-Kantan, Country of Zhao-

"This is her?" Dawn stared at Zelda skeptically. Zelda gazed back blankly.

Impa had done her best. She helped the girl bathe and clean up in a room overnight. Unfortunately, she could not fix years of mental, emotional, and physical abuse, filth, malnutrition, and bugs in one night. Transforming her into a proper princess would require years of training and care. Zelda had uttered nothing, and the distant stare was eerie. Impa feared for whether or not the girl was capable of being a leader of any sort.

Zelda stayed close, not moving out of arms reach since the day before. Her eyes were wary of the men and women around them. Zelda was visibly uncomfortable in the open and crowds where she was exposed.

"Yes," Impa confirmed.

"Don't look much like royalty."

"Yes, well, neither do you!" Impa snapped. Dawn had been grating at her nerves since they met. Her response earned him a well-mannered tease from his companions, and the man backed off under Impa's protective stare.

"This will do it." Midnight patted the barrels and motioned them over with an encouraging smile. "She gets into a barrel, and we ride through the checkpoints. Easy!" Despite his words, Zelda clung to Impa.

"Is it necessary?" Impa asked. "Zelda looks frightened by the idea."

Dawn grunted, "Unless you want to traverse the country and be caught by roaming war parties or bandits."

Midnight glanced down at Zelda and whispered, "We have an understanding with the guards. It's the key to our work. This is how it has to be done."

"I see." The idea begrudged Impa, but if it was necessary. She helped Zelda onto the cart, and with more encouragement, the girl climbed into a barrel. Impa promised to be beside her the whole time. The marketers checked everything one more time, and they were off.

The checkpoints the group passed would be the same ones Impa had already passed with credentials forged by Chancellor Ryo, so she wasn't nervous about being seen.

They stopped when they were in sight of the first checkpoint near midday. Twilight said, "Alright boys and girls, get comfortable and let me do the talking. Girly, you good back there?"

"Yes," Zelda said from her barrel. "It's hot... And it stinks..."

The man chuckled. "You can come out and breathe in a bit. Just be quiet and don't move. Our lives are on the line."

They approached the first checkpoint. Impa observed from the back as the soldiers performed an inspection, but it was an inadequate inspection by any standard. The guard captain and black marketer talked like old buds. The formality was a ruse.

In passing through, the second gate was immediately visible over the horizon, and before long, they had passed two checkpoints.

"This was easier than I thought. That looked completely routine." Impa observed.

"Once we persuaded the captains to our side, it's all formality," Twilight replied. He jerked the horses to a halt. They were far beyond the checkpoint. "Okay, girly, you can come out."

The men removed enough of the contraption to let Zelda out. The girl was gasping for air and sweating. Impa said, "She is suffering from heat exhaustion. We should rest now."

Midnight smiled for Zelda. His gentle nature contrasted with Dawn's gruff demeanor. "We won't reach the final checkpoint till tomorrow anyway. You can stay out. If you want a break, there is a creek south of here."

"I will take Zelda and get her cooled off, then. We'll be back." Impa clasped Zelda's hand and descended the hill.

"Don't take too long!" Midnight called.

True to his word, there was a creek down the hill. Immediately Zelda took a running start to jump in. Impa chuckled. It was an amazingly childish thing. Something she almost dreaded was beyond the damaged princess. For a moment, she seemed like an ordinary girl.

Zelda's change was rapid and immediate. Having spent a night out of her mother's care, Zelda spoke brief sentences instead of half-words. As they fled the city and were well on their way to Qin, the princess was animated. She was aware. What was hidden, and restrained was coming out.

-Zelda-

Zelda floated in the creek contently. She closed her eyes and basked in it. It drenched the girl through her rags and soothed her after being baked in a confined space. The water seemed to sap at Zelda's very mind and pulled away burdensome strands from her thoughts. In Kantan, her every thought was about surviving, about escape, hiding, and enduring the pain and hatred.

