Ganon paced through the castle, his brow creased with his frown. Moblins, stalfos, and his other minions bowed respectfully to him as he strode by. He ignored them, lost in thought. Link had been gone for three days. He at least knew the boy wasn't dead; his siphoning of their energy had given him a small connection to each. He could sense the resonance of their shards within them at all times, like a spider feeling a fly in their web. Zelda's shard pulsed like a heart, spiking with stress or anger. It was worse at night when she slept, especially with Link gone.
Link's shard seemed to almost buzz at all times, a faint droning in his mind.
He paused at the door to Zelda's room. He planned, in time, for them to no longer think of him as their enemy, and giving them small luxuries like a private room and a run of the grounds and market (in Zelda's case) was his attempt at being… generous.
If people would just obey and do as he said, he could rule fairly. Why did they resist?
Ganon waited until the maid he'd sent up came skittering back out of Zelda's room, almost shrieking when Ganon's face loomed at her out of the dark.
"Did she eat the food?"
"Ahh, yes, your Eminence."
"Good. She needs to eat. I suppose these midnight feedings will have to do to keep her weight up. I am not letting either of them die while I can help it." He strode away from the young girl while she gaped after him, confused.
Zelda sat in silence as Ganon ate breakfast. He no longer commented on her despondent appetite. She moved her fork around the plate uselessly, then sighed and sat back in her chair.
One of Ganon's many beasts thundered into the great hall- one of the big ones, part lion and part man, and all anger.
Ganon hardly looked up as it approached him, growling faintly.
"What news?" Ganon asked idly.
The beast spoke to him in snarls, so Zelda could only tell it was bad by the anger in Ganons face and the way his fork squeaked on the plate.
"How many of you have they killed?" The Lion thing growled a number and he swore.
"I cannot possibly make more of you right now, not in that great a count. You said it was forces from Termina?"
A gurgle that meant yes.
"Hm. Your Eminence, what is along our border there?"
It took Zelda a minute to realise he was talking to her. "Um… farmland, I think."
"Good. Then we will use the farmers from that area, give them weapons and armor, and lead a counter attack. They may be reluctant when they see it is fellow people. That gives us an advantage."
Zelda went back to silence, but her heart started to pound. Her vision-
"G- your eminence, I don't think that is wise."
"Hm?" He and the lynel turned to her, the latter snarling.
"Using the farmers."
"Well what the hell else am I supposed to do?"
"It's too close to harvest time. If you pull them away from their fields to fight little skirmishes with Termina, you'll lose all that crop and the people will suffer."
"What do you know of battle?!" He snapped.
"I saw it."
Here Ganon recoiled slightly. "You saw it?"
"I have visions."
"What exactly did you see?"
She explained, Ganon watching her carefully, trying to decide if he could trust her.
Zelda dared, at last, to lift her head slightly and stare him in the face.
Finally, Ganon turned back to the lynel. "Leave it for now. Put a smaller patrol in that area, but do not rise to their bait unless they become destructive."
The lynel growled in protest, obviously upset with this decision.
"I will unmake you!" Ganon shouted as a threat, and the lynel departed, but not before shooting zelda one last furious look.
Zelda forced herself to take a bite of food to avoid looking at Ganon again. She could tell he was watching her. The eggs tasted like dust.
"You have visions?" He asked finally, when he lost patience. "For how long?"
"Since I was young," she replied. "Not very often, though."
Ganon studied her as she continued to stare at her plate.
"You must tell me every vision you have. Even if it has not yet come to fruition."
Zelda didn't respond.
"ANSWER ME!" He thumped a fist on the table, their plates rattling.
"Of course," she spoke through a barely-open mouth.
Ganon felt uneasy for a brief moment. Her cavalier attitude to him angered him, and knowing he couldn't do much about it was worse. He would have to try endearing her to him, which… he was unsure how to proceed.
He looked at her again, noticing the shabby, worn-out men's clothes she was wearing, the same ones she was wearing when he finally found them.
"Are you… going to market today?"
Zelda looked at him out of the corner of her eye, puzzled. "Why?"
"You need clothing."
"I like these clothes. Besides, there are no vendors."
"You must wear items respective of your position," he insisted through clenched teeth.
