A/N:
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Ch. 24
First Ride(s)
Sagessa only moved half-way into the room Zelda had rented before she stopped, one hand on the third toggle of her red leather bodice, the top two already unfastened. "You... you are really nervous. This is your first time with a woman, right? Not- not your first time at all?"
"I don't know," Zelda replied softly, deciding in that moment to give her... whatever she was, friend, companion, whore, conversation partner, a bit of the truth. "I've lost many of my memories. I have bits and fragments of... a man. I have the same of kissing another woman... but that's it. I'm not sure how far we went that time. Or if we ever went further before or after."
Sagessa grimaced, but it quickly morphed into a broad smile that highlighted white, clean teeth. "I'm sorry, that's terrible- but it also has a silver lining. It means the softness of a woman's lips is going to be at least a little familiar... and it means I can help guide you. If you want me to, of course. You're the client."
Zelda blushed at the matter-of-fact acknowledgment of Sagessa's profession. It was clear she felt no shame about it, and Zelda didn't really, but she thought most people might, so in a strange sort of way she felt shame that people who weren't even there might know what she did. "I... I think I'd like that, yes. This time, at least."
"Implying there's going to be a next time, I like that," Sagessa murmured, then resumed taking her bodice off, this time with slow, sultry movements. "I promise you, Zina, by the time this night is through you'll be even more eager."
"Maybe," Zelda tried to tease, but found her confidence faltering in the face of what Sagessa was doing. The princess knew, objectively, she was beautiful aside from the scar. Sagessa was not as beautiful, though she was quite pretty. The working girl was much curvier where it counted, though, with full, round breasts that didn't need much extra support from the bodice. Even without the leather pressing it up, they were close together and firm, riding high on the brunette's ribs. Her waist was a little less slender than Zelda's, her hips a bit more curved, and she was a few inches taller, too. Perhaps a stone heavier, with brilliant blue eyes that reminded her a great deal of... his eyes, she realized. Maybe that was where the attraction had first begun...?
Her previous lover, the man, had nearly the exact same shade of cerulean eyes.
It was a fine detail, and for a moment Zelda was distracted by the realization, so that she missed Sagessa's impromptu show as she spun, the bodice in one hand and her shoulder-length hair fanning out with the motion, before the leather hit the carpets. Zelda blinked, her mind returned to the present just in time to see Sagessa's smirk. "You like what you see that much, huh? Don't feel too bad- so does everyone else. If they aren't jealous, anyway. Inherited them from my grandmother, my own mother wasn't so well endowed."
"They... they are indeed impressive," Zelda whispered, and Sagessa stepped in twice more before the hand at her left hip pulled the draw-string for the white and black pleated skirt. It fell around her a moment later, and two more steps brought her to the bedside. Now, she was clad only in her pointed-toed shoes and lacy white underwear of a style Zelda had never seen. Or at least, could not recall. "C- Can I...?"
"Touch me? Of course," Sagessa replied just as quietly, though without any of the nerves Zelda heard shaking in her own voice. "I'm all yours tonight, Zina. Explore all you want... and when you're ready, I'm going to have you screaming my name."
"I can't wait," she shot back, and surprised herself by how much she meant it. Of course she had been aroused, even horny, but the desperate, urgent need to orgasm had been pushed back somewhat by the situation, somehow. Instead, her body only seemed to want to play with the form and the flesh of the woman in front of her, and then orgasm loud and long.
"Shall I undress you while you have some fun with my tits?" Sagessa asked.
Zelda nodded, not looking up or reacting much as the other woman's expert fingers reached up and around Zelda's neck to untie the first loop of her nightshirt. The princess, on the other hand, lifted both soft hands, just starting to callous from the combat she had seen so much of recently, over the round globes... and hesitated.
