Aria was rushed to the baths by Aveil after being caught practicing the scimitar with Nabooru for too long. Aveil helped her into her clothes, forced her to sit long enough for some odd makeup to be put on her face, and combed out her hair before they half-jogged to the 'throne' room. The gerudo warrior insisted on Aria wearing jeweled upper arm cuffs and a few bracelets that glittered in the light.
"This is ridiculous, it's way too flashy for a trial."
"You should want to look your best for this."
"It's a trial. I could potentially die."
"Or you could be re-introduced as an official member of the family. In which case, you should look absolutely stunning."
"Stunning for my death."
"Fine, yes, stunning for you death. Hmm, do you think you could summon some flowers to put in your hair, perhaps a red mariposa to bring out the gold-"
"I can't magically summon flowers Aveil, I need the seeds and soil to encourage growth. Magic isn't just.." Aria sighed, going to rub her forehead only to have Aveil grab her hands.
"Don't you dare mess up that makeup. Alright, now remember, when you walk in, you walk up to three feet before the throne, then get on your knee. Just one knee- not both. You are a warrior, not a prisoner." Aveil grabbed Aria's hand, kissing the fingers clasped in her own. "You've got this."
The double doors before them opened wide. The gerudo were all seated on cushions in rows, probably almost as well organized as their armory, which was shocking in itself. Koume and Kotake were on one side of Ganondorf, Nabooru stood on the other. Aveil gave her a little nudge, and Aria walked forward, leaving her behind by the door. It apparently didn't look well for her to have a 'guard' walking next to her.
Aveil waked a few feet behind her, the older woman's presence not comforting her nerves as all the golden eyes glared down upon her. Aria kept her eyes straight as best she could, seeing Tali and Mirah on her left side near the front of the court- obviously there to plead their case and argue for her conviction. Ganondorf, himself, watched her closely as she strode forward. His regalia had little armor except on his shoulders, his robes dark with red and orange writing on them. They were left slightly open giving a gracious view of his chest. Aria could only assume it was supposed to symbolize how strong their king was- with little need for armor as his body was a weapon in itself. As she arrived to the front of the room, she knelt before him, bowing her head and getting on one knee just as Aveil had recommended. She closed her eyes not daring to look at him.
The room was filled with murmurs. Aria tried to tune them out, scrunching her eyes. A sound of rustling clothes and the room went suddenly silent. She dare not look. Footsteps echoed off the tiled ground. A hand brushed across her cheek gently before grasping her chin, forcing her eyes open.
"Why do you kneel before me, Aria, Flower of my Deserts?"
"Am I not here for a trial, My king, for the crimes I have committed?"
"What crimes do you presume to have commit?"
"Desertion, for running away in a time of war."
"Betrayal! Traitor! She's not one of us! She openly admits to leaving rank at our time of need!" Tali shouted from her area up front, a few shouts from the seats echoed in the court. Aria watched the corner of Ganondorf's lips turn down and his nose scrunch in annoyance.
"Silence. I will not have you causing havoc in my court." He growled, not bothering to grace Tali with a glance in her direction.
"I do not see where you have deserted the gerudo people. Please clarify." He backed up a step, one hand on his hip as he gazed down at her, his mouth a hard line.
"When i left you at the temple, I returned here with a broken leg."
"I vaguely recall that, you refused to let me follow you home that time."
"I didn't realize you were sound of mind then."
"I wasn't, not entirely. Go on."
"W-well I returned here and healed up. This was when I met Tali in the healer's tent, but there was to be a meeting to discuss the matters of me staying or not. I overhear Tali's objection and many other's agreement with her-"
"You eavesdropped?"
Aria winced, nodding. "I did."
"A small crime, not unforgivable, continue."
"I left that night, before the meeting ended, when no one could stop me."
"Without your steed."
"Without Titan, yes."
"What in Goddess's name made you think that you could survive the desert's harsh winter on your own, no steed, no food, no shelter?" He rubbed his temples, glaring down at her.
"I.. I didn't want to be a burden on-"
"You are not a burden to the Gerudo. The wounded, physically and mentally, are never a burden. You were both, and you ran from home-"
"A place I was not wanted."
Aria dared a glimpse around the room. She could see Nabooru's concerned face, Faruin's upset one. The guilt swelled in her chest. There were people here who she had left behind, deserting them in her own sorrow.
"Look at me now." When Aria's head turned back to Ganondorf, he was kneeling beside her on the ground, still somehow towering over her. She could see a glimmer of moisture in his bright eyes. "You are not unwanted. I…" He swallowed hard as if the words were hard to come by. "When you… when we… When I heard the news of your passing…" He shuddered, his breath hitching. "I did not take it well. My sorrow led me to lead a large battalion of warriors to their doom at the hands of the other kingdom. It was my fault so many died, so many were wounded when you had warned me before. I was lost without you." He leaned forward, a hand cupping her cheek as he pulled her into a gentle kiss. She could taste the bittersweet sorrow on his lips.
