I decided that I would bring back a few characters from Twilight Princess, I don't need a large cast but considering Breath of the Wild doesn't have many "iconic" characters (No I'm sorry I just don't find Sidon that interesting, he is cool and well designed I recognise that but just superficial in the story overall.) I need to make the world feel more alive, hence, introducing-
Just read really.
"Annnnnd ... done ! Thank you everyone everything has finally been sorted." Zelda marked down the last item she documented inside the storage room as "sorted and distributed", now the clan had a huge space to fill up again, hopefully thos time in an orderly fashion.
"Well thank YOU Sheik, I had been looking for Lezalfos oil since three months ago, you cannot believe how hard to obtain and expensive that thing is." Commented a bulky Yiga has he finished to pack a dozen of glass bottles containing a grayish liquid.
"What about us hahaha ? Lynel hairs ! That's like the best fur you can use for coats, I don't even know how we managed to get that. You know what ? Drinks on me, let's head to the cantina." Declared a woman that was in charge of textiles and fabrics at the hideout.
"W-Well I'm not really a drinker and I have to report to master Khoga, sorry but I won't be joining you, thank you for the offer though." Zelda excuses herself and left the area, she heard a few whispers in her back.
"Too bad ... she is really nice but- ... why is she acting like someone is about to stab her out of nowhere ?" They sounded genuinely worried and confused, but Zelda couldn't just open up to other people like this yet.
"She is just shy I guess ... anyway about that drink-"
Khoga didn't seem very occupied, considering Zelda found him snoring on his sofa with a pile of documents partially dispersed around him. The princess took the liberty of reading some of the documents, it wasn't really interesting, just reports and leaks that the Yiga were exploiting to raid merchants and steal resources.
It was criminal, but the clan had to live out of something and Zelda could hardly call them brutes or savages at this point, soldiers killed monsters to protect their homes, Yigas killed men to feed their brothers and sisters ... it was about survival no matter how you look at it.
Zelda forced a cough to wake up Khoga, the master of the clan proceeded to roll up on the sofa, barely tripping on the edge to end up in a defensive stance. "Oh, it's only you ... hum- I mean no one can catch the great Khoga off-guard." The master nodded acknowledging himself.
"I finished sorting and emptying the storage room, most of it's content was shared among the clan has it could be used as crafting resources. What remains is either useless at the moment or can be traded back for rupees." The princess reported, handing her records to Khoga.
"I see ... you worked quickly and with efficiency, I am impressed. You- uh ... you can go rest now, I will figure out something else for you." Khoga dropped Zelda's records next to the pile of documents and sat back on his sofa, going back to his work since he wasn't sleeping anymore.
Zelda took a deep breath "I- ... I would like to thank you for granting me asylum, I-I never really had the thought of thanking you properly. And I also wanted to say that if you ever need me to share informations about Hyrule I think I would be able to as long as it is justified."
Khoga looked confused "You mean ... you would betray your own kingdom ?"
"It's- ... I do not consider this as betrayal but I am indebted to your clan, so if you ever need to know anything specific I would gladly share informations with you." It was definitely betrayal from a princesses point of view but from Sheik's point of view it was merely a way to pay back the clan for giving her a place to stay.
"I will keep that in mind then, is there anything else you wish to tell me ?"
"Yes, I also have a request. Freya wants to bring me out to Gerudo Town, I know you may not trust me and that would be a mistake to let me out but-" Khoga laughed, interrupting the princess.
"Feel free to go out with her, if you betray us we have a complete procedure to evacuate, and this hideout is just our main, we have a backup. I trust you enough to know that you aren't pulling out any ruse, and you also deserved some free time considering the quality of your work. Did- ... did Freya mentioned her past ?"
"We talked about each others life before arriving here ... she doesn't know the details about my story if this is what you are worried about." Explained Zelda.
"No It's- ... she has always been a bit special, you know she did something that hardly anyone would have the will to even consider. When we found her she wasn't the happy and sometimes clumsy engineer you know. Something is broken inside her and it still is ... it hasn't happened in a while but she tends to randomly have panick crisis, there isn't much you can do if this happens. But please do not leave her alone during this time ok ? If she told you her story you are aware that it happened at least one time, and she ended up killing three men with little effort."
Zelda was highly disturbed "She- ... she hurt other Yigas in the past ?"
"No she never did such thing, but if she doesn't hurt the people around her she might still hurt herself, she never did anything severe but considering you will be alone with her in Gerudo Town, I thought you should be warned." Freya didn't mention anything like this, she didn't trust her enough ? ... no, Zelda couldn't blame Freya for keeping that information secret. Everyone had the right to keep their own secret here.
"I will try to keep everyone safe I promise."