"I'm fine with these." If she'd looked at him, seen the fury in his face, she may have not said that last part.
Ganon reached across the table to her, grabbing the collar of her shirt and yanking her half-over the table, his face in hers.
A hot stinking cloud of his breath washed over her. It smelled like sour wine and blood. Only now did she dare meet his eyes, hers wide with terror.
"Let me ask you this- would you be an empress or a slave? Because empresses get private rooms, they get regular meals, they get the run of the market and gardens with minimal supervision. Slaves do not." His teeth were bared, his eyes wild and bloodshot. Zelda could not answer.
Finally, he flung her back against her chair.
The chair rocked backwards as if to tip, then steadied again. Zelda's hands trembled as she looked down at her shirt, seeing the rest of her breakfast was smeared across the front now.
"Well. Now you have to get fresh clothes," Ganon grumbled, annoyed.
He summoned a carriage for them, and made Zelda climb in first. "Surely there is a small town along the main road," he muttered as he entered the carriage, sitting down across from her.
Zelda put herself in the corner, shrinking in on herself as much as possible. She had switched to one of the other dresses she dug up in the castle, another high collar and long sleeve affair that hid her necklace and bracelets. It was a bit big; others had been small, so she could only assume her reluctance to eat had something to do with it.
Though she tried not to look too pleased, Zelda watched the landscape as they traversed the main road from the castle. It felt so good to have a change of scenery. Ganon said nothing as she looked out the window, sitting with his arms folded and a stern expression on his face.
They stopped at the first town, roughly twenty minutes from the castle, and as the carriage rumbled into the main square, people began screaming and running. Other people gathered whatever weapons they had near, pitchforks and other farming implements mostly. Ganon stepped out of the carriage first, and with a few short blasts of his evil power, the people were killed or run off.
"Stay close," he ordered Zelda, "unless you want to lose your head."
She followed him dutifully, realizing that yes- they were outside of her safe zone, and now the 100-foot perimeter was in action.
"Good people!" He shouted over the panicked screams of people trying to collect their families and bolt. "The Empress and I demand fine clothing! Where is your tailor?!"
The people were still fleeing like flushed quarry, so Zelda stepped up. She wanted this over, and she wanted the deaths to stop. "Please!" She called out, raising her left hand. It glowed, and the few people within range slowed to a stop.
"They now know we won't hurt them," she explained to Ganon.
He snorted. "Only if we get what we came for."
"A tailor, please?" Zelda called out, ignoring Ganons comment.
Reluctantly, a motherly looking woman spoke up. "First alley behind you, that's the garment aisle."
Zelda thanked her and Ganon took the lead.
She tried to enjoy being in a new place, meeting new people, no longer hidden away like a dark secret, but it was all tainted. People watched them distrustfully from the windows as they walked by, Zelda struggling to keep up with Ganon's long-legged stride. Finally, they found a shop with a tailors sign over the door and a title printed on the glass. But all the shades were drawn.
Ganon pounded on the door, sneering. He knew someone had to be in there.
Zelda stood by uncomfortably as Ganon pounded again and again, and finally with a roar of frustration, he blew the door into splinters with a blast of energy. Zelda screamed and covered her head with her hands.
Ganon stormed into the building, spying the tailor who was running for the back door, his arms full with a suitcase. Ganon caught up with him easily and grabbed him. "There you are," he growled with a terrible grin. Zelda reluctantly stepped inward; she felt the necklace and bracelets start to clamp down and wanted that eerie sensation to stop.
The tailor was shaking, and a dark stain spread across the front of his pants. Ganon recoiled and let the man go. "Pathetic!" He snapped.
Zelda approached to comfort the man, but he flinched from her touch.
"Please, take anything, but leave me with my life!" He begged.
"We need clothes, that's all."
The tailor refused to look up, and Zelda started looking around. There were a few mostly finished garments available on dress mannequins, one of them being a rather simple looking dress. She went for it immediately, then looked around for various shirts and some extra pants for herself and Link. She hesitated, not knowing if she should plan for him or not, and decided to air on the position of optimism that he would return.
Ganon also looked around, frowning. "None of these clothes will serve an emperor," he declared.
