The desert in the winter was no joke. They days were less fierce in their heat, the winds more intense, and the nights could freeze a man to death. Aria was no different, with her busted leg she made much less progress than she could if she were riding Titan. She left him back in the valley where she knew the gerudo would take good care of him.

She wasn't capable of riding him anyways, and there was no guarantee should could provide for both of them in her current state.

During the night, Aria tried to curl up near some cactus, finding shrubbery if she could. Anything to help keep her sorry ass from freezing to death in the middle of the night. Some nights a loud howl would echo on the wind. Those nights she hardly slept a wink. Food was harder to catch. She could get really young moldorms and some insects, but anything bigger and she was usually left hiding.

She somehow made her way across the desert to the Spirit Temple. Why she would return here, she… she knew. She didn't want to know, but she knew. She was still holding out for him.

There was no giant canine in the Temple, though the temple had obviously seen it's fair share of fights. Her stuff had been mostly left untouched, and she was thankful for it, grabbing what packs she could. Aria stayed there for the night, listening to the howls that echoed across the land and winds. By morning she had left the temple, traveling even deeper into the desert.

They found her by the time her leg had completely healed. She'd been unintentionally following the howls every night, changing direction when they seemed farther off. At some point the howling had stopped, but she had continued walking. No doubt the gerudo had been searching for her for a good while.

It wasn't the Gerudo who had found her.

"Hey boss, I've found someone!"

A tall man leered over, he was in a full set of heavy armor. He took off his helmet and glared over her.

"Who are you?"

"Aria. I-I'm from - I was the apprentice of N-Nicar."

"Nicar has been dead for some time. I don't recall hearing word of his apprentice surviving."

"I've been wandering the desert, surviving off of cacti juice and monster meat."

"You don't look starved or sunburnt."

"There's a cave, filled with monsters! It's not, not terribly far from here."

"No matter, we'll take her with us boys! Tie her up. I'll question her later."

"Yes sir!" Men grabbed her. Her wrists were tightly chained together, a collar attached to her neck so that she had very little moving room as far as her arms were concerned. She knew this type of collar, knew it very well. It was the sign of a slave. It wasn't the first time she'd been in it- though the last few times she'd been shortly saved from that life. This time wasn't likely to that well.

They strode through the desert with purpose and direction, heading back towards the main camp. Any time she stumbled through the desert a sharp tug on her 'leash' would pull her forward. Her leg was hurting again. It had healed for the most part, but she wasn't used to putting such prolonged pressure on it. They had made a small fortress in the desert, It was quite a bit out of the ways, but it was closer towards the Spirit Temple than Aria would have liked. The walls were tall pointed logs, surrounded by twisted metal wire. Aria was brought to what she could only consider as their equivalent of a dungeon. There were four gerudo in there, all beaten and in chains. They recognized her. One glared, but the other fthree looked relieved to see her, joyous almost- until they noticed the collar and chains around her neck.

They spoke when the guards left.

"I see they got you too, scum." It was the one who had glared at her. Aria recognized her vaguely from the healing ward. She looked hardly worse than the others.

"Why are you calling her scum? She's in the same position we are."

"She's their spy."

"Obviously, she's not, or else she wouldn't be chained like all of us."

"Maybe it's a rouse."

"Oh come off it. I've been here longer than you. I've seen their 'spies'. Aria isn't one. They don't even vaguely hide their spies from us. No one escapes their dungeon. They flaunt their power in front of us, like roosters around hens."

Aria looked at the ground but said nothing. Guards came and went, gruel was tossed at them, but she didn't eat. They were so far spaced apart they couldn't even lean into each other for heat as the sky got darker and the wind howled through the bars in the window. Their breath hung in the air. Aria blinked, switching over visions. There were many sparks in the compound. There was at least one other mage, but he was fast asleep. The guards that were supposed to be in front of their door had moved to warm themselves by the main fire.

A dark mass loomed in the far back of the camp. She knew that mass. She could barely make out the outlines of his body with his spark from inside the walls. He had been sleeping. Golden eyes opened, as if they knew he was being watched. His wet nose inhaled softly, golden eyes looking around before landing on the building she was in. He howled loudly, howled, whined, and jerked against his chains.

It woke everyone up in the compound. Quickly, Aria switched back to normal vision, settling herself back into her seat properly. Guards ran around the place, one slamming the door open in there before closing it and running back out.

"What was that?"

"King Ganondorf."

"Ganondorf is dead." The one gerudo snarled.

