Sorry for the slower chapter! A lot of stuff going on in life right now.

The next morning there weren't any incidents. Aria woke up rather early, and instead of running down the halls, this time she peeked past every corner making sure she didn't see the King on her way to the breakfast. She slid into her seat next to Faruin, keeping low - especially when the King made his entrance and scanned the tables for a moment before he sat down to eat. Aria left with an early group, all who were heading outside to do various chores. Halfway down the halls, she took another turn and snuck into the training room.

"Well, you're certainly quiet today."

"Yes, what seems to be on your mind, deary?" Koume and Kotake flew overhead.

"It's nothing important. I'm just tense. Maybe it's because I'm not used to working out as much as I have been." It wasn't completely untrue. She hadn't had to work this hard back home, in fact she'd learned more about magic in the past few days then she had under years of Nicar's apprenticeship.

"You'll get used to it. I'm sure."

"You know...if you want to relax, the bathing room is usually rather empty before and after lunch. We could cut today's lesson short."

"Koume! How is she going to learn anything if we let her slack off?"

"She's already learned a lot in a few days. We should be working on mastering the elements she does know before shoving more on her."

"What if she touches the spark of an element she doesn't know? Accidental or not, she could cause horrendous havoc!"

"Oh, you, Sour Puss, she's got at least a month before the girls go out for supplies."

"You old hag, I meant here. I don't care what she does in Hyrule."

"Old hag?! I'm younger than you by twenty years!"

"We're twins! We were born the same year!"

"Um.. what element are we going to work on today?"

"Mastering the old one-"

"Water!"

"Mastery."

"Water!"

"Do I get a choi-"

"No!"

Aria backed away from the bickering pair. She couldn't just leave them like this, but at the same time, she wasn't really in the mood to just sit there and twiddle her thumbs while they argued about what she should or shouldn't be doing.

Aria pursed her lips looking around for a second, before blinking and allowing sparks to fill her vision. It was easy to ignore miniscule sparks, like every glimmering grain of sand. People had sparks of their own, motes showing their life force. As she'd discovered, it was considered generally impolite to stare at someone's spark for very long. At first, when lookinh at a being's spark, you just see a bright colorful light emanating from them, and if you look harder you can see the way their energy works around itself.

That energy was obviously different when it came to magic-users. Normal people were flat, their energy was there but it didn't move as much, it stuck close to their form. Magic users' energies were more fluid. Each user had to figure out a way control their energy, and it showed in their sparks. Nicar's energy was woven like a skein of yarn, where he pulled on the end string and let it unravel with as much energy he needed to use. She'd tried to do it that way, but it hadn't worked for her.

Koume and Kotake were odd. Their energies were rivers twisting and bending around their bodies, and at times they even seemed to entwine, blue mixing with red. When they argued, their energies tended to clash against each other.

Aria glanced away from them, focusing on energies farther away.

Learning how blind out smaller energies, like the dim ones from the stone in the wall, or the plant fibers in clothing, had taken her a long time to figure out, but it was something she'd been practicing since she was a young girl- before she even knew she could touch the sparks.

The normal energies within the compound walked around, doing their normal chores and duties. There was a rather odd energy at the end of the hall. It was still 'flat' but it had potential, vaguely purple and bright. The silhouette was a tall gerudo woman... it took a few moments for Aria to recognize it as Nabooru, but when she did she quickly turned to face the other way. Once you recognize a person, if they have the sight, there's the chance they'll see you looking at them.

Looking in the opposite direction hadn't been a good idea, or maybe it had. Just down the hall was a writhing spark, huge in it's form, hardly constrained by its system. There was obviously a system in place, but it was moving so fast and frankly it was rather intimidating. Aria squinted for a second. She hadn't seen this spark the first day she'd started training, and honestly had no clue who it could be.

Had she been staring too long? The writhing energy seemed to slow in it's path, shivering in place. The head of the person looked up and Aria backpedalled, blinking to return her vision to normal, cucco bumps rising across her skin.

Koume and Kotake were staring at her with an odd intensity. When had she plastered herself to the wall?

"I.. umm...I.."

"Looking at sparks, deary?"

"See anything interesting?"

"Or anyone you like?"

"N-n-no I just...Who is that?" Aria peeled herself off the wall. She glanced towards the direction where she had seen the energy, but didn't look fully towards it.

"The king, of course."

Aria rubbed her arm, a blush rising to her cheeks. "So umm, did you figure out what we were going to be doing today?"

"It won't hurt to work on water…I suppose" Kotake sighed.

"Oh, okay. So.. where do we get the water from?" Aria glanced around. There wasn't a canteen of water or even a plant in the room.

"I'm sure you can find water in this room somewhere."