"BEWITCHER!" Mirah and Tali yelled. Mirah in particular grabbed the dagger from the guard's belt and lunged towards the pair. She didn't get very far as Nabooru had seen it coming and knocked the dagger from the other woman's hand, restraining her.
"I expected this from Tali, not you Mirah."
"He was supposed to be mine! Mine alone!"
Ganondorf's head jerked back. "Enough!" He stood up abruptly, pulling Aria to her feet. "We will discuss Aria's crimes and punishments later, since you two are so eager to be dealt with." He strode to his throne, Aria's hand in his own. Aveil brought a cushion over and he had it set next to his left, making sure Aria was comfortable before he had Tali and Mirah brought forward. Nabooru passed Mirah off to another gerudo so she could return to her position, though she stood behind Aria's seat this time.
"I am guilty of nothing! We have done nothing to harm the gerudo."
"Silence. If I recall correctly, you, Tali, were the one who stabbed my arm with a dagger in your attempt on Aria's life."
"It wasn't meant for you."
"It's intentions were to kill. An attempt on one of our own in dishonourable ways is a serious crime."
"She is not one of our own. It was never decided upon!"
"R-r-right! She tried to betray us to that magic-wielder from the other kingdom. I was there!"
"Liar!" A small group of gerudo stood up from the crowd. Ganondorf clenched his fist at this interruption, glancing down at Aria when she laid a hand on his leg, shaking her head. Slowly he unclenched his fist and placed his hand on hers.
"We were there. You, Mirah, betrayed the gerudo. You gave the fortress's location to the wizard and his troops in return for King Ganondorf."
"I-I-i.."
"That doesn't mean I'm to blame for anything!" Tali yelled. "She may have betrayed the gerudo, but I did no such thing! I was trying to save our King and our people!"
"Talk about throwing someone under the molgera." Nabooru muttered softly.
"L-l-look at the collar she still wears! A symbol of her loyalty to the people who imprisoned us!"
"She was imprisoned like the rest of us. We all still bear these collars. We can't figure out how to remove them without removing our own heads."
"Mirah is the only one with the collar removed, due to her betrayal."
"I think I've heard enough." Ganondorf sighed, pressing his palms together. "Ladies you may return to your seats, and afterwards consult my mothers to see if they can't remove that nuisance around your necks."
"I see that no matter what I do, Tali and Micah, you both refuse to listen to a cease and desist order-"
"My king please-"
"I AM SPEAKING." He stood up, stalking towards the woman. "Have you lost all sense? " he turned towards the audience in the room. "If I release you two to the desert, which would be a suitable punishment, you may betray us further and bring our enemies back here. I could have you killed. You have betrayed our location, tried to harm one of our own, among other deeds that I have heard of- including your mutiny at the meeting." He shook his head.
"Sadly, I cannot see it in my to have you killed without a fighting chance as a warrior should go. For now, you will be sentenced to the dungeon. Two meals a day, under guard." He waved his hand and a group of four women took Tali and Mirah away. Mirah was crying that she was innocent. Tali refused to take her glaring eyes off of Aria.
"Aria, stand please." Aria practically jumped off of the cushion. She stood up straight and as tall as she could surrounded by much taller people. Everyone else in the room rose as well, though they weren't commanded to. Ganondorf strode over to her, his fingers skimming over her waist before he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"From this day forward, Aria, you are an official Gerudo. Let no one question that you are one of our own." The room behind them cheered, but all she could truly focus on was the warm hand on her shoulder, the large body pressed into her side inconspicuously.
"We shall hold a feast in your honor tonight. You shall be my honored guest. Court has been dismissed." Still he kept his hand on her shoulder until everyone except his mothers and Nabooru had left. He seemed to pay them no mind as he turned to Aria.
"I know you wanted slow." He knelt before her, brushing the side of her cheeks somehow not messing up Aviel's hard work. "I promise I will give you slow, but I just.. When I heard news of your death. I.." Aria silenced him, her mouth covering his own. A surprised moan escaped his mouth before he pulled her into him. Her hands darted up to his face, sliding through the red of his beard, brushing the bottom of his ears. Ganondorf's hands fell to her waist, encouraging her gyrating hips.
"Ahem."
He kissed her roughly, growling out Aria's name. One of her hands slid down his open shirt, gripping the dark material.
"AHEM."
"What!?" Ganondorf glared at Nabooru, tightly holding Aria against him.
"Whoa, um.."
"Now now son, you need to calm down dearie. It hasn't been long enough and I'm sure you wouldn't want to turn back."
"Your anger is getting the better of you. There will be plenty of time for baby-making later." Koume chimed in.
