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Title: Treasure of the Yiga

Chapter 3: The Mission

Author: Sailor Song

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"I thought you were taking me to the Sheikah."

"I changed my mind."

It was as much as we had spoken to one another in days since the awkward exchange after the lizalfo attack. We'd had to stop a couple of times because my illness had relapsed, but despite the growing tension between us, Link continued to care for me with tenderness and compassion.

"Where are we?"

"We're in the Faron region. Keep your hair up in the scarf while we're here," he went on. "And don't let it show-"

"You're being very vague, Hero," I snapped as I checked that the headwrap was still on tightly. "I need you to tell me what's going on if you want my compliance."

He hesitated, but he knew I was right. "Zee, there is only one person I can think of who can help unshackle us. I know you hate me and think of me as your enemy, but I ask that you suspend that and not use the situation to get to me."

"I…" What could I say? That I didn't actually hate him? There was no way I could tell him that. "I have honor, you know."

"I know you do," he replied. "We just have to go about this carefully."

"If you explain it to me, I promise I'll understand."

"My father works as a farrier for a horse stable. He is the only person I can think of who would have the tools and knowhow to get us out of these shackles."

"Why would he be the only one who could help us?" I asked offhandedly, not really sure what exactly a farrier was. Or, for that matter, a horse.

"He's had experience removing them before," he replied grimly, and this time I knew better than to press him with more questions.

… … …

It hadn't really occurred to me how unlike a legendary hero Link looked, with his slim body and average stature, until I met his father. The man was very large with a build that could rival Master Kohga or Sooga. I supposed that Link still had time to grow, as he seemed to be close to me in age, but I kind of liked that he didn't tower over me.

The man did not recognize his son at first, but that's probably because his son was filthy, cloaked, and attached to another filthy and cloaked person. Once introductions were out of the way, Link explained our reason for visiting.

"My boy, this isn't one of those bizarre Akkala wedding traditions, is it? They like to get pretty inventive in that part of Hyrule."

"No, Dad, it's nothing like that. Can you help us get out of them?"

"Let me take a look," he replied with a jovial voice, but as soon as he took the manacle in his hand, all laughter stopped. "Link, what were you doing there?"

"I can explain."

"It better be good."

The Hero looked afraid. Even when he had been tortured or was about to be executed did he ever have this look on his face. This was a reminder to me of why we Yiga do not know our parentage and are raised communally by the clan. Family makes one afraid; love makes one weak.

His father seemed to sense it too, and he turned to look directly at me. His eyes were also blue, but much lighter than Link's, more like a cloudy gray. "I'm sure your friend here is tired of being trapped next to you. How about we get you both out of these things, then you and I can have that talk."

"Yes, sir."

They decided to free me first, and there were no objections from me, even when the assortment of tools - many of which were large, sharp, and pointy - were brought out. After a few attempts, the mechanism popped loose and I was released from my confinement.

Untethered, I had a split-second choice to make. I could run, but there was no point. I had no idea where I was, and no way of finding my way back to the hideout unless I happened upon one of the members of my clan. Besides, HE would just find me before I got too far. No, I ultimately decided that patience was my friend and that staying by his side for now was my best chance of returning home.

However, I did need to relieve myself in the worst way, as neither of us much enjoyed using the bathroom while we were chained to one another. Link seemed to want to stay by me, but his dad pointed to the woods. "That way, little miss," he said. "Outhouse. Can't miss it."

Beyond grateful, I bowed and rushed off. The toilet was exactly where he had pointed, and oh how nice it was to finally get to do my business without that wretched boy beside me. I took my time, and while I was happy to finally be rid of my bindings, I felt uneasy, as though something was missing, and started back to rejoin the pair. As I stood at the edge of the clearing and watched the villagers walking and interacting with one another, I suddenly became very aware of the rags I was still wearing. I had never cared about what I wore before, but without the conformity of a mask and uniform, it became apparent that in this world, clothing indicated status. At least my clothing matched my own status: trash, discarded rubbish that needed to be disposed of.

There was an unmistakable popping sound, and before I could react, I felt myself being grabbed and pulled back into the darkness of the woods. Turning around, I almost screamed in delight at the man before me.

