The sounds of the training grounds rang out around now thirteen year old Aeris. Her spear was heavy in her hand, sweat poured down her face.

"What little knife ear?" Aeris gritted her teeth regarding the older gerudo across from her, "Do we need to get you a shorter spear?" Maili barked out a laugh.

"Don't listen to her Aeris! You've got this. Just like we practiced," Nabooru called out from the group around the two girls.

Aeris remained silent eyes focused, waiting for the perfect moment. Maili barked another laugh and Aeris lashed out with the blunted spear, sweeping the girls legs out from under her. The ring of girls around the two burst into laughter as Maili landed harshly on her hip.

"Match!" Kulori, the warrior in charge of today's training called ending the match, "Excellent job Aeris, Maili you're on stable duty tonight. You let your arrogance get the best of you,"

Aeris smiled softly, not wanting to seem too pleased with herself. Nabooru flashed her a thumbs up from her place in the crowd, Aeris returned a small nod to her best friend. The two had grown close in the three years she had been with the gerudo.

"Who's next?" Kulori scanned the group of would be warriors, "Don't let the little hylian fool you, she's a fast one,"

"I think I would like to try," Kulori's eyes widened behind her purple veil. The crowd around them gasped collectively. Aeris' heart dropped to her stomach when her eyes met Ganondorf's.

He had grown tall and lean over the years and it was quickly becoming evident that he would be a very large man. His red hair was pulled into a ponytail not unlike the warriors and his chest was bare save for a leather harness. Aeris' cheeks burned at the sight of him.

"My king, I didn't know you would be joining us today," Kulori placed a fist across her chest and bowed her head.

"I wasn't planning to. I was on my way to the stables when I heard the commotion. I wanted to see what was happening." His eyes meet Aeris' and she quickly bowed her head. "It would seem our little hylian is becoming quite the warrior,"

Aeris flinched at his comment. She was smaller than all of the gerudo her age, even some of the younger girls were taller than her, it was a sore subject for her.

"Yes she is my king," Kulori gave Aeris a swat to the back sending her stumbling forward. "If you wish to partake in today's training, I will have our best trainee prepare for you," She looked to the crowd "Nabooru get your spear!"

Nabooru turned to get her weapon, "That won't be necessary," She stopped at Ganondorf's words. "I believe that the rules of this game are the winner keeps going until they are defeated, Is that correct?" Aeris' heart dropped to her toes.

"Yes my King," Kulori gave Aeris a nervous glance.

"Then it appears I will be sparing with our little hylian," Ganondorf's smile was almost predatory.

Aeris gripped her spear tightly a readied her stance. How in Din's name was she supposed to fight the KIng? Did she let him win? Or would that offend him?

"As you wish my King," Kulori bowed her head again, "What is your weapon of choice?"

"A spear will do," Kulori motioned for the girl closest to him to hand over her spear. He took it and weighed it in his hands before giving it a practice swing. "Yes, this will do," He moved to the circle drawn on the ground to stand opposite Aeris.

Kulori took a breath. "Ok match rules are simple. The first person to be disarmed or on the ground loses," Aeris felt like her heart was going to explode. She looked to Nabooru for confirmation, her friend looked stunned. Should she just bow out? No, she could do this, right? She looked to Ganondorf, he had that predatory look on his face again. His eyes were narrowed, focused on her, a small smirk on his lips.

"BEGIN!"

Ganondorf leapt forward bringing his spear down in a long ark. Aeris just barely managed to roll out of the way, she felt his spear whiz by her long ears. She landed on one knee, spear held out in front of her. Ganondorf wheeled back around brandishing his spear, snarling. Aeris snarled back and Ganondorf laughed.

"You're about as intimidating as a kitten, little hylian," Aeris jabbed her spear toward the king causing him to leap back.

"You're only 2 years older than me," Ganondorf circled around her, looking for a weak point. "Quit calling me little,"

"She speaks!" He rushed forward trying to surprise her.

Aeris met him, their spears clashed together. Aeris knew he could easily over power her like this, and so did he. "What to do little one?" That smirk was starting to irritate her.