"Baby- we're, I'm not quite sure I'm ready for th-"
"Don't mind them. I promised we'll take things slow, and we will." Ganondorf nuzzled against her neck, red beard slightly scratching the sensitive skin.
"Anyways, we have a feast to get everyone ready for. That means Aria needs to change, as do you."
"What I'm wearing isn't okay?"
"Nope. We also need to get that collar off your neck, it's probably rubbed your skin raw."
"I can do it." Koume offered, flying over and gently lifted Aria's head. "This will take a bit, tell me if I accidentally burn you." Carefully the elderly woman magicked a fine laser of fire starting at the top of the collar, and slowly brought the line downward, melting the collar, weakening the magic that had held it together. The moment the fire touched the bottom of the collar, it disintegrated before their eyes.
"Much better, thank you." Aria rubbed her throat. It had certainly bruised quite a bit.
"Well, I suppose that's it. I will go help the others out of their collar situations. " Koume and Kotake flew off.
"Alright love birds, let's go hit the baths."
"But I just ha-"
"No buts, let's go." Nabooru scolded her, tweaking Aria's sensitive ear. She yelped, before quickly punching the older woman in the arm.
"There are things I must attend to first. I will see you both at dinner." Ganondorf swept out of the room without a glance back.
Aria let out a soft sight. "Damn."
"Damn? Damn what? You did fine."
Aria's face reddened. "No, I was.. I was just."
"You were gazing at his backside, weren't you?"
"...Maybe."
"Come on you scoundrel, let's get you dressed for dinner."
"It's not really going to take hours to get me dressed for this, is it?"
Nabooru's glance said otherwise.
Aria cursed her luck. She really did. Nabooru was excessively persistent when it came to getting cleaned up. The makeup she had been wearing was removed very gently, which took much too long in Aria's opinion. Nabooru and Aveil had tried to explain that if they just stripped it off her face they would remove all the good oils and it would be hours before they could re-apply makeup without it messing up horrendously. She didn't see the point, but she wasn't going to refuse the effort they wanted to spend on her.
It was rather nice to be pampered. Faruin had come to help, though she couldn't do much in the way of working on her appearance, Faruin sat her down and they talked at length about everything that had come to pass, starting from where she had left off back in the healer's tent. Aveil put her hair half up, the top part twisting in braid hat had several red flowers interwoven in them, leading down to the flowing hair on her back, that she had somehow convinced to curl.
"Normally this dress is reserved for weddings-"
"No, no. Can we not? I don't want everyone assuming Ganondorf and I are magically in some special relationship and we're going to get married in a week."
"I was going to say it's meant for guests of importance, frequently seen at weddings- not the bride" Nabooru put her hands on her hips.
"Is there something on your mind Aria?" Aveil asked, lightly touching her shoulders.
"No, I just.. Isn't this a bit much? Everything is going by so quickly, and I… it's not that I don't really know him, but I just feel like I don't know enough about him. There's so much I don't know, that everyone else does and… and.."
"It's overwhelming." Nabooru knelt down before her. "I understand. We all want to see him happy, and he hasn't been this type of happy in a long time. I, personally, want to see him happy with you. We're pushing because we care.
"Aria, we care about both of you. I know it seems like a lot, but please, just trust us for tonight. You can go back to wearing nothing but training clothes- " "Or no clothes at all" "- or whatever clothes you like, but tonight is special and we want to make it as such for both of you."
"It's just dinner. I'll be seated with the rest of you, and it will be just as how it was before I fell into the river."
"Sort of."
"No, not quite like that."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you'll be seated at his table."
"In front of everyone."
"Will you two at least be sitting with us?"
"I'm afraid not."
"You're the guest of honor. We will be sitting with everyone else, you and King Ganondorf will for the most part be eating at the head table by yourselves."
"You've done it before, so there's no reason to be nervous"
"And yet, I am." Aria crossed her arms.
"Just think of it as your initiation as a warrior. "
"There's an actual initiation for that?"
Aveil and Nabooru stared between each other before looking at the floor.
"Yes, yes there is. You're almost ready for it as well."
"What does that entail, exactly?"
"A one on one spar with King Ganondorf. Nothing too difficult. You just need to either draw blood, or grab the bells that he has in his hand. Everyone does it."
"Well, everyone tries it. Not all can do either, but he usually goes in blindfolded or with his hands tied behind his back."
"Wonderful." Aria pouted.
"Oh don't worry, you'll do fine. Anyways, tonight is a night to feast and enjoy good company. So let's get you in this dress."
Aria sighed before allowing Nabooru to help her into the dark dress with golden accents.
"How long have you had this thing?"
"Not too long."
"... you didn't have this custom made, did you?"
"Sort of. It had to be tailored to your size, but we've had the fabric and the design for a while now. "
"Which you just have lying around."