"Sooga!" I could hug him. I was saved! "Take me home, please. He took me from home, and-"

"We've been in the shadows, watching over you this whole time, Zee," he said, stepping back before I could get close to him. "This was merely the first time I could get near you. You're being given an assignment."

A mission? At last! Trying to control my eagerness, I asked, "What is it?"

"The Hero likes you, that much is clear. If he didn't, he would have killed you by now. We can use this, use him, to serve our ends and to revive the Dark Lord to life and glory."

Use Link? He wasn't stupid, and I was not a good actor. When I told Sooga this, he didn't seem concerned. "You don't need to do anything right now. All you need to do is stay by the Hero's side. He trusts you. Watch and be patient. He may accidentally reveal the key to bringing him down once and for all."

"Easy," I shrugged.

"You seem hesitant, Zee. Conflicted."

I… was I? I tried to contort my face to show him my resolve. "I'm not. I can do this. I'm ready."

"Even still, the Hero has a way of bringing his enemies to his side. Don't become another Bulblin," he said, referencing an ancient cautionary tale of our clan. "Don't turn your back on our king." When I didn't say anything, he filled the silence. "A final warning: the Hero may tire of you at some point. You saw Hyrule Castle, correct?" I nodded. More proof that they'd been following all this time. "If he takes you there, and he will, you need to be ready for us. We will rescue you."

"What do you-"

"Someone approaches," he interrupted. "I have to go. Zee. Remember, we're watching."

With a POOF, he was gone.

My head was spinning with questions that had gone unasked in our encounter. In my excitement to see something, someone familiar, I had not been able to inquire about all of the many ideas that had been challenged in recent days, most of all, my need or lack thereof, for that medicine.

"Whoa there, missy," a voice attached to a large pair of hands said as I was pulled from the woods. "Don't want to wander off too far. Bokoblins and wolves roam these woods. Best to stick to the clearing."

I looked up to see Link's father leading me back to his house. "Where's Link?" My only instruction was to stay by the Hero.

"Said he needed to take care of something."

I assumed that was some code for using the bathroom until Link rejoined us and held out a bundle, mumbling something.

"Pardon?"

"I...uh...got you some clothes." His face turned red. "The girls at the shop can help you if you can't figure out how to put on the...that thing." He stared up at the sky and seemed to have nothing left to say.

"Over here!" a young woman called me over. Before I could say anything, she pulled me into the store and took me to a small curtained room with a looking glass. "He was right, you are a tiny thing."

After a quick tutorial on how to put on a brassier, she left me alone to help another customer in the shop. I pulled off the rags - my last reminders of home, now piles on the floor likely to be burned - and started pulling on the first article. Leggings. He didn't get me skirts to wear as seemed to be common for other women of his kind; he got me thick leggings. Was he really so thoughtful to consider that I would be far more comfortable in something like this, clothing like what I was accustomed to wearing back home?

As I continued to dress, I observed myself in the looking glass. Yiga are supposed to be slim, quick, and agile. Only blademasters diets are adjusted to help them gain muscle mass, but for the rest of us, there is more benefit in our being lean and uniform in size.

But it seemed that wasn't the case for the Hylians. I poked my head out of the dressing stall, peering out into the shop. For the first time in my life, I was seeing other people, and they were made up of many different shapes and sizes. Having a unique identity was an advantage to them, not a weakness as I had always been taught to believe.

A mop of blond hair appeared in the doorway causing me to jump back into the small room. Stay with him, that's what Sooga had told me to do. Hiding from him was exactly the opposite of following those orders.

"She's back there," I could hear the woman tell him. Her voice was slightly higher with a giggling, childlike tone that she hadn't had when she talked to me before. She must have swallowed a bug to have such an alteration. Weird.

There was a tap on the wall outside the changing room that caused me to jump. "Zee," he said softly. Was my heart beating so loudly that I did not hear him approach? There's no way his movements were that silent. I could hear even the other members of my clan if they tried sneaking up on me. "I just grabbed what I thought you might like, but if you don't, they said you can swap it out."

"It's fine, it's all fine," I managed.

"Fine," he repeated.

He didn't say anything after, so I opened the curtain, not expecting to be looking directly into his blue eyes.

