A day's journey from Hyrule, Chusai knew she was too late.

The stream of refugees had changed to a torrent. Members of all the country's races competed for space on the thin road. Off in the distance, the castle stood wrapped in shadow. Panic and despair hung in the air, thick as fog and many times more unsettling.

Slowing her horse to a trot, watching the glassy-eyed refugees shuffle past, Chusai considered her options. She had no way of knowing what exactly had gone on in the castle, how much free will Ogadai had under his father's influence, and whether or not the Princess and her bodyguard were still alive.

She could ask Namu for help or information – but Chusai doubted that all the Gerudo would side with the Hylians, even if Namu remained her friend. If Zelda had escaped, Chusai could attempt to track her down – but she had never been good at tracking, and she could search forever in the huge country. Backing out and returning to Refugee Village was not an option.

Frowning, Chusai decided to take a gamble. The castle likely still held passages and secrets that only the royals' bodyguards knew, and once inside she could search for Ogadai. If she were lucky, perhaps she could catch him alone and spirit him out of there.

Chusai spurred her horse and rode forward, ignoring the stares of the refugees behind her.

The lack of resistance made her suspicious.

She had expected to be met by a series of dark creatures as she neared the castle; but after doing battle with just a few, she wondered if the Usurper King had not yet managed to infect the country as he previously had.

Making a wide circle around the castle, Chusai selected a route only known to the Ordana family. The man from whom Ogadai gained his name had wanted to be a stonemason before joining the guard, and put his skills to work on the castle. According to him, there was always a way in or out of a castle…it just might not be a preferable route.

Wastewater from the castle flowed out of an innocuous passage in the back, where irrigation ditches flushed it with fresh water before it reached the lake. The ancient guard had ensured that the wastewater passage was just large enough for a person to squeeze through…when up to his waist in sewage.

Lucky for Chusai, the castle had been more or less deserted by its human inhabitants; the water flow barely reached the ankles of her boots. She crouched down and squeezed through the small opening, trying to breathe through her mouth as she navigated through the twisted bowels of the castle.

Finally, after stumbling through the dark for about an hour with many a trip and a bumped nose, she reached the far end of the scullery-maid's quarters. They were empty of course, and as Chusai drew her sword, she listened hard for any sound or movement. Even in this inconspicuous corner of the castle, she could hear the rustle of Keese in the corners. But they shifted only slightly in the corners of the ceiling, and Chusai switched from sword to bow and arrows. Carefully she struck each one, making several sweeps of the little room before she moved on.

It would only take one, insignificant, tiny dark creature to give her away. She obviously could not turn the magical creations aside this time. It would only take one to alert the others and bring the entire castle down on her head…not to mention their dark master.

Chusai kept to walls and away from windows, straining her ears upon entry to every new room. On her way she had stopped in Kando and picked up a series of specialized weapons. Among them were a series of very thin arrows, made so that many could be stored in a small space. She hid and fired sniper's shots wherever she could, finishing off the last enemy by sword.

She entered the upper level of a large ballroom, a half dozen dark knights patrolling both above and below. She stayed hidden in the doorway, and drew from her quiver a large, silver-colored arrow with a small cylinder attached to the bolt. She smelled the scent of gunpowder as she pulled the fletching back to her ear.

The arrow whistled forward and struck the opposite end of the room, Chusai leaping to the side. An enormous blast of intense heat and flame whooshed through the doorway, kicking hot air into her face. After a moment she stood and looked inside the room. The dark knights had disappeared, as well as the carpeting, paintings, and tapestries, and some of the glass in the hanging chandeliers had fused together. A fine layer of ash covered the floor. Chusai sprinted across the room and into the next one, leaving a set of footprints in the gray ash.

"Prince Ogadai, there is an intruder in the castle."

Ogadai whirled round, startled. "Idena? How do you know?"

She scowled. "Many of our guards have disappeared. In one of the more strongly-defended rooms, I found everything burnt to cinders and a set of boot prints."

"Have you seen this intruder? Is he Hylian?"

