-Royal Harem, Kanyou, Capital of Qin-
Sarah hurried. She had barely made it home to the harem before being instructed by the eunuchs to set things in order.
"Blast it, I overslept again!" Sarah chastised herself. She set her servants, Yu and Mi, to cleaning her room while she put on her best clothing. An honored guest was arriving and she needed to look her best!
Life in the royal harem had changed drastically in recent years, and no more so than for Sarah. It was still an exceedingly bloody battleground when she had entered. Sarah had no hope with her plain appearance and lack of talents to be considered a threat, and so the 'gangs' of girls ignored her. The royal harem was bloody in the era of King Shorlin from his rise to power, but its bloodshed reached full anarchy in the era of King Aou as his mindset to put the clans at rivalry intensified the flames in the harem as well. The harem had calmed, a tiny bit, in the short era of King Xiang, Zelda's father, but this king tasted no woman and so made them desperate.
Then the latest Queen Mother appeared, and all of that changed. The bloodshed stopped overnight, every girl was set to order and perfection and proper conduct, a eunuch was placed with each one as a handler. Again, Sarah was seen as unremarkable, quiet, and obedient, and so avoided the Queen Mother's attention. In truth, she had never met the Queen Mother. The harem was a palace of its own with a thousand girls, ten thousand guards and armed eunuchs, and a thousand servants. The chaos was turned to order, but there was something about it that terrified Sarah.
It was rumors, only gossip, but the whispers were that the Queen Mother was... scary, cold, distant.
Sarah would have thought she would have been called at any day to the Queen Mother's abode ever since being called to Zelda's side more than once. It had not escaped the Queen Mother's notice, surely, how her daughter favored this plain concubine? After all, Sarah was given a few servants to help keep her things tidy and more rupee than she knew what to do with! Plenty to keep her large family going well for years! Pretty soon they would be able to buy a nice large house in a higher district, with room for her cousin's family and brother's and sister's family, and more families that would come from their household! All because of her.
She had done well. She had accomplished what she set herself to do in entering the harem. So why was she terrified? Why did her hands shake?
Sarah struggled through putting on makeup haphazardly, much to Yu's groaning, before hurrying out the door as soon as there was a knock.
The day would be difficult, and life in the harem was dark and oppressive as a cage, but that didn't mean she couldn't try to let some light out of its bars. "Good morning!" She greeted cheerfully.
Tuoniao Ki, her eunuch handler, stood in the door. Unlike his normal garb of hard leather and close-fitting robes tied with a sash, he went for a ceremonial black dress barely dented by the hilt of a sword he kept beneath. A head taller than her, he looked down, his lips seemingly permanently plastered in a thin line. His eyes roved her up and down, leering and judgemental, "It'll do."
"I hope so! I can't even pronounce half of what is on my face!" Sarah giggled, ignoring how she was the only one to find it amusing.
"Hurry. We will be late." Tuoniao said sternly. He took the door behind her and slammed it shut, making her jump. Okay, so no going back for anything now. He made his point.
"Okay, well, I did want to do something more but-that-doesn't-matter-now! Lead on."
Tuoniao turned his back on her and led on down the path. Sarah picked up her skirt and hurried along after him and his long strides. They passed other girls and handlers until coming to an impasse leading into the main throne room.
Sarah didn't like the room. It was a new thing the Queen Mother had built, almost as if in a mockery of the royal palace throne room. The harem throne room was shined, with rugs leading from a large door to a higher throne with a wide decorated frame of geese and dragons and flowers on its back. Its base was wide enough to lay on, and it stood on a pedestal of exactly three steps with each step being raised up three inches high and thirty-inches apart. There were six pillars, three on each side, that kept the high raised roof, and balconies to higher floors. The pillars were so stable that small bridges extended from the inner balconies to them and looped around to create balconies on the pillars themselves.
It was beautiful, but it was also of the same design as the royal palace, exacting to every inch, with an effort to outdo it.