"I think I put it all on correctly," I said, looking down and then at myself in the reflecting glass. Leggings, a simple tunic. I looked like any Hylian now; the only thing out of place was the scarf used to hide my white hair. I scratched at it, but let it be. Link had specifically said not to take it off, and I was starting to understand why. Despite the variants of hair colors around, no one had white hair like mine.

"I have an idea about that if you are willing to try something."

Why not? I've already come this far.

I followed him to a traveling merchant who had a large assortment of dyes for sale. Though they were meant to be used to color fabrics, the peddler hinted that some customers used them to change the color of their hair. He acted like it was some new thing for people to do, while I have been coloring my hair white for years. However, I played my part and waited for Link to choose what he liked for me, wondering if he'd pick a dirt brown like the shop girl's hair color.

"What do you prefer, Zee?" he asked. "It's your hair."

I'd never had the choice before. Not for hair color. Not for clothing. Not for anything. "This one?" I asked, pointing to a swatch of fabric. Brown, like wet earth.

"If that's the one you want," he said. "That's what matters, not what I think."

I wanted to tell him I didn't care, that I wasn't the one who had to look at myself, but I was so taken by his prompting that I took another look. Which one did I want? When he turned, his sword caught my eye. Specifically, the golden embellishments on both the scabbard and sword itself that were glinting in the sunlight. Could I catch the light the same way? "No wait, this one," I said pointing to a swatch. "This is the color I like."

… … …

My hair, now freed from the scarf, draped around my shoulders and down my back. The golden blonde mass seemed like a curtain of waves flowing from my head. It felt weird to have it loose since typically it was tucked up in my mask.

After helping me with the dye by the river, Link had left me alone, saying he was going to hunt some meat for our dinner since neither of us had eaten well on the road. Even though he assured me I would be fine left alone with his father, I hesitated to return to the man's scrutinizing gaze.

When I did finally make it back, the fire was stoked and the large man was busy sharpening his knives so that he and Link could skin and cook whatever game the hunter returned with. I did not wish to catch him by surprise, especially with such objects in his hands, so I gave a slight cough to announce my presence.

"Ah, you're back, little miss," he said happily as he turned, and his face ashened immediately. Knives clattered on the dirt as his hands began to shake uncontrollably. "My lady," he uttered as he fell to his knees.

I was startled by this and tried to creep backwards, but he grabbed the hem of my tunic and continued with his rambling.

"I failed you, my lady. Have you come for your vengeance at last?"

"Sir, I-" What was I supposed to say? He had lost his mind. "I'm Zee. I'm Link's…"

At once, as though he had been slapped in the face, his face jerked and he suddenly snapped back. "Zee," he muttered, my name sounding odd in his mouth. "Zee. Zee." He stood and began to rub his face. As he wandered off in the direction of the village, I could still hear him chanting my name.

I don't know how long I stood there in shocked silence, other than it was becoming dark when Link found me, returning from his hunt smelling of earth and sweat and blood. "Zee, what's wrong?"

Hearing my name again made me jump. I was not used to it being said so frequently. I was starting to hate it.

I relayed what I could of what had just occurred, and for as confused as I was, Link seemed to understand exactly what was happening. Dropping his fresh kill on the carving table his father had prepared, he was about to take off, but he hesitated as he looked back at me.

"Go," I ushered, still very confused by the circumstances.

"I won't be gone long," he promised before running off.

When he returned from the village, he was serving as a living crutch for his father. The man was a sight: a drunken, slobbering mess. When I offered to help in whatever way I could, Link put up a hand and told me to stay back in a slightly threatening voice I had not heard him use. Before I could respond, they disappeared through the doorway into the house.

"Watch and be patient."

General Sooga's advice echoed in my ears. It seemed to me that this was enough. His love for his father was a weakness. But Sooga said they were watching, and they would have seen this by now. They would have known about the father.

An idea occurred to me. The forgotten knives his father had sharpened for skinning the dead beast. Link was not paying attention, I could easily sneak in and take care of this right now. Slit his throat while his back was turned. There was no need to drag this out longer than necessary.

"Watch and be patient."