"What? He can't be."

"He isn't dead. He was changed by their magic. He's in a beast's form now. They have him chained up- like us."

"So that noise was him?"

"Yes."

"Why did it… Why did he… howl? He hasn't made noise since I've been here."

"He has since I've been here. He used to howl every night. I thought they were torturing some poor creature, they probably were. He stopped almost a week or two ago. Why is he howling now?"

"I… I woke him up on accident. I was looking around for the mages and to see how many there were- and I saw him. He sensed that I was looking at him, and he… well he recognized me."

"Recognized you?"

"What makes you so special?"

"I fed him, in the Spirit Temple. That's why I was gone for so long after returning. I was working on trying to figure out how to free him from the chains- get his mind and body right again. He's learned to recognize me, but I don't know if it's just the beast's mind as seeing me as someone who was good to him, or if it's actually him."

'Well, now he's awake and won't shut up."

Several guards stormed in and unchained Aria from the wall, pulling her along with them. She was forced to her knees in front of a man in robes. She knew instantly that this was the other magician.

"So I heard you were the apprentice to the Great Nicar. Aria was it? That homeless child he rescued. Said you had a "wild spark". I see your spark, I don't see your worth." He pressed a boot to her shoulder, kicking her backwards.

"In any case, let's see if you'll be of any use. Guards, take her to the creature. She'll shut him up, whether he eats her or she puts him to sleep. I don't enjoy having my sleep interrupted. My brother's dear pet should do the trick."

Aria looked up at him in shock, only to be smacked across the face.

"Don't you dare look at me, wench. You're hardly the scum beneath my feet." He shoo'ed the guards away before turning on his heel and storming back into his room. The guards lifted her to her feet and practically dragged her towards the cage they had him in. She didn't know how they got such a huge cage to go through the desert, but then they'd had a powerful mage, he could have just formed one with the minerals of the earth if he wanted to.

The beast began snarling and growling as the guards came closer. They tossed her inside, locking the door behind her. One of the guards had been kind enough to remove the binding on her wrists, but not the collar on her neck.

They didn't stay to see what happened to her.

Aria rolled on her back to come face to face with the slobbering, golden eyed beast. He snarled and made to bite her, only for her to roll over just out of the way- right into his large paw. He seemed to grin in that moment, taking his sweet time as his head bent closer and closer to her face. He paused right before her, heavy breath hot on her face. Her eyes closed.

A wet and warm thing slide over her torso.

Aria opened her eyes wide. He wasn't eating her. Oh thank the Sand Goddess. He whined down at her and she reached up her hands to stroke his nose and muzzle. His tail wagged, hitting against the bars of the cage.

"Oh Ganondorf.." She spoke softly, hugging his fur. Sobs escaped as she buried herself even closer to him. He whined softly at her as she clung to his fur, tears streaking her face as the past few months finally got to her. She babbled almost incoherently to him, telling him all of what had happened with the gerudos, their confliction, the mess at the Spirit Temple. It was some while before she calmed down. She passed out in his warm fur.

When morning came, she was awoken by his growling.

"So you're still alive. What an interesting predicament. I suppose though, if you can keep him quiet you have your uses. A pity he didn't eat you- else we wouldn't have needed to feed him. I like my beasts mostly starved before we set them loose." The magician sneered at her, turning away with his guards.

They were alone once more. It was made obvious that not many people came this way. She'd been given a piece of dried- probably slightly rotted meat and stale bread. She gave the meat to Ganondorf. It wasn't much, but he licked it up from her hand anyways.

That night, when the camp had finally gone quiet, she looked into him again. He shifted a little uncomfortable until she laid a hand against his large paw. The chains had grown weaker, dark energy having trouble leaching from him. There was one tether that seemed moments from snapping, and carefully- with a bit of light and kindness, she coaxed the dark cord took a good hour to do so, as her body was quick to tire and the cold was making the sweat on her body freeze. It withered away from his natural chain, lashing against her own energy as it did so. She fell backwards and passed out.

When she awoke, it was to a warm tongue lapping at her skin.

"Whu.. Ganon-?" She blearily looked up at the still furry beast. He ducked his head in close to her, tail wagging a mile a minute. He let out a soft garbled whine- looked vaguely annoyed, and tried again with the garbled whine. It was almost like..

"Graariea"

Aria stared at him in shock. "Do.. do you remember? Do you remember me, Ganondorf?" He snorted softly at her free-usage of his name without his title, but nodded his head.