"Oh, so you literally just asked for his authorisation ? I mean ... master Khoga doesn't mind really, the rule goes a bit like this : if a Yiga gets into trouble it's their problem but the clan has to help no matter what." Freya explained as she was searching for something that could act as hair dye.
"I'm not sure I understand this rule, did you made it up or is it official ?" Zelda asked as she was trying to figure out how to look like the most commonest of commoners. Since she shared the content of the storage room it appeared that the Yigas in charge of the different stocks at the hideout were indebted. She only asked for travel clothes but she was still offered something quite fancy, she wanted to wear something blue but it might look too obvious.
"Oh comon Sheik, I haven't been in the clan for only about four or five years but I would never make up anything about us. It's not official if you consider the way I expressed it, but in depth the rules mean that if you mess up something it's your fault and you have to assume the consequences, but the clan will have your back to help you fix everything."
"I have been here for only three days, it's not like the whole clan would actually come rescue me if I was in trouble." Especially if they knew about her true identity.
"I would, master Khoga would, even Sooga might join us. Sheik, you have earned a good reputation already, I'm not a gossip person, but I heard a lot of good about you, first you manages to complete Khoga's challenge, then you cleaned up that cursed storage room in a single day, it would be like asking me to clean up my room !" Freya stood around her side of the room and gestured at her belongings.
Zelda examined the room for a few seconds, searching for anything that could be called "messy" yet the engineer's belongings didn't seem to possess this flaw. "But Freya ... your room is cleaned up, not including the impact on the wall."
Freya blinked twice. "Oh ... y-yes it is ... you get my point though ! You will get to know everyone here in no time, you might even be promoted to Lieutenant with your management skills."
The princess laughed, ironically she asked herself "Why not head of the clan while we are at it ?" She finished to dress up and responded "That sounds great yes, but I doubt I would ever be trusted with such a role."
"Sit in this chair, I found the right dye ... so all black ? I kinds like your blond hair though, it's so vibrant and soft at the same time."
"I don't want to- ... be recognised, my father is a powerful man." Zelda wanted to say that she didn't know what kind of resources he would expend to find her, but she was already aware that it wasn't his project.
"If I had to guess I would say you are from a noble family or something similar right ?" Freya asked as she was getting started with Zelda's hair.
"It's- ... a bit more complicated but yes you can think of it this way. I have been to Gerudo Town before, more than once actually."
"I knew it hahaha, you have already tried the Noble Pursuit before did you ? The Gerudo aho sold me the bottles warned me that it was a drink for "experienced" consumers, whatever it's supposed to mean." Freya and Zelda only had one bottle each and it was enough to send them both to sleep in less than half an hour.
The first time she had to occasion to drink a Noble Pursuit she was with Impa, Urbosa was gone for the day and Zelda was not in a good mood, Impa probably knew that the King would have her executed for making the princess drink. The princess was glad that her friend was courageous enough to break a few rules if it would help her as a result.
"Some people are just more tolerant than other, "experienced" does not mean anything, I guess she just warned you that if you do not know how to stop yourself you might have consumed the whole crate ... and you would have probably gotten sick at the same time." Zelda replied.
"There is no risk, when I start drinking I usually collapse after a few minutes ... not that I'm drinking very often, this crate is for special occasions only ... and yes there has never been any special occasion before last night." Freya explained, her hands were precise and soft, just like Impa's but definitely less tense.
"When do you plan to leave the hideout ?" Asked Zelda.
"Tomorrow morning, we do not want to travel during the afternoon, beside there is often a soft wind coming from the west, Sooga says it's Molgera snoring after it is done hunting." The engineer sounded disturbed suddenly, Zelda had heard and knew about the permanent sandstorm further into the desert but she had never heard any mention of a Molgera ?"
"You said Molgera ? ... it sounds like a Gerudo word but I do not recognise it." Zelda was fluent enough in Gerudo to hold an entire conversation with Urbosa, the word sounded really familiar yet different, as if she had only used on specific occasion.
"It is ! It's a play on "Mogura" which "means" mole in Gerudo, Sooga often goes into the desert to hunt Moldugas with a small group, their guts have some specific medicinal properties, the Gerudos do not have to hunt them considering they never venture into this part of the desert so we are the only one hunting them ... well, if you do not count Molgera, I'm not sure if it's either another king of Molduga or if it's a completely different creature.
Zelda had never heard about this creature, was Urbosa aware of it's existence ? Again the tempest had always been here and Hyrule had it's own micro climates, Death Mountain, Hebra's tundra ... was it possible that this creature was somehow linked to this phenomenon ?