With a sigh, I picked up the knives and dropped them on the table beside Link's game; a once living creature with lifeless eyes. It was a reminder of what he really was: a killer. For someone who claimed to not be a murderer, he was very good at it.

… … …

I stayed out of his way when he did finally emerge from the house, watching as he shakily moved about from one place to the next without settling on one task. It was strange to see him so out of sorts. Even in the center of my world, he acted like he was the one fully in charge. Now, with his father, he was a lost little boy.

"Can I help?" My voice caused him to jump, and I desperately wanted to find humor in seeing him so flustered.

"Oh, Zee, I…" He looked back to the door. "No, I've got it. Do you need anything?"

Why was he worried about me right now? "I'm fine-" I began, but my growling stomach gave me away. I pretended nothing had happened, but he was too sharp, his hearing was too good.

"I'll make us something to eat. It'll just take a little time to prepare."

Now set on the task before him, he became the focused Link I knew. He checked and cleaned the already sharpened knives and sorted out the game he'd killed. I waited to see him stab into its flesh, to reveal his true self to me, but he wasn't moving. Instead, his hands were clasped together, his head was bowed, and he was muttering to himself.

I crept closer, trying to hear what he was saying. "...Goddess, bless this creature's spirit, and may its sacrifice not be forgotten. May it be forever folded in your care…"

I couldn't listen anymore. He was… he was praying for it? An animal? A dead animal? It was infuriating, Hylians and their ancient religion for goddesses that had long abandoned them. At least the god of my people was real. The Dark Lord had been born Gerudo, no one could deny his existence. But the goddesses, well, they were nothing more than myth, a fantasy.

"Does the sight of blood bother you?" he asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I hadn't realized he had started carving into the creature.

"Obviously not," I replied, "otherwise, I would not have entered that cell when you needed healing."

He looked thoughtful for a moment as he wiped away a splotch of blood from his face. "True." He was silent again before turning back to me. "Would you like to learn how to do this?" he asked, pointing a blade at the beast.

I shrugged, but made my way beside him, watching silently as he sliced and carved through the game, pulling away it's fur from the pink and blood-red flesh. When he'd finished cleaning one side, he offered me the handle of the knife. Ever so tempted to use it against him, I took it and set to work cutting away the top layer as he had done. Satisfied that I was doing it correctly, he moved to stoke the fire, adding logs to prepare it for cooking.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, not really sure why. Maybe because he seemed worried, or maybe I was just curious, but the silence was starting to get to me.

"No," he said quietly, but in a few minutes, he did anyway. "My father was once the captain of the Queen's Guard. He was on leave when she urgently requested to visit her Gerudo friend, but because he was not able to plan out the details, the men guarding her were left vulnerable to an ambush. The soldiers were killed and the queen was taken. Dad found out the reason she hadn't waited was she had been excited to share the news that she was expecting a child. Knowing time was of the essence, he searched on his own for months to try to find her, finally locating her hidden away deep in the desert. "

I didn't have to ask him who took the queen. The answer hung in the air like the smell of the blood from the animal we were butchering.

He walked over and finished the rest, then began carving out pieces of meat, alternating them on skewers with vegetables and mushrooms. His task done, he took them to the fire so they could begin to roast. "She was alive and was indeed very pregnant. He was able to free her, but they didn't get far before she went into labor. He remembers delivering the baby but everything after for him is a blur, and he was discovered stumbling out of the desert with the queen and a baby in his arms. The newborn prince survived, but the queen did not live long enough to make it to the castle healers."

I suddenly wanted him to stop. Nothing good could come from hearing the rest of this story. But he was the Hero: one skilled with strength, speed, and courage, not the ability to read minds.

"Despite all he had done to try to save her, my father was stripped of his titles, his lands - everything. My mother, a noblewoman by birth, could not stand the humiliation and abject poverty, and so she left him, left us both."

"You must hate my people for what they did to him, to you." The words flew out of my mouth before I knew what I had said.

He shook his head before turning to me, his eyes shining in the firelight. "I don't hate anyone, not even them." He looked back to the fire, turning the skewers. "I don't even like killing animals for food."