The girls rushed in and assembled in a rigid formation with their handlers on their left. Sarah and Tueoniao Ki found a place in the right column towards the left, two rows away from the rug.
Sarah scrunched up her nose and wrapped her hands tightly around her. She was used to crowds and close contact, but a thousand girls, a thousand handlers, and a thousand more guards, with only a few hundred servants, were shoulder-to-shoulder packed even for a room as massive as this one. Her every breath brushed the hair of the girl before her and her intake of the same sucked it into her mouth. Sarah felt every inch of her touching and exposed to another. No wonder Tuoniao was in a particular poor mood.
'This must be how crated fish feel.' Sarah thought.
The minutes ticked by. Silence reigned. Every attempt to whisper was reproached with a hard look. Every questioning look was ignored. An hour passed, and Sarah felt her legs growing weak from standing in the same position in shoes not meant for standing. Another hour passed and there were faint whimpers in her ears.
A door opened in the back and instantly a word rang out loud, "BOW!"
Instantly Sarah was on her face, as well every other girl. It didn't matter if they were on top of each other. It only mattered that they not look up. The only ones to stand rigid were the men.
'Breath.' Sarah reminded herself. 'Just breathe. Don't you dare look up!'
Sarah faintly heard the sound of walking from the throne akin to gliding and the faintest wind, and then nothing.
The door leading in opened slightly and a eunuch entered. He bowed at the door and said, "Queen Mother, High Princess Zelda is here and wishes entry."
Sarah's eyes bulged even as her nose was to the floor. What. The. Realms! Zelda was here?! What was she doing here!? Having been in Zelda's private company Sarah was privy to the details as Zelda wished, and being in the harem was thoughts of distaste between them, even as close as they had become, for no other reason than the relationship Zelda had with her mother. If anyone had told Sarah that Zelda would set foot here in a hundred years she would laugh it off as madness!
There was silence a moment, a long moment. Then finally, as if by the most beautiful and clear flute to have tickled Sarah's ears, a voice said, "Let her in, darling."
A pair of footsteps entered the door. One was heavy as a man but the other was lighter, but also with purpose. It's funny the little things you pick up on people. Sarah knew the steps anywhere. A cold sweat broke out over her and she struggled to breathe, suddenly suffocated by a cold atmosphere that filled the room. Even the other girls seemed to shake and shiver. Like a faint icy mist, whatever had already started to transpire here changed the atmosphere.
Zelda was here.
The door shut behind them, and all was silent. Zelda and her companion did not step closer, no one spoke, and no one moved. Sarah heard only the sound of her own breathing and her heartbeat racing in her ears. Sarah heard her blood race in her veins and she felt terror grip her. Facing a demon hadn't been this scary. Perhaps it was bravado and purpose that gave her courage against Ganon, or perhaps it was knowing that the greatest of demons are in men and women, like the Queen Mother.
At last, the silence was broken. A light, enchanting laugh filled the chamber from the throne. Immediately Sarah felt lightened by the voice, a bit more cheery, if only she didn't know who it came from.
The Queen Mother laughed, "What's the matter, Zelda? It's been such a long time since we last saw each other. Why don't you come closer, or it could be that you find your mother frightening?"
"Not at all," Zelda replied. Sarah gulped. She knew Zelda was lieing. Zelda would rather face a hundred armies and the worst of man than to stand here in her living nightmare. There were more than a few nights where Sarah had woken from Zelda's screaming and weeping. Zelda accepted no mirrors because she shared her mother's beauty. She accepted no men or women carnally as all that was sensual or beautiful in sex was reduced to savage raping and fucking of brutes.
Sarah heard Zelda take a few steps forward. She could only imagine the terror gripping Zelda's heart as she willed herself closer.
"Come now, let us get a good look at each other. Come closer."
Zelda took a few steps closer.
"Closer."
A few steps more.
"A little more."
A few final steps could be heard near the throne.