Blinking, Aria frowned as she looked around at the sparks surrounding her. The heat of the arid desert had a habit of sucking up any and all liquids nearby. If she could find even a hint of water, she could stretch it out, force it to bubble and grow and multiply to the point where even a droplet could become the size of a large ball.

Sweat dripped off the top of her nose and realization kicked Aria in the gut. She narrowed in on her own perspiration and willed the loose water to the palm of her hand. It was hardly the size of a pea, but it was enough.

"Good! When there are no resources around, you are your own resource. Our last apprentice found it in their blood. It...as a bit messy."

They spent all of until lunch working with water, spreading it thin, making it become three times its original size, changing it's colors using elements around them, even making it thicker into a form of paint, ink, and then back into water. During this time, Koume also explained which plants were safe to eat or drink from in the desert and how to remove poison from the plants, wounds, and anything else it was in. Aria recalled the cactus milk she'd drunk in the desert and how the stomach cramps and other issues were probably because of its natural protection.

Aria skipped lunch, opting to head straight to the bathing room. Just as Koume had suggested, there was no one in it. Aria sunk into the warm water, immersing herself completely. With no one around, it gave her the peace to play around with the water before actually washing off.

Her peace was interrupted with the abrupt arrival of Nabooru.

"There you are! Kotake told me you might be here. I've got a chore for you."

"A chore?"

"Ohoho, you didn't think you were going to get off chore-less did you? Yeah. Hurry up and get dressed, I've got things you need to do."

"Okay." Aria huffed under her breath, but dried off and got dressed. She left her hair down to dry, figuring it wouldn't take long since it was the middle of the hot day.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Here, take these to King Ganondorf. He's in war room, so I'm sure you'll find him in no time."

"Wait, I don't know where the war room is!"

"Well then, you better start looking, I've got to go train our troops. Hop to it, sprite!" Nabooru disappeared out the door.

"Damn." Aria cursed under her breath. She had no idea where the war room was, but then… there was always…

Sighing, she concentrated on finding the king's overwhelming spark. It wasn't hard to find, but it was quite a ways away.

Aria walked hastily through the maze that was the Gerudo Fortress. With her energy-revealing vision active, running into walls was becoming more and more likely. People not so much, since they had brighter sparks than the sand and stone. When she reached the double doors before the office her vision reverted and she stood there staring at the heavy wooden planks of the war room

.

Swallowing back her anxiety, she knocked.

"Enter." His voice was deep and commanding so much that it reverberated off the walls and rippled across her she pushed the door open. It was certainly the man she'd run into the other day at first glance.

Golden eyes narrowed in irritation, and looked down at her.

"Yes?"

"Nabooru sent these…" Aria offered the rolled up documents. He was huge, how she'd shoved him to the side was a mystery, because he looked as solid as a stone wall. His fiery hair was wrapped into odd tight looking coils, seemingly held in place by the gold jeweled headpiece. He was leaning over a desk, several documents splayed out, a large map taking up the majority of the desk.

"Set them over there on the other desk." His eyes returned to the map before him, ignoring her presence.

Aria did as she was told, carefully placing the scrolls on the other desk. There were a lot other scrolls cluttering up the desk already, and they didn't look to be in any particular order. She turned to leave.

"What do you know of the western border?" The question halted Aria right as she laid a hand on the door to leave.

"Sir?"

"I won't repeat myself."

"I… not too much. My.. the group I was in was a test of sorts, I suppose."

"Elaborate."

Aria turned to face him. "Well, we were a relatively small group of about three hundred, not the best warriors in the kingdom. We were all drafted or well...almost everyone was drafted. Apprentices follow their mentors into battle or they lose any right to be mentored. But, um we were more of a test to see how much effort it would take for their Majesties to expand east. Since, from what I know, no one came back they'll more than likely be doubling their efforts, maybe even tripling. The royal family had a habit of making really odd minor rules that wouldn't affect anyone, and when those rules were broke on accident by someone the minor rules would become extremely excessive for anyone under their thumb.." Was she babbling? Aria stopped talking, her body so tense she was afraid that at any moment a thread would snap on accident and she might set something on fire.

"Hmm.. what do you believe your old masters will do?"

Masters. As if she directly served under the scum that called themselves royalty.

"They'll send a bigger, more experienced force. At least one to three thousand warriors, majority of them having more experience in the desert and battle, probably the royal guard as well."

Alert eyes stared at her for a moment longer, before he waved his hand in the direction of the door and returned to planning the gerudo's next move.

Not wanting to be questioned any further or provoke his assumed wrath, Aria hurried from the room and down the hallway. She turned the corner to a more secluded hallways and slid down the hallway breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hey! What're you doing out here? Aveil's been looking for you." Faruin walked over, poking her arm.

"She has? Nabooru had me run scrolls to the king and I..."