"Hush, and just appreciate the beauty of the outfit."
"You spoil me."
"Too true, but that's just the way of things." Aveil patted her on the shoulder, putting away her kit and stood back to admire the work she did on Aria's face.
"Mmmm, good job on the color scheme."
"I know, it really brings out her , time for food. A pity we couldn't get a sparring session in between this and the meeting. I could've used a little release from all the stress."
"Oh dear, don't worry there will be plenty of release and relaxation later." Nabooru winked, before they led Aria to the dining hall. They were joined in the hallways by several clusters of ladies. Faruin nudged her as they got close.
"So, how's it feel to be an official gerudo, now?"
"Very.. dressy."
Faruin chuckled, patting her on the back.
"Hey, you better not mess up her make up!"
"Oh hush. It's not like I'm taking her to bed in front of everyone. Her makeup is fine, Aveil, stop nitpicking."
"I'll nitpick you!"
"Later, I promise a very thorough sparring session."
"Promises, promises."
"I always keep my word." Faruin stuck her tongue out at the older gerudo, before they lead Aria to the front of the dining hall. Ganondorf was nowhere in sight. People were already sitting down and picking at the fruit on the tables. Aria stood by quietly for a while, just listening to the conversations going on around her. It seemed like everyone had already moved on from the trial and were just going about their daily lives once more.
Nabooru escorted Aria to the head table, leaning against the wall as they went over ideas for training. Aria wasn't sure the normal way Nabooru worked with the warriors would be something she excelled at, but Nabooru disagreed.
"Every person is an individual, so I'm not training you exactly as I would someone who's been here all their life, but I am making it so you are familiar with the methods. It will build an understanding of how everyone else was trained, you've already experienced the individual styles of many others- I'm sure you've seen a connection between the fighting styles."
"I have. I'm sure you remember I did win the competition."
"Sort of."
"What do you mean 'sort of'?" Aria crossed her arms, glaring up at the taller woman.
"Has anyone ever told you that you looks extremely attractive when you're anger."
"Don't change the subject." Aria scowled, ignoring the flush of heat radiating from her cheeks.
"Ah well, you see I wasn't the final battle. Ganondorf is supposed to be."
"He was gone."
"Correct, however he has returned, so the ending of the competition is still open."
"You mean…"
"You have to face Ganondorf in one on one combat. Don't worry, maybe we can combine it with your warrior initiation and make it just a courtesy."
"Warrior initiation? What warrior initiation?"
"Nabooru. That will be all." Ganondorf's voice echoed in the hallway. Aria jolted, spinning around to come see the stern face of Ganondorf. How had he gotten behind her so quietly? The rest of the hall went silent, and those that were already seated, stood.
"Of course, my king." Nabooru bowed, before striding to her seat, down with Faruin and Aveil.
Ganondorf bowed before her, offering his hand. Hesitantly, Aria took it, warm hand engulfing her own. He pressed a light kiss the back of her hand before turning towards the gerudo.
"Feast, be merry! May the winds be soft and the moon bright tonight, for those of our own have returned, bringing new members into our midsts." A cheer rose from the tables, before Ganondorf sat down on the large cushion that was his seat. Everyone else followed suit, Aria lowering herself onto her smaller cushion. Moments later she was almost falling off of it as a large hand tugged her cushion closer to his.
"Nabooru wasn't supposed to tell you about the warrior initiation. I understand you are a warrior in your own right, though I haven't been given all the details, however the initiation is a tradition that every gerudo has gone through and the Sand Goddess would not look kindly upon us ignoring such a tradition."
"I understand, I'm just rather glad I found out about it before the actual initiation."
"Mmm.. I was also informed you were the leader in the competition."
"I.. believed I was the winner."
"Not until you defeat me. However, that cannot be combined with your initiation as they are two very different events."
"Oh." Aria looked down at the food, picking lightly at the fruit. Her stomach fluttered about and blood raced as she tried to not think about it too much. She didn't really want to fight him again, knowing she had little chance against the beast of a man.
"You've hardly eaten." Ganondorf spoke after a while, having already refilled his plate for a second portion.
"Oh, I'm just… thinking."
"You are worrying, here." A large goblet of oddly blue liquid was passed to her. "Drink it, it will calm your nerves."
"Only calm my nerves?" Aria's eyebrow rose in disbelief."
"It will calm your nerves. If you are worried, I won't let you make a fool of yourself. And I assure you, I shall not take advantage of your relaxed inhibitions."
Reluctant, Aria took a swig of the drink. It was sour at first, but the aftertaste left a burning sweetness that had Aria taking another swig before handing the goblet back to Ganondorf. He chuckled, laying a warm hand on her back. Aria waited a bit before digging into the food on her plate, sipping from her own drink.