Roland sat in a small and very dirty saloon in Castle Town waiting for the bartender to bring him a drink. The bar owner, a hunched man named Havas who looked to be even dirtier than his building, was shuffling around taking orders from other customers.

Roland made no attempt to rush the aged barman, he had not come to this dirty corner of town just to get a drink. It was nearly 8 o' the clock, forty minutes later than they had agreed to arrive. As Havas began shuffling back over towards the knight's direction the door opened cutting the darkness of the pub with the setting sun's red light. Roland turned in his seat and saw a tall hooded figure silhouetted in the doorway. About time.

The cloaked figured closed the door, restoring the dingy room to its former gloomy darkness, and silently took a seat at one of the stained uneven wooden tables. The figure did not draw the attention of any other pub goers; hooded customers were common at the Stalfos' Rib.

The one who drew their attention was the Paladin. The shabby drunkards repeatedly shot him glances when they thought he was distracted. He had come in wearing a white tunic with a chainmail shirt underneath and chausses on his legs. This caused him to stand out so much against the dreary filth of the tavern that he almost seemed to glow with holy light.

Havas had shuffled back to Roland; he was holding a mug so indescribably foul that it looked as though it had never even been in the presence of water.

"I'll have your drink ready in a second, my lord." Havas had noticed the disgust that had flashed across Roland's face at the sight of the mug and was making an attempt to clean it on his apron as he spoke. All this did was add even more grime to the interior; a feat that Roland would have said was impossible. Havas scuttled over to one of the wooden casks where he kept the drink and filled the mug with deep brown mead, he came back holding the filthy mug in both hands and placed it on the stained, pitted wood of the bar.

Roland stood up from his damp chair and dropped a glittering yellow gem on the bar for Havas. He grabbed his glass of mead, though he had no intention of drinking it, and headed in the direction of the cloaked figure. On the way he gave the mead to a drunk and toothless soldier who downed it in one and promptly passed out on the dirt floor.

Making sure not to tread on any piece of the now snoring guard Roland continued his path to the cloaked figure. He was fully aware of the eyes following him, as well as the silence that had descended in the tavern, but he didn't care. He reached the table where the figure was sitting, his boots making scuffing sounds on the loose dirt and rocks of the tavern floor.

"Excuse me," Although he was whispering Roland's voice cut through the silence like a sword, "May I join you, preferably not for a drink, but at least for some conversation?" His voice was not its usual cheery baritone, but formal and somehow deeper than usual.

The cloak was black faded to gray from numerous washings and hung far over the figure's face, making the hood seem empty. However the figure gave a visible nod to the knight and he pulled out a damp wooden chair.

Roland leaned across the grimy table, he knew who was under the hood but it was easier to talk when he could see her.

"Don't take down the hood here, even the drunks can recognize your face. If you had come earlier we could have gotten out without attracting so much attention." Roland had lowered his voice to a hoarse barely audible whisper, but the longer they stayed in the tavern the more likely it became that someone would overhear.

"I was not late by choice," the figure whispered back, "it was your cousin that delayed me, he wanted to try do another political talk with me. He doesn't seem to understand that I lost what little authority I had when I came to Hyrule" She adjusted her hood slightly as Havas had slithered over towards them, her face shouldn't be seen.

"Well my lord, it seems you enjoyed the mead." Havas gave Roland a bitter look. He found it a personal insult that the knight had passed off his finest drink to an old drunkard. "Tell me would your hooded friend enjoy something, mayhap some graff?" Havas couldn't quite mask the resent still in his voice.

"We were just getting ready to leave. My companion and I have business elsewhere." Roland could die a happy man if he never had to see one of Havas's filth encrusted glasses again.

"Mayhap just one for the way to where e'er you're heading next then my lord?"

Havas was not just interested in getting as much money from this noble as he could. He enjoyed gossip, and wanted the story of why the cousin of His Majesty, the next in line for the throne, was having rendezvous with hooded strangers in his pub.

Roland didn't respond, he knew what the hunched barman wanted, and the sooner he left the less Havas would have to tell. He stood up from his chair and motioned to his companion to follow suit. They walked out together through the rotted wood door and retreated into the darkness.

As they went up the dirty stone alley where the pub was located the woman attempted to lower the hood covering her face but Roland took her hand and stopped her. "Not until we're somewhere safe, if you're seen at night it will be worse for you."

Kasima gave an exasperated sigh and lowered her hand, Roland did not let go however. Kasima wrenched her hand from Roland's grip as they continued walking.

"You know I can defend myself if they try to do anything. You should know that better than anyone Roland. It's not like I haven't had to defend myself before now." She shot him a glare from under her hood so fierce Roland stopped in his tracks.

