-Zelda-

Zelda stood on the hill looking over the rest of the camp and the fortress beyond. The fortress had returned into Mitagi and Qin hands, and the people were being escorted back. A massive gathering of men and woman moved over the valley back to their home. Along with them were supply filled caravans provided by the city.

Though it was good, a part of the report made Zelda frown. Word of Mitagi's fall had spread quickly on the wings of a messenger to the palace, and Ryu had stepped out of his self-imposed exodus to take command in her absence and have repair efforts provided from the nearby cities and forts. She knew all of this by the simple document that Chancellor Ryu had signed for these things to be done. Chancellor Impa also signed the order below his name, but Zelda knew Ryu would be the one to gain a token of prestige from the work. Zelda was absent. She was here, at Mitagi, but she felt powerless. She had shown face here, and presided over a dispute between two clans of Qin, but she hadn't been at the palace to stand before her ministers and give the order in a way that would give her honor.

A frightened squeal drew Zelda attention. Sarah scampered up the hill towards camp, only to be terrified of a little creature who she was desperately trying to avoid. However, the creature, a little mouse, blocked her path completely. The two were left at an impasse until the mouse decided to move on to its next hiding place. Zelda's concubine picked up her skirt and ran up the grassy hill towards her.

Zelda smiled in amusement briefly, before returning her attention to where it belonged. Seeing the people again made her frown. Her brows knit together in frustration.

"You can't be everywhere at once, you know," Sarah said from the side.

Zelda narrowed her eyes briefly. "Are you a mind reader now?"

Sarah smiled knowingly, patted down her skirt, and pretended to be nice and innocent. "Your countenance has been sour since you read the notice. I don't have to be." This only made Zelda's composure sour further. Sarah laughed. "You aren't that easy to read for most. No need to fret."

"Stop reading my mind. Now this is becoming scary." Zelda saw no one else was near, so while it was impolite and unprofessional, she could allow Sarah to seem smug. Zelda sighed theatrically. "Whatever happened to the nervous, stuttering girl."

"Well, I nearly died. Multiple times. Then she was threatened by a Dragmire with half of his mind gone. Compared to them... Well..." She left the sentence unfinished.

"I am not what? As scary?"

"As mad."

Zelda snorted. Some would argue with her on that. Zelda knew she wasn't the most stable person, and so far as Sarah and Impa told her, she was also in the thralls of the most chaotic years of her life before becoming a woman. She had to admit that Sarah had a point. Her little concubine had braved untold terror and looked death in the face just by fervently standing by her side. Experiences like that would shape a person. How she was terrified by a mouse was beyond her.

Zelda changed the subject. "I need to be at the capital soon. If Ryu has returned from his self-imposed exile, then that means his plan will be set in motion, and I cannot trust him to not take some action against me in my absence."

"But... Impa is there."

"That is perhaps the only reason I will still have a throne to sit on."

"You can't really think that, do you?" Sarah asked, surprised. "Ryu has worked with you when Zhao attacked. Ryu stepped away and now has sent aid. He even was the one to place you on the throne. I mean, he did play a part with the assassin, but... if he truly wanted the throne, wouldn't he have taken it by now?"

"You would think so, and he does. He has told me many a time his ambition is to plant his seed on the throne. A funny statement from a man with no heir to the family name. The problem is that this game is over the long term. He does good for the kingdom, but he also will go on the offensive against me. I cannot just sit by and do nothing. Much as I want to accept the good he does, it also gains him honor and prestige, increasing the distance between us." Zelda sighed. "If only he lacked this ambition, then I could take his work at face value. But it is also his ambition that makes him... effective."

"How do you think your decision for the Dragmire slaves will be taken?"

"Hopefully not too badly. The Dragmire are mostly considered extinct, but those of us who know better know there are slaves sprinkled among the kingdom. Few enough for the masses to think them dead, but enough for me to know differently. Hundreds at most amongst millions. Practically, it is nothing, but the implications and stance it has me making is the problem people will have. It will be as if I will stand to free more slaves, and if so, which ones? By what standard? It is new and different and sudden and threatening. Some will wonder if I am showing favoritism to the Dragmire, who, to be fair, haven't worked to gain it more than, say, the Mitagi... I will lose my stance for this."

Zelda's eyes fell and her composure saddened. "Once I had no power to create change, no ability to influence the world. Now I have power, weight behind my words, and I don't know if it is any better."

Seeing her worries grow, Sarah had an idea and left to search for Geoffrey. The man was not far off. He was occupied with meetings, receiving updates, and giving orders, but when the that was over, he welcomed Sarah warmly.

"Lord Geoffrey, I want to ask something," She said.

Geoffrey blinked in surprise. His gaze momentarily went past her. "You? Not the princess?"

"Yes, although it is for her. I heard your master was a fan of games."

"Lord Ouki was, as am I."

"I remember my princess spoke well of the games she and Ouki played, and looked forward to more. They lifted her spirits."