Sagessa's nipples were already erect, light brown and thick but somewhat short, and the rings around them were a strange brown-pink that Zelda just wanted to lick and nibble on for hours... but she didn't touch her. Not, that is, until Sagessa's own hand covered her right one and pressed it to her chest. "Don't worry, darlin', I'm not going to hurt you. It feels good, you know? Even if you don't know what you're doing- and I find a woman always knows. We can make each other feel things no man can. 'Course, the same's true for them."
"I believe it," Zelda murmured, distracted, in awe of just how pillowy soft, yet un-elastic Sagessa's breast was. There was certainly some give, and she felt if she tried she could dig her fingers into the fatty tissue, but there was a little less softness than even her own, which were half the size, and a lot perkier. "It's... beautiful. They are, I mean. You are."
"Thanks, pretty," Sagessa said with a sigh, and ran a hand down Zelda's jawline before it dipped low and she slipped two fingers into the top of her nightshirt, just nestled at the top of her cleavage. "You're pretty good looking yourself, as I said the other day. I have to say, I didn't think we'd be doing this just yet, if ever, though. You seemed... pretty curious, but a little put-off by Hino and me that day."
Zelda shrugged, "I was... curious, that's all. It... I know it happens, but I can't recall ever... seeing it. Or someone who was so, um, open about doing for... for coin. Or Rupee."
Sagessa only smiled faintly back, "Not all professions are as old or honorable, I reckon. At least I'm honest about what I do and why. I like sex, it feels good. If I can make money doing it... why not?"
"It's a valid point," Zelda exhaled, then gave the other woman's breast a squeeze, twisting a little. Sagessa moaned, and her other hand covered the next, but pinched the thick nipple between the first and second fingers.
Sagessa stood there for more than ten minutes while Zelda kneaded, poked, pulled, prodded, and caressed her big, round breasts before the princess finally worked up the nerve to go a little further. When her soft lips closed around the hard nubs, Sagessa actually sighed in relief, "Ah... that's good, darlin'. You had me pretty raring to go... but that's nice. Keep sucking on it, there you go... maybe give a little nibble, or a lick. Ah... ah, yes, just like that."
Zelda lost herself. She didn't know how or why, or what exactly she was doing. She remembered, later, a haze of lust as she suckled and licked as Sagessa had instructed, caressing and teasing her body. But it was not just her breasts, though Zelda very much enjoyed playing with them, and even buried her face in the deep cleavage for a blissful, suffocating moment.
She just knew that, when she came back to herself, her loins were swollen and leaking with need again, one of Sagessa's hands was at the back of her head, and the other still tugging slightly at the princess' nightshirt, but it was still up, covering her.
That just wouldn't do.
The princess stood on her knees suddenly, making Sagessa moan at the loss of contact rather than the pleasure now, and pushed her nightshirt down to her waist, then hiked up the rest. Then, staring at Sagessa's sky-blue eyes, she lay back in the bed and opened her legs. "I'm sorry, I can't wait," Zelda gasped, "I have to- I have to orgasm. Please, Sagessa- do it fast!"
The brunette shrugged teasingly, then knee-walked into her place between Zelda's knees. "If that's what you want... but I have to warn you, you paid for the night. You're going to get more than just one."
"I don't care, please," Zelda gasped, overcome.
Whatever had happened to her at the Shrines, at the Cathedral of Time, at the Goddess Statue in Kakariko, it had changed her. Each time, she grew more... more. Stronger, faster, yes, but also more desperate, needy for pleasure. She should be terrified of the ramifications of continuing on her path.
But she wasn't.
She just wanted the pleasure, it was all she cared about.
Once she climaxed, maybe, maybe then she could think.
Fortunately, Sagessa was not of a mind to make her wait much longer. She was already leaning low, her mouth breathing hot, moist air over Zelda's dripping cunt, sending a shiver of joy and anticipation through her.
Soft fingers slid up the princess' white thighs, then closer, until two thumbs, less calloused than her own even, smooth and gentle, pried her folds apart with a light pressure. "Your pussy is the most beautiful little thing I've ever seen," Sagessa whispered up at her.
