Slight Trigger Warning: Descriptions of mass execution in a historic context and mentions murder and suicide methods.


An adolescent girl stood holding the doors of the poison cabinet open, reaching up as high as she could manage, nearly standing on her toes. "... Five Lady Mercys, one jar of wolfsbane, half a vessel of deadly nightshade, three phials of arsenic." She strained to maintain her posture as she pulled the final jar from the cabinet, "... and one amphule of arsine." She fell back to her heel, tilting her head towards her friend, her sorrel eyes meeting with citrines. "Did you get all that?" Her friend was sitting at the counter, leaning over a sheet of paper with a leg crossed and a pencil close to her lip. The girl at the counter had her carmine hair tied up in a high braided ponytail. Her outfit consisted of a pitch-dark crop top with fishnet sleeves and a sirwal. She even wore bold, black lipstick and smokey eyeshadow. By contrast, the girl by the cabinet looked akin to a porcelain doll with her heliotrope hair in a crispinette, lack of makeup, abstract floral patterned kirtle, and matching detachable sleeves with the ivory smock visible underneath. Over her kirtle, she donned a long, open front dress. She wore a silver choker with light azure cabochons and three strings of draped pearls. On her left middle finger sat an engraved argent ring and wrapped around the index on her right hand was an onyx ring. The chamber they occupied was about the size of an average kitchen, but filled with repurposed alchemical lab equipment and lit by several candelabras.

"Just a sec," the red-headed girl responded as she continued to write. "...and one arsine. Got it!"

The purple haired girl sighed with relief as her feet rested on the floor. "Thank you, Ursa!" She closed the doors and she turned the key in the first lock. "The palace chores have been piling up like crazy. I can barely find the time to relax," she asserted as she closed the third padlock, tugging it to be sure it was shut tight.

Afterwards she swirled around to face her companion, the back hem of her malachite gown almost dragged on the floor. "It's like… all I want to do is finish the next chapter of my book or practice playing the mandolin and something always comes up. Once I was re-reading "Married to the Moblin'' and right when I was about to get to the part where Orille commits the affair, someone knocked on my bedroom door and told me to wash the dishes," Ashia said in an exasperated tone.

"Yeah! No worries! You need a break, Ashia; you've been working so hard these days. I worry that you overexert yourself sometimes and that people demand too much from you," Ursa expressed as she doodled around the list she jotted down.

Ashia pulled out the stool from across from her friend and sank into it. She fingered the pearl laced nets of her crispinette, "It often feels that way! On one hand I want to make myself useful and earn my keep. But on the other, I feel like I'm being taken advantage of."

"You should bring it up with Lord Vaati or someone of high ranking. You're not anyone's slave - you are able to determine your own boundaries." Ursa declared. "Let them know what's going on and let them deal with it." Ashia nodded her head. "Anyway, have you heard about the group of people camping up in the Northern Forest?" Ursa's left arm rested on the counter while her right hand dropped to her knee. "I heard there's going to be a reconnaissance group being sent to spy on them."

Ashia's eyes sank and she straightened up, Ursa rested her elbows on the counter, clasped her hands together and placed her chin on top. "Yes, I've heard about it. My brother volunteered to go as a medic."

Ursa's eyes bulged and her eyebrows shot up. "He did?! When did he tell you? What happened?"

"Well…" Ashia paused to adjust her gown. "I was repairing some torn clothes when he knocked on the archway. He had a somber look on his face when he asked if I had a moment."

"Okay, so he told you in person and not through a messenger. That's good at least. I'd have been mad if he did that."

Ashia gave her friend a soft smile, though she was unable to conceal her anxiety. "Not to worry, he'd never do that to me. I'd have given him hell if he did." She couldn't help but imagine herself shaking her fist and saying shame on you, you bastard! She thought to herself, if he ever left without telling anyone and was gone for months on end, then comes back and expects everything to be normal - he would absolutely deserve it. Her smile fell and she stopped to readjust her seat.

"Anywho, we went into a parlor. And he told me that he signed up to go into the forest with the recon group as one of their doctors. I asked him if he's leaving because he's frustrated with dealing with idiots. He said that's a part of it, it's also because he wanted to challenge himself and study the new group of humans." Ashia put her hands on the counter top and clasped her hands together. "I asked him how he would survive in the untamed and uncharted wilderness with a small group. After he gave me a long and comprehensive breakdown of how everything would work, I asked him if he would be allowed to send letters to me. He said yes and that he would write as often as he can, which would probably be weekly."

