-Chancellor Ryo-

"Chancellor, a word please." Rishi approached Chancellor Ryo.

"Hm?" Ryo stopped.

Among his ministers Ryo had selected four to be his closest hands, as four pillars on which he built his strength.

Rishi was his man of law. His understanding of justice, both retribution justice and distributive justice, was beyond compare. He was a man almost completely devoid of bias. The man also had a perfect memory that outmatched Ryo's own.

Abhdan was Ryo's teacher, and chief ambassador. Abhdan was Qin's former Chancellor and held connection networks in all seven kingdoms that outreached Ryo's own. The old man was perhaps the only Qin openly welcomed in the court of the seven kings, making him Qin's ambassador to the world.

Shou Hei Kun was Ryo's tactician. Ryo had yet to find a man who could beat Shou in chess, but more than that Shou had seen real war enough times to be easily able to apply tactics to it on par with the greatest of masters. In fact, Shou ran a school for Qin's officers in the ways of tactical and theoretical war.

Moubu was Ryo's general. What Shou lacked in strength, but made up for in raw intellect, Mou Bu was the exact opposite. Moubu had enough of a hand in tactics to be handy, but was most effective on the front lines leading a spearhead assault through multiple lines of enemies and aspiring legions of men to feats of strength rivaling berserkers. Ryo would have wanted Ouki Mitagi to be his general, but in lacking Ouki, he found Moubu. Moubu was inspired by Ouki, studied under him for a time, and aspired to be even stronger than him one day. Moubu believed his strength alone could overcome any obstacle.

He had yet to be proven wrong.

"Chancellor," Rishi said. "Why did you decide to rely on assassins? If you had asked us, we would have definitely succeeded."

Ryo chuckled. His three other advisors stopped to listen. "Rishi. All I did was turn a situation to my advantage. It was not planned. Besides... where would be the fun in 'definite'?"

"Huh?" Rishi muttered, confused.

"Oh-Ho!" Abhdan laughed. "Seems Rishi has yet to understand the Chancellor's true nature. Ryo does not want the princess to die. It may be advantageous if she did, but he is by no means in a rush. This rather stems from his childishness. Having lost his sparring partner, Ketsu, Ryo perhaps wished to test the young girl who would be king. Not to mention Zelda has eyed Lady Impa for the position of Chancellor some time now. Impa is far better than Ketsu ever was. She is among the few women he respects. Makes this old soul wonder why you have tried courting her. Or anyone. I need some grandbabies!"

"Sensei!" Ryo chastised his former teacher. He picked up a pebble off the ground and threw it in Abhdan's general direction.

"Oh-ho! Flee! He wants my butt!" Abhdan hurried away laughing. "My age I take with me! You can't have it!"

The men laughed at the antics between them. Despite their official positions, Ryo and Abhdan were like father and son. A most curious relationship, as Abhdan also taught Zelda and Ryo respected it, never asking his teacher to sabotage the girl. Nor did Zelda try to use Abhdan against Ryo.

Abhdan scrambled (with help from Moubu's son, Mouki) into a cart. Ryo took another pebble and banged the side of the cart with it. Abhdan squealed and yelled that he would spit on Ryo's grave. Ryo smiled and exclaimed, "Let us depart from here! Let us return to my estate, set it in order, and drink!" His ministers cheered.

-Ganondorf Dragmire-

Ganon took hold of the furniture and shoved it back on its legs from where it had toppled over.

While he worked to get the room in half-way decent order again, Zelda lay on the bed wrapped up staring at the ceiling. He put the weapons that had scattered onto the stand. He kicked the clothes into the cloth room. He picked the chest up and placed it at the foot of her bed, presuming it had originally been there.

"Untie me. This is humiliating." Zelda whispered.

"Are you still angry?" Ganon asked.

"Yes."

"With him or me?"

"Both."

"Good." He answered. "You suffered a publicly humiliating defeat out there. He walked all over you. What I am doing is not much better, but I do it in private to preserve your reputation and to make sure you don't do something stupid."

"I wouldn't-"

"We both know you don't feel pain easily." Ganon said.

Zelda turned her head towards him, surprised. "How?"

"When you were beating your brother, you bruised your hand to the bone without so much as blinking. You bleed without noticing it. You have a cut on your left shoulder from where you stabbed yourself a minute ago."

Surprised, Zelda looked at her own shoulder. "I-I don't see it."

"Because it's not there, it is actually on your right shoulder." Ganon took the cheapest cloth he could find and ripped it to ribbons. "The fact you didn't know that proves it. It doesn't look deep, but I wouldn't be using that arm for a while, and if you will cooperate, I will wrap it."

"No."

Ganon stared at her. "Are you going to let a doctor handle it?"

She did not answer.

