Chapter 38: Flimsy Purchases & A New Request

Stralanavian Slavery Emancipation Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.

Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best"The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.

"Far East Suite - Pizzicato" - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OST. Scene 1 (First & Second Halves)

"But! You Are My Grandpa!" - Dragonball GT OST. Scene 2 (First Half).

"People of the North Pole" - Final Fantasy X-HD OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).

"Anxious Heart" - Final Fantasy VII OST. Scene 3.


Finally finished with the great and bold 'Kaioh Bio' national championships and with another narrowly-lost grand finals set the finalists, Link and Ragnar, shake hands and congratulate one another on a match well-fought; the pair of champion-level martial artists clash in a fiery-filled fistful melee that leaves the watching audience near worried for their lives in the sheer primal-like power that they display. Indeed, just as within the Hylian Hyrax and the Palashian Premier before him, Link's very life is near-forfeit and Kage Narumono wakes from the ancient recesses of the chaotic Triforce of Courage on the back of his left hand to save his life... and to take Ragnar's.

A chilling proposition and yet one all too familiar for the blonde Hero of Time.

Following their fate-filled clash the group, led by Impa, make way for their next destination; the far-off country of Stralanavia and the legendary empire that it entails of. In their journey already, the heroes have encountered many from the far-off lands of Stralanavia; Kaiser Pashkov, Amaliya Valentinovna, Petrova, Selivanova and more recently Velkarez Grigovich and his rogue former soldiers-turned-mercenaries – the Templars of the Weeping Stars.

Many powerful and near-unbeatable warriors of soldier-like quality originate from the secretive snow-land of Stralanavia; something that fills the ever-excitable and childlike Link with great glee and enthusiasm, emotions that assist in his recently-gained despair in his frustrating lack of success as well as his recently-lost friendship and rivalry with his old Hylian companion – Raynard Van Garrick.

While travelling to Stralanavia's Kievskie Station, the heroes find themselves stranded as the train they board very quickly is railed off its tracks by strange otherworldly creatures; like something from a bad dream, these monsters terrorise its passengers and leave them crying out for a champion. Thankfully, as Impa's group are nearby, they unsurprisingly sweep up the strange creatures with relative ease and rescue the grateful people scattered 'round the snow-land.

It isn't very long until they are soon thanked again and this time by a nearby settlement of former tribesmen going by the name of the 'White-Snow Soldiers'; men and women living in the village of Klimormansk, still carrying the traditions of their ancestors and elders in protecting the entrance to the close-by Klimormansk Cave.

Coincidentally, raven-haired rival to Link himself Raynard and his similarly Hylian mentor both find themselves approaching Klimormansk Cave, having made their way there ahead of the Hero of Time and his close companions. While there Scaverin, former aide to Ganondorf himself, manages to locate a long-lost artefact of legendary proportions; the Cube of Insight. Said to be an ancient relic once belonging to the Niylahn civilisation predating the Hylians, the Cube of Insight had repute of granting one incredible godlike enlightenment yet at significant cost.

The loss of one's eyesight and very sanity itself.

Scaverin however, ambitions overreaching to the heavens themselves, opts to ignore these warnings and uses the Cube of Insight to access a memory of the ancient Niylahn city of Dragowald; city of the Niylahns itself. While Raynard is able to briefly join him in this expedition, only Scaverin witnesses the dreamlike horrors that manage to ruin his eyes; a warning gone wrong. The pair of renegade Hylians lick their wounds and ready themselves for their next destination; a goal oddly shared by the heroes juxtaposed with the two.

As Impa and the heroes make their next approach into Velinsk, Stralanavia's grand capital city, they find themselves greeted with local senator Nadya Tarasova; having also been sent and guided there by Sonya of Klimormansk Village. In having received wind of their amazing achievement in putting down their rogue soldier-turned-mercenaries, the Templars of the Weeping Stars, Nadya and all her surrounding politicians decide to thank the group with luxurious rooms within the main governmental building; the Yensk itself.