Ursa listened silently, processing the information she was hearing. "When did he tell you all this?"

"Yesterday night."

Ursa leaned back slightly. "You know, I get the sense that he's more worried about you than himself, based on his serious expression, his answers to your questions and his promise to write as time allows," she sympathetically responded.

"It's funny you say that because he asked me if I would be okay up here. He said that if anyone tries to put me in a dangerous situation, I should escape and inform the King or Lord Vaati, or someone. I was like I should be alright. I know some magic and if worse comes to worse I can… stir some poison into their tea," she said in a playful manner. Ashia leaned back in a similar fashion to Ursa. "It's odd. I've never felt like I was in peril of losing my life. I'm not sure why he would say that. Still… I'll always accept reminders."

Ursa leaned forward, crossing her left leg over her right. "Well, I mean it makes sense as to why. You answer to the King directly. That high status could make you vulnerable to kidnappers, but that wouldn't be likely since…"

Ashia was listening halfway, unconsciously her mind wandered to that time when she was hanging out in the apothecary's office. She had asked her brother for advice on what to do should she be kidnapped. Distinctly, she remembered he told her not to get violent. If she was abducted, she should watch the behavior of her captors and keep herself healthy. And not to resist them as they could easily overpower her.

"Ashia?" Ursa stared at her expectantly while her fingers interlocked. She doesn't normally do this, only when she is depressed or descending into a spiral of worry. Ursa thought to herself.

She snapped back into the present. "Sorry, I just got lost in thought." She focused back on Ursa. "Let's see him off tomorrow."

"Good idea." Ursa figured that now would be a good time to switch subjects seeing how it was getting her companion down. "I've been meaning to ask you, how do these poisons work exactly?

"It depends on what kind of toxin you are using." Ashia turned her gaze back towards the cabinet, grateful for the change in topic. "I'm not allowed to give out specific recipes and details since the King passed some regulations on poisoners. But I can paint a hazy picture for you. There are non-mortiferous and noxious poisons. If using a lethal toxicant, first you must decide how you want your target to die or what the situation calls for. Second, determine how much you require. Some poisons are highly concentrated, meaning you only need a tiny fraction to kill. Death can be brought about in any mix of slow, rapid, painful or painless. Lady Mercy is a type of venom that works in under five minutes, what's more the victim feels no pain. They just drift off into eternal sleep."

Ashia opened up a cabinet door and handed her a small bottle, telling her it was an incomplete Lady Mercy although it would be a full dose. Ursa took one glance at it and set it on the surface. "Must be popular for wet work," she noted, sliding it further and further away.

"It is. It's also the "go to" for euthenasia and suicide." Although, technically anything can be used for suicide. Ashia faced Ursa once more. "There are toxins which the mark doesn't feel anything all the while they work very slowly. That's good for when you need to kill someone without them suspecting. If you slay them immediately people around them will get suspicious and seek you out."

As Ashia was explaining, Ursa's lips stretched back slightly and her upper eyelids climbed skyward. "Damn," she mumbled in awe and disturbance.

She picked up her lace and mahogany fan from the counter, beginning to fiddle around with the guards and sticks. "If you are feeling particularly sadistic," Ashia's thoughts drift back to a time when a friend's shirt was torn off and three men surrounded her, "there are options. Cuthane comes from the seeds of a specific plant native to southern Labrynna. When ingested, it causes great agony combined with muscle spasms and contortions before killing them within the hour. Then there's Death's Breath. It's a special type of gaseous arsenic that can take an hour or two to finish off your targets."

She stopped to collect her thoughts. "Before I continue, I need to know. What do you know about the Hyrulean Civil War?"

"I know a little bit about it," confessed Ursa, remembering the times when she dozed off in history class. The lessons in school that stayed with her most were of combat, self defense and gymnastics. "It was supposed to be about the Triforce and how everyone wanted it. There was a lot of fighting between organized factions and lone rogues… there was the battle of Death Mountain… the siege of Gerudo Fortress … the skirmish at Castle Town… a few assassinations here and there. It all ended when the Royal Family united Hyrule under one banner."