"No, Ogadai. But it appears the intruder is heading for the throne room. Whoever this person is, he seems familiar with the layout of the castle. I tracked the dead guards to a castle entrance we didn't even know about."

Ogadai frowned. Do you think it might be Link?

"That's certainly possible," Ganondorf's voice echoed in his head. "He may have hidden Zelda somewhere and decided to come back on his own. But we should keep our mind open."

What should we do?

"Send your sisters to see if they can find this person…and kill him."

Chusai leaned against the wall for a moment, wiping sweat off her forehead. Grumpily, she doubted Link had to fight every enemy in that castle, all those years ago. After the rebellion had been quashed with no sign of any further resistance for a year, the security had been relaxed.

Suddenly she felt a strange prickling, as if in the path of a lightning strike. She jumped aside just in time to dodge an arrow aimed for her heart. She held her shield protectively in front of her, sword at the ready, scanning the room. She could see no one, but strange laughter echoed softly throughout.

"Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

"Such strong words for a trespasser," the voice of a woman with a Gerudo accent hissed.

Quickly Chusai drew her bow and loosed an arrow toward the voice. "Silly woman," another, higher voice taunted. "You spent over a year among the Gerudo and you forgot how they can throw their voice?"

Chusai did not recognize the speakers. "Who are you?"

The slightest rustle, like the blowing of a single autumn leaf, reached Chusai's ears. She leaped aside, but not before the blade of a scimitar grazed her arm. A tall, heavily built woman stood in front of her, weapon upraised, a vengeful grin on her face. "Hello, Chusai Ordana. You don't remember me? I remember you." Before Chusai could react, she slammed into her and held her up against the wall. "Chusai Ordana, the fickle whore, giving her strength to whomever is in power at the time."

Chusai grabbed the woman's shoulders and brought her right leg behind the woman's right leg. She jerked her leg backward and shoved her attacker forward and downward, slamming her on her back and delivering a punch to her nose before jumping away.

Another woman, thinner and shorter, appeared before her. "The Kando hand-fighting must be as good as it sounds, if it can bring down Zuma."

"Kill her, Maati," Zuma spluttered, blood running from her nose. Maati swung her sword forward, but Chusai deflected it easily and knocked Maati off-balance with a well-placed kick.

Zuma chuckled. "Still too weak to kill human beings, eh, Chusai? That's too bad…"

"Where is my son?" Chusai demanded.

"You mean the Prince of Hyrule?" Maati gave her a crooked smile. "Catching up with his lost father, of course. Do you really think we'd give you specifics?"

Chusai flung a curse at the both of them and bolted from the room.

The pair responded with a high, ululating call that echoed throughout the stone walls of the castle. Arrows whistled past as Chusai raced through the castle, three, four, five, six Gerudo women appearing around and behind her. In addition, an onslaught of dark knights came barreling down a set of stairs in front of her.

Chusai dug into her pocket and retrieved three black balls. Positioning them between her fingers, she flung them in three different directions. Choking black smoke billowed throughout the room as they hit the floor. Hearing the frustrated yells of the women behind her, Chusai dodged one dark knight and drove her sword into another. She fought her way up the staircase, slicing, parrying, blocking.

An arrow clipped her ear, and she heard the women racing up the stairway. She dodged the last two knights and sprinted into the next room. She ran as fast as she could toward the throne room, stopping only when a strong enemy blocked her path, even though she had no idea what she would do when she got there. She had no other option but to run.

An arrow buried itself in the back of her lower leg, and the piercing pain as it tore the muscle forced her to her knees. She twisted and pulled – as she had learned all those years ago – and threw the bloody arrow aside. But the damage had been done; she could only run two-thirds as fast.

Three rooms from her destination, another arrow struck her in the upper thigh. She fell and clawed at it like a wounded animal, but before she could work it free, Maati leaped forward and wrapped her arms around Chusai's neck.