I wanted to call him a liar. No one lived a life free from hatred. I had grown up in total seclusion, and yet I held a seething loathing for Hylians, one in particular. But in the light of the fire, as the shadows of the flames danced across his features, he looked so small. Nothing like the monster described to me by my masters. At this moment I didn't hate him; I think I pitied him.

"How did you become the Hero?" I asked, thinking the subject change would help, but it only made him shrink further.

"I hate being called that," he murmured before standing and walking away. I thought that was the end of it, but he returned with a set of plates. "I grew up poor and despised by everyone. Dad couldn't get work because… rumors, and I was not immune from being blamed for the queen's death." He placed a skewer on each of the plates and instructed me to let it cool for a little bit.

I thanked him as he handed me a plate, but I was still confused. "Why would anyone blame you?"

"I was the reason Dad was on leave when she decided to visit Gerudo Town. He tried to put family first, to celebrate the birth of his son, but it cost him everything."

"Not you," I argued, not sure why I wanted to make him feel better. "He had you."

"Yes, you're right," he said, smiling kindly. "He had me. And as I got older and picked up a sword, he quickly realized that I was skilled in the art of combat. He taught me everything he knew by the time I was seven, and then I surpassed him. It wasn't long before the military found out as well, and I was conscripted into the armed service."

He took a bite, and I did the same. I hadn't tried boar before. It was good, and I told him so as he offered me another skewer.

"I'm glad you like it," he said, taking another for himself.

"So, the military must have been a good fit for you," I said. I wanted him to continue, out of my own curiosity, but also because I was told the others were watching, listening. What he was explaining was only interesting to me, but it might be of value to them.

"Hardly," he lamented. "It was worse because they all knew who I was, who my father was, and they didn't let me forget it. But the extra drills made me stronger, the wet cots taught me how to sleep on hard floors, and the spilled food only meant I had to learn how to cook for myself."

His life had never been as easy or perfect as I had always assumed.

"When I turned fifteen and was moved into the final stages of becoming a knight, some of the older boys dared me to enter the forbidden woods, and I did it, figuring I had nothing to lose by playing their game. Either I would survive the trial and prove them wrong, or I..." He let his voice trail off. "However, when I emerged with the sword, I was greeted with fear rather than admiration." He laughed to himself. "They actually thought I killed the true Hero and stole his sword, but after some intensive interrogation, they finally conceded that I was telling the truth."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but knowing how my people interrogate, I didn't have to imagine.

"Once they believed me, I was taken immediately to the king, who outright dismissed my very existence as an abomination. Without a known threat to the kingdom, I served no purpose. Given a purse full of gold rupees, I was set loose on the land, my only directions being to kill monsters and check in from time to time so they could keep tabs on my whereabouts. Most only call me the Hero in jest, not out of any sense of respect."

This was not how he was perceived by my people. To us, he was a threat, a nightmare. Our lord's return was imminent to reappear, and this one man potentially stood in the way. What a lark that the Hylians saw him as nothing more than a tethered animal.

"Would you like more," he asked, and I was not sure if he meant story or food. Whichever, I declined. I did not want to empathize with him and his tragic circumstances. I wanted him to go back to being the faceless evil I had heard stories of all my life.

Too late. The mask was pulled from my eyes.

… … …

Sleep did not come easy for me that night. Not only did I have trouble quieting my mind from all that I had heard that evening, but the cold night air was chilling me to the bone. The desert nights are cold too, but we keep fires lit all around to stave it off. As I shivered, I wondered why I had not had to deal with this in the days since leaving my desert home. The answer came when a warm presence joined me, and I suddenly realized that I had spent all of this time with him chained to my side. We had slept beside one another out of bound necessity, but it had provided a warmth that I hadn't known I needed. With him next to me once more, I fell asleep in mere moments.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I typically go with the unofficial Creating a Champion age of 12-13 for BotW Link's pulling of the Master Sword, but given the AU nature of this story, I figured it makes more sense for him to be delayed in his readiness to wield it.

For followers of Dawn's Early Light, I wanted to assure you that it is still a work in progress. In addition to a bit of writer's block, I have ALL THE THINGS happening right now between my personal and professional life. I'm hoping to have a new chapter of that in late-October, but for now, I love this story too and am glad I had it available to share with you!