"Oh, that's my daughter for you. You've become quite a fine woman in the time since we last met, haven't you? Your hair falls like rivers and your eyes are as deep as oceans. Your lips..." Sarah could practically hear the Queen Mother smile, "The most sensual part of a woman is the lips. Wouldn't you say?"
"I wouldn't know," Zelda replied. "But I would say the same for you, Mother. Your beauty has not faded at all."
The Queen Mother chuckled lightly. "Thank you, my dear. It is nice to know you approve. But, this is quite a surprise. After all these years for you to actually come and pay me a visit. You don't write. You don't send messengers. It almost makes me feel neglected."
Zelda interrupted the Queen Mother's games, "Please end the innocent act. I would like for you to hand over the copy of the royal seal in your possession. For a prank, this is going too far. Were this matter to be exposed, there would be an uproar and you could be tried for treason as a traitor of the state."
The Queen Mother gasped, a hollow and fake a sound as any, "'Traitor of the state' you say? My, that does sound quite severe."
"Yes. Despite everything... I wouldn't see you punished and abused for something so trivial as a prank."
"'Abused.' A funny word to come between us, considering the lifestyle we had together in Zhao. That 'abuse' we suffered together staggers the imagination, forced to sully ourselves just to be able to eat... Yes, quite literally sullied. To be able to sink no lower must refer to that, wouldn't you say? You are the almighty heir, soon to be king, of the great state of Qin, and I, its Queen Mother. On paper, this is the two highest positions in the kingdom. No one stands above us. It is not I playing a prank, dear Zelda, I would say it is fate playing the greatest prank on us to have brought us here. I remember a certain scholar who claimed that a man's life was dictated by the heavens. If that really is true..."
A single breath passed.
Then for a moment, a single breath, the façade of a light, beautiful voice gave way to the strongest, seething venom, "Then it makes me want to piss all over the fucking heavens!"
The hateful roar echoed through the chamber and more than a few of the girls cringed fearfully, whimpering where they stayed bowed. Sarah glued her eyes shut and felt a great weight had slammed on them.
"Mother." Zelda inserted herself flatly and clearly, "Please hand over the forged seal. Let us not go down a painful road."
The Queen Mother grunted, her beautiful and light voice restored, "Hmph! Fine. Whatever. Who cares about that little toy. If you want it, go ahead and get it from the eunuchs on the way back."
"What is the meaning of this, Mother? Why would you suddenly do something like this?"
"Nothing, really, just felt like seeing your face again after such a long time."
Immediately Sarah heard Zelda spin on her heels. "Then I shall take my leave."
The Queen Mother chuckled, a light voice dripping in coldness and purpose while feigning surprise. "Leaving already? I was certain that you had come because you wished to request something of me."
"No, I changed my mind because it doesn't appear as if you would be receptive."
"That's awfully assuming when you haven't even asked, don't you think? What is the worse I could say? 'No'? Or is it because you refuse to request it from your mother? Come, let's hear it. Perhaps I am more receptive than you think."
Zelda stopped walking in the middle of the room. Sarah held her breath for-what-felt-like-the-hundredth-time. A long moment of silence passed. Sarah felt as if her soul was leaving her body and she was beyond herself. She felt a great wave of power coming over them as if the winds churned and time itself stood still to take note of this moment. Sarah knew. She knew the minds of those at work here, and she had come to understand, even at a fraction, the gravity of what was transpiring. History was being made this moment.
There would be no turning back.
Zelda turned on her heels back to face the Queen Mother, her mother. "Despite being the heir of this state, power and authority lie with Chancellor Ryo Fui due to my own incompetence. Even now, we are contesting his faction, yet we are always struggling." A breath. "Please lend me the aid of your harem faction and the families that support you, Mother."
"See, now was that so hard?"
Yes.
The Queen Mother hummed, seemingly putting on a show of thought, before coming to a decision she had likely already made, "Yes."