He smiled knowingly. "Are you proposing the princess plays a game with me?"

Sarah blushed. While she had seen many beautiful men in the palace, the Englishman was exotic and noble. He was strong without being herculean, but that only made her want to vomit: the amount of muscles he had disgusted her! But he was solid, firm, and the twirly mustache made him look slightly comical, so it added to his persona of being warm and welcoming. He was, literally and figuratively, a girl's dream knight, complete with silver armor.

"N-no-nothing so sp-specific... B-but something to lift her sp-spirits. Sh-She will be returning to the palace soon and the battles that await her there w-wa-weigh on her." She mentally kicked herself for stuttering again.

"I think a game would be good for us all. The people have experienced a shock, and we have just finished a heavy topic of discussion between two factions. Something my..." Geoffrey paused. "My lord Ouki always made sure that no matter how heavy a subject one started with, meetings should never end the same way. It is customary amongst lords to host feasts following a political event. We cannot host a feast, but I am sure we can make do..." He stroked his beard and mustache a moment, bringing another blush to Sarah's face.

-Later-

It was a bit sudden and impromptu, but Geoffrey made a challenge to the Majora as a friendly game before they departed. They accepted. A hole was dug near the edges of the city and then backfilled with urine, feces, and mud. The strongest rope that could be found was provided. Crowds gathered along the walls, the hills, and mudpit to watch. Zelda and Link sat near the events to watch. The nobles stayed much further back, on account of the smell. Having been downwind of much worse in her youth, Zelda merely found it unpleasent.

From among them, the Majora selected nine men plus Nabooru. From among the Mitagi, they selected ten men. Geoffrey stepped in between the parties, inserted a long pole into the hole, and pulled it out for everyone to see. The muck was four feet deep.

Nabooru turned her nose up. "This is quite a smell."

"Yes, I know you Majora are sensitive to it," Geoffrey cajoled. "More incentive to not fall in! I also know you play games with your do-" She leveled a glare at him. "-wolves, and I thought to repeat it on a... grander scale." He patted her roughly on the shoulder, causing her to wince.

A few minutes later, the coffers of drink were opened wide, and Geoffrey stood on a stand of barrels. He raised his sword, a few horns were blown, and people's attention was drawn forwards.

Geoffrey pointed his sword to the side and roared, "Over here! We have the ugly, the unwashed, the dark-skinned, the dog-smelling and soon to be the shit-smelling, the pig-humping, the frog-licking Majora!"

"Frog-licking?" Nabooru muttered. "Ew." None of the less, the Majoran contestants roared along with the crowd. "We don't lick frogs!" Nabooru yelled.

"Out of all of that the problem you have is the frogs?!" Geoffrey asked. "Fine! I have been kindly informed the dog-smelling, pig-humping Majora do not, in fact, lick frogs!"

People laughed. Zelda found herself smiling at the theatrics as well. Geoffrey definitely had a way of putting on a show with confidence. It lacked some of the craziness of Ouki, but it had a more composed, comfortable charisma. Zelda glanced to Link and Sarah by her side and Ganondorf and Malon in the distance. Link watched in amazement, never having seen a public game like this before. Ganondorf showed no emotion from where he sat. Sarah and Malon both seemed to enjoy the festivities as well.

Geoffrey waved his sword to the other side. "They face, in a battle of strength, the pretty, the sweet-smelling-"

Someone yelled, "Whoo-hoo!"

"Yeah, whoo-hoo. No more alcohol for you," Geoffrey quipped. "They are the light-of-foot-!"

"Apple-cheeked!"

"-the apple-cheeked, rowdy boys of Mitagi, Qin, and beyond!"

The crowd's roar reached such a peak that Zelda had to cover her pointed ears. She saw a number of her companions wince, and the Majora wolves covered their heads with their paws.

"The game is simple! Grab the rope on your side, all together, and pull! You must pull all of your opponents into the aptly named shit-pit! If you fall in, you lose! Stabbing is not allowed, and if you can reach enough for a good groin-kicking, again don't. In a different note I have lately suffered from random bouts of blindness." Zelda chuckled with the crowd.

With a gesture, both sides grabbed the rope and pulled. Zelda returned to covering her ears as the crowd roared and yelled for the Mitagi to win. The Majora were not in home territory and lacked supporters to yell for their side, but it did not seem to deter them as they held their ground, literally and figuratively.

The first to fall in was a Mitagi. Seeing their companion fall in gave them a burst of strength and they regained the momentum enough to pull in two Majora. The Majoran wolves leaped in and pulled, growling fiercly as they did. Some grabbed the Mitagi's side, to the crowd's laughter, as the poor hounds didn't understand the line was drawn between factions.

Back and forth the line was drawn. Mitagi and Majora fell in. It lasted many minutes as both sides had strong men, and it only grew to be longer as some from the crowd spontaneously joined in on either side to keep it up. The insanity did not end there as many who fell in wrestled amongst each other. Men had to reach in with poles from all sides extended towards them to give them a hold to climb out with.