Their eyes met for just a moment in the valley between Zelda's breasts, and then she lost control again the moment the whore's tongue lapped upward the first time.
All of her focus, all of her attention, seemed to narrow to the tiniest space between her legs. Where Sagessa touched, her body was on fire. Where she licked, it was a raging inferno. A suckle here brought ice cold as a counterpoint, before the heat returned even greater.
The prostitute had definitely done this a few times before, some distant part of Zelda acknowledged, because no one could be this good if they hadn't. She didn't even really care for her, there was no emotional connection, only a lust of desire aside from a scant, budding friendship less than even that Zelda shared with Paya or Mina. But she wanted her, and Sagessa clearly wanted Zelda back. She showed it with every fluttering kiss on her outer folds, displayed it with every drive of her hot, moist and strong tongue down the crevices and cracks of her cunt, and drove the message home with every thrust into her heaving, oozing vagina.
Then Sagessa's hands slipped up her body, her mouth continuing its frenzied pace, and grabbed each of Zelda's hard, pink nipples. She gave each a squeeze, hard enough to hurt- only it didn't. Half-mad with desire, Zelda moaned out loud, her body arching in response, desperate for more.
One hand came down after just a moment, the other started moving back and forth, while Zelda found her own smaller hands fisted in Sagessa's hair, subconsciously guiding her movements to where it felt best. Not that she needed the guidance, but the warrior-princess was acting on instinct alone. The descending fingers grazed down her taut belly, then pinched the covering of the blonde's clit.
Zelda's body jerked, the extra sensation suddenly more than enough to bring her rising pleasure into a peak of ecstasy as she climaxed a second later. "A-ah-aaahh!"
The prostitute went still for a moment, only licking slowly and continuing to apply some pressure to her left nipple and clit while Zelda's body shook with pleasure for several seconds, perhaps twenty. Then she collapsed back to the bed, chest heaving. "That... that was..."
"Only the beginning," Sagessa assured her seriously, lifting onto her knees once again with a glistening mouth and chin. "You taste delicious, by the way. Do you want to try it?"
Zelda hesitated only a moment, then nodded furiously, "Yes. I... is it alright?"
Sagessa only shrugged once more casually, "I said I'm all yours, Zina. Do you want me to straddle you, or lay back like you are?"
Her face pinked at the image of the first, prompting her to ask, "Um... wh- what- what are the benefits of either?"
"Good question, I knew you were a smart one. Me laying back gives you total control, unless I pull away. Maybe I could grab your head with my thighs, guide you with your hair, but that's not strong enough to stop you if you want to do something. With me straddling, I'm gonna be sitting on your face. Not my weight, mind, just with my legs 'round your pretty head. It's a more dominant position for some- I like both."
Zelda swallowed. That... that did sound like something she'd like to try, but... "F- For now, I think I'll just do the first. Lay back, Sagessa."
"Alright, gorgeous- let me know if you have any questions. I have a feeling you'll do alright, though."
Zelda nodded and sat up, as the prostitute lay back at the foot of the small bed, her knees about where Zelda's wrists had been, and lifted her hips to push her panties down to her ankles, but only pulled one out. Then her legs opened too, giving the blonde her first view of the delicious-looking feast she was about to partake in.
And it did look delicious. A little less smooth and round than Zelda's own, more angular, with a light brown exterior where the princess' was white or a very light pink, but the insides were nearly the same pink color. Already, Zelda could see Sagessa leaking fluid down the small crevice that ran down to her buttocks, and a waft of some flower scent hit her nose, demanding investigation.
"If I'm not doing something right..."
"I'll let you know, don't worry. Just do what I did. Tease if you want, and that's good if someone's not already in the heat of things, but for now you can probably just get goin'."
"A- Alright."