"Did he recognize you?"

"I think so. He didn't say anything about me running into him though."

"Huh. He must've been busy. He's always busy. Anyways, come on. Aveil's waiting for you outside by beginner's ring."

"Beginner's ring? What's that for?"

"Beginners of course!"

"Beginners in what?"

"You'll just have to find out, come on!"

The beginners ring wasn't all that impressive. Aveil stood in the center, waiting for Aria to put on the heavy boots and chainmail armor. Walking in it was difficult, each movement stiff and awkward. She'd almost asked Faruin to help her up, but the gerudo had disappeared to one of the other rings.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess? What are we doing here?"

"Training."

"Traini- I don't want to train to be a warrior. I'm not-"

"You're a gerudo. Every gerudo learns how to fight."

"Why am I in such heavy armor then? It's just making it difficult to walk. How am I supposed to fight in this?"

"The point of the armor is to slow you down. You're going to get used to wearing it, constantly. Right now you only have boots and a bit of chainmail on. Once you can run in it, you'll get upgraded to plate and so on, until you can run and fight while loaded down like a pack horse."

"Wow. Do all gerudo train like this?"

"No. You're an exception. Gerudo start training at a very young age and being fast comes natural. You have to work up to it. Now grab that sword."

Aria picked up the greatsword. It took her two hands to lift it in what she assumed was a fighting stance.

"That's pathetic. No, really. First off, that sword is meant for one hand, not two. Your knees are buckled. If I hit you in the chest right now you'd fall over. Spread your legs evenly apart. Don't lock or buckle your knees. That sword is obviously too heavy for you right now. Here."

Aria was given a different sword, lighter and easier on her wrist. Aveil spent the next hour guiding Aria through the motions of the parry and the thrust. Then, Aria had to jog for two more hours in the armor. It wouldn't have been difficult if she'd gotten to take a break once in a while, but Aveil was a hard taskmaster.

"Good. You did rather well today. I'm letting you off easy today, but tomorrow before we start we'll go over how to clean and take care of the different types of armor." Aria nodded weakly, slowly pulling the armor off and handing it back. Her legs wobbled underneath her when she tried to stand. She looked like a newborn foal testing out it's legs for the first time.

Before heading to the bathing room for a quick dip, she checked on Titan. His leg was healing faster than she expected for a horse who'd just come out of the desert less than a week ago.

After bathing, Aria headed to dinner. Nabooru sidled up to her.

"So, how was your day?"

"It was fine, exhausting, but fine." Aria took a bite of the savoury meat before her.

"Fine? No incidents?"

"No incidents. What are you getting at?"

"So he didn't say anything to you?"

"Not really? He just asked what I thought the other side's next move was. Why?"

"That.. ugh.. He didn't recognize you or say anything about you running into him?"

"Nope. I mean, he probably recognized me, but he didn't say anything about it."

"I swear that man is so.. so.. ugh." Nabooru sighed. "Anyways, what'd you think?"

"Think?"

Nabooru shook her shoulder, making her drop her fork back onto the plate.

"Yes, think! What did you think about him? "

"Uhhh...he's...intimidating?"

"So you're telling me you were so scared that he'd recognize you, you didn't get a good look at him?"

"What are you- He looked busy, he was bent over a desk staring at a map."

"You're telling me you wouldn't want to be the map he was bent over?"

"I… what? T-that never really crossed my mind." Aria's cheeks reddened at the mental image Nabooru had offered her.

"Well, now it has."

"Goddess, do you really talk about your king like that all the time?!"

"How are we talking about the king?" Aveil interjected, sitting opposite of Nabooru,

"She.. she just.. really?! "

"Awwww innocent little Aria. She's thinking about the king bending her over the war table."

"Oh.." Aveil laughed, watching as Aria's face turned an even darker shade of red.

"I am not!"

"Hey, it's fine. He's a handsome looking guy. Strong, passionate, I hear he's a great kisser and an even better fu-"

"Wait, you've never kissed him before?"

"Nope."

"Uh uh."

"... does he not have a thing for redheads?"

"Well, it would complicate things if his second and third in command were being constant distractions instead of focusing on other important matters."

"Second in … wow. Why wasn't this mentioned before? What if I'd-"

"You haven't done anything that questions anyone's authority. Don't be such a worry wart."

"I don't suppose-" Aria was cut off by the sudden hush that fell across the hallway as King Ganondorf entered the room. This time she could clearly see him past the other gerudo. He walked like she supposed a king would walk, like he owned the world, tall and with purposeful strides. When he sat down conversation returned to normal.

Aria stared at him longer, brow furrowed. It took a nudge from Aveil to bring her out of her own thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"You know if you keep staring at him like that, he's going to start staring back. Or worse. He'll walk over here."