Aeris felt him start pushing forward. He was cocky confident that he had her beat. She smiled, not bothering to hide this one. A look of confusion crossed the king's face before Aeris drew back her spear and rolled to the side, sending the boy stumbling forward. He just barely avoided face planting into the dirt by jamming the end of his spear into the dirt, and using it to stop himself. He whirled around, his golden eyes wide, and was met by both of Aeris' feet to his chest. She had jammed her spear into the ground and used it to vault herself into his chest.

A cry rang through the training yard as his back hit the dirt, his spear discarded. Kulori quickly called the match and the crowd around the ring murmured amongst themselves. Aeris panted heavily before dropping her spear and moving to the downed king.

She beat Kulori to him and extended her hand, he took it and she helped haul him back to his feet. Their eyes met again and he opened his mouth to say something but closed it quickly as Kulori rushed to his side.

"My King are you alright?" She sounded worried. If Koume and Kotake caught wind of this it likely would not be pretty.

"Yes, I am fine." He brushed off his cream sirwal, "A good King is humble in the face of defeat," He turned to Aeris. "Well fought little hylian. You may just make it into the kings guard if you keep fighting like that," Aeris blushed scarlet. His words were kind, but she knew that would never happen. She was a hylian… sure the gerudo had welcomed her into their tribe but she was still an outsider. "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to the stables to nurse my pride,"

Aeris and Kulori watched as he walked away. When he disappeared into the stables she looked down at Aeris and shook her head before turning to face the group. "That will be all for today," She walked away shaking her head.

Nabooru rocketed over to Aeris, "What was that?" Her golden eyes were wide, "That was awesome!" She laughed, " You just kicked the kings butt,"

"I know…" Aeris looked at her bare toes.

"Come on! We have to go tell mom about this," Nabooru grabbed Aeris' hand and began dragging her toward the fortress. Aeris didn't think that Urora would welcome the tale as well and Nabooru thought she would.

Aeris had been right. Urora was furious at first, but an odd sense of pride had taken her after Nabooru told her of what happened at the training field, with only a few embellishments.

A few days had passed and word spread quickly. Everywhere Aeris went people stared and whispered, it was driving her insane. She already stood out with her black hair and green eyes, she didn't need exaggerated stories of her beating the king to add to it.

"Aeris!" She was on her way to the archery range hoping to avoid people for the day when Seteli the stable keeper called her over.

"Do you need help with something Seteli?" Aeris approached the stables fully prepared to be asked to help muck the stalls.

"No I have a present for you!" The women's cheerful demeanor confused Aeris

"A present?" Aeris blinked and pointed at herself. "For me?"

The woman nodded and beckoned for Aeris to follow her into the stables. The smell of the stables was comforting to Aeris. It reminded her of her family, of the time she spent in the barn as a young child. Her heart panged as she thought of the goats, she missed them. Aeris turned her attention to the horses in the stalls they passed, hoping to chase away the painful memories.

Most of them were dun or bay mustangs well suited for the harshness of the desert. They nickered as Aeris and Seteli passed, one even reached out and nipped at Aeris' ponytail. "You know there are wild horses in the wastelands,"

Aeris shook her head, "I didn't know horses could survive out there,"

"They move from oasis to oasis. They're oddly beautiful if you get a chance to see one, they're lean and lightning fast," Seteli sighed. "One of our mares got out two years ago, she came back a few weeks later pretty beaten up. Couple months after that we found out she was with foal." Seteli stopped in front of a stall all the way in the back of the stables. "Her foal is about a year old now,"

Aeris peered into the stall and was met by the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. The filly was the color of sand with a stark white mane and tail. Her neck was beautifully arched and her head was slightly smaller than the others and curved before the flare of her nostrils.

"She's beautiful," Aeris looked up to Seteli, "Wait! She's not the present is she?" She looked back to the filly who reached out and blew in her face lightly.

Seteli laughed, "She is,"

"No, I can't accept this from you," Aeris shook her head and the filly tried to chew on the loose hair around Aeris' face.

"She's not from me," Seteli opened the stall door and took the filly by the halter to lead her out of the stall. "She's from the king, an apology gift he said,"

Aeris' jaw dropped. "The king?" Why was the king giving her a horse? An apology? "Is giving me a horse as an apology? Me?"

