After pondering whether or not to stay, and eventually deciding to, I had to go all the way to the fitting rooms, back upstairs to my bed chambers, to the main hall, and back again. Five fucking times. I counted twenty flights of stairs, at least thirty different hallways, and by the time they had my new clothes made, I was exhausted. My legs were weak, and I was walking slower than my usual frantic pace. I got more or less the exact same clothes as the girl who led me everywhere; white harem pants and one little piece of fabric for a top, but I had gloves that ended at my elbow. At least I was wearing something other than rags. I had the same ones since my mother died. It felt so good to wear something that didn't scratch my arms and legs up, or cause me to overheat and faint on an almost daily basis. Every girl who worked on my clothes wouldn't stop telling me how beautiful I looked in them.

"I wish I looked that good in my clothes," Lati, the girl tailoring my pants so they puffed out even more, said with a small pout in her voice.

"Your stomach is much flatter than mine," said Ival, who was re-measuring my waist and arms without my rags on. Truth be told, I never noticed how flat my stomach was until they said so. Then again, I was wearing rags that covered every inch of my body but my hands, feet, and eyes.

"All done?" Asked Sushmita, the girl who led me through the Fortress, when Lati and Ival rolled up their measuring ropes. She was waiting patiently in the back of the room, fiddling with her straight hair.

"Yes." Lati said, giving my pants one last tug. They were so tight around my hips, they didn't budge. Fun.

"Follow me, Miss Nabooru." Sushmita started to the door. Wow, I'm 'Miss Nabooru' now. This was starting to bug me. I hated this air of formality; it was beginning to make me sick. Before I stepped down from the little platform I was on, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. I didn't recognize anything but my round, gold eyes.

Sushmita and I walked through the door and down the hall to get my new jewelry. I was stood on another platform in front of a mirror. One girl, Farah, came up to me with a big comb and began to untangle my long, crimson hair. I'm sure that by the time she was finished raking that thing through my hair, I was at least two hundred hairs closer to being bald. While all that was happening, another girl, Yedal, clasped gold bands around my upper arms, neck, and ankles to keep my pants straight. Farah gathered my hair up in an obnoxiously high ponytail and clasped it in place with another gold band with a huge ruby attached to it. After she was done fussing with my hair, she put a thin gold band around my forehead with an amber stone in the center. They took me behind a short curtain and sat me in a chair. Then they flew at my face with who knows what, and after them ordering me to close my eyes, open my eyes, turn to one side, turn to another, and pulling at my eyebrows, they led me back out to the hallway. I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror. I had a thick black line around my eyes, golden goo on my eyelids just a bit shinier than my eyes, perfectly arched eyebrows, and pale lips. I looked like a princess. A scared, upset, confused, somewhat pissed off princess.

At least, it didn't go to waste. I had to go with Ganondorf to Hyrule Castle to visit the King so he could pledge loyalty. Sure.All he wanted from the King were those stupid stone things that Sushmita told me about. At least I got to ride my own horse; I was almost expecting to be sat on Ganondorf's lap like a little puppet. That's what I was now.

I tried to keep as far away from his horse on mine as possible. There were four guards with us, two in front of us and two behind. Witnesses, I thought. Witnesses in case he tries to kill me or something crazy like that. There was a decent amount of space between us and the guards, enough for us to speak about something confidential without them hearing. I was grateful for my lack of anything to say.

"So how do you like your new clothes?" Ganondorf asked, looking over at me briefly. I could tell he was trying to start a conversation, one that I was in no mood for, to be honest.

"I love them, thank you." I lied. I had to try not to sound sarcastic. He picked up on this too. At least he wasn't a moron, I'll give him that much.

"You don't have to wear them if you don't want to, Nabooru." He sounded like he was speaking to a child.

"What else would I wear?" I asked out of pure spite. I had no concern about how I looked.

I could have sworn I heard him chuckle. So, I decided to change the subject as quickly as I could so he couldn't say anything I would regret.

"Why are we making this trip?" I asked, even though I already knew. Anything to get his mind off of me being naked.

"So I can pledge my allegiance to the King. Didn't I already explain this to you?"

"Right. Sorry," I said. Are we there yet? Please, please can we be there? Please!

As I was thinking that, I saw that we were riding up to the Castle Drawbridge. Yes!

After dismounting the horses, leaving them with the guards stationed motionless at the front, and walking past some weird little redheaded girl singing in the marketplace, we made it to the castle. It was huge and quite regal, but not as intimidating and almost meaningful as our Fortress. We walked up to the throne room, after making our way through a curved foyer. I almost burst into laughter when I saw the King. Clearly I wasn't fit for a position such as this, but he just looked so pompous. He looked down upon Ganondorf and me, naturally. Everywhere a Gerudo goes, they are faced with prejudice, no matter how high their rank at home. I was ordered to remain in the back of the room. Every guard in the room was giving me 'the eye', mentally violating my personal space. I sighed quietly, Hurry up, Ganondorf...

I watched as Ganondorf walked up to the King, and bowed. He suddenly looked to the window beside him. He looked angry, but when the King addressed him, he snapped out of it. I wondered what he saw. That window outlooked the courtyard, what could possibly be so fascinating out there? After at least an hour of them babbling on in Hylian about politics, the war at least a decade prior, and something called "Spiritual Stones" that I heard from Sushmita earlier, we were dismissed. Thank Din, I was so bored.