It isn't long however before Nadya decides to lean a proposition closer toward the group, perhaps hoping for some further assistance...


Scene 1

"Cheap suits! Cheap suits!"

Link swung his cloaked head in the direction of the man's thick Stralanavian accent, genuinely interested in what he had to say and offer. Having left his room at the Yensk fairly early in a bid to avoid his irritating female companions, he realised very quickly he was in dire need of re-supplying not only his general items but his martial arts gear. Now that he had just recently qualified for not one but two more grand finals in two national championships, his hardened mentor had at last agreed he was due for a belt-promotion.

It felt nice now to no longer be stuck to his raggedy-old orange belt.

"Yo!" He called out, striding through the snow in a sociable-faced grin, arm raised upward and fingers splayed out in a simple greeting wave. The man standing outside his snow-coated shop turned to face the blonde boy, half-surprised. "How cheap?"

"Cheap-cheap!"


"Thanks again!" The young Hylian called over his shoulder, giving the man behind him a farewell wave as he stepped out of the warmth of his store. He pulled out the new violet-shaded belt with some level of gratitude and pride, grinning away at it as he held it up into the falling snowflakes around him.

Impa-sensei'd be proud of me, he thought to himself.

After pocketing the belt back into his large-numbered inventory he re-affixed the cloak he wore earlier up to cover his head from the falling snowflakes above, smiling on as he crunched his boots through the deep snow of Velinsk's main hub and streets. While he already had some decent protection with his trusty old green hat, the cloak Impa had gotten him helped hide his small pointed Hylian ears from the numerous populace of Stralanavia; something that was invaluable, especially after learning how Hylians were universally disliked all across Aurelia.

Bad history's really somethin', he thought to himself regrettably.

Now I need some food.

Normally he would rely on being fed by his companions and wherever they would choose, however he always liked to secure some of his own in a private stash, especially as many of them would be extremely picky about his own diet.

"I know they care about me but sometimes it's just really nice to have salted meat."

He let his ruminations carry him on as he weaved in and out of the many sweeping adults' in his way, soon finding himself at one of the many stalls hanging around the market district of Velinsk. He blinked with some genuine surprise as he found what seemed to be multiple Cuccos caged up all around the stall.

"What the...?"

"Hello, how are you?"

The similarly thick Stralanavian accent, spoken in what was some form of broken Hylian made him swing up his head only to find a woman standing behind the stall, staring back down at him in a simple-faced frown as she brandished a particularly strong-looking butcher's knife. Realising she was merely cutting strips of meat on the cutting board beneath her, further reinforced by the thick gloves she wore, allowed the young Hylian to relax his abruptly-risen nerves.

"U-Uh... good, thanks," he answered her with a nervous little chuckle, raising up his left hand to rub the back of his head as he did. "What other kinda meat ya got?"

"О, ты интересуешься нашим мясом?"

This time as she spoke her fluently-powerful Stralanavian, Link merely let out another blink as he watched her turn her head and reach into one of the many cages on her left and pull out a live Cucco. His oceanic eyes widened and, soon realising her intentions, rose up both arms of his own to wildly wave at the air as if to dissuade her.

"N-No it's okay I don't need ya to-"

"Смотреть!" She began, smiling as she held up the wildly clucking and flailing Cucco to him, its feathers floating around comically. "Сильная птица; будет иметь приятный вкус в приготовлении."

"N-No I'm- it's fine, I don't need a Cucco!" He exclaimed out this time, his smile turning wavy and zig-zag as he hung his position back as if to avoid the unpredictably-tempered bird. "If I'm gonna eat a bird it might as well be dead and cooked."

The curious frown on her face soon up-swung into an understanding smile and she nodded. "Ах, теперь я понимаю."

With that she very quickly and shockingly rose up the butcher's knife she carried so expertly and made ready to bring it crashing down. Link's eyes widened again and he leaned forward.

