Interlude

Several days prior, Nabooru reclined on one of Cuccos and Coffee's leather sofas. Her drink was black. Strong. She relished the bitterness as she relished the scalding desert that was her home, and the tough love of the true Gerudo.

Straight black coffee—particularly Hylian coffee—hardly compared at all, but it was the closest she ever got to her… preferred environment.

Across from her sat Aveil, bolt-upright, every muscle knotted, tensed. Nabooru could see her struggle not to fidget under the oppressive Hylian clothing: a T-shirt displaying a blue flower, and tight jeans belted at her waist. Nabooru reflected that it looked rather cute on her. Perhaps she had been living among the Hylians for too long.

"They say you have… doubts," Nabooru prompted.

The girl's eyes bulged. She sucked in her lips, wetting them. Aveil may have been a proud Captain of the Gerudo back home, but was clearly over her head in this environment. Nabooru could understand. But now was not the time for excessive pity.

"Aveil, I am not unreasonable. Your king is not unreasonable. It is good you chose to voice your concerns, rather than doing something foolish about it. But if you don't tell me why, I can't help you."

The silence continued. As she waited for Aveil's response, the store's resident cat sprang onto the sofa and sprawled out on Nabooru's lap. An orange and white tabby, Tic Tac looked as though she had lived perhaps one summer too many, but nevertheless purred contentedly as she shared Nabooru's warmth.

Nabooru could palpably feel Aveil's discomfort rise at the action. Good. She pretended not to notice this, and stroked the side of the cat's face as she waited.

"I do not believe this course of action is right," Aveil said, at last. Her words came slowly, stilted. As they should. Such an utterance could be considered treason. Had the girl not had her excellent record and high position, it likely would have been.

"We are in Hyrule; you will speak Hylian."

Aveil repeated herself. Her accent was heavy, her cadence slow, but she spoke well enough to be understood, at least.

"Yes, I gathered that much," Nabooru said, once Aveil finished talking. She stroked the cat, and waited.

Their tense silence was interrupted by a waiter, wearing a green apron and a stupid smile.

"Good day, ladies. Can I get you anything to eat?"

Nabooru looked at him, then took a slow sip of her coffee.

"I will have the Cucco a la King and a chef salad. Aveil will take a dry tuna sandwich, and a glass of tea. Earl grey, hot."

The waiter scribbled something and scampered away. Nabooru returned her attention to the captain.

"You were saying?"

Aveil sighed. "Disturbing these people… rash," she said. "They allow more of us to… to travel here each cycle. And here, we live great. On top. Soon all Gerudo live here, desert empty. Why change this?"

"A reasonable qualm," Nabooru said, nodding. "One might even say noble."

"These Hylians are foolish, yes," Aveil continued. Now that she had started talking, the words flowed more smoothly. "But foolishness not evilness. Would you beat a child, it didn't know to-" she made a searching motion with her hands. "-to sacred the Temple?"

"The mother, perhaps," Nabooru said with a humorless grin.

"But Hylians try. They try helping us."

They fell silent again as the waiter emerged with their food. They stared at him as he set the plates and cup on the table, and retreated. To his credit, he only squirmed a little bit, at the very start.

Nabooru picked up her fork and handed it to Aveil. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

Aveil turned it in her hands, pondering. "Food-tool," she declared.

"This is called a fork," Nabooru said, taking it back. "How do you suppose it is made?"

Aveil shrugged. "Like weapons. By hammer-woman."

Nabooru deftly twirled the utensil in her fingers, and stabbed it into her meal. At the sound the cat raised her head and began to sit up. Nabooru eased her back down with a firm hand on her neck.

"What if I told you that a crew of five Hylians makes thousands of these each day?"

"Not possible." Aveil shook her head.

"Hardly. The Hylians have constructed machines just for this. Giant machines, larger than this building. The Hylians feed the machines metal, and they pound it and cut it and shape it, and spit out these forks, all in a matter of minutes. Just so they can eat without dirtying themselves. Ridiculous, no?"

So saying, she took a bite and savored the rich flavor. Aveil grabbed her sandwich and raised it hesitantly to her mouth. For a time, the only sound was the muted chatter around them.

"Tic Tac makes you uncomfortable, doesn't she?" Nabooru said. The cat had sat up again, her tail twitching back and forth.

Aveil set her sandwich carefully back on her plate. "Animal has name?" She almost hissed it.

Nabooru grinned and passed her over the table to Aveil. Her arms reached to accept the cat automatically, though she did not know what to do afterwards. She held her at a distance, and Tic Tac squirmed in her grip.

"Let her enjoy your lap," Nabooru commanded.

Aveil obeyed.

"She likes to be stroked on the side of her face, where her mouth comes together." But the cat was already nuzzling her face hard against Aveil's hand. She only had to oblige. She did so, with an unsteady hand and choppy motions.

"She'll like you better if you're willing to share," Nabooru said.

Aveil's head shot up, and she glared across the table at Nabooru.

"Do not mock me!" she spat in Gerudo. "You are high our king's counsel, but I am still a captain of our tribe, and I am due that respect. Do not mock me."

Nabooru crossed her arms and regarded Aveil coolly. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that barbarian language," she said.

Aveil growled low in her throat.

"I did not bring you all this way to toy with you, Aveil. There is an important lesson for you to learn. Feed the cat."

"Absurd."

Nabooru nodded. "Even so, feed it. Feed her."

Aveil glanced around at the full diner. "The Hylians-"

"-will find it cute. Feed her."

A trembling hand plucked a chunk of tuna from the sandwich. Tic Tac sat up. Aveil hesitated.

"Do you know what will happen to the food you don't eat here, Aveil? The Hylians will dump it in a small box. Then they will take the small box and dump it in a larger box. Then they'll take the larger box, and dump everything in a compound in the middle of nowhere, and there it will decay, and the flies will feast."

Aveil's trembling increased. A tear escaped her eye.

"Feed her, Aveil."

She lowered the tuna, and Tic Tac nibbled it out of her fingers. If the Hylians saw, they did not react. No one came to chastise her for the waste. No one came to turn her food to more useful ends.

"This is how they treat their animals, Aveil. How do they treat you?"

She dropped thirty rupees on the table and strode out.