Seteli shrugged, "I'm just following orders," She rubbed the filly's nose. "I can see his thinking though."

Aeris ran her hand down the horses neck, "You can? Because I think I'm the one that should be apologizing to him,"

"Yes I heard about your little spectacle," Aeris groaned. "But from what I understand he pushed you to do it. Knowing full well that you already have a hard time fitting in. He put you between a rock and a hard place and you got yourself out of it the best way you could,"

Had he done it on purpose then? Had he singled her out? Would he have stepped in if anyone had been sparing? Why had he allowed her to stay? What did he have to gain from it?

"When he came to the stables after your sparring match I was brushing… Well she doesn't even have a name. I couldn't think of one that would fit her."The sadness of this struck Aeris, "Well anyway he came in and took an odd liking to her. He said that she reminded him of you,"

Aeris stopped stroking the filly's back. "Me?"

Seteli nodded, "He said that you were both different, you look different than those around you, and to an extent you both come from different places,"

Aeris looked to the other horses and realized just how similar they all looked then looked back to the filly and it was almost like looking in the mirror. It wasn't just subtle differences, they were startling. They both looked so out of place among their peers, she wondered if the filly could tell that she was different.

"So she's yours. Do you want to ride her?" Aeris looked up to the older gerudo and nodded heartily, "She doesn't get ridden nearly enough, so you'll have to come by and ride her often,"

"I can do that," Aeris rubbed the filly's muzzle as Seteli went to get the tack. "What should we call you?" The filly looked at Aeris and bumped her nose against the girls face. "How about Sandy?" The filly snorted and gave Aeris and incredulous look, "Ok not Sandy," Aeris tried to think of names but the only names she could think of were embarrassingly childish. "What would mama name you?" The filly started munching on a few loose pieces of hay. 'Great Aeris you're talking to a horse' "How about Starlight?" The filly looked up from her hay and blinked at Aeris. "Starlight it is,"

Seteli returned with a plain leather saddle and riding bridle in tow. "Let me show you how to saddle her up so you don't have to wait on me to ride her when you come,"

"Starlight, I've decided to name her Starlight," Aeris took the bridle from Seteli and slipped it over her shoulder to hold.

Seteli hummed in approval, "A fine name. It suits her," She placed the saddle on the wall of the stall. "Now I expect you to groom her before and after you ride,"

Aeris listened and watched intently as Seteli showed her how to groom and tack Starlight. After she was tacked Seteli helped Aeris in to the saddle. "So this is what it's like to look down at people," Aeris marvelled at the world from her vantage on Starlight's back. Seteli laughed and lead Starlight out of the stable, Aeris swayed back and forth with each step.

Aeris had ridden horses before it was part of the training every gerudo went through, and she felt comfortable in the saddle when Seteli let the bridle go. "Do you feel comfortable with me leaving you?"

Aeris nodded and tapped her heels against Starlights flank prompting her to move into a slow walk around the immediate area. "Yeah. Can I take her anywhere?"

"Avoid the wastelands for now but the whole compound is open to you," Seteli waved and disappeared into stable.

Aeris pulled back on the reins lightly halting Starlight. "Anywhere you want to go?" Starlight didn't answer. "Of course she didn't Aeris, she's a horse," Aeris shook her head and guided Starlight to walk forward. Aeris thought of Nabooru, the girl was going to be so jealous. 'That's it Nabooru is at the training grounds training for her trial',

"Let's go girl," Aeris turned Starlight toward the training grounds, eager to show her new friend to Nabooru.

A/N: This chapter is over 1500 words longer than the previous chapters! I was really feeling this one so I hope you guys enjoyed!

Did I spend several hours watching spear fights to write this chapter : Yes

Did i also spend hours researching horses: Yes

Notes on Starlight: She's a palomino arabian mustang mix. Unlike Epona who is a chestnut palomino, she's a pale gold.

The gerudo are at this point the OoT gerudo so no pointed ears and no eye colors other than gold, i've also taken some liberties with the lay out of the fortress to make more sense.