Chusai rolled over on her back and kicked up, sending Maati flying. She jumped to her feet in time to deliver a roundhouse kick to Neru, the torn muscle sending blinding pain through her leg. She stood in a defensive position as the women formed a wide but ever-tightening circle around her.

"Idiots," she snapped. "None of you would be alive today if it wasn't for me. I was the only one in the kingdom that wanted to show the Gerudo any mercy!"

Zuma pointed an accusing finger. "You helped the Hylian kill our father. We wouldn't have spent our lives starving if you had stayed loyal to him!"

"I was never on his side to begin with!" Chusai snarled. "I only did what my Princess ordered me to do!"

"That's not how he tells it," Olai sniggered, and the rest of them burst into laughter, exchanging a series of crude remarks.

Chusai flushed. "Your father was an accomplished liar," she muttered. "He built his entire kingdom on lies, so it's no wonder that it fell."

"Wrong, Chusai." Zuma's scimitar flashed in the firelight. "He simply made a mistake in putting too much trust in the descendant of the one who cursed our people."

The entire ring jumped her at once. Chusai's sword flashed as she spun in a circle, but strong hands grasped her wrist and wrenched it from her. She felt herself forced to her knees, fists pounding her in the stomach and across the face.

"Stop! Leave her alone!" The assault ceased instantly, and Chusai's head jerked up as she heard the familiar voice.

"Ogadai!" she cried in relief and joy as he ran toward her. "Ogadai, you're all right!"

He pulled her from his sisters and embraced her. "Mother…I'm so glad I found you."

"Ogadai…" Her eyes flooded with tears. "I was afraid I'd never see you again." She flinched as he held her tighter, aggravating her wounds. "Ogadai…could you loosen up a bit…"

To her horror, Ogadai's head bent down and a terrifyingly familiar voice whispered in her ear, "Hello, Chusai. It's been a long time."

She strained back with all her might. "Let me go!"

He did so with a thin smile, and she fell back into the grasp of the women, who held her arms behind her back. Chusai fixed her eyes on Ogadai with an expression of pure venom, speaking not to him but the ghost inside. "Give me back my son!"

"Our son, Chusai," Ganondorf replied calmly. "And don't worry, he's right here."

"It's all right, Mother," said Ogadai.

Chusai eyed him suspiciously. "So now you shift your attention to Ogadai. What lies have you told him?" she demanded of Ganondorf.

"No lies, nothing you yourself do not know. Actually, he got most of his information from Namu," Ganondorf told her. "He stopped in the desert before he came here, and she told him everything…the Blood Curse, your Princess' orders, your sudden departure."

"Mother, why didn't you ever tell me I had sisters and aunties?" Ogadai asked, his voice soft and hurt.

"They're not your family!" she snapped, eliciting angry hisses from the women. "You don't belong here. Ogadai, come home. Junsun and Maline and the others are worried about you."

He frowned. "Why do I belong there? Nobody does. It's called a refugee's village for a reason."

"What makes you think you belong here?" She scowled at the hated black armor he wore, the same as what she remembered but built specially for him.

"When Zelda left her throne and shut herself in her room, you and Father…"

"Father?" Chusai's voice was harsh, cold, and mocking.

"Yes, Father." Ogadai felt an irrational anger rising within him, a growing flame that had sparked into life when she denied his connection to his sisters. He felt as if she were attacking him, condemning him, because of the blood ties none of them could deny. "You and Father ruled this country for over a year, its effective leaders. This is where I belong. Namu said I broke the Blood Curse. I am the uniting force of the two peoples."

Chusai's eyes narrowed, and her voice dropped to a slow, contemplative level. "So that's your angle, is it?" she demanded of Ganondorf. "A load of silly ideology that you never plan to follow through? Neither of you belong on that throne, and Din will turn to ice before you do anything useful for both our peoples."

"Why do you insist that I stay a farmer in a beggar's town?" Ogadai demanded. "You said I should follow my father's example. Well, he turned out not to be a farmer but a king. Why did you lie to me?"

Chusai unleashed a blast of rage. "He killed my family!" She twisted in the womens' arms, desperately trying to break free. "My mother, father, and brother, right in front of me! He's not fit to call himself your father!"