She leaned down onto her elbows, her knees kicked up at the headboard to give herself room, and inhaled the sharp, tangy pungent aroma of the whore's pussy... and found herself desperately hungry for it. She could not, would not, wait.
Her mouth closed around as much as she could at first, giving a little suction, then released with a soft pop that made Sagessa giggle, before she started with the same feather-light, peppering kisses around the outside. In, one fold at a time, to the very center, then back to the outside, before her tongue lashed up one canyon and down another, three or four times each with varying degrees of pressure, all the way to the core. There, Zelda delved in once, twice, just the tip of her tongue probing at Sagessa's well-used, but tight, entrance.
"Knew you'd be good at this," Sagessa moaned softly, one hand landing on Zelda's silky hair, "You're either a natural, or no stranger to it. Maybe both... you're quite- ah- good."
"Thank you," Zelda murmured against the whore's nether lips, then suckled the outer left fold into her mouth, nibbled on it, and let it go with a pop too. The other side she only suckled on, then moved up to kiss the woman's swollen clit. It was a bit bigger than hers, more visible, and Sagessa moaned as she first mouthed it. "C- Careful, it's pretty sensitive... but don't stop."
Zelda grinned. Yes... she could do this. She licked again, from top to bottom, then side to side, before moving her mouth lower and thrusting once, deeply, with her tongue. Again, Sagessa moaned. "Just like that..."
The woman's center was not as liquidy as Zelda felt her own was, but it was nearly scalding hot, smooth, and it welcomed her tongue as deeply as it would go. A delightful, tangy-sweet flavor with just a hint of almost fishy musk washed over her tongue, and the princess knew at once she was addicted.
It was... heaven.
Heaven exploding in her mouth, just like a climax exploding from her needy, hungry cunt.
"That's it, eat my pussy, Zina," Sagessa groaned again, "You're r-really good. I'm... not gonna last long, not like this."
Eating Pussy... the princess found she liked the sound of that. She wasn't truly eating it, of course, but her mouth was devouring the woman's body all the same, like a starving person might consume a feast.
Zelda moved back up to Sagessa's clit, then raised a single hand to start groping her tits again. Zelda herself had been hesitant, at first, to push fingers deeply inside herself. But the Ancient Screw she had, well, screwed herself with had proven she was no virgin. Or at least, she had no hymen to be worried about. Sagessa was a literal prostitute, she would not have one either- and Zelda would have known it even if she hadn't actually watched the girl fuck a client.
Thus, her fingers didn't hesitate before pushing in, two at first, but soon her pinky as well, going up to the third knuckle. Sagessa groaned at the first penetration, moaned at the third, and her hips bucked upward to meet Zelda's hand as she twisted her palm to the sky, and curled her fingers.
There was just that one spot, one Zelda could never quite reach on herself, that she knew without question if she could touch it, reach it with her fingers now, would make Sagessa cry her name, instead.
There... there! That soft, firm, spongy texture- it was that, wasn't it? Judging by the whore's moans, it must have been, because Sagessa's eyes widened and she stared up at the canvas ceiling of the room, and cried out suddenly, "Oh, Goddess! I'm cumming!"
Her hips writhed, and a little squirt of something jetted out past Zelda's remaining, curled finger to splash against her cheek, as Sagessa started to thrash.
Zelda didn't let up, and kept stroking, curling her fingers against that one spot, while her thumb pressed in against Sagessa's clit, partially unhooded now, and then replaced the pressure there with her tongue, suckling, then pushing, and suckling again as Sagessa grunted with great, heaving, gasping breaths, and then screamed, "Z-Ziiiina!"
Her second orgasm was briefer than the first, but quite strong, and Sagessa actually had to push Zelda away before she started working on a third she was not sure even her experienced body could take. "S- Stop, stop, darlin! That's- ah- I've had enough! I need a break!"
