The world around her was spinning. She couldn't quite remember where she was, or what she was doing. She was surrounded by glowing pink lights, the sand beneath her feet warm and oddly comforting. Aria rubbed her eyes, trying to remove the odd blurring. Before her was a small oasis, blue fairies dancing around the surface of the water.

A large hand settled on her waist and guided her towards the water. Another equally large hand began to gently disrobe the dark dress she hardly realized she was wearing, from her body. The dress fell to the ground, only to be picked up and hung on a low bending palm tree. Those warm hands guided her towards the luminescent waters. She continued to walk into the waters, even as the hands left her and she heard the rustling of clothes being removed.

Once she was waist deep, she turned to look at her partner. Golden eyes that flashed bright in the darkness gazed down at her fondly. Those warm hands cupped her face and her eyes fluttered close as lips pressed softly against her own. Invigorated, she deepened the kiss, her own hands coming up to delve into the gerudo's fiery hair, brushing past firm jawline covered by a well kept beard. A deep groan echoed in her ears, before darkness took her too soon.

Light filtered in through the window, disturbing Aria's fitful sleep. She groaned and rolled over, covering her head with a pillow. Her head swam, her mouth was dry, and her whole body felt like she'd been trampled by a flock of angry cuccos. She couldn't quite remember what she had done to feel this way, but she was sure she regretted it. Aria rolled to face the darker side of the room, carefully peeking out from beneath the pillow. Bright eyes met with her own, amusement shimmering in their golden depths.

"You know, it's going to get worse before it gets better." Ganondorf spoke in a soft whisper. His hand came up to rest on her hip.

"What happened? Did we?"

"No, I promised I wouldn't take advantage of you, and I assure you, I always keep my promise." The last part sounded more like a growl that a whisper. His large hand tugged her closer, out from underneath the pillow. She would've yelped, if it hadn't been for the mouth covering her own.

Aria slowly pulled away. "How far did we get last night, exactly?"

"Would you like me to tell you, or to show you?"

"Well, I-" There was a soft knock on the door. Ganondorf huffed, before rolling out of bed to address whoever it was at the door. Shock filled her when she realized Ganondorf was actually wearing pants, something she hadn't expected upon waking up in his quarters. He hardly cracked the door open, staring down at whoever was on the other end.

"Yes?"

"Everything is in place, everyone is ready, except Miss Aria and yourself are missing."

"Ah yes, tell them we'll be there soon."

"We, sire?"

"Yes, we. Aria and myself."

"You know where she is?"

Ganondorf chuckled, closing the door slowly before turning to gaze at the woman in his bed. Aria stretched, tossing the covers off, only to quickly throw them back on herself, her face going red.

"What exactly did we do last night?"

"I have time to show you."

"B-but…"

"Trust me, lay back and close your eyes." He smirked, Aria following his instructions, body stiff. Soft skin pressed against her cheek, then her neck. A warm hand trailing over her hips. Aria bit her lips, peeking ever so slightly, only for that warm hand trailing down her bare hip to cover her eyes.

"No peeking." His chuckle muffled against her skin, as his lips found the firm skin of her shoulder. Clenching her fists, Aria moved his hand away from her eyes and laid her own arm there. It certainly wasn't to prevent herself from running her hands through his hair or anything else. That would be silly. The breath in her throat hitched when his own ghosted across her left breast. She swallowed roughly, only to feel the heat of disappointment when his lips skipped over her breast and pressed firmly to her sternum. His hands weren't any better, rubbing small circles into her hip, skimming down her upper thighs, but always on the outside- always returning to press into her hips.

Her body jolted forwards when an all too familiar warm and wet heat surrounded her nipple, teeth lightly scraping against the sensitive flesh. Her hand flew into his unkempt mane of red hair, her eyes opening wide. He grinned at her, still swirling his tongue and sucking on the peak in his mouth. Aria blushed, screwing her eyes shut. Ganondorf made to move away, only for her hand to tighten in his hair. She could feel his unbearably smug smile against her skin as he raked his tongue over her nipple once more, soothing that temporary pain with the pleasure of his tongue. He moved to Aria's other side, his hand coming up to replace his mouth. A soft whimper escaped her lips.

Ganondorf groaned against her skin, pressing against her as much as he possibly could in his current position. He tried not to chuckle at her disappointed sigh when he moved away from her nipples, the rosie peaks just begging to be in his mouth once more.

"Patience." he murmured against her skin, before he pressed his hips against the soft muscle of her abdomen.