Freya continued her explanation "Sooga told us that he only saw it once during the night, he wasn't the only one present but the others aren't courageous or crazy enough to stand against that thing. He said that it was two times larger than a Molduga and that he didn't know how long it was but when it attacked it was like Molgera could fly or at least glide in the air. It probably didn't care enough about Sooga, why bother with a fly when you can eat an entire chicken, Sooga quickly figured out that Molgera was only defending it's territory. It only hunts other Moldugas."
Zelda pictured herself walking next to Vah'Naboris, it was one thing to be standing next to a divine beast, Vah'Naboris was by far the tallest, only surpassed in term of global size by Vah'Rutha. But if Sooga was honest with his description, and Zelda highly doubted that the Yiga exaggerated considering his personality, this Molgera might as well be as large as a divine beast.
"I can picture it to myself. But Sooga and his group have been gone for a few days now, where are they staying at ?"
"Oh, there is a small oasis in the desert, it's far enough from Gerudo Town to avoid patrols and escape if their chief suddenly decides to send a large group of their soldier after us and then there are the Moldugas to ultimately dissuade them from bothering us. The Moldugas tend to hunt only during the day, they don't want to catch the attention of Molgera after all."
"You know a lot about the desert, even more than the Gerudos I would say. And say I used to feel like an absolute "nerd" at some point." The word sounded strange from Zelda's perspective but Purah had called her like this so may time in the past, ironic considering she was about thirty time less enthusiastic about ancient technology than the Sheika scientist.
"Nerd ? Hehehe, it's just common knowledge for us really, we send scouts all around the kingdom every day, if we discover or learn something the rest of the Kingdom will most likely not be aware of it before at least a full week." Zelda mentally laughed, if she was lucky enough the clan wouldn't find out that she had been replaced before another four days.
"Link ... I do not know your family and since you are a simple commoner you shouldn't even be able to become a knight, yet your superiors seem to have a good opinion of you and I need someone I can trust like myself."
The king had summoned Link to the castle, at first the young man thought it was a simple transfer but he was now alone in the King's study, why was the king even mentioning the fact that Link could not become a knight ? It was already obvious and he didn't need yet another noble to rub the truth in his face.
"What I'm going to tell you has to remain an absolute secret in order to maintain the peace and avoid general panick. It appears the princess has decided to abandon her role, she has always been negligent and she would rather waste her time with ancient technology instead of praying the goddess to finally obtain her powers."
Link was shocked, it didn't make sense ... and yet, he had heard the rumours, the whole kingdom did. The princess was powerless and Ganon's return had been officially announced, the young soldier doubted that the princess was the kind of person to put the kingdom in danger. In fact he had never heard such thing about her ...
This information made the poor boy shiver, the princess was gone ? How were they supposed to protect the kingdom now ?
"It doesn't matter, she betrayed us ? We do not need her, soon I will send an expedition to retrieve the master sword. Once we have it we will just kill Ganon once and for all." The king's tone was bothering Link, he sounded very serious, however the young soldier had this sensation that would often warn him about an immediate danger, his instincts rarely failed him... but it was the king, how could he doubt the words of his monarch ?
"Your task will be the most important, since the princess ran away I managed to find a double, you will be her bodyguard until Ganon has been defeated. If you execute your task with excellence I will make sure you become a knight of Hyrule, I know how to repay a debt." The king put his hand on Link's shoulder, he would become a knight, his family would be so proud if they could hear this.
Link nodded and kneeled in front of the king.
"Perfect ... you can come inside now." The door of the study opened, a young woman entered inside the room, she seemed a bit younger than Link, she kept starring at the ground, avoiding the King's eyes. "This is Ilia, she will stay in the castle unless I give specific instructions to go on an official displacement. You must keep her safe at all times, and make sure that no one figures out our plan."
Ilia looked at Link for a brief moment, her eyes screamed fear and despair. Link tried to hide his feelings, he always did, but his hope and joy had vanished. Something here was definitely wrong in a way or another, his instincts did not betray him earlier.
"Ahhhh the fresh air of the desert." Freya was literally beaming, Zelda understood the feeling, she tried to leave the castle as often as she could no matter his the reason was pleasant or not. Her friend though ... considering her past she probably didn't have the occasion to go out as much as she wanted.
"Fresh air ? It's not like there is much nature though, but I guess you have a point, it's less confined right ?" The princess tried to have a friendly conversation. She never really felt like she could have one with Impa or Urbosa, even though they were her closest friend, one had to stay in her place of advisor and the other was the chief of another nation.
Freya was Freya, a friend, a roommate and a comrade. Zelda was Zel- ... Sheik, she was Sheik now, a member of the Yiga clan, keeping to herself but willing to help at any time, and it was enough to be happy, no etiquette to follow, no one to pressure her with godly powers and ancient prophecies eventually leading to the soon to be end of the world.