It was nightfall by the time we made it back to Gerudo Valley. Of course, everybody greeted us and wanted to know how it went. I stood aside and watched Ganondorf try to explain to everybody what happened without getting more frustrated. This was actually the first good look I had gotten of him. His eyes were defiantly his most prominent feature. They matched the color of my forehead stone. They seemed angry by fault, but if I caught a glimpse of him when he thought nobody was watching him, they looked very tired. Although the rest of him was almost the same as everybody else, he seemed as evil as it gets. But if you look close enough, you can see that there is something making him that way. Being a sucker for a challenge, I set a goal that I would find out.

He was still struggling with his explanation to the noble women at dinner. I ate the fastest, the spice infused roasted meat being the first meal I have eaten in years. Unless, of course, you count left over rabbit meat from the wolves's jaw and tall grass a meal. After watching him explain to nine adoring women, including Sushmita (who wasn't as adoring as the rest), I was sent to the library to met him concerning plans on the possible start of a war. I never knew that there was a library here. It was filled with books on history of the desert, it's people, the Gerudo dialect, the Godesses, and more. They were all relatively thick and leather bound. I saw Ganondorf sitting at a small table with a map and a book open in the far corner, and I wondered how he got here and had time to start before I arrived. I slowly went over to him. I was alone here with him, and didn't like it very much. I felt unusually vulnerable around him, and was sending mental waves of resentment for it. I slowly sat down across from him, my back rigid. He looked up, and managed a half grin. What is bothering him? It was starting to bother me, not knowing for certain.

"Are you alright?" I asked the flickering candle on the edge of the table quietly. I was almost afraid of speaking to him.

He looked at me, and smiled a very composed smile, something I didn't expect. He seemed to actually like having me around, without looking at my body, the way every man I have met attempted under my rags. "Yes. I just don't like the idea of starting another war with the Hylians." Something about his voice now was almost calm sounding.

Maybe that was it. "How did all of this start?"

"Today. You were there, remember?" He teased. I laughed for the first time in months. It was small, but it seemed to make him happy. He chuckled too, almost like it was an accident. He tried to cover it up with a cough, but I already heard. And that made me happy.

"I don't speak much Hylian. Besides, I thought we were there to pledge our allegiance."

"We were, but it didn't go too well." He stared back at the map, and tapped Hyrule Castle lightly with a quill before continuing. "Actually, I guess it was when I threatened him about the Spiritual Stones..." His voice went from the off-guard calm tone to a stressful one.

I raised my eyebrow. "The what?"

"Spiritual Stones. It's a long story," He said, dismissing the matter as quickly as it came. "I'm really sorry about the other night, Nabooru. About hurting you, and setting the guard off on you, I was just..." He trailed off. That came out of nowhere. But, he seemed really upset now.

"It's okay." I was starting to worry about him a little bit. Since when wasn't he completely disgusting and smug and evil?

"You said you are fourteen?" He asked, again completely out of the blue.

"Yes."

"You look older." He seemed like he felt awkward about this, not like I did. But, I could tell he wasn't as confident as he leads on to everybody else.

"Well, how old are you?" Yes, I realize that was somewhat tactless on my part. My specialty.

"Twenty."

Liar! No fucking way are you that young! I wanted to say. But all I did was stare at him. He wasn't lying. Either that or he was a really good liar. I don't fall for things easily. But he looked so much older, almost thirty, not twenty. But apparently I looked older too. So I stayed silent about this.

"What, you don't believe me?" He asked. It's like he is reading my mind.

"I do." I looked out the window. The moon was full, and the wind was blowing. It was the best weather we've had here in a while. My mother told me that steady weather like this was a sign of prosper and happiness. I'll believe it when I see it.

"I need to tell you something." He stopped what he was writing down on the map and looked at me.

"Yes?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Since we're doing everything together from now on, I might as well let you know that I'm not really as horrible as I lead on before."

...Right.

"And remember when I said 'Speaking of tonight' earlier?"

"...Yeah..." I had almost forgotten about that. Now my back was rigid again, and I felt like backing up in my seat. My brain was mocking me: I told you so.

"I only said that because I saw Sushmita standing in the doorway and I wanted to freak her out." He was trying not to laugh.

"Seriously?!" I said, overjoyed. Dumb brain.

"Well, don't you sound happy," He said with another composed half smile.

"Of course I'm happy!" I slapped my hands on the table as gently as possible, out of shock and amusement at his reaction. I can't understand why I am acting this way. He looked at me funny, and I didn't blame him. We both just looked at each other for a bit before going to work on a plan for the war. Neither of us knew what we were doing. He only went into his reign five years ago, and I have no idea about any of this.

I realized that slowly but surely, I was hating Ganondorf less. He had a human side. And I had no problem with this side of him.


I don't like this chapter much, but it had to be done. Something about it just makes me think it ruins the rest of the story. I just had to get the point that Nabooru is starting to accept Ganondorf more, after seeing his human side. --MAIN POINT OF CHAPTER IN ONE SENTENCE! Wow.