-Zelda-
She managed to hold on right up until the doors closed behind her and the harem was shut off from her. Zelda gasped for breath and stumbled, all of her fear and terror and barely restrained hallucinations assaulting her at once. The skin around her neck flared like it was on fire, every part of her body itched like a thousand ants, her blood boiled with an icy chill, her hair felt zapped, and every muscle in her body spasmed with the will to flee of their own will. As if she was but a prisoner trapped inside her body, even the cage wanted to flee.
She would have fallen flat on her face had Shi Ketsu not stepped in and quickly roped an arm around her waist. "Your highness!" He exclaimed.
'Breathe!' Zelda reminded herself. It was a struggle. Her body seemed to have forgotten something so basic that she needed to focus all of her will on it just to stay concious as the bright sky dimmed in and out before her eyes. 'Breathe. Just breathe. You did it! Breathe!'
Outloud, Zelda managed to whisper, "W-walk... me... Get me... away..."
Shi looked around frantically for a moment. He realized what she wanted, what she needed, and, holding tightly to her shoulders, moved forward a bit. Zelda managed to put a step forward on flimsy legs, but it was slow going down the many steps past the eunuchs guarding the outdoor plaza. The caravan waited in the courtyard below. When the guards below looked up and noted them, they rushed to her, and in taking Zelda from Shi's arms, hurried her into the caravan and yelled for the driver to take her to the royal doctors. Zelda collapsed on the seat, not even having the will to sit up. Another figure leaped up, sat down, shut the door, and yelled for them to hurry away.
'Breathe.' Zelda thought. Her muscles shook frigidly, her teeth chattered, and her breaths came out in short bursts. She remembered what it was like in Zhao, how the winters were bitter and cold and numbing.
Zelda felt something and narrowly opened an eye to note Shi Ketsu was with her in the caravan along with her captain of the royal guard, and they had placed a blanket on her. Odd. She didn't feel it. She just felt cold, like she was back in Zhao again.
-Narrator-
A few days later a great event occurred in the capital as a caravan of ministers and officials made their way to the royal palace. The many heads of the Ki main house, those that Kei Ki the Beheader had not removed, the head of the Kai house, and the head of the Han house all entered the palace, and with them their faction. Wealth was gifted to the royal family and Zelda saw her power swell. The men entering her service were many and of great influence, talent, wealth, and power. The people were amazed and her Sheikah spies reported that the ministers in Ryo's faction were caught off guard by this. The good fortune didn't seem to end as Chancellor Impa returned and reported that a great weight was partially lifted from her guilt, and praised Zelda's bravery in how she handled the matter in her absence, both publicly and privately. Yet, even so, a shadow fell on Zelda as she felt there was something more at play, something more beneath the surface, and she didn't know what.
About the same time these men arrived at the palace, the answer would come elsewhere.
-Sarah, Royal Harem-
Sarah hummed to herself happily and lit a candle. The last few days had been quiet at the harem, but Sarah knew it wouldn't be at the palace. Zelda had taken a bit longer than she expected, but the princess did request Sarah's companionship again. Sarah expected she would go to service in the royal palace to find a near catanic princess, or an ice-cold angry witch with walls as high as the sky, or maybe even an emotional sobbing wreck. There was no telling which it would be, but with what had happened it wouldn't just be a normal visit. Sarah fully expected to have to help pick up the pieces of Zelda's psyche.
'Maybe I should see if Zelda will confide in my mother visiting...' Sarah immediately shook her head. As much as she wanted Zelda comforted by a proper mother figure, the last thing she needed was precisely a mother figure. If not a mother, then a gift? Sarah had found some art, but the words of Shi Ketsu returned to her and Sarah found it wise. Zelda liked literature. Zelda did not admire the beauty seen by eyes but by the mind.
Sarah turned her candle towards the harem library and entered. On the other side was a firmly locked door, and across the library were aisles and aisles of scrolls and books even more expansive than the Royal Family library. Surely here would be a treat for the princess!