"N-No, no stop!" He exclaimed out again, wildly waving his hands again. She halted with some surprise and double-took to eye him again, knife still hanging in mid-air as she did. "Please don't kill the Cucco."

"Ohhh..." She murmured out understandingly again, nodding and frowning this time.

Strangely, and shockingly again, she abruptly shot up the butcher's knife again and Link's nerves tensed up.

"No! Stop!"

2

BUCK-BUCK-BUCK-BUCK...

"Never trust a stall owner... never trust a stall owner..."

The annoyed mutterings of his sulking carried Link on as he marched on through Velinsk's deep snow, his boots crunching noisily against it as he held onto the caged Cucco he had just purchased mere minutes ago. He turned his oceanic-eyed gaze down on the bucking bird below him, eyelids lowered humorously as he stared down suspiciously at it.

Something always felt off to me about Cuccos, ever since Kakariko Village back home, he thought.

Damn things are so unpredictable.

"Heeeyyy! Fairy Boy!"

His insides grew cold and he stiffened, eyes widening as he halted his march immediately.

I know that voice, he thought.

And there's only one person that calls me by that name.

CRASH

"Oft!"

"I missed you this morning." The owner of the soprano grinned over his shoulder, having wrapped her arms 'round his neck. The essence of her recognisable scent was unmistakeable; something he'd grown to know fairly well from his pace in the original timeline. Though she was dressed to match the super-cool weather of Stralanavia, it was the indisputable voice of Malon, seemingly having also gotten up fairly early in the morning.

How the hell did she know I was in town, he wondered, irritated as he did.

Maybe she just worked it out on her own somehow... or maybe Impa-sensei told her.

He groaned and used his free right hand to pry her grip off his neck, forcing her to drop her grin as she fell back to snowy-coated earth next to him.

"Nice ta-see you too...," he grumbled back, eyelids drooping in humorous indifference. "How the hell ya find me?"

The fire-haired farm girl's ever rambunctious smirk returned to her as she re-opened her mouth to respond. "Well Vassia had no idea and didn't seem to care so she was no help. Zelda was sworn to secrecy and I couldn't get much else out of her."

Not to self, he thought, turning his frowning-eyed gaze forward as he marched along the crunching snow beneath him.

Get a gift for Zelda.

"But it was Impa that let me know you'd probably be in town looking for more gear," she pointed out with a happy little smirk, joining her gloved hands behind her, the coat she wore hanging well on her as she cast her look on him. He stared back at her in an annoyed look of his own, eyebrow rising upward as he did. "So what's this then?" She asked him, turning her grin into a simple-faced smile as she swung it down on the clucking Cucco caged on his left hand, soon kneeling down on its level to cast her smile over at the white-bodied bird. "New pet?"

"I was lookin' for food to keep for emergencies and somehow I ended up buyin' this damn thing," he lamented out in an annoyed grumble, lightly rising up the cage the little Cucco sat in. "She was gonna kill it if I didn't."

"Wow," Malon blinked back at him from her squatted stance. "Maybe it was intentional? Get a sale out of you."

"Wouldn't surprise me at this stage..." The blonde youth moaned under his breath.

"Oh he's so cute though!" She gushed, her smile widening to display her reddened cheeks from the cold, joining her fingers across her lowered knees. "Whatcha gonna call him?" She asked him, turning her smile up at him in genuine curiosity.

Link shrugged, a kind of uncaring look in his eye and frown as he re-opened his mouth to respond to her. "Goddess only knows...," he answered. "I wasn't plannin' on buyin' a god-damned Cucco today."

"I think we should call him...," she began curiously, tilting her head over at the caged bird before her eyebrows rose up and she re-affixed her head's position, as if the answer suddenly came to her. "Grasshopper!"

Surprised by her sudden word, an odd call-back to meeting Romani on his adventure through Termina, he couldn't help but widen his eyes down at her on his lower left as if unable to generate much more than a simple shock-faced stare. She double-took up at him and blinked curiously, her own fire-haired eyebrow rising up in genuine wonder.