"Why doesn't he?"

"What? You want him to come over here?"

"N- well sort of , not really? Why doesn't he sit with everyone else? Why doesn't anyone sit with him?" Aria glanced back to the near-empty table It looked so… lonely.

"Hmm.. it's not uncommon for advisors and generals, such as myself, to sit at that table. I prefer eating with the rest of the group."

"Doesn't he?"

"I…" Nabooru paused, tilting her head in consideration. "Huh.." As if a torch lit up in her mind, Nabooru looked at Aveil then back to the King's table.

"Oh.. I guess it wouldn't hurt." Nabooru didn't say anything, but she did motion at something. Aria wasn't quite sure what she was hinting at to Aveil. "Oooh, yes. Perfect idea. Let's."

"Let's wha- hey!" Aveil grabbed Aria's hand and tugged her away from her barely eaten dinner. Nabooru followed closely behind, winking at Faruin who had just walked in from finishing her chores. The gerudo gave them a confused look, but shrugged it off before walking to their vacated seats.

It must not have been too unusual to see Nabooru or Aveil head to the King's table, because very few gerudo stared for very long. Ganondorf only looked up from his meal when Nabooru placed her in the chair next to his. Aveil sat on her other side and began piling food onto the empty plate before her. Nabooru stood behind her chair, blocking in her only possible escape route, except perhaps if she slid down beneath the table.

The king stared down at her, eyebrow arched, and Aria avoided his gaze.

"Nabooru, what is the meaning of this?" His voice sent shivers down her spine.

"We thought you looked a bit lonely eating all by yourself, so we brought you company."

"Lonely?"

"Yup! Have fun you two!" Nabooru gave Aria's shoulder a firm squeeze, and Aria took it for what it was- a promise that if she tried to leave too early she'd get whatever torture they could think of. Aveil winked at her, mouthing 'Good Luck" before the two of them went back to their spot at the crowded table.

"Does she do this often?" Aria broke the silence that had settled over them. King Ganondorf glanced down at her for a moment before reaching towards the center of the table and pulling a slab of some odd meat onto his own plate.

"Nabooru enjoys playing the matchmaker. So long as it doesn't get in the way of her duties, it is.. tolerated."

"So… Why do you usually sit alone at the table, why not join the others?"

Ganondorf chewed his food slowly, swallowing before answering. "Why does it matter to you?"

"I.. just. I.. Why doesn't it matter to you?"

"A king is held to a higher standard,"

"But they're your people."

"And you are not."

"No.. I suppose I'm not. Not yet anyways. So, I suppose that means I don't have to call you King Ganondorf the whole time then."

His shoulders stiffened, and she could see the tense set of his jaw and how the grip on his eating utensil tightened.

"It would be wise to not play with fire, little girl."

"I happen to like fire." A spark of fire appeared in her hand, in the form of a stared at the butterfly before pressing his hand onto her palm, quelling the flames until they extinguished against Aria's will.

"Child's play." He didn't remove his hand from hers, but she had other matters to deal with, like the sudden claustrophobic feeling threatening to overwhelm her. Instinctually, her vision began filling with sparks. His huge mass of power was pressing on her, testing her set boundaries.

"You're.." She took in a deep, shuddering breath.

"You said you liked to play with fire." He was amused, she realized. He enjoyed seeing her struggle to hold her own defense against his more mature, trained abilities. He took pleasure in building her fear.

Angry, she allowed her knots to to unweave and she pressed back against his spark, striking hard at his center. It made a lovely dent in his energy for just a moment before he began filling it back in. Frustrated, she squeezed his hand and tried again, this time getting even less leeway. Aria renewed her forces, using the warm feeling of his hand pressed to hers as an anchor to reality. She pushed his aura of energy outside her boundaries and held it there. The meat on her plate set on fire, and the hand of Ganondorf's that she wasn't holding patted it out with a napkin.

The power struggle only lasted a few minutes, though it felt like an eternity, before he backed off. Aria gasped for air, her lungs ached like she'd been holding her breath underwater for too long. That was when she noticed he was madly grinning at her and he still held her hand, his thumb running across the back of it. The king chuckled loudly, drawing the attention of all the gerudo in the room.

"Such untapped energy. I look forward to feeling it again." He released her hand, standing from the table. He reached over and brushed a loose curl away from her face.

"Oh.. and try not to be late for your lesson tomorrow." King Ganondorf disappeared out of the side doors. Once the doors were completely shut, drained, Aria rested her head on the table. It was going to take hours to fix all the shredded threads and knots.

"Well, that could've gone worse."

"I think he likes you." Nabooru's voice appeared from behind her. Aria lifted a single finger in her direction, and the taller woman just chuckled before putting her hand over Aria's.