"That's the basic gist of it. You brought up assassinations, there's one that stands out among the rest." Ashia began to fan herself at this point. "So before Hyrule had a monarchy, it had an oligarchy - which was infamously corrupt. They would pocket tax rupees for themselves, frequently lie to the citizens, just overall neglect the public's needs, that sort of thing. Now, during the Civil War, some high ranking government officials along with their wives were gathered in the Villa Floria for a banquet. The event was planned months in advance and the rebels intercepted it. This was their chance to do away with some of their worst enemies; to pull it off they sent in some assassins disguised as servants. At first, the guests didn't notice anything off. It wasn't until they noticed that they were locked in the grand hall that it dawned on them what was actually going on." As she spoke, she folded her fan and crossed her ankles. "But, it was too late, one of the pluggers threw in a bottle of Death's Breath," she flicked her index finger to Ursa at the mention of one. "The assassins watched what unfolded behind those doors through the high windows…"

"Wait, I think I know this story!" Ursa exclaimed, "They threw in a bottle of the stuff and it filled the whole room, killing everyone within an hour and a half. Afterwards, they stole every war document they could. I think they burned the place down, but I may be getting my history mixed up. It was supposed to be one of the most brutal assassination jobs in history."

"Yep, that's the essence of the event. But, you're leaving out some important details. The room's occupants did everything in their power to escape, including breaking down the doors, smashing the windows with chairs and even clawing at the walls." Which meant that either they were hallucinating or their vision wasn't working properly. Apparently if a person has enough arsenic in them, they see green. "An hour and a half later, everyone was dead, like you just said. The liquidators broke one of the windows to air out the hall, since Death's Breath doesn't just dissipate after it takes its victims. They returned to the scene to check the wreckage; The moment they opened the doors, some corpses piled up at their feet. After they cleared them away, they discovered that the dead had veridian rashes all over their remains, some of them had bloody fingers from scratching so hard. Most eerily, the scleras of all the cadavers were a bright shade of green. Like you said, the executioners stole all the documents from the office and the war room they needed and fled the manor. They didn't torch the mansion so as to send a message to the government - you might be thinking of the burning of the Forest Shrine since it was in the same region months after."

Ursa sat in thought. "I think you're probably right about that. Regardless, still freaky."

"Yeah, some wars have no 'good guys'," Ashia emphasized. "What's more is that there were a lot of people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Such is the way of war," Ursa simply responded, shaking her head slowly. "Do you ever worry that your poisons will be used against you?"

"I do sometimes." Ashia shrugs. "I lock up the cabinet and put a magic seal on this room whenever I leave it. I'm concerned it isn't enough, still I don't know what else I can do about it."

Ursa perked up, an idea shooting across her mind like a comet in the night sky. "Maybe you should install booby traps?"

Shaking her head, Ashia responded with, "I thought of that, the issue is that I would have to disarm the trap every time I came into the room. It would get annoying and tedious whenever I need to get one thing."

Ursa pursed her lips. She could see where Ashia was coming from. In spite of that, "I think you should set something up anyway. It's better to be safe than sorry, maybe it can be as simple as pressing a button to disarm the trap."

Ashia squinted her left eye. "I don't know. The only things I can come up with are a bucket of rocks or a weighted net falling on top of the intruder. So how would disarming by button go? Would the button release the trip-wire, thus making it safe to enter?"

Taking her pencil, Ursa began to sketch out her idea. "You should probably ask a confinement specialist, but here's what I have in mind..."

As she was about to speak, they heard the idiosyncratic sound of metallic footsteps coming down the hallway outside. They both watched with curiosity as the long shadow on the wall shrank and shifted towards the floor as it got closer. The figure filled the doorway and spoke, "Lady Ashia, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Anything for you, Lord Vaati." Ashia stood from her seat to curtsy him. Ursa rose to salute

"I have a special recipe I need you to make."

Figuring that Ashia was going to be occupied with her task, Ursa decided to make her way to the armory. Her scimitar and khopesh needed to be sharpened and she wanted to check and see if they were ready. She waltzed in to see a moblin hunched over a whetstone in the center of the room, sharpening a battle axe. The room was almost as large as a ballroom, the walls were decked out in every melee weapon imaginable. Laying on stands scattered like islands were long-ranged weapons. Waving her hand, Ursa called out, "Hey Jax! Are my swords ready?"

Jax looked up and responded, "No, they won't be ready for another two hours." He stood up and walked over to a basket a few feet away from it. He knelt down, digging through it. "However, I finished fixing the hook blade on your gauntlet." He picked it out and tossed it to her. "You should practice with that while you wait."

The training grounds felt like a playground designed by warriors with a childlike flair. It had an obstacle course complete with monkey bars, climbable walls, targets and dummies. All that's missing is a slide. The yard was devoid of fellow soldiers. Assuming they were on a mission, she strode over to the climbing wall and gazed upwards. It had painted rocks that gradually camouflaged with the natural granite slab as it went up as well as vines.