"What? Don't like it?"

"Um... no it's... fine, I just..." He began uncertainly, turning his oceanic-eyed gaze from hers as if he were caught doing something he shouldn't.

Has to be a coincidence, he thought.

Surely?

"Um... Grasshopper it is." He spoke again, this time with a softer-faced frown as he turned his eyes back on the quietly-clucking Cucco in its cage, held up by its handle on his left hand. Malon's curious-eyed frown soon turned back into a happy grin and she swung it on the newly-christened Cucco ahead.

"Yay!" She called out excitedly, ocean-blue eyes briefly shut as she grinned stupidly in its direction. "Say hi to your new owners Grasshopper! You can be our new baby-boy!"

Link found himself briefly eyeing the mischievous farm girl suspiciously before re-rising up his eyes in an exhausted sigh through his nose, the thought of the other girls teasing him on this new development never far from his inner anxieties.

Maybe I can just keep him in my room out of the way of the others, he thought.

"Now we have to go get our new baby some food!"

His eyebrows rose up in genuine surprise a second time when he felt her roughly grapple at his free right arm with her own pair, casting her grin on his half-annoyed frown.

"Don't call him that...," he muttered back, carefully eyeing the clucking bird on his lower left as he did. "Vassia'll kill us both if she hears you say that."

"Well Vassia can kiss Grasshopper's cute little behind is what she can do," she shot back smarmily, eliciting a rolling-eyed frown from the listening young blonde. "Come on!" Malon further exacted from him by yanking him in a random direction. "Let's go find some Cucco feed for him!"

The frustrated yet comfortable groan he led with made her grin grow ever further; a kind of closeness that had somehow taken root since had returned from his adventure through time.

"Anythin' for you Malon..."


"Перемещайте пустую трату места!"

Link swung his blonde-haired head 'round in response to the angry man's Stralanavian accent; a thick bold one that seemed to be directed at someone either in insult or in anger for some strange reason. It was only when he saw what the man was shouting at, however, that his cerulean eyes widened in genuine shock and an abrupt signal of anger of his own shot up his spine.

A large-bodied and muscle-bound Stralanavian kicked at what seemed to be a young girl dressed in mere rags; seemingly a servant of some kind or other holding onto what appeared to be a crate of something.

What the hell's this, he wondered.

"Hey!"

The listening Malon double-took and widened her own sea-blue eyes when she noticed her close companion turning mid-walk to go marching over to the scene, clucking Cucco still in-hand. The large-bodied man, similarly surprised, could only rise up both his thick-haired bushy eyebrows as he swung his head 'round as if called.

"Lay off her!" The angered youth cried upward, brow furrowing up at him in great spite to the man's huge size advantage over him. "Or else!"

The surrounding men around the market stall all exchanged looks with one another, shrugging and unsure, almost as if they couldn't understand him.

Oh, he thought.

I'm speaking Hylian in Stralanavia.

"Link...!"

He blinked and turned his straw-haired head to his right, only to find the hissing Malon on his arm, gripping at it as if to pull him away from the situation.

"This is none of our business!" She whispered. "Come on!"

"Of course it is!" He shot back, his face taking a turn, as if he were insulted by her. "Look at her!" He exclaimed out again, this time directing his cage-holding hand to the fallen young girl in rags on his left. She lay on the snow-covered ground, her hands and feet completely uncoated from the cold, a kind of scared look in her eye; as if she were a timid animal being hunted.

"I know, but-"

"What's the problem?"

The woman's voice, so authoritative and bold, managed to interrupt Malon's low-voiced hiss fairly well enough for the pair of Hylian children to dart their heads up at her; she stood imposingly over them both, arms folded down at them as her pony-tailed head of hair blew horizontally softly in the cold wind. The voice she spoke in, a similar low contralto to his mentor Impa's, reminded him of her somewhat. He angrily wrenched his right arm free from Malon's grip before placing it on his right hip in display of his old habits, casting his annoyed frown up at the woman above him before opening up his mouth to address her.

