."

"I don't suppose you know where the training room is?"

"Oh! Of course! You're probably a bit late, but maybe they'll be lenient on you since you're new." Faruin grabbed her hand and lead her to the training room, leaving her alone with the Koume and Kotake.

Any hopes of the two being lenient on her were dashed against the stone wall the moment she entered the room. The lesson began simple enough, with focusing on her energy once more. There were several threads that had become unknotted from the entire cycle and it took several minutes putting them back, only for Kotake to demand she reweave her entire energy knotwork.

"Why?!" Aria demanded. In her frustration the fabric beneath her feet set on fire. Cursing she wiped out the spark she'd ignited.

"You'll do it as often as you need to. No system is permanent, any system you create for your will shall always need to kept up. When you're put in a stressful situation the knots will fray and if you can't put them back together quickly you may spark something you'll regret. So do it. Again."

The first four hours were spent like that, unraveling the entire system and recreating it from scratch. With her final energy knotwork there was no longer a large ball at the center, but instead a unique heart-shaped knotwork that spread out in all mannerisms of designs that weaved in and out of each other and somehow ended back into the main knot.

They took a break together, eating lunch in private instead of going out into the main hall. Koume and Kotake bickered a lot, but they also knew much more than she when it came to magic.

"So.. who's more skilled and powerful at magic, the king or you two?"

"Well…" The two hesitated looking between each other.

"Our son is the most powerful physically and magically."

"Your son? Is he more powerful than the king?"

"He is the king, deary."

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect-"

"Hehehehehe, you didn't disrespect us or him."

"Ohohoho, no! You'll worry about that later when you meet him." Kotake cackled, whirling in the air on her broomstick.

Aria frowned, worry settling in the pit of her stomach at the elder witch's words. He sounded like someone she really didn't want to meet.

"The girls mentioned a bit ago about going out to Hyrule. What's in Hyrule?"

"Men, supplies… They're a very rich kingdom and living in the desert isn't all that.. prosperous. So we have to go to them to buy supplies to last the tribe months. We're running a bit low, so it should be soon that the girls go out. Why, hoping to find yourself a Hylian?"

"I was just… I want to see more. I know I'm still settling in, but back home there wasn't a lot for me to see. I wasn't really allowed outside of the compound."

"Hmmm. I don't see why not."

"Once you know how to control your magic to a certain extent."

"Well then, let's get to it!" Aria said, stretching as she stood up. Training switched over to plant life, now that her energy was mostly in control. They started with a simple seed. Aria had to carefully measure how much will she put into the bright spark of life. It was real effort because it meant breaking on of the strands and leading it to the spark. At first she didn't put enough magic into, so the plant just unfurled into a small sprout, but then she put too much and it shot upwards, like the vine had.

Kotake and Koume had been waiting for that to happen, and showed her how to bring back the energy from the plant, into herself. She'd already known how to extinguish a spark of fire, but slowly receding the magic from a spark was an effort all in its own.

It took several more hours for her to get the hang of coaxing the plant out and then taking back what she'd given. By the time the sun was beginning to set, Aria was a sweating mess that hardly had the energy to walk. Still, she somehow found the strength to bathe with the other gerudo and find her way to the bedroom, skipping dinner altogether.

The next morning, it wasn't until Faruin was knocking loudly on her door that Aria woke up. How she slept through the heat of the day she hadn't a clue, but what she did know was that she had just missed breakfast and that she was desperately late.

"They're going to be so mad! You're over an hour late, forget about your hair, hurry!" Faruin moved out of the way as Aria darted through the door, hoping on one foot as she desperately tried to get her other shoe on. She'd figured out the quickest way to her room from the training room the previous night, so having an escort there wasn't really needed.

Not looking where she was going, she practically slammed into a person in the hallway. Aria stumbled onto the ground, just barely catching herself. She tugged up her shoe, not really seeing the large figure she'd knocked to the side.

"Sorry, so sorry. I'm late!" She called as she scrambled to her feet and raced past the caped man. She just barely heard the chuckling as she darted down the hallways, grabbing onto corners of the wall to help her turn. Aria almost ran into a few other gerudo, and when she made it to the doors of the training room she was completely out of breath.

"I'm so sorry, I overslept, and I.. I.." Aria gasped for breath, hands on her knees, face flushed red from lack of oxygen.

"Well, now you know better. It'll be a short lesson today, so we can meet with our son for a bit before dinner."