Roland now let out his own sigh and ran a hand through his dark blond hair. They'd had this conversation already, several times. "Kasima, you need to think. If someone sees your face you're going to be attacked. I know you can fight for yourself and that's the problem. If you murder your attacker it gives Harkinian a reason the throw you in the dungeon. The laws in Hyrule are not the same as the ones for your tribe."

Kasima didn't reply, she simply turned and walked away, her dark cloak billowing out behind her in the slight breeze. They had had this same argument more times than she could count and she was tired of trying convince him that she could fend for herself. He was running after her now, telling her to wait and not do anything reckless. She ignored him and increased her stride until she could no longer hear him calling after her.

When she came to the center of Castle Town she hesitated, torn between two destinations. She could head north to the castle, which would probably mean dealing with King Harkinian or Queen Zelda questioning her until she wanted to scream. She could also go northwest, past the shop with that terrifying mask salesman, to the Temple of Time. She had felt a fascination with the place ever since she had glimpsed it, as though someone inside was calling to her.

She suddenly turned around, causing her hood to fall to her shoulders, footsteps were approaching from the alley and from the sound it was more than one person. She reached to her hip for a sword that was not there, Roland had convinced her to stop carrying weapons when she went into the town, she would have to settle for using her bare hands against whoever was coming.

Five men walked into the flickering light of the lamppost. It was instantly obvious that they were soldiers because of the short swords on their belts and chainmail each of them wore, it was also immediately obvious that they were very drunk.

One of them screamed something so slurred Kasima couldn't understand it, the other drunks obviously did understand their mate because all five staggered over to where she was standing,

"An' wha' do you think you're doin' out 'ere so late?" The one at the front of the pack asked her. Before Kasima could say anything the soldier let out an enormous belch, engulfing her in the sickening smell of filth, mead, overcooked meat and stale tobacco. He leaned in toward her, the smell of stale drink and tobacco hanging like a cloud over him, and looked at her intently with bloodshot eyes.

"I was just out taking a walk, I had a companion with me but he seems to have disappeared. I was just heading back to my home, now if you'll excuse me." Kasima turned and began walking away when she heard the sound of swords being unsheathed behind her.

The soldier at the front of the group began to scream, the drunkenness seemingly temporarily gone from his mind. "I knew I recognized you, you that stupid bitch who caused all this fightin' wit' them savage women! They killed both my sons you bitch!" He ran toward her sword raised aiming for her throat.

Instincts taking over Kasima whipped around and struck the man on his unarmored arm, however his sword managed to graze her forehead and cut the piece of rawhide holding her hair before it clattered to the ground. Her dark hair had become unbraided and now spilled across her face, darker than the night, as she glared at the soldiers, blood dripping down her face.

The one she had disarmed ran at her again, this time with a closed fist. She dodged him easily and caught his arm when he swung again. She threw him to the ground hard enough that she could actually hear the breath being forced out of his lungs.

Turning away from his unconscious body she looked at the other soldiers. They were cowering in fear their weapons completely forgotten. Despite the fact that he looked ready to piss himself one of the soldiers spoke up.

"A-all this is your fault! Good men, 'ave died, all 'cause of you! Their blood is on yer 'ands and that ain't somethin' we are jus' goin' to forget. We'll see to it that the king hangs you for all you done!" Kasima saw that tears were streaming down the young man's face despite the anger in his voice.

Kasima did the only thing that seemed to make sense. She ran. They wouldn't follow after her because they were too afraid of what she would do to them. She ran north towards the castle and was only stopped when she ran straight into Roland causing them to fall to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

Roland extracted himself from under the Gerudo Queen and stood up, the relief on his face quickly shifting to anger. "Kasima where the hell have you been? I thought you'd gone back to the castle so I was heading back there when you come out of nowhere and nearly split my head open on the ground!" He felt the anger drain away like water down a drain when he saw her face.

Kasima had gone completely pale, tears and blood were running down her cheeks, mixing together into clear red drops before hitting the ground. Roland knelt down put a hand on her shoulder but she brushed it away impatiently. She looked up at him, her mahogany eyes meeting his blue ones.

"Roland," her voice was calm despite the tears still rolling down her face, "How many Hylian soldiers have died since I started this war? Please I need to know"

Roland was completely caught off guard by this question. This was the first time Kasima had brought up the war raging between their people, and it reminded him uncomfortably that she was in fact not a Hylian she was one of them.

"The last count we got from the battlefield was over a week ago, but it was over five hundred Hyrulian soldiers. We don't have a count for the Gerudo soldiers but we're assuming they have lost about as many."

"Over five hundred. Husbands, sons, and brothers all because of me," She bent her head and her face was shielded from view by a dark curtain of her hair but Roland could see she was trembling even under her cloak. Roland placed a hand on her shoulder and this time she didn't brush it away, but covered it with her own.

"Over five hundred sons and husbands," she muttered, her voice now shaking as well, "All because I wanted to protect my child from a man I used to love."