"Why is he hitting her?" He demanded, eyebrow rising upward as he used his cage-holding hand to point toward the fallen rag-clothed girl. "Look at her! She ain't even dressed for the weather!"

"This is a slave, young tourist," the Stralanavian woman spoke back down to him, her own eyes narrowing as she did, face unchanging. "Listen to your little foreign friend... she speaks the truth."

Link found one of his own eyes narrowing back at her, another signal of anger shooting up his spine.

Don't fire back an insult, he thought, no matter how much you want to.

"Because that'll probably be exactly what she wants out of you."

"Is that all or have you more of our laws to comment on, little one?" She asked him sarcastically, tilting her head at him as she did. Link's eyebrows rose up in genuine surprise a second time, re-opening his mouth this time to speak.

"This is legal? What?!"

"Of course it is...," she responded, tilting her head again diagonally upward as she drooped her eyelids down at him. "Are you both new here...? Where are you from?"

His once-resolute frown soon turned zig-zag when he realised he had compromised not just himself but his companion; he exchanged an apologetic look with the annoyed-expressed Malon on his right, wincing as he did.

Still though, he thought.

This ain't right, even if it is legal.

"We're from...," he began uncertainly, suddenly feeling the uncomfortable stares of the woman's staff behind her. He stepped a little closer to Malon, as if to shield her from them somehow, eyes narrowing back at them all. "Hyrule."

"Hmph... that explains it...," the Stralanavian woman replied, her frown upturning lightly, almost as if in disgust somehow. "Go and check with our senators; we are breaking no laws here... at least not within our borders."

The men behind her, muttering and speaking very quietly to themselves as they stared over at the two Hylian children, could not help but make the listening Link extremely nervous.

This was a mistake, he thought.

Just closer your trap and get the hell out of here.

"Was there anything else?" The woman prodded him curiously, tilting her head again as she glowered on down at him from her imposingly high position. Link's oceanic-eyed gaze drifted over to the fallen young slave-girl on his left, twitching with frustration before they eventually swung back 'round to face the Stralanavian woman.

"N-No...," he merely answered her with, forcing his response out through gritted angry teeth. "No I... I don't-"

"Then I'd do as your wise friend suggests and leave," she interrupted him with, an impolite tone to her angered quiet contralto. "Before we decide to include the peacekeepers in this."

While it hurt him to do it he forced himself to put the young girl out of his mind and used his free right hand to grasp at the surprised Malon's own hand.

"Come on...," he whispered in her direction, eyes never leaving the suspicious-eyed Stralanavians. "We shouldn't stay here..."

Malon uttered not a single word and merely opted to nod in wise-silence agreement, joining him as he turned to jog off, their footwear leaving marks in the crunching snow beneath them. The eerily-silent stall-owners watched them leave with leery-faced stares, sceptical and wary.

3

When returning to the 'Yensk' and essentially what was known as Stralanavia's Hylian embassy, the pair of Hylian children (joined by their new pet Cucco 'Grasshopper') were soon met by the worried Zelda and Impa as well as the other concerned members of their ever-amicable group. Still angered by his odd encounter with the market stall-owners, Link vented his frustrations to his mentor Impa and the other adults within earshot; Barkner and Alwyn. While he explained with great fervour and outrage on witnessing the cruelty to random passers-by, his anger only grew when he further elaborated on slavery being a legal practice within the borders of Stralanavia.

The large majority of the female portion of the room however were, of course, enamoured and taken with Link's new and abrupt purchase; the little clucking Cucco now christened 'Grasshopper'.

"I just can't believe they got away with that!" Link further exclaimed in simmering animosity, pacing up and down the lobby of their last meeting place within the building, hands on his hips as display of his old habits. "I mean what kinda place has gotta be so backwater that they allow that kinda thing?! Not even Termina allowed slavery!"