"And this is why I have to man-handle you." Ganon resumed his task. He took the cloth of ribbon, roughly pulled her back enough to expose her shoulder, and wrapped her shoulder over the clothing she already wore.

"You don't have to."

He pulled the knot so tight it made her flinch in pain. "Clearly I do."

"No... you don't. Its humiliating."

"Being manhandled is humiliating? Then don't force people to do it." Ganon glared at her. Zelda gulped at the fierceness in his eyes. It was mostly his natural hawkish look, but his tone was all he needed to change to emphasis his point. "You are forcing others to take care of you because you won't take care of yourself. So as long as you do stupid stunts like that, then someone will have to humiliate you."

Zelda stared at him in open shock. It was rather unnerving, as if what he was saying and doing was completely foreign to her. But it was a simple lecture. Any child will receive them from their parents.

She said nothing, but turned away from him. Ganon frowned at first, but judged she wasn't being obstinate. She was just embarrassed.

Ganon huffed. "Have you never been lectured before?"

"No." Zelda answered simply.

Her simple statement struck him silent. He felt there was something there, but he didn't know much beyond the fact that the girl didn't seem to have a healthy relationship with her mother, her brother wanted her dead, and her father...

Ganon sighed. "Do you promise to not do anything stupid to hurt yourself if I untie you?"

"Yes."

Ganon untied her. Zelda flexed her arms and flinched slightly as she only now noticed the cut in her shoulder and bruises on her arms and hands. "I'm not going to thank you." Zelda whispered.

"I'm not going to apologize." Ganon replied.

Zelda nodded in understanding. She shook like a leaf in the wind and she grit her teeth. "I promise I will not hurt myself, but I am still so angry. I don't know what to do with all this rage. It would be best if no one comes near me for a time."

Ganon frowned. "Then why don't you find a healthy way of using it?"

"Such as?"

Few minutes later, Ganon walked out with Zelda. Zelda apologized to Impa for worrying her as the older woman1 hugged the young girl tightly. Sarah also hugged her while crying her eyes out. Link stood to the side awkwardly and a little disgusted at all the sappy, icky, emotional hug crap.

"Chancellor, where is the palace armory?" Ganon asked.

A little while later, they were outside. Some servants had brought out training dummies and Zelda had taken a sword and some thick-leather armor. Under Impa's instruction, Zelda was using it. At least at first. Before long, Zelda was thrashing the dummy relentlessly with such savagery it made Impa recoil and Ganon smirk.

Zelda decapitated the wooden dummy and panted in exhaustion.

"Better?" Ganon asked.

"Better." Zelda breathed out slowly. She looked to her new Chancellor. "Impa, inform Kei Ki he has one year to satisfy me."

This made Impa gasp in surprise. "You mean you're accepting his offer?!"

Zelda nodded. "Tell him to make an army. As an official officer in my army he will be regulated to the same laws and customs as all the others, so he can't just go around killing our people, but he is free to do what he wants with the criminals and mafia to employ them into his army. If he does not have an army sizable enough to satisfy me in one year's time, he will be executed."

Zelda continued, "Also, bring to me Shi Ketsu. The man should still be under house-arrest."

Impa bowed and departed.

"Ketsu?" Ganon asked. "Didn't you kill that fat bastard? I seem to recall attending his execution." Ganon grinned in nostalgia. "Limbs torn off by horses... that is just so satisfyingly gruesome."

"Shi Ketsu is Chancellor Ketsu's son, and inherited what remains of Ketsu's faction. After I gave a sizable portion to you and took into possession of the rest of the land, that is. Shi has nothing in his family name anymore except for his reputation, which is one of treason. Except I know the truth."

Ganon raised an eyebrow curiously. Able to read his unspoken question to her obvious leading, Zelda continued, "When Chancellor Ketsu plotted against me, his son tried to talk him out of it. As we know, he could not, but it means a great deal to me that the Chancellor's right hand-man defended me however he could. Unfortunately with how things are, I had to arrest all of Ketsu's court. I executed a number of the highest ones to make an example, but Shi I spared."

"As an act of mercy?" Ganon inquired. Zelda smiled darkly. Ganon smirked. "No, of course not. You hoped you could use him at some point."

"The man has respect for the throne. Enough so to argue against his own in defense of it. That is not something to be thrown away. It may lose me a little of my reputation to ask him to join me, with his reputation being what it is, but he is a skilled man, but most of all he is a desperate one. The dishonor to hos name will follow him unless I offer him a source of salvation. He will grasp to me like a drowning man. He is a powerful man. And I need power."