Nabooru fell in. Not because the Mitagi side pulled her in, but because several in the pit (impossible to tell who anymore, covered as they were) pulled her in. She went in screaming and promptly attacked the first person she saw.

In the meantime, Zelda noticed Ganondorf had ended up near her and Link. She smiled devilishly, thinking the poor man was a bit lonely where he had been. He was annoyed at some drunks, and found the others less annoying. Whether he was drawn to Zelda and Link by the endless cycles of reincarnation they shared and the kindred spirit of champions in spirit, he would never admit if asked. He was not asked, but he wouldn't answer if he was. Zelda figured he was annoyed, judging from his constant fist clenching, sharp glares, grit teeth, and the punch he landed on one man who had stumbled into him.Geoffrey watched all of this from a laid back position and a smirk on his face.

"You look more like an observer than a referee, Lord Mitagi." Zelda observed.

"That is because I am, your highness. I set the flame, and now I am watching it spark on its own life."

Ganondorf growled, "They make a fool of themselves."

"I don't know. A little insanity is good to release the tension after last night."

"That is not what I refer to. They allow themselves to lose."

Before either Zelda or Link could respond, Ganondorf abrubtly stood and stepped into the fray. He growled for others to step aside, took hold of the rope, and pulled.

"He is as competitive as the rest of them," Zelda mused, smirking. Her attention was drawn to Link bouncing just behind her, excitedly watching like a twitchy rabbit. Link was no better, Zelda thought. Before Zelda could respond, or notice at first, Geoffrey also stood, left his shield and sword behind, and took up the rope opposite Ganondorf.

That was when the crowd lost its shit. Ganondof smirked and pulled, finally enjoying the occasion since it started. Geoffrey also smiled, wishing to test himself against he demon-man his Lord had defeated. They both pulled the rope to a stand still evenly. Ganondorf, ever competitive, ignited his Mark and small flames burst off his skin, his hair shined and his eyes burned into everyone's vision. His strength increased several times over.

Geoffrey found his feet skidding across the muddy tracks others had already made, and to everyone's amazement, tapped into his own Hollow Mark. Dozens of chains burst out of the ground, looped themselves around the rope, and held it firm. The rope stopped moving against him, and pulled back a bit. Ganondorf growled, planted his feet, and renewed his effort. The rope stopped moving.

Zelda's eyes widened. Her jaw nearly dropped. Sarah squealed in delight and cheered him on, prompting Malon to do the same for her caretaker.

"The man of Mitagi learns quick." Elder observed, proudly.

The rope would not budge between them, not fully. Everyone else climbed out or left the two to it rather than participate. A few had tried to help pull, but their strength offered nothing in the end and they were useless. The rope would move a bit to one side, then a bit to the other.

The rope started to fray a bit, but did not get far before a blur appeared near the middle, Link thrust his spear down, and cut the rope. Ganondorf and Geoffrey both fell.

"AND WITH BOTH SIDES FLAT ON THEIR ASSES! THE WINNER IS LINK!" Link yelled. He raised his spear.

Zelda couldn't help laughing at how befuddled and frazzled Ganondorf was. The man was knocked, both literally and figuratively, on his ass, and needed a moment to realize what had just happened. The crowd joined in, laughing and cheering at how it ended so oddly. Link soaked it in almost drunken on the energy of the game. Meanwhile, a moment passed. Ganondorf and Geoffrey shared a glance, a glance of shared animalistic instinct along the same unspoken wavelength.

"Get him." They both said at once.

With Link's attention elsewhere, they both tackled Link and held him firmly. Poor boy was squashed between two very strong men.

"NO! NO NO! NO NO NO NO NO!" Link screamed. He squirmed as best he could, but his arms were locked tightly. Meanwhile Geoffrey tied him up in half of the rope. Then Ganondorf took a cloak off the ground and tied it around him, weaving it so the teenager's arms and legs were tucked into what resembled... a sack.

"In we go!" Ganondorf yelled.

He started to throw Link into the pit, but Geoffrey pulled back.

"Now, hold it, Lord Dragmire." Geoffrey argued. "Before the poor lad meets his untimely fate, it is only proper he be allowed a few words."

"Fine. Pup, anything you have to say before your execution?" Ganondorf asked.

"You're a dick!" Link exclaimed. Then his face turned smug. "Also you should have taken away my spear."

"Wha-" Ganondorf looked at his smug face, felt something tap his leg, looked down, and realized two things at once. One, they had tied -and sacked- Link in with his spear; and two, Link positioned said spear between his legs. Ganondorf barely had time to look back up at him before Link was violently twisting around, causing the spear to throw Ganondorf's leg out from under him and they both fell into the pit. Geoffrey was still holding onto Link and was pulled in as well, not expecting the sudden momentum.