"This may not be much of an answer Link," Alwyn began, his slim Zoran arms ever-folded as he tilted his fin-injured head in response, drawing the young Hylian's attention up toward him as he did. "But letting madness rule the day is the prerogative of nobility."

The listening Hero of Time could only lower his hands from his hips, blinking back at the older man behind him as he turned to face him. "Whassat mean?" He merely blurted out humorously.

"He means these guys have their own laws here," Barkner explained for the wiser man on his left, his own Goron rocky-skinned arm resting on his hip as he did. "We ain't even allowed to comment on 'em, let alone interfere with 'em."

"What?!"

"They're right Link."

The shocked youth swung his head in the direction of the frowning-faced Zelda, having stood up from her knelt position to admire the caged-clucking Grasshopper. She placed her hands elegantly at her sides as she began to march toward the group of four, leaving the rest of the girls with the quiet bird behind her.

"The fact you and Malon got out of there so easily and with no injuries is sheer luck in and of itself," she explained briefly. "You insulted their heritage and their very way of life; it's been this way in Stralanavia for decades, generations even."

"But that's-" He began, scoffing mid-sentence as he shook his blonde-haired head back at her in sheer amazement and dumbfoundedness.

"You should have kept your nose out of it," Impa spoke up from behind the boy, fire-red eyes narrowing down at him as she folded her own arms imposingly. "It was incredibly irresponsible of you to speak to them, let alone interfere like that."

"But then-" He started again, darting his head 'round to face the Sheikah behind him before he shook it, a frustrated groan upon his lips as he wrapped his fingers around his recognisable green-hat head. "What about those bandits yesterday?" The Hylian tried this time, eyebrow rising up as he shot up his head in kind with his expression.

Impa never missed a beat however, her own expression unchanging. "That was different."

Link scoffed angrily. "How was it different?! Those people were-"

"They were in immediate danger," Alwyn interrupted the youth this time, casting his knowledgeable frown across at him, lightly brushing his thumb and forefinger up against the bridge of his small nose thoughtfully. "And we weren't stepping on anyone's toes politically in order to save them either." He finished simply, rejoining his fingers to rest in his folded-armed frown as he did.

"I don't- I don't get it, I-"

"Think about it this way."

The voice that spoke up was another soprano like Zelda's but, unlike hers, was that much more fiery and ragged 'round the edges; it unmistakeably belonged the ever-smirking Vassia, having also stood up from her knelt position around the clucking Grasshopper below her. She placed her own slim hands across on her waist as she began to walk toward them all.

"You would have gotten just a slap on the wrist if you'd insulted our peoples' honour in Palashia, let alone Kaiohdrahl," the Palashian princess explained briefly, chuckling lightly as she briefly shut her raven-shaded eyes to shrug over at him. "But Stralanavia's different; they've always been known to be fairly brutal in their strict laws and customs."

Link lowered his oceanic eyes in growing frustration, unable to find any words with which to fire back, his thoughts going back to watching the poor slave-girl being kicked.

Surely there was something I could have done, he thought.

While he liked Vassia and even Barkner and Alwyn, he trusted Zelda and Impa's opinions more; especially when it came to sensitive topics such as politics and laws.

Maybe there wasn't, he added silently, a soft sigh expelling out through his nose as his angered frown softened up.

"That chick was doomed before I even showed up."

It was only when he felt the delicate touch of Zelda's fingers into his own that he realised she must have sensed his inward brooding and blinked up at her. She frowned back at him, blonde-haired head lightly tilted to her side as she did.

"I'm just glad you both made it back safely." She admitted, drawing out a second softly-saddened sigh from his nose in response.