"Do you remember the gerudo, your sisters, your family?" His dark furry head nodded, before he ducked in and licked her cheek once more.

"Oh thank goodness." She rushed forward and hugged him. He was still massive, but he was himself again. The moment was interrupted when Ganondorf started growling. He stood up and snarled as the magician neared the cage again.

"Ah.. so you do have some skills with magic. I see you've undone one of the old mage's chains. Hmph. It hardly matters at this point. In any case I come to you wish a proposal. You know where these savages live. I know you do. I know you know he used to be their king, and I can tell you two were quite close. Lovers even maybe? Hmm? In any case. I will allow you back into the Kingdom, no longer a slave, but with a small title and land for yourself if you just show us where these mongrels live."

"No."

"Excuse me? You hardly have a choice."

"I don't care. You could kill me for all I care. I'm not telling you where my people live."

"Your people? These are desert trash. They don't care for you. You'll never be one of them. You stupid girl."

"Go away!"

"Away she demands, how pretentious. Fine, little girl. I will go away. I'll return with their second in command's head on a platter. We will find this village. We will destroy these people, and when we do- we'll take over the entirety of this impoverished continent." He spun on his heel and left her in a huff.

"We need to get out of here." She spoke softly, leaning against Ganondorf's fur. He nodded, glaring out at the compound.

When he stopped glaring, the large canine-beast turned his head towards Aria and whined.

"What?" She turned to face him only to be attacked by his tongue, the wet muscle knocking her over. He whined, laying down in the cage. He put a heavy paw over her legs, holding her down as his tongue went full force on 'cleaning' or 'kissing' her toros. She lifted her arms up trying to fend herself, but that didn't matter to the happy Ganondorf. He just licked them to, whining the whole time, tail smacking against the bars.

"Okay, okay! I'm happy to see you too gosh." She groaned, trying to crawl out from beneath him. He whined, trying to bring her back to his paw.

"Stop." She put her hand up, stopping him in his tracks, his blue-ish tongue sticking out still. "We need to configure a plan to get out of this cage, rescue the gerudo in their prison, get out of here without being followed, and get help to defeat them."

Ganondorf growled at the last part.

"What? You're saying the gerudo don't have allies?"

He huffed, crossing his paws over on another, looking high and mighty.

"What about Hyrule?"

His teeth clacked loudly as he turned away from her ever so slightly.

"Don't be ridiculous. They can help. We need help."

He glared at her snapping his teeth right in front of her face. She stood her ground, hand on her hips.

"No, you can't handle it by yourself. What do you think you're going to, just magically take on every single person in the other kingdom? Dismantle them person by person? Don't be arrogant!" She lightly shoved his nose away from her face.

He growled and shoved her down on the ground. She glared right back at him.

He turned away from her, sitting in the corner. Aria huffed, sitting up and rubbing her shoulder. The ground wasn't exactly a soft pillow. That day the guards didn't come by with food. In fact they were mostly left alone, except for the magician coming by every once in awhile to try to 'convince' Aria to give up the gerudo. He threatened to take her out of the cage, to bring her to his personal quarters and- Ganondorf had leapt in front of her then, snarling and gnashing his teeth against the bars of the cage.

The magician had chuckled. Chuckled!

"Oh, so I see how it is. Big bad old wolf has a thing for little miss red riding hood. Cute. For all your size and powers, you're not much else. If I wanted a street rat such as her- I'd have her. There would be nothing you could do to protect her. Silly doggy" The magician flicked his air flippantly and strolled away, two guards tailing after him.

"You know.. I could have taken him up on his offer." Ganondorf stared at her, confounded. "I could have figured out, through him, how to return you to your true form, saved gerudos, given him the wrong information… If you hadn't had your tantrum I could have gotten the information we needed to get you out of here!"

He whined and then growled, lifting her up by her shirt.

"What do you think you are doing?!"

He curled up in a ball, placing her on one of his paws, before he put the other one over her. He snorted softly, growled for a second- as if she could entirely understand what he was even saying at this point, and held her down.

"You're so… soo.. Ugh! Really?!" She couldn't move, not really. He allowed her to shift and turn on her side, but as far as getting away from him, he onto her rather tightly.

"If you were in your other form.. I would… I would… don't look at me like that!" She frowned trying to scootch further away from him. His golden eyes leered down at her. His blue tongue darted out and licked part of her shoulder, neck and face in one good swipe.