"G-g-Ganon, how far did we get last nghhh-" His hair slipped through her fingers as his head found itself between her legs. The flat of his tongue ran over her sex, coaxing her to spread her legs even further. His tongue delved into her slit, dipping into the moisture that had reactively pooled from his earlier ministrations. Aria could only gaze down as golden eyes occasionally glanced up to see her reaction. Flushed cheeks and swollen lips were the least of her concerns as she twitched and bucked her hips into his mouth.

"Oh Goddess, please, Ga-"

Loud, hurried knocking interrupted them. At first Ganondorf was fine ignoring it, but the knocking didn't cease.

"I know you're both in there! The whole compound is waiting on you two to get your butts out of bed, don't make me come in there and drag you out!"

Ganondorf cursed, lifting himself up on his arms. "We'll be there in a moment, Nabooru!" He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face before staring down at the body that still lay bare before him. He gave Aria a wry smile. "I suppose there's no convincing them for another hour."

"Is your headache gone?" He spoke softly, as if just remembering she had a hangover.

"Y-yes.." Aria mumbled, slowly lifting herself up into a sitting position. Ganondorf leaned forward to capture her lips with his own. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he tugged her against him.

"Hurry up in there!"

They broke apart with a curse, pressing their foreheads together.

"I could magic the door shut, so the entire army of them can't open it" he whispered conspiringly. She giggled softly, shaking her head. "No, we have to get up. I need to destroy your over-inflated ego in the ring."

"It's hardly over-inflated."

"Oh, but it is huge."

"There are other pa-" Aria slapped a hand over his mouth blushing. "Be quiet, I need to get dressed without your distractions."

He tugged her hand off her mouth, reluctantly letting her get up. Ganondorf eyed her as she struggled to put on the dress he had so easily removed from her last night.

"Distraction am I? I believe it is you who is the distraction in my own rooms."

"Rooms? You mean there's more than one?"

"Of course, but you'll have time to adventure here later."

"Assuming there will be a later."

"I assure you there will be a later, after all, you seem to be keening for a repeat performance."

"I...Well, I.. " Aria quickly shut her mouth, trying to ignore the heat of her cheeks as she hurried towards the door.

"Finally! I thought you two would be in there for- wait, are you okay?"

"Fine." Aria snapped out, rushing back towards her own room.

"What did you do to upset her?"

"Nothing! I swear!" Ganondorf raised his hands in surrender from the angrily suspicious gerudo commander.

"Hurry up and get dressed so we can get the ceremonial battle over. I need to prepare her for it, and maybe fix your mistake." She glared at him one last time before racing after Aria.

Aria sighed, pressing her back to the cool wall of her temporary room. Nabooru was quick on her heels, and she honestly didn't feel up to dealing with whatever ceremony they would have her do. She was tired, just honestly too tired. She wanted to rest for a month, or at least a few weeks before doing anything else at this point.

"So, what did he do?"

"Huh?" Aria opened her eyes, Nabooru finally catching up to her. "Oh, nothing in particular. I was just... flustered." She mumbled softly closing her eyes again.

"Well, no time to be flustered now. You've got a ceremony to complete."

"This doesn't involve anymore fancy dresses does it?"

"No, not this time. You'll be in your training outfit. A few warm up rounds and then actual fight-"

"Fight? Who am I fighting?"

"It's not really a fight, it's just… think of it as a really intense training session."

"Right." Aria sighed, letting her head fall back against the wall before she convinced herself to get out of the dress and into her training outfit. When she went to put on the weights and heels Nabooru stopped her.

"You won't need those. You'll need to be as agile and stable as you can.

"That bad?"

"Not bad, just important. Now let's go, they've been waiting long enough."

Nabooru led her to the training grounds, which was packed all around with gerudo warriors grinning down at her. It was days like these that reminded Aria just how short she was compared to all the others in the compound.

"Alright, so your first two fights are just warm-ups, don't go all out. No magic in the ceremony." Aria nodded, doing her stretches as one of the other gerudo came into the arena. They gave her a few good minutes to stretch out her muscles, check her leg, and drink a bit of water before they bowed to each other and got into their stances.

The first strike was made by the gerudo, a quick punch that Aria evaded with ease, flipping over her opponent and knocking her legs out from beneath her. Cheers rang out in the air, Aria offered the warrior a hand up, only to be tugged down to her level.

"Don't let your guard down!" Nabooru called from the side. The scuffle on the ground led them both to breaking apart, scurrying far enough away that they both got back to their feet. A few moments passed as the regarded each other, Aria scanning the gerudo for low defenses in any particular area. They'd been trained to look for weakness and how to extort it.

