The Legend of Zelda:

Kat spent the rest of the day in her room. It was too late now to practice her combat, and everyone had completely trashed the ring, so she laid around on her bed and watched the mold form on the walls. Thank god that little Hylian ordeal was over with. She’d almost lost to that little blonde.

She shoved her face in her brown pillow. There was ice on her feet!

Or maybe she was just going insane? Maybe all of this crap with her dreams and Nabooru was finally getting to her head. But hey, that couldn’t be so bad.

No, there was ice there.

Eventually, the familiar orange glow fell over the desert and Kat could hear everyone heading indoors and chatting about that bull’s-eye they got.

She decided that there was ice on her feet and she wasn’t insane, and she opened the door and joined the flow of the crowd, everyone heading towards the dining hall. Kat pushed past to a couple other elites and they looked in her direction immediately, as if they had been talking about her.

“We saw your battle with the brat, Katrina,” one of them said. The other nodded in agreement.

Kat sighed. She never liked being called by her full name. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

The two women grinned in unison. “We figured that’s why we should bring it up.”

Kat pushed past them and made her way through the crowd at a quicker pace. She didn’t even bother wasting her time with them. Elites thrived on gossip, which is why she avoided them whenever she possibly could.

The crowd flowed out into the great dining hall. It was a large room with one extremely long wooden table that stretched from one end of it to the other. At the far end was Nabooru’s chair, or as she liked to call it, her throne. It was impressive though, it was lined with gold and had rich red cushions on the seat and armrests.

The seats were filling up quickly, and Kat got one near the middle of the table. When everyone was settled in, the kitchen helpers ran around the room setting down the food in front of the starving thieves. Kat grinned, looking at the huge pig set across from her. Wild boar was her favourite.

Like savages the Gerudos stabbed their forks into the food, ripping and tearing slabs of meat from its hide. Fruits or vegetables were rarely served at the fortress. Their diets consisted of almost pure meat to keep them strong and make them stronger. They didn’t even set anything down on their plates because the person beside them would steal it right out from under them. Kat dug in too, knowing if she wasn’t fast enough she would leave with an empty stomach.

After about twenty minutes of this feeding frenzy Nabooru ordered silence. As usual, everyone quieted quickly and rested their eyes on their queen. Nabooru stood, holding her glass of rum between two fingers. “My fellow Gerudos…” as she traditionally began, “Tonight I’d like to discuss two important matters with you. Firstly, I’d like to congratulate our troops for returning home safely. We only lost a few women from the Neroth tribe in the northern desert, and managed to obtain treasures with a value we estimate being around six million rupees."

Nabooru sipped proudly from her glass as the Gerudos cheered. “Settle please, settle. There will be plenty of time for celebration when I am finished.”

Satisfied with the silence, she continued. “Secondly, we all witnessed the little fight between our red elite Katrina and that little Hylian girl, correct?”

Nods appeared around the room, some eyes resting on Kat. She slouched in her chair.

“And we all noticed how the girl brought Kat to the ground, correct?”

Again, more people nodded and more eyes boar into Kat. She slouched even lower. “Oh please.”

Nabooru looked to her left and down the side of the table, giving Kat an innocent smile. “Well, we have decided to keep the girl at our fortress.”

Confusion and anger erupted from the room. Kat shot up in her chair and began yelling at no one in particular. “WHAT! WHY?!” Everyone began screaming, how ridiculous was that!

Nabooru talked over them, knowing they would quiet down eventually. “Not even our own Gerudos who have challenged Kat could even bring her close to falling over. This pathetic little Hylian managed to do that with what appeared to be little effort at all. She has skill. No one here can deny that. We don’t know where she came from, but even if she does start acting a little violent towards us, she will not outnumber us. I simply want to see what this girl can do. No one will lay a finger on her without permission. She may prove to be very useful to us.”

Before they could start acting-up again, she continued. “Now, in order to maintain her, we will need someone to keep watch over her; a leader.”

Kat’s eyes widened. There was no way she was going to get stuck watching over that little wench. Knowing Nabooru she would choose her to do it, just to make her life all the more enjoyable. Kat slipped down, out of her chair and underneath the table, and began crawling between people’s legs towards the entrance and away from Nabooru.