Reluctantly, as if she were famished still, Zelda let Sagessa push her head out of the prostitute's crotch, and licked up every bit of juice she could reach with her tongue before using a bit of the blankets to wipe off the rest. "So... how did I do?"
Still through heaving breaths, Sagessa rolled her eyes and giggled almost hysterically, "You did perfect," her accent coming through a bit stronger. "I ain't climaxed that hard in... well, a damned long time. Maybe ever. How'd you... know that spot?"
Zelda only shrugged, "I'm not sure. I lost my memories only recently- well, sort of- and I only remember... pleasuring myself, um, a few times. But I remembered this one spot I could never quite reach, and I felt that with the difference in angle..."
"Well, you certainly reached it," Sagessa chuckled again, "I felt like I touched the stars, for a moment!"
"If you saw stars, then I guess I did well," Zelda grinned down at her.
"R- Right. Well... if you don't mind, I think I might like a bit of a breather before we do more."
"Sounds great," Zelda replied. "Um... is... well... I'm not sure how..."
Sagessa sat up with another teasing smile, though her tits still shook with the deep breaths she took, "You... asking if it's alright to snuggle a bit? Sure, darlin'."
Zelda blushed. She had been thinking that very thing, but wasn't sure she could find the words to say it. She nodded.
"Well, alright, go ahead and lay back down, and let Sagessa take care of you."
It was... pleasant, being in another woman's arms, Zelda decided. It was pleasant feeling safe, warm, and comforted. Her breasts made amazing pillows, too. She would, and could, definitely go for some more, but for now the edge had been sated. She could rest for a little, and let the other woman rest too. For now.
Unfortunately, before either Sagessa or Zelda caught their breath, both were asleep.
Sagessa was gone when Zelda woke the next morning, the burning ache in her loins noticeable more by its absence. Whatever had passed between them, the lust-fueled moments, or hours, Zelda felt like it had done the job. Perhaps even better than the Screw had. Whether the relief would last longer this time, she couldn't say. Even sated, it still bubbled from somewhere deep within her.
But it was bearable, something she could just barely ignore. At least, for now.
On the beside table, a short note in a distinctly feminine but barely-lettered hand sat half underneath the water glass.
Zina,
Sorry we didn't make it to another round. I'll have to owe you one next time you come through. I couldn't break your fifty Rupees. Like I said, a girl's got to eat. But I think I can give you one more quick climax, since you've already paid for it.
I hope you enjoyed last night. I know I did. Look for me again.
-Sagessa
Zelda smiled. Yes... she had definitely enjoyed the night. While part of her thought she might have needed to feel embarrassed, she actually felt anything but that particular emotion. Giddy, heady, eager to do it again even without the lust-mad feelings that had made it happen? Yes, those she felt. The princess realized, in that moment, something about what Sagessa had told her about herself resonated with Zelda, too.
I like sex.
True, the prostitute had then gone on to say it was nice to be paid for something she enjoyed.
But with just those three words...
Zelda felt her entire world-view change, just a little.
She wasn't sure what it meant, or how it had changed, but something inside her had.
Still, she had work to do. A journey to continue, a new destination to reach in Hateno Village.
She even mostly had directions: Follow the eastern road.
In theory, it should take her there. But first... a bit of transportation might be in order.
Zelda smiled to herself. Catching a wild horse as the stable-masters, Rensa and Tasseren, suggested since their current stock was already purchased seemed intimidating... but she had done scary things before.
And, like many young women, Zelda knew without question she loved horses.
There was just something powerful, yet romantic about them. And of course, as a princess, she was likely also an experienced rider. Her body would, or should at least, remember even if her mind did not.
She could try it, at least, and if she had to walk afterward, so be it.
Once her things were packed up, Zelda gave a nod to the morning waitress in the public room, the only worker she could see in the early hour, then headed out just before dawn, heading directly east.
Almost the exact same path, in fact, she had taken to arrive at the Stable a day earlier.