Here, in this creek, all that went away for a moment. There was no city to beat her and chase her. Her mother was not here, and after the lovely breakfast with Impa, she wasn't starved for the first time Zelda could remember. There was only the sound of birdsong, the tranquil water, and the occasional small fish to stroke her skin and tickle her under the protective gaze of the woman sent by the moon. A wave of peace and joy Zelda had never known swept over her, and all she desired was to slow time that she may extend this moment.

Something splashed next to her, and Zelda rotated her head to look at it, only to gasp in horror. She saw herself crawling out of the water with eyes infested with worms and teeth with blood flowing. The 'other' was bony, scarred, and wore torn rags revealing all of her ribs and bones. It moved toward her like a spider atop the water.

"No. No!" Zelda tried to move but couldn't. Hands reached out of the water and seized her. The water-filled with corpses cried out for vengeance and grasped to pull Zelda beneath the surface.

The 'other' crawled on top of her on all fours and stared down at the petrified princess. Worms fell from the 'other's eyes onto Zelda's face. Zelda twisted her face and closed her eyes. She instinctively turtled within herself, waiting for the blows to come. She felt the 'other's breath on her cheek. It smelled of decay and rot.

"You think you have the right to be content?" It breathed. "You think you have the right to live after what you did? If you had never been born, they wouldn't've lost their family in Chouhei. If you had never been born, your mother would be happy. You are a curse! You cursed Zhao, and if you flee to Qin, you will only curse them!"

The vision grabbed Zelda by the throat and morphed so that its face was her mother. It was at this point that Zelda found her voice and was able to thrash around.

A moment later, she found herself enveloped in a woman's arms, and the hallucination disappeared. Zelda cried. She shook. It was more than just the waking nightmare that pierced the walls around her mind the girl had built up for years. It was the hug itself. Her mother had hugged her before, but not since she could remember.

-Impa-

Neither knew how long they sat in the river. Zelda shed years' worth of tears, and Impa said nothing to encourage nor discourage them. It wasn't for a long time that Zelda was able to calm herself.

The princess asked, "What happened in Chouhei?"

Impa tensed at the word. A thousand implications came to mind of what Zhao had done to her because of Chouhei. "Why do you ask?"

"I've always been blamed for it. The people beat me calling out vengeance for whatever happened at Chouhei and that I deserve to die."

Impa sighed. She figured as much. "How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Then you were three when it happened. Your father, the king of Qin, was visiting Zhao to seek some form of agreement. During his stay, Zhao attacked Qin. I guess Zhao's king thought that holding the other king hostage against his own country would stay our hand, but his general failed. The Zhao general was killed, and the officers below him surrendered. It is considered honorable to send the soldiers home. Or perhaps to recruit them into your army. Or enslave them. Or barter them. Rather than do any of that, even bargaining four hundred-thousand lives for the Qin king, the general executed every person in a living burial."

"Living burial?"

"Where you bury them alive," Impa explained dispassionately. Zelda gasped.

Impa continued, "By standards even towards enemies, this was monstrous. That four-hundred thousand made up members from families all across the country. There was no family in all of Zhao that did not suffer from the loss. In the weeping and chaos, Chancellor Ryo Fui was able to evacuate your father. He could not, however, get you or your mother out."

"Did you come under his wishes, then?" Zelda asked.

Impa blinked in surprise. Zelda was right, but it startled Impa how easily the princess came to this conclusion. "Yes. It was believed that everyone died, and no one knew you were born, to begin with. I didn't know. Not until Ryo gave me this mission."

"Oh..." Zelda whispered sadly.

Sensing why she was getting upset, Impa consoled her, "I would have come even without orders. Once I knew you were alive, no horse could get me here fast enough."

That seemed to appease the girl. Zelda rubbed the tears out of her eyes and straightened up. Her eyes were more clear and focused than before. "So I didn't do anything?"

"No, you didn't."

Zelda said nothing more. She seemed to accept the answer and started walking back to the cart up the hill. Impa sighed. She had a feeling the girl was becoming attached to her. Unwise for a monarch, but Impa felt it would be wrong to discourage the behavior either. If Zelda demanded it, then Impa would accept becoming whatever she needed to be.

(Edited 8/19/2020 scribens 3/11/2020 Gradeproof 3/12/2020, brief update 4/10/2020)