Slipping her armored glove on, she dryly mumbled to herself, "Time for pain."

As she predicted, she landed on her rump over a quarter of a hundred times. Motherfuck! Ursa thought as she rubbed the small of her back. She couldn't stop now though, her veins were pumped full of adrenaline. I can't get my timing right. Maybe I should come back to this later and spar for now?

Borrowing some practice swords, she stood in front of a dummy and began slashing at it. Using the hookblade, she swung herself over the dummy's head and then slashed at its back. Right as she was piggybacking it and about to cut its "throat",a gruff voice called out, "Looks like you need a sparring partner." Peering over the "shoulder", Ursa saw Jax carrying her weapons in one hand, as well as his Raven's Beak in the other. He wore his protective gear and had some spare leather armor on his shoulder. He placed the swords on the grass and tossed the gear to Ursa, giving her a moment to put it on. "Hit me with your best shot," he called out as he shifted into a defense position.

Ursa leapt forward, spinning in the air. As the sword was coming down, he blocked her strike and whirled his polearm in her direction. She ducked and backflipped out of his range. She squatted on the ground, waiting like a beast on a hunt. Right when Jax was about to swing at her, she rolled at a cheetah-like speed behind him to poke his back. He jolted. He reversed to face her. "Very good, let's see you deflect this," he goaded as he thrust his warhammer in her direction. Flexing backwards, she managed to knock his weapon onto the ground with her feet. Which made Jax lose his balance and kneel on the ground. Before he could react, Ursa swiftly stood on his Raven's Beak and gently placed her foot on his wrist. "Not bad… not bad at all." She stepped off and Jax rose to his hooves. "Be careful when acting before thinking," he cautioned, "although there are times for it, such recklessness can get you killed in the battlefield."

Ursa wasn't sure why she would need to be reminded of that fact. Of course she knew that if she was in battle, she would have to process information on the fly and predict her enemy's moves in order to act! She also understood that he was only trying to help and didn't want to see her injured or worse. All she could mutter in response was, "M'kay."

"Why don't you show me the helm-splitter technique on that dummy?" He pointed towards the dummy with its innards oozing out. "I'd like to see if I did your swords justice."

"I'm on it," Ursa called out excitedly as she dashed to grab her swords.


Author's Note:

So, this was a difficult chapter for me to write. I had to figure out who the focus should be on and what I wanted the chapter to do. Then I had to figure out how I wanted to actually write it. I originally wanted Ashia to be the sole focus of this chapter, but I figured that I wasn't skilled enough to pull off a chapter where one character was the central focus, where a good deal would be spent in her thoughts. I ended up spontaneously writing in Ursa so there'd be another character to bounce off of. But that presented its own problems when she needed more character development. I also got some of my friends to critique this chapter too. One friend suggested I add in a trigger warning for the discussion on suicide, my other friend disagreed. I ended up putting it in just to play it safe since I don't know who's out there.

A couple of fun facts about writing Ashia and Ursa.

Ashia was originally named Anda, I changed it when I wanted a better name. So I went to a Hyrulean name generator to get ideas, one of the suggestions was Ashia. Turns out Ashia is a real name. It is of Arabic origin and it means "Life and Hope." It is pronounced ah-SHEE-ah.

She is wearing a green renaissance style dress because I took inspiration from a 19th century trend where clothes (and other goods) were dyed in Arsenic to achieve an emerald green color. I thought it would be a wonderful way at hinting at her character.

Ursa is Latin for "little she-bear". I picked the name off the top of my head.

I originally thought of her as being a necromancer, which is why she's decked out in all black. She even had a skull necklace! But, Fenrir013 said it made much more sense for Ursa to be a warrior and I heeded his suggestion. I scrapped the skull necklace, but kept everything else because I liked the idea of a warrior with a gothic aesthetic.

And some dark facts

Cuthane is based on the poison Strychnine, A.K.A "Gopher Killer". Nazis would torture prisoners using this.

There are also more male than female poisoners. Although, in either a man or woman's hands, it's an "equal opportunity killer". For more info, read: 2013/01/the-myth-of-the-female-poisoner/

According to Psychology Today, the profile of a poisoner is that of someone who lacks empathy, feels inadequete, incredibly crafty and creative, physically non-confrontational, manipulative and childish. If you'd like to read more: us/blog/the-human-equation/201207/psychological-profile-poisoner