"You probably prefer Hyrule's plains and forests but the desert has something more, hmmm nostalgic, deadly and alive at the same time, I do not have the words to express my thoughts but at the moment I can only say that it's the kind of places that just makes you feel in one specific way."
Zelda nodded, this part of the world was lifeless yet peaceful, only shaped by the wind and the few people courageous and strong enough to live here. Urbosa and her people were truly exceptionals.
"There- ... There are a few things that I feel comfortable to speak about with you, I mean, more than last night. I will tell you once we are back at the hideout, for now let's just forget our problems alright ?"
"Hehehe, yes that's the idea. I should have brought more rupies with me, we have just enough for one night in town and a few drinks." Freya explained as she checked the inside of her purse.
"I won't make you expend too much rupees I promise. Though I must ask, are we going to Gerudo Town to get some fresh air or to drink in a fancy place ?"
Freya had a vicious smile on her face "Well ... depends how you want to end the night ?" Zelda looked all flustered, she knew she couldn't hide it, the engineer might be a bit crazy after all but even a princess isn't immune to this kind of thoughts.
"Well ... I'm not against getting a good massage, are you ? I have some rupees myself, I will pay for both of us."
"Great ! Then you pay so the physical relaxation and I pay for the mental one !"
"That's- ... not what I meant ..."
Link's task was overwhelming to say the least, the context didn't help, Ilia was "forbidden" to speak to Link or make any contact with the castle staff unless she needed something, the king had specified this himself, and Link was also ordered to make a report every night before leaving Ilia in charge of the castle guards.
Speaking had always been hard, not that he wasn't feeling confident or comfortable around other people, he just felt like it was easier to keep a straight face against danger. Yet, he just didn't want to speak to the king, what was he supposed to report ? That the poor girl was "behaving" ?
But he had to do it ... for his family, for his village. Central Hyrule never really gave much attention to it's border province. If he gained a title that would be just enough to help and he had to complete his task, as much as he found it disgusting.
Ilia kept avoiding Link's gaze, and so did the young knight at least as much as he could to not let her attempt anything stupid. She was only allowed to go out early in the morning to avoid the staff and the residents, of course there had been questions, the king made an announcement in which he explaines that the princess had fallen hill and that she had to rest, he went on to develop that this was a rare kind of disease and that it often had side effects like hair discoloration ... Link was amazed and afraid to see that people actually bought this facade.
Ilia turned toward the young knight, she was acting very differently now, the young woman seemed determined "I do not care if the king is ordering it or not, you- you can't just keep me locked here against my will !" Link wanted so much to answer but if he did he would be showing weakness, no he had to keep-
"You won't hurt me, you need me alive do you ? Then if I-" Ilia suddenly ran for the door, but Link was fast enough to stop her, the young woman tried to shake of the knight.
Link got closer, holding Ilia as tight as he could "If you try to leave now it will get worse, I don't like it more than you do, but people need me just as much as they need you. So if think about it for a second, you will stop before someone hears us." Link was well aware of how cold and emotionless his voice sounded, he was a soldier after all, but right now he was just another prisoner, in a way or another.
Ilia stop struggling, Link released her ... hesitantly he invited her to have a sit "The- the king forbids me to talk to you b-but he doesn't have to know. If I omit to mention it ... on-only if you do not either." Ilia eyed Link suspiciously before accepting his offer.
"So- ... Link, it is ?"
"The frontier has been closed has ordered, merchants aren't allowed to pass anymore, we are searching any travelers who wishes to pass through. A platoon of the Hylian army has left to inform the king of our activities as expected. We escorted lady Impa safely as well, she said she would contact us again before the end of the week." The Gerudo captain informed Urbosa.
"What about the Yiga clan ? Did our scouts manage to find something ?" Urbosa asked.
"A few of them have been spotted in the desert, they are hunting Moldugas again, we can't reach them without putting our own troops in danger." The captain looked outside Urbosa's apartments and gestured at the desert, the atmosphere was very dense and the wind kept sending more sand in the air "We won't be able to track them either, it is as if the desert itself is protecting them." The Gerudo complained.
The Gerudo chieftain dismissed her captain, the air was tense, everyone felt the anger of their leader. Sometimes she wished she could prevent her emotions from unintentionally making her use her powers, her people respected her beyond her magic abilities and she wished nothing else.
The princess, she envied her, the Hylians weren't as proud and honest as the Gerudos. Always blaming her for how "common" she was, lacking that special something they expected of her and overlooking all her deeds. In her place Urbosa would have given up a long time ago, perhaps this is why she is worried not because Zelda left, but because of how long it took her to do so.
The Gerudo chieftain looked at the horizon, a storm was coming and it wasn't only her doing. The desert was "boiling" to say the least. "Zelda ... please be safe."