"Stop… Stop looking at me like a cream pastry. You… You're not making any sense whatsoever." She curled on her side away from him, and he allowed it this time.

They slept for the rest of the day oddly enough. Perhaps it was the lack of food and water, or just that the past few days had been exceptionally stressful.

She woke up when the moon was high in the sky. Ganondorf was already awake, watching her as she slept. She should have been a little creeped out, especially after his earlier actions, but the didn't say anything.

"I can get us loose, but I don't know how to get you out of here without alerting a lot of guards. I also need to get the others out of the dungeons."

He huffed, sitting where he was. She crept towards the bars and began to work her magic on them. Metal was much harder to work than plain dirt, and by the time she'd made a sizeable hole in it, the guards had already changed mid-night shifts.

"Just.. stay, okay? I said that to you before, and I know you didn't listen last time, but I need you to stay here." He huffed once more, letting her go dart around the buildings. Aria picked up some sand and imbued it with sleep. It wasn't a simple trick, as sleep wasn't exactly one element, but it was possible. Any guard she almost came across had some of the sand blown in their face.

Half the camp was asleep by the time she reached the unguarded prisoner cells. There were six gerudo in there now.

"Pstt.. stay quiet, I'm going to get us out of here."

"Oh I think not, little lady." The sickly sweet voice of the magician came up from behind her. She froze.

"You see, this little friend of yours," He shook the arm of the gerudo he was holding- the same one who'd glared at her in the cell and claimed she was a spy, "told us exactly where your precious desert rats have been hiding. Of course, that means I have to give her your puppy, but it's a fair enough trade." He chuckled. Aria stared at the gerudo, questioningly. The woman refused to meet her eyes, which told her everything she needed to know.

"And before you can say i'You'll never get away with this!'/i I already have. The soldiers are already making their way towards the rat's nest. They'll be dead by dawn." The man smirked.

Aria lunged for the man, yelling. She almost punched him, but he caught her fist and shoved her to the side laughing.

"Is that all you've got? If so, my brother was a fool! Feel real power!" He tossed the gerudo woman to the side and Aria had moments before a spike made of dark energy came out of the ground trying to stab her. She rolled to her feet, blinked, and focused in on the mage before her.

He was powerful, but she'd dealt with one who was nearly twice as powerful before. She didn't just spend the good part of almost a year training with the gerudo, fighting to get back home to a place that hardly wanted her anymore, and dealing with the Cave of Ordeals on her own, to get killed by some thinks-he-knows-it-all-mage who threatened all that she had held dear. His chains were made up of darkness, fire, and ice. All too familiar as far as Aria was concerned. He yelled, charging up a blast of pure dark energy that she deftly evaded. She could see his moves coming a mile away for once. The mage hadn't been trained in physical combat as far as she could tell. He backed up when she picked up a spear.

"Oh, so you've found a stick. And what is the pretty little princess going to do with her sticky-poo? Poke me with it?" He laughed.

She leapt for him, swinging the spear. He ducked beneath her, but she curved her arm backwards, smacking him from behind.

"That was my favorite robe!" He cursed, spinning towards her and sending a volley of fireballs at her. She met his with a thin shield of water.

"Maybe my brother did teach you something after all. You'll still die just like him!" He yelled and slammed his palm into the ground. Electricity burst from the sand and she yelped as it almost stunned,her when she tried to jump out of the way.

"Kekeke, I could have taught you, little one. I could have taught you how to hide your aura, how to become great. It's too late for that now." He tried to punch her, and she swung the staff to block it- a bad decision as he set the staff aflame.

Aria didn't let go, icing her hands quickly to avoid any serious burns. She swung the flaming staff at him, the fire lapping at his coat. He rolled out of the way, electricity arcing around his hands. Aria glanced at the ground. She focused a bit of energy there while she had his attention elsewhere.

"You just don't give up, do you, litm*se he rolled right into her sinkhole. It was a whole lot better than him catching the staff and them both ending up in the sinkhole as she had intended. He yelled as water and sand went up to his shoulders.

"What is this? You can't!" She focused on it solidifying around him, changing the very essence of the material from sand to a very sturdy stone that engulfed him entirely. He screamed as he was encased in stone.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" the gerudo yelled at her.

"I don't have time to deal with you. I assure you, that you will be dealt with." Aria snarled at the woman, turning her attention to the prison door. She blasted it open, uncaring of the amount of flame she put into it.

"You're still alive!"