She found her first small group of the animals not an hour into her walk, grazing at the half-tilled, half-wild fields that surrounded the small, semi-mobile settlement. There were four of them. A dappled palomino with off-white spots amid the brown hair and a long, white mane with specks of brown in it; a strangely-colored, soft green coated horse with white spots similar to a palamino's, whose eyes were a deep pine green and looked almost diseased, even if the horse was healthy-looking overall; a more stark gray-black one that almost looked like storm clouds...
And the one she chose at once.
He was definitely a stallion, no doubt among the fastest and strongest of the horses on the entire Blatchery Plain, both lean and large. Almost entirely black, aside from a white muzzle and jagged line down his nose, and two tufts at the back of each foreleg. Silky and sleek-looking, the horse eyed her warily as she approached, but Zelda only circled at a fair distance, keeping her self back from the mares and one small foal she saw. Was it late summer, then...? Birthing time?
Was that the birthing time for horses?
Most horses, a familiar voice entered her mind as if called up from some misty, foggy depth, will give birth in spring or summer when food is plentiful. They usually mate around the same time, and a mare is pregnant for about eleven months.
Her lover had told her that, once.
Zelda smiled as the flicker of a memory without any context came back to her, two of them side by side with a fire in front of them, surrounded by trees and stars overhead, reading by firelight and fireflies both. It lasted only a moment, long enough for him to tell her that one bit of information the book hadn't mentioned, and then... nothing. No memory of his face, his clothes, only a vague outline of an arm and his voice.
But that was something, and more than she'd had before.
She knew what to do. Her Sheikah Armor would help. Even built to watch behind and from all sides as most herds were, as the stallion usually positioned themselves, she could do this. The animal was hungry, distracted, and she was silent. She moved through the tall grass easily, smoothly, bent low but walking with steady steps all the same, as if she was born to it.
Maybe she was, the stealth aspect of 'guile' certainly came to her easily enough.
Then she was there, just a few feet behind it.
Her muscles tensed...
She leaped, her whole body straining with effort, Zelda hurled herself upward and forward, legs wide and hands outstretched to grab hold of mane or neck- preferably the former, as she had no wish to scare the creature by choking it.
Having a human land on it out of the blue would probably be jarring enough, she reasoned.
Thump.
She had done it! Her first leap had landed her squarely on the stallion's back! Her hands flew forward, tightening and tangling in the mane...
Only to slip away, as it bucked suddenly. Sky twisted, swirling with the grassy earth as her stomach did a flip even faster than the rest of her.
Zelda landed with a whoof flat on her stomach, accompanied by the clop, clop of twenty hooves pounding away at high speed.
"Damn it," she swore, and forced herself to her knees, near breathless. She hadn't had the wind knocked out of her by the impact, not entirely, but her ribs hurt something fierce. Not bad enough to be broken, she felt, but badly bruised.
"Again," she growled, and bent low again, her eyes sweeping just over the grass. Ten minutes later, the horses finally came to a halt more than a mile away, dangerously close to the Ancient Guardian she had fled from before, but it did not activate.
Could she make it...? They were outside its range, it seemed, if only just. It would be a narrow thing... and now the horses were on alert.
But she had to try, that horse was beautiful, and she wanted it. Something about its wild nature called to her, too.
So Zelda moved, until her back started to ache from walking bent over, then her thighs began to burn, and she walked a little more.
This time, two mares were facing her, so Zelda came at the stallion from a little further to the right relative to itself, crouched almost at a crawl as she slid through the tall, breeze-driven grass. A distant rumble of thunder from far to the south made the stallion's right ear perk up as it rolled over the plain, but the horse's head did not lift from its cautious grazing.
She brought her body agonizingly slowly into a crouch again... and this time hurled herself upward with one arm already going for the mane, her right leg down but bent, and the left high and swung wide. She twisted mid-air, coming up in the most dangerous zone where a horse could kick with great power but no accuracy...