Sarah placed the candle down on a table, ran a short distance into the first aisle, grabbed a handful of scrolls, and returned to peruse them. The little concubine didn't quite know what Zelda's taste was, but if her tale of the snakes had been a sign, it would have to be one that was thought-provoking. Or maybe historical? She didn't know what was in the library, so she would have to go through them one by one quickly until she found a suitable candidate. Sarah opened the first scroll, found it borish. The second scroll was more interesting, a tale of the romance between the clouds and moon. It perhaps wasn't the best choice, but Sarah still had hope that Zelda was open to romance in a literary form. Sarah put the first back and continued.
This went on for a time until she found herself going deeper into the aisles. She took her chosen scrolls and candle with her and placed them in a heap on the floor. She reached up and took a scroll. It slid on metal hinges-
Sarah froze. That wasn't the sound of a scroll sliding off the shelf! The door was opening!
Instantly, she dropped down and cupped her hands tightly around the candle, snuffing it out. The light disappeared into darkness. Sarah kept still, her skin feeling itchy and every sense on high alert. She had stayed here past curfew! She would be in so much trouble if-
The steps. One step was the lightest she had ever heard, like a faint wind gliding across grass. But the other... there was a steps of a large person, a person of weight but great confidence and patience. Followed behind was a third step of an almost military march. The third set of steps stopped at the shelves near Sarah, but the first two continued a bit further.
Sarah blinked as light burst across the room through cracks in the scrolls and shelves. Peering through, she saw a beautiful dress adorned by a dainty woman, though she could not see her face, and the large robes of a well-built albeit very wealthy man with scrolls strapped to the insides.
Sarah froze, her eyes bulging, sweat forming on her clammy skin. The hair on her neck stood and her skin crawled with horror.
Chancellor Ryo Fui.
The woman glided across the floor with grace and a newly lit lamp extending from her polished hands. "Come, this way," A light voice said.
The Queen Mother!
Sarah dropped quietly, bringing her hands to her mouth to keep her horrified voice from going past her lips, and hid in the shadows of the aisles as best as her tiny frame could allow. What was Ryo doing here?!
"I must say, you gave me quite a surprise with this," Ryo started. "I would have thought you would want to will your years away in peace and solitude."
"I am surprised as you. I thought the same for so long... but I found myself with that nagging thought. That tiny speck in me that doubted."
"And what is it that you doubt?"
There was silence a moment, and the two seemed to stop. The Queen Mother said, "I remembered long ago, when I first had them. It was us against Zhao... I shielded them, but as the years went, I learned how utterly alone I was. There was no 'us', there was only 'me'. Then one day she was gone... and I realized I didn't mind. It was easier that way. You sent men to rescue me, and I have been content with what I have and the distance between us. But in recent days I heard of the schemes you did, I heard my dear little thing was refusing to do her duty, and I felt... something."
"What did you feel?" Ryo asked quietly.
"I don't know. It brought me doubt because it was odd. So I wished to see her. I wanted to see if a hint of maternal instinct had awoken within my breast. Whether it be the child's existence or her words...
"And?"
"In my eyes I saw Zhao, in my hands I felt her flesh, and in my chest I didn't feel a single thing." The Queen Mother concluded. "I felt absolutely nothing."
Nothing?! Having come from a crazy, loud, loving home, Sarah felt her heart clench in equal pain and equal terror. She had nightmares on occasion, but now, as vomit threatened to rise, she realized the monsters in one's imagination did not compare to the monsters in people. Her nightmares would no longer bear the face of Ganon with his glowing red eyes and burning hair as he squeezed her throat, but the cold and empty void that was such a mother who's chill held her neck.
"Is that so..." Ryo murmured. "So the entire uproar of you following through and joining her then was to get my attention?"
The Queen Mother chuckled, "Well, how else was I to move that heavy waist of yours? You are such a busy man with other Chancellor's visiting and all."