"I am, but we have important things to do now. Run as fast as you can to home. Ignore the guards. Just run." the women nodded their heads as she set them free from the bar holding their hands. They could deal with the neck chains later.

Aria waited for the gerudo to make it out safely before she began to set fire to the place. What few guards that were there were running around trying to escape the rising flames. Fire had been one of the easiest elements for Aria. Something about her 'wild' spark probably. She was content to watch each building go up in flames, until something picked her up by her shirt.

"Hey! I'm not finished here!"

Ganondorf grunted, racing away from the fort that was quickly being consumed by the flames of wrath. She glared at his furry face. She had wanted to make sure nothing of the kingdom would remain, that the desert wind would sweep away every bit of ash left over.

They met the other gerudo almost a mile away from the burning fort. They let out a few shouts upon seeing Ganondorf, readying themselves for a fight. That fight didn't come for him. He slowed to a stop and dropped Aria on the ground.

"Are you okay?!"

"That was… amazing! The way you took down the mage and the fort! They'll regret messing with the gerudo."

"..." The one woman was silent, crossed arms. She didn't look Aria in the eye.

Aria stared her down. "They'll realize their fort is gone, but that's not going to stop them from reaching the Gerudo Fortress."

"They don't even know where it is."

"Don't you have something to tell your sisters." Aria glared at the silent gerudo. Ganondorf tilted his head, staring down at the small group of warriors.

"I… I was coerced into telling them the location. They said they would give Ganondorf back! I could've gotten him in time to save the others and-"

"You did what?!"

"How could you?"

Ganondorf snarled above them. He reached down, teeth bared, but Aria interceded. "We can deal with this later. Now, we need to go save everyone else." The gerudo nodded, turning to head back home.

Aria shook her head, looking up at Ganondorf.

"I know you're going to hate this, but we won't get there fast enough with all of us running. But you…" Ganondorf tilted his furry head for a moment, before his eyes narrowed on Aria. He growled softly.

"Don't be like that. Just let them ride you until we get close. We can all hop off in the middle and take them down."

He snorted in disdain. Aria put her hands on her hips glaring up at him. "Don't be this way. It's for your people." Ganondorf leered down at her for a while longer before reluctantly sitting down.

"Are you sure, my king?" The gerudo asked, nervous.

"Just hop on while he's still willing." Aria snapped, arms crossed. The women did as she asked. They thankfully could almost everyone on his back. Aria ended up begin the odd one out. Ganondorf ducked his head, picking her up by her shirt.

"You know, if you keep doing this, my shirt is going to rip." Ganondorf snorted softly, before he picked up speed. They raced towards home as quickly as possibly- the giant canine making leaps and bounds over entire sand dunes. Aria reached up and grasped his long tusk-like lower fang, trying to prevent any shirt rippage. She didn't want to be left behind or force them to make a quick stop because she fell to the ground. Ganondorf didn't seem to mind the increased pressure on his mouth- and if he did, he didn't give any sign of discomfort.

The first sign of light was slowly beginning to creep from the desert's eastern horizon.

"Make haste!" Aria shouted. Ganondorf grunted softly. The desert flew beneath them. Ahead they could see a large mass of people, not much further the gerudo fortress. They couldn't be too late. They had to.. Ganondorf snarled, mouth opening as he ran and Aria dropped to the ground. The gerudos didn't stop, didn't slow as Ganondorf barrelled into the small army. The girls flew from his back, landing in the center of the chaos, weapons they'd stolen from the burnt encampment spinning. Their strikes were just quick flurries from the distance. Aria cursed her luck and came running from where she'd been dropped. Her leg ached, but she needed to do this.

Gerudo from the Fortress had seen the beast of Ganondorf come barreling towards their city and had rushed out, weapons drawn, to meet him. They joined the fray against the small army. Ganondorf pounced on soldiers, flung his head back - tossing several men high into the air.

Aria's world was drawn into chaos.

For a moment all she could see was the fire, the dead body of Bjorn lying over her- protecting her. The screams of men being slaughtered was a haunting echo in her head, and even as Aria stumbled across the sands towards the crowd, her mind told her otherwise. In her mind she was walking through the rubbles, the dead bodies in the blood-stained desert. Aria walked through the fighting warriors, her mind lost in a whole other world, it only came to when she came face to face with Ganondorf. Her eyes wide and lost. For mere moments in time they stared at each other ignoring the battle around them, before a spear thrown at his side pulled him away. It seemed to jerk her out of her reverie. A soldier fell next to her, and Aria came face to face with Aveil.