"Yeah...," he answered, turning his vapid-eyed gaze on the smiling Malon as she interacted with the clucking Cucco in its cage, silently grateful for having potentially removed her from any danger. "Me too...," he sighed lightly as he watched, soon turning his eyes to face the group surrounding him. "What happened to the new chick?" The youth questioned crudely and curiously, eyebrow rising ever-upward as he did. "What was her name, uh... Sunny?"

"That's 'Sonya'."

The young Hylian, surprised, swung his head 'round to the voice's direction only to find her glaring back at him from the door, joined by what appeared to be the contrastingly smiling-faced Nadya, ever-sociable as she approached the room and the group.

"I hope everything has been to your liking!" She called out lightly as she stepped on through, joined by the conflictingly-expressed Sonya. "We tried with great effort to replicate a commonly-designed room from your homeland."

"It's very nice, thank you." Zelda smiled gratefully and respectfully in response, bowing as she did.

"Yeah, thanks again," Barkner added to the eloquent young princess' words, grinning over at the older woman. "You been one of the only nicer folk we've run into through these parts; we all thankful just for that, trust me."

"Well I'm glad," Nadya chuckled, entertained lightly by the Goron's well-meaning words. "If there's ever anything we can ever do to make your stay more-"

"There is somethin'."

The room turned to find the tenor's source as the frowning-faced Link, swinging his firmly-curious oceanic-eyed gaze on the Stralanavian senator before him. Surprised, she turned to face him in a similar look of intrigue, eyebrow rising up to match her smile.

"Yes?"

"When I was in town earlier today...," he began, briefly eyeing the clucking Cucco ahead of him before re-facing the standing senator. "Malon and I nearly ran into trouble from some market stall owners."

"Oh," Nadya started, her smile falling in favour of a genuinely curious frown. "Did anything happen, or...?"

"Nah, thankfully," he answered her genuinely with a light shake of his blonde-haired head. "But, while I was there arguin' with 'em, I saw them abusin' someone in rags."

While the listening Barkner, Malon and Zelda winced in what seemed to be discomfort, it was Alwyn, Impa and Vassia that kept their frowns as bold and strong as before; almost as if they remembered the experience somehow. Sonya's hardened firm frown twitched as she listened; seemingly a sore spot for her whereas the curious Nadya tilted her head.

"Anyone you know?"

"Nah," he answered her again with a light shake of his head. "But it was how they treated her that made me intervene," the youth spoke again, his usual mischief and roguish behaviour replaced by a sturdy seriousness that Sheik of his original time once knew him for. "They told me... that slavery is legal in this country," the former Kokiri claimed, choosing to fold his green-tunic arms at her, tilting his own head in curiosity. "Is that true?"

All eyes turned on the seemingly knowledgeable woman and, as they did, her smile soon returned if in what seemed to be more of a saddened and wan fashion.

"Yes," she responded with a positive nod. "I'm afraid so."

"How could you not know that?" Vassia scoffed his way, a light smirk ever present on her doll-like countenance. "It was the Hylians that started the slave trade."

So it was, Link thought in a recalling nod.

History is often written by the winners, after all.

"It's no secret that's part of why the civil war happened," Alwyn offered into the conversation knowledgeably, slim Zoran arms folded as he leant against the wall on the right. "It was only very recently, since king Daphnes ascended to the throne, that slavery was finally abolished."

"Our history has never been... very kind to others," Impa agreed with the frowning Zoran, her own eyes shut firmly and regrettably. "I think that's why king Daphnes has attempted to turn things around for the Hylians. Change is always good, but only for those that want it."

"Wise words," Nadya nodded along with the silver-haired Sheikah. "It's been an issue in Stralanavia for quite a while now."

"You knew about this, didn't you?" Link accused lightly, brow furrowing forward as he tilted his head at her again. "There ain't no way you couldn't."

"She's trying to end it," Sonya fired back at him impatiently, unfolding her small arms to glare over at him. "And idiot outsiders and foreigners like you just make it all worse."

"Sonya...!"