The tailor was shell shocked, still staring at the ground.
Ganon got in his face. "Make me something worthy to be worn by me!"
"I-I-" the tailor gasped for air, clutched his chest, and collapsed.
Zelda turned at the sound, and dropped her items, running over. "What did you do?!"
"Nothing. He was weak." Ganon leaned back as Zelda knelt over the man. She grabbed his hand and held it, but he did not stir. His eyes were unfocused, and a thin dribble of spit dribbled out of his mouth.
Zelda listened close and watched his chest, but he was not breathing.
"He's dead," she said sadly.
"We will find another tailor," Ganon said. "Leave the clothes, there's no point if he can't fit them to us."
"They're still perfectly good," she argued.
"LEAVE THEM. They're not my style anyway."
They went on for most of the day, going from town to town, bringing terror and leaving destroyed stores and homes. But finally, at the fifth town, which was plenty rundown when they got there, they found a clothier who could assist them with their needs. She fitted them both in sullen silence, Ganon dictating the clothing and finding the seamstress unflappable, which irritated him. But of course he was also hungry and exhausted, and making the carriage, blasting towns and people as needed, and all the other little things that sapped at his energy all day were wearing on him. He hoped to sleep well that night.
Zelda said nothing as she was fitted in ancient Gerudo style formalwear, a dress that clasped closed at the shoulders and belted at the waist. Ganon insisted on black, a royal color in his custom. Zelda did not fight him. She was also given a pair of traditional Gerudo underpinnings, made of lightweight unbleached cotton.
He himself wore a tunic that was cut similar to her dress, his shoulder clasps much heavier. His tunic stopped mid thigh, and underneath he wore breezy, wide legged pants that fell an inch short of the ground.
The hems of their clothes were trimmed in gold as well, the clasps on her shoulders shaped like a desert flower, his clasps shaped like lightning bolts.
Ganon was feeling much like his old self, and very pleased with the results. He admired himself in a mirror to one side of the shop. "A few more pairs of these. Purple, I think, darkest you have. Maybe one in red, as well."
"Of course." The clothier began to write up the order.
"Some for the lady, as well."
The clothier nodded.
Zelds spoke up- "what about Link?"
Now Ganons mood was soured somewhat, and he frowned.
"He can have whatever basics are laying about and not getting used, i don't care."
Zelda looked around the shop, and with the seamstress helping she found a couple old, dingy shirts and some pants.
"Can you sew?" The seamstress asked her idly. "As i cannot measure this other man myself."
"I can do some hemming and things, but not much," zelda admitted, wondering how this woman was able to act so professional, if not a bit aloof.
"That should be enough for quick mending work." She shrugged, then went back to Ganon with a slip of paper in her hand. "Your total bill-"
"My what?"
Zelda had learned how to recognize the menace in his tone.
"The bill for everything, sir, is-"
She never got to tell them. Ganon grabbed her and threw her into a wall with a growl in his throat.
"I pay for NOTHING!" He roared, and Zelda finally had enough, dropping the clothes and running from the shop. She didn't get far before she felt the cursed jewelry biting into her skin, and she stumbled, taking a few more hesitant steps before stopping dead. A thin line of blood welled on her throat and arms as the jewelry started pinching closed. When she stopped, the jewelry stopped, but stayed tight. Reluctantly, she turned back to the C lothier, moving as fast as she could, the jewelry slowly easing up.
Ganon stepped out, holding the clothes they were to procure. "We're going," he snapped, his breathing heavy.
"Can I grab a few more things?" Zelda dared ask. "Please, your Eminence?"
He frowned. "Like what?"
"Material, at least. So we can make other options without traveling all this way."
Ganon grumbled, hating that she had a point. "Fine."
Zelda quickly re entered the shop, hearing the moaning of the dying woman in one corner and feeling sick. She grabbed Links clothes, then turned and went to the woman. She was slumped against the wall, blood where her head had struck it, and her eyes was full of tears as she sat there uselessly. Zelda put her left hand on the woman's shoulder.
"I wish you to know peace," she whispered. After another moment, the woman's breath hitched, then she exhaled from deep within her body, the air rattling on its way out as she sunk down to the ground, finally dead.