Zelda looked to the palace. "The palace has been repeatedly the source of plots, assassinations, and has been conquered back and forth repeatedly for a year. There is corrupt men feasting on the starvation of the poor, sacrificing their faith in our Goddess for faith in money and power... and there are men after my head. It is time for a change. I do not merely want Shi, I want him to be my second-highest minister below Impa. With his, Impa's, and the Elder Fae's help I plan to reorganize everything from the bottom up. I will remove the ministers who produce nothing and replace them with ones who have earned it, and will continue to earn it. I will secure the palace so the throne is safe and can be a solid foundation for Qin."

Zelda looked to him. "Fighting Ryo will require me to reorganize my entire faction, but when I am done, we should be able to fight him properly."

Ganon smiled. "Good. How long do you expect this will take?"

"One year." Zelda answered. "Most likely more, but I am aiming for one year. Then my war with Ryo can begin. That's why I am going to give Kei Ki one year."

Seeing the firmness of Zelda's resolve, and the strength of her determination return, Ganon felt his own ambitions spark again. Yet, something blossomed more, for Zelda was still visibly angry. He liked her angry. It made her strong.

"Then allow me to also make a goal of my own." Ganondorf Dragmire said. "I will stay for the month, then return to Majora. With the aid of your weapons and some tribute from Ketsu, I will conquer as much of the mountains to the west as I can in one year from now."

Zelda smiled. "This pleases me."

"I thought it might. Naturally deaths will be minimal. I will not be committing genocide, I'm bringing under tribute the villages and clans and creating an army."

"I'm sure they will appreciate your mercy." Zelda chuckled.

Link watched them talk of death and war so easily and felt a shiver go down his spine. "You two... are downright evil. Its creepy!"

Zelda laughed. "Possibly." Zelda admitted. "I don't admit to being a saint. Sarah and Impa think I'm a good person. You two know differently."

"Don't sell yourself short." Link huffed. "You are better than you think you are." He roped his arms together.

"Aww, that's cute." Zelda smirked. "You think I have a heart. You think I have morals and feelings for people. That's adorable! Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. It would be so much easier if I didn't. Well, if I do, I can just blame all of you." Zelda waved it off.

While the assassination attempt was not on the same scale as the Prince's rebellion, it would have an impact on Zelda's faction that would be so much greater it would be incomparable. As it were, the kingdom of Qin was controlled by a noble whose strength was so overwhelming that he did not even consider Zelda to be a threat.

This assassination attempt indicated that this man had started to bare his fangs at her. It showed he now considered her a threat worthy of notice... and now Zelda knew the true test had started.

As such the challenge only invigorated her and she knew she could not fight him as she was. With such a thought in mind, she recruited Shi Ketsu, a man experienced in a lifetime of court management, and Zelda's faction underwent a transformation as it was reorganized and rebuilt stronger than ever.

Ryo noticed the shift in Zelda's faction in the days after he gave his report, and his response was nothing more than a smile and a far off gaze.

-Meanwhile, in Zhao-

A man, battle-scarred and covered in furs over his armor, walked through a dense, dark forest. The birds fled, the animals bared their teeth at him, but he pressed on unconcerned.

The forest was filled with a vile hatred in the air so thick it made him sweat. The wolf's eyes were unnaturally red with hate. The ground seemed to steam ever so slightly as if coals. The trees reached out to grab him. His breathing was forced to be a heavy huff, pulling in hot air and expelling steam.

This forest was desolate. No man dared come near. Men who did were said to be driven mad. It was said demons filled the forest. He knew them to be nothing more than myths and legends.

But even myths and legends start from a seed of truth.

The man entered a clearing. In the midst of it was a wooden cabin. On the lawn out front of it a man stood. His hair was red, his eyes red, his skin black. He wore thick black armor and had a giant sword with a keen edge as thick and long as a cleaver. The sword alone weighed a full half-ton, and the armor a full ton.

The man with the red eyes instantly recognized the intruder. "Riboku," He said. "What do you want?"

The Riboku bowed humbly. "I hope you are well."

"Well enough." The man grunted. He repeated. "What do you want?"

"Qin stole a political hostage. For this break in mandate Zhao is preparing an army for war."

"Political hostage?" The man inquired.

"A young girl and her mother were stolen away. They were of the Qin Royal Family. Their presence as hostages insured Qin would not attack. It was part of the agreement in return for Zhao sending the king's lover, Shun Pei Kun, to them as hostage. Qin has betrayed the contract and done us a great dishonor in stealing them away. The king fears they will execute Shun Pei Kun and invade us."

The red-haired man stared at him. He scoffed. "Tell me the real reason. If it was about that, the king would have invaded long ago."

Riboku smiled knowingly. "You caught me. Very well: the king is angry and Qin is bleeding. It has lost a prince and invaders have reached the throne room many times. There is a weakness in Qin, a weakness the king would like to exploit. And this is personal, since the hostage I spoke of is the one on the throne."

He looked into the eyes of the red-haired man. "And he knows of your hatred for Qin. He requests for you to lead the army, Harken Dragmire."