The black animal nickered, and one mare gave a whinny of alarm...
And her arm closed on the thing's thick, muscled neck, giving her just enough of a shift in momentum to spin, bringing her body in line with the horse's. Her left leg slammed down against the ribs, both ankles far too away to lock but trying anyway around the massive ribs. Then the other hand found the horse's mane too, and she held on for dear life, calling and crying in soothing tones, while she struggled to pat it, or offer an apple she could not quite get out of her satchel as it shook and bucked and reared.
Then a sound rang over both her and the horse's perception.
Bong... whhrrrrrrrr... Deedeedeedeedeedeedee-
She saw the red spot on the horse's neck, waving and spinning as the horse did, before the animal went still.
The dot did too, and she could just make out the red tracer beam that lead back to the Guardian, which had now stirred to life, its eye shining malevolently.
"Run," Zelda urged, kicking back on instinct, "Run!"
To her shock, the horse obeyed, dashing forward with a lurch that almost tore her hands from its mane on the first spurring kick. Her pelvis, so recently satisfied by Sagessa, burned and ached with the jarring as it crashed down on the suddenly galloping horse's back.
White-blue fire lanced out behind her, smashing into a stone ruin and sending brick and mortar flying.
She could just feel, then, the red beam hit her neck through her hair as she tugged on the mane, trying to get her captive mount to turn. It was clearly reluctant, frightened not just by the thing on its back but the deadly Guardian, but a forceful tug finally urged it to the right, just in time for the next blast to splash almost-harmlessly against the shell of a long-burned out Guardian. Almost, because a single spark of white-hot fire splashed out and against Zelda's right shoulder, making her yelp in pain- even the sparks were dangerous!
It scalded and burned through her clothes in an instant, and left a divot in her shoulder muscle, but Zelda could not let herself feel too much pain at the moment. Already, a red dot had appeared on the horse's right shoulder, mirroring her injury.
There! A hill! She tugged right as the horse continued its panicked gallop, and they nearly careened into the palamino from before, its foal chasing after it on awkward, terrified legs, but the stallion just leaped up and over its back in time, landing with a jarring thud but without slowing a whit.
They they were down the slope, out of sight of the Guardian, and... and... the Stable! They were close, they would make it!
They would...
Experience had taught the princess that it was in the moment of triumph that fate or luck tended to rear its ugly head. This, then, would be the moment another Bokoblin, or Lizalfos, or for all she knew the Calamity itself would make an appearance, anything to deter her.
But it did not happen. Slowly, somehow, Zelda's soothing words and not one but three slightly over-ripe apples and a carrot had the beast walking beneath her almost calmly as they trotted up to the stable. It was clearly wary of the people, most of whom were smart enough to give it a wide berth.
Rensa, though, looked dumbfounded as Zelda tugged once more, and the horse came to a halt in front of him. "You... you caught him? That horse is a monster!"
"He's not a monster," Zelda protested quietly, "and don't yell- you'll spook him."
Abashed, at least a little, but still wide-eyed Rensa told her, "Well, no, he's not a Monster, but he's a very, very feral horse. He's liable to bolt at the slightest provocation, the leader of the whole Blatchery herd. How? How did you tame it?"
Zelda only grinned softly, "Well, a mutual escape from one of those Guardians might have done the trick- but I don't recommend trying it yourself. We narrowly made it out."
"I can believe it," Tasseren replied from his counter a short way off, "That wound looks like a bleeder. Best get to my wife to get it treated. Rensa and I will take care of your... mount. You got a name picked out for him? This one's on us."
Zelda grinned. She had been low on funds, but if they would stable it for the night, that was great! And treat her injury, too? Even better. "I do kind of like the sound of Nightmare..."
Rensa chuckled, making the horse nicker and shake its head. He flinched back, "Whoah, sorry, there! Nightmare's a fine name, don't stomp me!"
The princess's smile only widened.