Ogadai regarded her steadily. "Then why am I here?"

"What?"

The anger inside him began to show on his face. "My existence wasn't an accident. You weren't forced. Why do you deny what is part of me?" He took a step forward, his hands clenching. "Are you ashamed of me, Mother? Do you regret me?"

Chusai's eyes widened as she finally saw the trap set for her. "No, no, Ogadai! You are my son and I love you…"

"What do I represent to you, Mother? A moment of weakness? Kinship you later decided to regret? Is that why you wouldn't tell Zelda why you were leaving?" His voice rose in anger. "You didn't want to admit to her that you formed a bond with her enemy?"

"I didn't have any real choice!" she shouted back. "It was that, or complete isolation!"

Ogadai's body shook. "Why did you lie to the other refugees about me? Were you afraid of what they would think, a bunch of half-starved villagers?"

She shook her head wildly. "No, Ogadai, I didn't want you to get hurt…"

"Hurt how?" His voice rang throughout the room now, drowning her out. "You were a warrior! What could anyone in that village do to either of us? Why did you hide your identity as well? Why wouldn't you teach me how to fight like you? He taught you a great deal of what you know. Do you deny it?"

Tears filled Chusai's eyes, and she lowered her head. "I…cannot…"

With a sweeping gesture he indicated everyone in the room, his voice slightly calmer. "Why do you deny your nieces? Every one of us here, we are all family. Why should I be forced to choose between my mother, and my father and sisters?"

Chusai noticed the flash of light on his hand as he spoke. Her ire returning, she said in a low voice, "Do you think your father truly loves you, Ogadai? Do you know that the keeper of the Triforce of Power is immortal?" She bared her teeth in an animal's snarl. "Tell me, is there any point to the heir of a king who never dies?"

Here Ganondorf spoke. "Actually, Chusai, I intend to create my own body…the Triforce will stay with Ogadai."

Startled, Chusai demanded, "What? How do you plan to do that? Only the Goddesses can create a human being from nothing."

"Exactly." Ogadai kneeled down and Ganondorf looked her in the eyes. "I have no desire to spend the rest of eternity inside my son's body. Among other things, it would probably give him an Oedipus complex." The women laughed, but Chusai said nothing. "Once I acquire the other two pieces of the Triforce, I can do so…among other things."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Easy." He didn't bat an eye. "You're going to get them for me. Or you'll never see your son again."

Her eyes widened, and she lunged forward. "No! Ogadai, why are you letting him do this?"

"You'll do it, won't you, Mother?" Ogadai asked brightly. "I know you don't want to trust him, but you can trust me, can't you? I was born to lead this country and unite the two peoples. It is my true purpose in life. Isn't that why you agreed to help break the Blood Curse?"

"He'll kill them!" She strained back and forth, pulling apart congealed blood on her wounds, causing them to bleed anew. "Are you out of your mind? Kill the Princess of Hyrule and her Hero?"

"Who is more important, your son or the Princess who betrayed you?" Ogadai snapped.

"She didn't…she didn't betray…"

"Then where is she now?" Ogadai's voice rose once more. "Where was she seventeen years ago? Where was she when you needed her?"

Her reply stuck in her throat in shock. She fell to her knees and lowered her head, a single tear splattering onto the floor.

Ogadai addressed his sisters. "Bring her to Zelda's Tower. Give her anything she needs, food or medicine, but don't let her leave the room."

Chusai's cries echoed throughout the hallways as the women pulled her away. "No! Ogadai! OGADAI!"

Ogadai addressed the voice inside his head. Do you think we were too hard on her?

"No. You know as well as I do how stubborn your mother can be. She'll come around in time."

I don't want to hurt her…but she made me so angry…

"Chusai was raised to believe her entire purpose in life was to fulfill others' wishes. She finds it hard to admit when she does something for herself."

How long will it take for her to change her mind?

"It may take a while…but I'm sure we can find a way to speed it along…"