"We need to talk. Later." Aveil ordered.

Aria nodded, before turning to dodge an attack that came in. She didn't have her staff, didn't have any weapons- except herself. The next person that attacked her got a flaming fist to the face. They screamed in pain and she wrenched the heavy sword from their hands. She needed something lighter, the sword was extremely unbalanced and made her normally rather fluid movements, clunky. Aria ducked beneath a blow that would have severed her head from her shoulders. She turned, stabbed the man in the gut, and twisted the sword as she jerked it out.

They were extremely outnumbered, but if there was anything the gerudo were used to- it was taking down foes mightier than them. The women were skilled and fierce in battle. Aria had always admired the way they took on the world, and fighting an actual foe was no different. Ganondorf seemed to be making a huge impact- the sight of him fighting the battle with them, even in this canine form, seemed to raise the women's morale.

Aria had so much she wanted to say to him, but it wasn't the right time, it wasn't the right form. There was a war to be had- this was just going to be one battle of possibly many. By the time the sun was high in the sky, the last warrior had fallen and gerudo were victorious. It wasn't an easy or good win by far. Warriors had been slain, and they'd have to burn their bodies. Ganondorf was panting slightly, spears embedded in his coat and parts of his body. His snout was covered in blood, most of it wasn't his. The clean up started immediately. They didn't want to attract any monsters or beasts towards their fortress. Aria joined in the cleanup, too magically drained to do much more than drag bodies to a pile.

By the time she was done doing her part, she noticed a good majority of the gerudo had swarmed over to Ganondorf. He was laying in the sun, allowing them to pull out the spears and tend to his wounds, never snarling, hardly wincing. Aria wanted to join them, to run over and run her hands through coat, to clean the bloody clots and knots in his mane- but he was already well attended, and her being there would just cause issues. Her skin crawled with the reminder that she wasn't welcomed here anymore.

"You always bring the bad with you, don't you?" Tali's voice echoed through the relatively silent air. "I don't care what they say, you're not welcome here. You've done nothing but bring an army to our front gates." Aria slowly turned to face Tali. She was exhausted, drained of magic, emotionally fatigued.

"It was one of your own that sold you out. I brought back your king."

"You didn't bring him back! You weren't there for most of the fight! I saw you climbing over that dune. You let the others go ahead of you, let them die before yourself. Good women died today and you being here sullies their sacrifice!"

From the corner of her eye, Aria could see Nabooru and Aveil jogging, trying to get through the crowd that had formed.

"Tali! Enough! You've done enough damage!"

"Shut up! I'm going to end this problem of ours, once and for all!" A flash of silver was all Aria saw before she was knocked away. The dagger was embedded in the leg of Ganondorf. When he had stood up, she had no idea.

"So you have a beast save you. You're pathetic."

"That beast if our king!" Nabooru had finally broken through the crowd.

"What? Our king is dead!" Ganondorf growled.

"He lives, and stands before your very eyes. You are a fool to see otherwise." Nabooru advanced on the woman. Aria shakily got to her feet, ignoring Tali and Nabooru's argument while she checked on the dagger that had been stabbed into Ganondorf's leg. Gently, she pulled it from it him. It was more like a paper-cut to the giant canine, but he winced all the same. Ganondorf bent his head down, whining softly. His nose pressed into her side and Aria hugged it, kissing the top. She mouthed 'thank you' to him. An unrecognizable emotion flashed through his eyes, before he turned his attention to the two women who were moments from taking each other to the ring again. He barked, his voice echoing through the entire fortress.

The women went silent, Nabooru stepping back from Tali. Ganondorf turned on Tali, walking ever so slowly towards her. His growl could probably be heard for miles. That was when Koume and Kotake came rushing from somewhere in the fortress.

"Son!"

He seemed to swallow his growling as his two mothers flew around his head. They chatted away- too high up, too quickly, for Aria to understand though she did catch words about bonds, chains, magic, and ceremony. It reminded her of the collar still chained to her neck. The other gerudo that had been imprisoned with her, even the one that had betrayed their location, had already had their collars removed.

"We will deal with the Tali and Aria matter tomorrow at noon." Koume called out.

"For now, everyone mourn their sisters."

"We will hold a feast tonight in their honor."

"Tend to the injured, and rest."

The crowd began dispersing. Ganondorf followed his mothers away, towards one of the large buildings. Aria took a step in their direction, only for a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"We need to talk.