Ryo Fui laughed, and the Queen Mother joined him quietly. Ryo exclaimed, "Truly, you are a vexing woman as ever! This is what you have set your mind to? The old lovers usurping the throne and smashing Zelda's faction? Are you truly prepared for what is to happen?"
Usurping...
"I couldn't care less what happens to her, Kingslayer."
Sarah felt a chill and tingle clasp her spine. This was it. She had to get out of here! They were going to kill Zelda!
Not yet. Not yet! The coast needed to be clear! Every second was agony. Finally, after seemingly years of listening in the shadows and darkness, the door opposite of her was unlocked with a key and shut firmly. Sarah waited a minute longer, equally terrified to move if they should return and terrified to not move if she loses her oppurtunity!
A guttural sound hit her ears and, at first, Sarah was unsure of it. It was so-
There it was again. Grunting.
At first it was such an odd thing, but then the repetition of it slowly dawned on her and if her hands were not already clasped tightly around her mouth she might have gasped out loud. Treason. The two were having sex! They were in an affair! But the Queen Mother was married to the deceased king!?
This was her opportunity.
Sarah burst into action, leaping and springing across the ground, but equally messed up as she forgot about the pile of scrolls she had assembled before and tripped over them. The scrolls scattered and her body collapsed. It was brief, it wasn't near as loud as the two who were reaching a level of literal screaming fuckery behind a metal door, but then she had also forgotten there was a third one. The third one's steps came quickly towards her, Sarah rose and scrambled her way forward, the third one's steps reached the shelving and Sarah felt a sharp icy pain tingle in her side followed by an impact that sent her falling. The shelving collapsed onto her, but with her tiny frame and burst of adrenaline-fueled speed she was able to avoid being under it.
The door was slightly ajar to her right and she bolted for it. Whether it be luck or divine providence, the aisle thrown onto her was long and the one to knock it over had entered to find her, so her position running out the other side gave her a short head start. Her tiny frame was again a blessing as she wasted no time opening the door further, but turned sideways and slipped between quickly. She turned, her feet sliding on the dew and wooden flooring, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. A set of heavy steps were just behind her heels, and a brief tug on her clothing nearly sent her back. Her clothing was wide and captured the wind, being made of much material, so she unclasped the sash and shed it as her chaser grasped hold firmly.
She heard her attacker grunting as he struggled to reach her now and she smiled as she released a new burst of speed. Her side hurt like nothing she had ever known, but adrenaline helped numb it. She wasn't a normal harem girl, her assaulter would have to learn, she was normal. Her youth was spent chasing kids and roughhousing with her siblings, and this hadn't changed. Her legs knew how to run and turn. She knew how to stay ahead of reaching hands. She knew how to breathe and keep at it until the games were over.
But this was no game. The harem was closed shut for the night. There would be no escape there. She would have to improvise. There were some servant doors that led out, but accessing them would require leaving the inner walls. The kitchen had a roof high enough to let her reach without breaking her legs if she was careful. No ladders to the ramparts, as guards would catch her on noticing she was being chased by one of them.
There was a tree however. It was a part of the garden in sight. The Queen Mother had designed the royal harem to be a place where no one could get in, but she had not necessarily designed it to keep people from getting out!
Nimbly as a squirrel Sarah leaped up thorny bushes and then onto the outreaching branches of the tree. She heard the guard cursing behind her, but his hurried steps showed he wouldn't relent so easily. Sarah climbed up another two branches, reached the trunk, crawled around, and hurried on her hands and knees across to the otherside. She heard yelling in the distance and saw the guard below had alerted others on the ramparts in the distance. Not a second to lose, she leaped up onto the rampart, nearly falling. Her legs dangled. She pulled herself up, rolled onto her feet, and bolted left towards the kitchen. Her nose led her on. Guards ran at her from ahead, but the kitchen was coming into view from the right so she turned and-
A sharp pain entered her back and she felt her body spin in mid air. She landed hard onto the kitchen's roof and blacked out.
