Chusai awoke to hear an insistent knocking at the door. "Come in!" she barked, still half-asleep.
Dalin stepped inside the room. "Chusai, the usurper king demanded that I give you this message: He's let you sleep in long enough, you need to get ready and go to the throne room now."
Groaning and lifting her head, Chusai noticed that her bed was covered in a fine layer of ash and it had soaked into the pillow where she had been drooling all night. "I'll be there in half an hour," she said as she struggled to her feet.
Dalin left and shut the door behind him.
Chusai stripped off her soiled garments and filled her bath. The water soon turned black as she scrubbed the ash off her skin and out of her hair. As she began to wake up, fleeting images of the past couple of days filtered back into her mind. There was a fire…some business across the country that never was explained…
She drew in her breath sharply as she remembered Maroi's corpse lying across the floor of the Hall of Records, his medallion melted from the heat of the flames. She drained her bath, thinking to herself, I'll examine that today…I can prove that Maroi's been murdered, just…like…
The memories of the massacre at her home village struck her like a physical blow, and she kneeled gasping in the bath, eyes fixed on the murky water as it spiraled down the drain, mixed with the tears running down her face. For an unknown amount of time she shivered doubled over, then slowly came to grips. Burning, throbbing rage slowly replaced despair.
She climbed out of the bath and dried off, hurriedly putting on new clothes. She unsheathed her sword even before she left the room, and burst through the door holding the naked blade in her hand.
"Chusai?!" Dalin called after her as she sprinted down the hall.
She swept through the hallways, wrapped in a fiery ball of fury, the sword in her hand crying out for a taste of blood, for revenge. All rational thought replaced by blinding wrath, her entire mind focused on sinking her blade into the flesh of one particular person.
She reached the throne room at top speed and didn't slow as she raced across the red carpet, homing in on the man sitting in his underserved throne. "You!" she shouted in a voice that rang through the chamber. "You tortured Maroi into telling you the location of my home village!"
She leaped into the air, both hands grasping the sword, and brought it down with all the force in her body.
She felt her bones shiver as her blade connected with his, then flew through the air as she was thrown backward and tumbled down the stairs. Rising painfully to her feet, she looked up to see Ganondorf staring down at her with a mixture of impatience and disappointment. "Just figuring it out now, are you? I figured you might have a delayed reaction."
Enraged at his offhand confirmation of her suspicions, Chusai gripped her sword in both hands and ran back up the dais.
Raising his sword casually, Ganondorf said, "I suppose I should help you work off this excess energy, if I'm to make sure you get fully rehabilitated."
The two clashed swords. Chusai hacked at him quickly, roughly, insanely, and he blocked every one of her attacks. "Did you think mere force of will would help you accomplish what you failed to do before?" he asked with mild amusement as he forced her back down the stairs.
Chusai screamed like an animal, trying desperately to make even one blow find its mark. She jumped around to his side and tried to trip him, but he merely shoved her out of the way. From all angles she attacked, and was blocked at each one. She began gasping from the exertion, but did not let up.
"Well, I can't let you pass out." Quick as lightning Ganondorf grabbed her collar and threw her like a rag doll against one of the chamber's support columns. Her sword clattered away and she struggled to her knees to retrieve it, one hand over her ribs, certain that at least one of them had been fractured.
As she reached for her sword, a booted foot stepped upon her hand, crushing it. A naked blade pressed against her throat. "Now, before you damage yourself further," Ganondorf said softly, "I want you to acknowledge your situation and whom you serve."
Chusai struggled for a moment, then bowed her head. "I serve the ruler of Hyrule."
Ganondorf sighed. "I know you mean the Princess. It doesn't matter…what orders did she give before she locked herself in her tower?"
Chusai bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. "To serve you…My Lord."
"Very good." Chusai felt him release her hand and remove the blade from her throat. "Now, I know you must be hurting a little, but I think you need some physical restraint to remind you of the position you're in. You will stay here until the end of the day, and then you can seek medical attention."
Scowling, Chusai stood and walked as normally as she could, trying to hide the extent of her injuries for the little honor that was in it. Every breath stabbed through her like a knife to the chest, and her hand throbbed and swelled in its glove.
For the rest of the day she stood there, the room blurry from the pain in her side and her hand. She heard little of what was spoken in the room, and remembered less of what happened from one minute to the next. She had broken an arm once as a child, and endured that for half a day while her mother sought a doctor, but at least then she had been able to lie down.
Even once the day was over she still was not able to retire to her chambers, but had to accompany Ganonodorf on his nightly pilgrimage to Zelda's tower. Standing there throbbing with pain, she wondered if he would ever get the message.
Once she had finally seen him off to his room, she still could not rest. She returned to Zelda's tower as quickly as she could. Upon entering, Zelda noticed her ashen face and asked with concern what had happened.
Chusai told her. Trembing with pain and rage, she said, "Your Highness…there must be something we can do…I cannot allow him to get away with the murders of Maroi and my family!"
Zelda's answer was completely unexpected. "Chusai, we must all try to endure through these next few months."
Her head jerking up, Chusai demanded, "Your Highness, did you not understand? He slaughtered them all in front of me!"
"Many have died since he came here, Chusai."
"And you are just going to allow this to happen?!"
"Neither of us can take him on, Chusai. We must wait for one who can."
"How do you know…" Chusai stopped before she questioned her faith in her Princess. Zelda watched her, understanding what she had been about to ask.
"Here." Zelda handed her a slip of paper. "Go see Mondi. He is an excellent healer. He will see you tonight if you give him my signature."
"Yes, your Highness." Chusai bowed and left, feeling empty and afraid.