The admonishing hiss from the Stralanavian senator made the listening young brown-haired girl roll her eyes yet obey in question, re-folding her small arms as she turned her gaze away from the group.

"I apologise," Nadya further cemented with an apologetic frown on her face. "It's been a sore spot for some of us within this country, especially the furthest from the capital like Sonya and the other villagers."

"Don't worry about it," Link merely shot back, shrugging uncharacteristically patiently, a simple frown on his face. "I get it; can be frustrating and everything."

"I'm glad it was all of you that took down the Templars of the Weeping Stars," the senator began again, a smile this time sweeping the room at each curious member of the group. "They were once good men within our military and even opposed the slave trade, but... not everyone is perfect."

"Really? They did?" Barkner asked curiously, eyebrow shooting out and single eye narrowing as if in scrutiny.

"That's correct," Impa nodded in light agreement. "It's one of the reasons I hear they left Stralanavia to begin with."

"Something about the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide's motives wasn't it?" Alwyn asked unsurely, facing the Sheikah as he did. Link nodded as he thought back to speaking with Velkarez on the subject of the Sorcerer.

It's funny, he thought.

"I would never have thought he was the kinda guy to want to stop slavery."

Some people surprise you I suppose; not everything is black-and-white.

"It made me wonder why slaves weren't a thing back home," Link began curiously, eyes facing the ground in thought to walking around Hyrule Castletown. "And yet they're perfectly legal over here."

"It was supposedly part of the peace treaty that the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide himself proposed," Impa responded knowledgeably, her own arms folded as she did. "After he caused the 'Divine Divide' of course..."

"What treaty was that?" Malon asked over from her knelt position next to the little clucking Cucco, turning her fire-haired head to eye their Sheikah leader.

"That every part of land, once named, was able to declare its own laws and legislation," she explained simply. "It's all part of the history books; you can all go look it up."

"I always thought that was just a fairy tale, wasn't it...?" Barkner murmured out as he lowered his eyebrows in unease.

"Can't be," Link shot back in a grin. "It's either real or I'm just crazy." He reminded the Goron with, his grin growing a little as he did, drawing out lightly-amused laughs from the group.

"Which brings me on to my first request for your little mercenary group..." The smiling Nadya began, her well-heeled shoes clicking noisily against the expensive floor beneath her.

"We're not a mercenary group." Alwyn corrected her with, his arms folded and his face in a firmly-held frown, ever business-like and formal.

"Oh," she replied with, her march halting almost as immediately as she did. "So then what kind of-?"

"We're just martial artists," Link shrugged back at her in one of his many overconfident grins, shrugging as he did. "Uh, well... most of us are."

Vassia, Alwyn, Barkner, Zelda and Impa all nodded in response, as if knowing of their own fighting abilities. The watching Malon put on a funny kind of frown to her face, as if she had somehow been insulted and disappointed at being left out.

"Ah so you are the only non-combatant are you?" Nadya smiled in the farm girl's direction. She double-took upward before chuckling nervously back. "It is important to be diplomatic as well as undiplomatic," the senator spoke, a wily grin attached to her face as she stuck up one of her index fingers as if to emphasise her point. "While I've always worked best within the courts..."

"Y'need someone to do your dirty work out there, huh?" Link shot back rudely, a well-meaning grin of his own plastered on his youthful expression. While Barkner let out an amused snort of amusement and even Alwyn's frown upturned into a shut-eyed smirk, it was the female portion of the room that shot him annoyed glares.

"Link!" Impa hissed out, frustrated as always, eliciting a wince from the blonde boy.

"It's quite all right lady Impa," the smiling Nadya chuckled, seemingly also amused as she waved the matter off. "He's not wrong... after all." She finished, cocking her head to the side with interest and intrigue. The listening Link swung his amused grin into a genuinely curious-eyed frown, blinking to match it and convey it to her.

"How do you mean?"

Her grin widened just a little as she re-opened it to elaborate. "I mean... that I have a job for you all my talented young friends."