Aria nodded numbly, still trying to get her breathing under control. This lesson they focused on fire and ice. Two opposites, both with the ability to burn if you knew how to use it correctly. Koume's strength, she found out, was ice, meanwhile Kotake excelled with fire. Aria couldn't help but lean more towards fire, because she'd gotten used to the molten burn in her veins whenever she used that particular spark.

Fire was simple in the hot desert. There was so much warmth surrounding them already, that all it needed was a little help to spring forward. It wasn't until Aria could manipulate the fire into moving flame beetles that she switched over to ice training.

Ice required a lot more concentration, it also took more time than fire had, because every time Aria became frustrated with the element, the threads of her magic would start snapping and she'd have to redo the threading all over again.

Kotake was just as frustrated as she was, because it probably meant they'd have less time to spend with their King. Koume, however, was rather understanding. It wasn't easy to channel ice when there wasn't any water around and it was so hot. They didn't let her leave until she was able to form a ball of snow and encase it in ice.

She snagged two apples from the lunch table before heading off to the stable to check on Titan. She took a bite out of her own apple while Titan munched on the apple in her other hand, apple juices dripping down everywhere. Most of the horses in the stable were of the buckskin and chestnut variety. The chestnuts being slimmer, more regal looking, while the buckskins looked like your average all-around riding horses. It was after Titan finished off his apple that Aria noticed a dark horse at the end of the stables.

Glancing down the aisle, to make sure no one was around she slowly walked over to the dark beast. He was at least twice the size of the average horses here. It wasn't his dark coat or even his size that was daunting though. It was his intelligent red eyes that stared her down with an intensity all their own.

"Hey big fella, do you want part of an apple?" Aria offered the rest of her apple to him. It was a little more than half, and she moved slowly so the horse could see exactly what she was doing. Short refined ears flicked back and forth, as if he were contemplating taking the apple. Hesitantly, the dark horse leaned forward and took the apple from her hand almost delicately. Aria smiled, watching the stallion inhale the red fruit. Just as he finished, she turned to walk back down the aisle. A whicker stopped her in her tracks.

"Sorry big guy, that's the only apple I had left." A snort, and the horse stretched his neck out of the stall towards her.

Intrigued, Aria turned back around and walked back out, just barely out of reach of the stallion. Slowly she offered her hand once more. A soft muzzle and nose ran over her skin, taking in her scent and the smell of apple juices. Cautious, but not fearful, Aria walked a bit closer. The black horse lowered his head, allowing her to rub his forehead and scritch his rounded cheek.

"Hey! Aria!" Faruin called from the isle, panic lacing her voice. Aria turned, so her shoulder faced the black horse and at the same time she could see Faruin.

"Get away from him!" Faruin came rushing over, only to skid to a stop as the stallion lunged at the place where she would've been standing if she hadn't stopped fast enough.

"Quit that." Aria muttered firmly to him, pushing his face away from the gerudo. He snorted in response, and backed up a bit so he wasn't pressed against the door.

"Oh,Goddess that was close. Are you crazy? That thing is the King's horse. No one touches him except the King and the horse master. You could've been killed! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking he'd probably like the rest of my lunch, and he did." Aria shrugged. She'd gotten used to war horses during her time with Nicar, so being around a finicky horse almost twice the size of Titan really didn't bother her.

"If … if anyone finds out, the King will find out and then.. and then who knows what he'll do. He'll probably be really upset. We should go, now!" Faruin tugged her down the aisle, ignoring the snorting and neighing of the king's steed.

Faruin dropped her off with Aveil who was busy practicing archery. Aveil suited her up with a bow and a few dozen 'training' arrows. By training arrows, they meant arrows that weren't perfectly made, arrows that had more bend to them or were on the verge of snapping, and their tips were just rounded wood.

It took a while to get in the correct stance, and figure out that she had to pull back just so far before she actually shot her first arrow.

"So, I heard you woke up late." Thud. An arrow straight through the target's center.

"Yeah...I've never been more exhausted." Her arrow zipped through the air and landed just at the bottom of the hay made target.

"The wind is a bit strong, you need to aim a bit higher and to the left."

"Faruin woke me up, and I just...ran. I don't think i've ever gotten dressed so fast before." This time her arrow hit within the target's outer ring.

"Nice. Yeah, I had a few days like that growing up." Another arrow through the center.