This particular warrior favored her left shoulder. Aria took advantage of that, feinting strong attacks on the gerudo's right waist. She ignored the smirk the warrior wore, because she was only going to wear it for a moment longer. In a last minute decision, she threw one more punch towards the gerudo's waist as her other hand grappled with the gerudo's left side and jerked her arm backwards, twisting enough to have the warrior fall to her knees, yielding.

The next round went much faster, literally. A swift gerudo warrior who tried to run circles around Aria, blowing up dust and sand every which way. Aria knew this trick all too well, Aveil and Faruin having tripped her up several times with this. It was a rather simple trick, and it amazed Aria that the gerudo believed it would mess her up this time. All she had to do was trust the vibrations of the ground, ignoring the vision of her surroundings completely. It didn't take much to have this warrior on the ground.

Warmed up, Nabooru took Aria to another arena. This one was in a pit filled with all sorts of platforms. In the center, on the highest platform, stood King Ganondorf in what Nabooru explained was the male warrior outfit, if any man was worthy of being a gerudo. Golden bracers on both arms, while his left side from chest to hand was covered, his right side was left relatively bare except for the bracers, the golden pauldron was on his right side as well. Most shockingly, his hair was held up in a single high ponytail, his usual spire pushed back to the base of the ponytail.

"Don't be too distracted by his looks." Nabooru nudged Aria into the arena. "All you have to do is grab the bell in his hands."

Ganondorf smirked at her, showing the rather large silver bell in one of his palms, before his fingers closed around it, jingling it a bit so she could hear it's tinkle.

"No magic?"

"No magic for this."

Aria nodded and began jumping up the platforms to meet with Ganondorf. It was easy, too easy to climb and leap up to his height. She landed on the high platform to see his grinning face.

"Now now, my desert flower, you didn't think I would make it that easy for you?"

"Just this once?" She joked, coming in as close as he would let her. He smirked, rushing her, his form engulfing her own. "Maybe next time." A kiss, and then she was falling. She used the momentum to bounce off the side of the center pillar and land on a nearby platform. She had long since drowned out the noise of the cheers and calls from outside the arena.

Aria rushed up the pillars and platforms once more, this time coming upon him from up above. He sidestepped to the left just avoiding her landing and the attacking fists aimed for his form.

"Tch, such violence? Do you expect to knock me out?" He smirked, placing one hand atop her head.

"No, just to distract you." She grumbled kicking at his legs with her own. He leapt over her feet, using her head as a balance.

"Try harder." With that he took off around the arena. She followed closely behind him, occasionally reaching out and tugging on strands of crimson hair to tell him just how close she was to getting him. It was like a game of cat and mouse, where the mouse kept changing roles with the cat. When he was annoyed with her tugging on his hair, he turned to face her, the dust rising in the arena. He slammed her into the ground, jostling a laugh out of her. They tumbled on the ground a bit her hand reaching for his.

"Just give me the sand-blasted bell!" She growled, thrashing against him. It truly wasn't fair with him being so tall, and having all that reach despite her flexibility.

"Now that wouldn't be fair to all the other warriors who had to knock me out the get this bell."

"I call bull on that. I doubt anyone has knocked you out for this bell."

"True, but it'd be a sight to see you doing so." He gripped her waist tightly with one arm as she squirmed against his abdomen.

"You've been cheating this whole time! Don't think i haven't noticed those shadows grabbing at my ankles to weigh me down!"

"It's only cheating if you get caught."

"You got caught!"

"Well, now I wouldn't say I've been caught, just… "

"You've been caught, now hand the bell o-" He flipped their position so he was on top, his hands pinning her down, bell dangling on a red thread between his teeth. She growled profanities at him, squirming under his firm grip. Ganondorf waggled his thick eyebrows at her, grinning at her curses. The bell dangling before her eyes, taunting her. She grit her her teeth, wrapped her legs around his chest and hauled him off of her, changing their positions once more. His hands let go of her own, perhaps in shock, perhaps to catch his balance as they dangled near the edge of the top platform precariously, either way, her hands snatched the bell from his teeth and raised it in the air as the dust and sand settled. The ground beneath them shook as slowly the pillars, ground, and platforms all connected so that they were in a plain training ring once more.

"Congratulations on becoming a gerudo warrior, Aria." He spoke softly, helping her up so that they could go greet the group of warrior cheering her victory. Nabooru, Aveil, and Faruin ran up to her before the crowd and lifted her up into the air, twirling her around. Aria glimpsed a look at Ganondorf's face, noting his odd expression, before she was surrounded by warriors congratulating her and leading her to the main hall for their lunch.

Ganondorf did not appear for lunch.