"I was still struggling to get my left shoe on I accidentally barreled this guy over and-" Her hand slipped and the arrow flew past the target and embedded into the wall behind the range. All the color drained from her face, and her eyes grew wide as she realized just exactly what she'd done. Aria dropped her bow and her hands came up to cover her mouth. She turned to stare at Aveil in horror.

"You ran into...a man..?" Aveil glanced at Aria, arrows still hitting near the center of the target.

Aria nodded, a squeak of a "Mhmm" came out of her covered mouth.

"There aren't any men-" Aveil's arrow missed wide, embedding into the wall next to Aria's. "You ran into King Ganondorf." Aria nodded again. "You ran into the king on your way to your lesson that you were late for."

Nod.

Aveil threw her head back and laughed, dropping her bow and arrows as Aria had done beforehand.

"You ran over King Ganondorf while you were trying to put on a shoe! You have the best and worst luck I have ever heard of." Aveil leaned against the rail, her body wracked with giggles and laughter.

"I said sorry!"

"Oh gosh. I'm sure that helped."

"You think so?"

Aveil burst out laughing again at the hopeful face Aria had given her, using the rail to support her full weight.

"No! Gosh no! You have the worst luck."

"He uhh.. laughed, I think."

Aveil's eyebrows rose. "He laughed? Maybe your luck isn't so bad after all. I mean, it could be worse. He could've turned you into smithereens. He could've caught you and put you in prison, especially since you obviously aren't a gerudo by blood."

If Aria's face could pale even more, she'd be as white as cotton-made linen.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he's forgotten all about you." Aveil patted her shoulder. Aria wasn't so sure, but didn't say anything as they tugged their arrows out of the haystacks. The ones embedded in the wall weren't going to come out any time soon.

The rest of the day, they spent talking casually about anything and everything they could think of, including but not limited to dancing, archery, sword fighting, magic classes, horses, horseback archery, fishing, and the best ways to run through and over the fortress without getting caught.

They visited the baths right before dinner. Aria sat down with the group of gerudos that had been in the bathing room at the same time as her. She listened in wonder of all their crazy exploits in Hyrule.

A hush grew over the dining hall as a tall dark figure strode into the room and sat at the empty dining table. Aria could hardly make out his features, except for coiled red locks and a golden 'crown' of sorts on his head holding his hair in place. He must've done something, because the conversation returned to normal.

Aveil nudged her side, grinning.

"Shut up." Aria muttered.

"What, I haven't said anything… yet."

"What's she talking about, Aria."

"Nothing!" A little too hasty.

"Miss late for class ran into our King."

"Oh, like she passed him in the hallway" Faruin questioned, assumingly.

"No. she ran into him. Like almost knocked him over."

"Shut up." Aria grumbled, nudging Aveil.

"Wait. You knocked the King over?!"

"No! I just.. clipped him and he kinda went to the side. He didn't fall. I fell."

"You're still alive right? I'm not talking to a ghost right now." Faruin pinched Aria's skin.

"Ow! No, I'm not a ghost." Aria rubbed her arm, sticking her tongue out at the gerudo.

"I apologized and he laughed. I was late. "

"You have the best -"

"Worst-" Aveil interjected.

"Best, worst luck in the world. Did you tell her about you petting the King's horse too?"

"You did what?!"

"Gosh, can't you guys keep anything low key?"

"You pet his horse, and it didn't kill you. You ran into him and he didn't kill you. Are you just blessed by the Sand Goddess?"

"Can we just.. change the subject please?" Aria ducked her head, hiding her red face.

"It's okay. I don't suppose you still want that official meeting?" Nabooru appeared to her side.

"Oh Goddess, no. Please no."

"Are you sure? I can arrange it for you."

"She's already met him." Aveil responded to 'rescue' her, explaining all that Aria had already said. By the end of the explanation, Nabooru was guffawing so hard she had to sit down, tears running down her cheeks.

Nabooru reached over to Aria and hugged her close. "Too precious for this world."

"Stop that.." Aria grumbled trying to escape the woman's iron grasp.

"It's okay, we'll escort you to your room so you don't knock anymore kings over."

Aria grumbled under her breath at this, but didn't protest. True to her word, Nabooru, Aveil, Faruin, and a few other gerudo ladies walked with her to her room. It seemed that being surrounded by redheads slightly taller than one's self had the effect of being able to hide in plain sight.