“Someone with patience,” she heard her voice continue from behind her, “and a lot of spare time on their hands. Someone willing to train her to be like one of us. A good role model to us all. Someone who will be able to take matters into their own hands if she turns on us.” Nabooru scanned the room, not yet noticing that Kat was gone.

Nearly everyone in the room began looking away or seemed to not pay attention. It was clear that nobody wanted to be entitled to taking care of her. Everyone’s hearts were in their throats.

Kat was at the end of the table. She could see the bottom of the door not far from her. “Okay,” she thought to herself, “on the count of three.” She braced herself. “One…Two…”

“THREE!” Kat went to bolt for the door and instead smashed her head on the bottom of the table, knocking over glasses and cutlery above. All the Gerudos jumped at the sudden movement of the table. They all looked under the table seeing Kat dash out into the open towards the door, clutching her head in agony.

“What the hell…!” one of the Gerudos shouted.

Nabooru glared at her from the other side of the room. “Well, well, well… it appears as though we have a volunteer.” She grinned maliciously.

Kat whipped around, feeling the burning sensation sharpen at the back of her head. “WHAT!?”

“Yes… You are to train the little Hylian girl to be as one of us, Katrina.”

“NO!! YOU CAN’T… but…NO!” Kat clenched her fists in anger. “I fought the little wench, and that’s all I’m going to do! I want nothing more to do with her!”

One of the Gerudos laughed. “Maybe she’s just afraid of her!”

Some of the others joined in her laughter and nodded in agreement. “Yeah!”

Kat stared at them all, eyeing each one of them as if warning them that she was going to get them for this later.

“FINE!! I’LL TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE BRAT!!” With that, she turned and briskly stormed out of the room in fury.

Nabooru cackled wickedly, and a sinister smile curled across her lips. "Excellent."

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A knock came to Kat’s door about half an hour later.

“If it’s that little wench then go away,” she answered back.

“Open the door, Kat! We’ve got her here.”

Kat sighed and sulked over to the door. She opened it slightly and peered through the crack. An elite was there holding the girl in her arms. “You got to take her now whether you like it or not.”

She threw the door open. “Fine, let’s get this over with…”

The Gerudo tossed the girl in. She stumbled across the floor and landed on her butt. “Ow…” The door slammed behind her.

Kat looked at her oddly. “Smooth…” She paused. “Well, I guess I better show you your room then, eh? Come with me.”

The girl stood and ran after Kat who was already halfway down the hall. “Wait for me!”

“In here, this is your room,” Kat said motioning towards the open door to the room. “I have to admit it’s not that cozy of a place, but you’re going to have to live with it.”

The girl looked into the room, and her jaw dropped in horror. She stood there silently for a moment. “…Ew… There’s no… pink…” Her eyes widened as she tried to maintain her composure.

“Yeah, I know…” Kat said raising a brow. “Hey, before we take this any further, what’s your name, girl?”

The girl turned and looked at Kat. An extremely wide toothy smile spread across her face. “I’m Rin!” she said a little too cheerfully for Kat’s liking.

“Oh… Well, it’s nice to meet you then, Rin… I guess.” She thought it was strange that the girl seemed to be so perky when just earlier that day she had had the eyes of a demon when they were battling. She seemed to have no grudge against Kat.

Without warning Rin swiftly turned and began prancing around the musky room, pointing out every flaw. She opened the wardrobe and let out a horrified shriek.

Kat jumped. “What? What is it?” She ran over to her side and looked into the wardrobe.

Rin pulled something out and held it up for Kat to see. It was a traditional Gerudo uniform. It looked fine to Kat. “What’s the problem…?”

She nearly burst into tears. “It’s… it’s… NOT PINK!! This colour doesn’t go with my skin and my hair is blonde… It won’t work!” She paused and took a deep breath. “It’s okay, Rin,” she said to herself trying to calm herself down. “It’s not that bad, a little pink fabric here, some jewels here… it’ll all be okay!”

Kat rubbed her eyes with her palms. “This girl is out of her mind.”

Rin stepped back and looked at the entire room. “Those drapes need to be redone!” She ran over to them and looked at them closely. “It looks like moths have eaten through them… I don’t like moths.”

“Look,” Kat said, now getting very annoyed. “This is the desert. There will be bugs and dirt and disgusting food to eat, and NO pink. Got it? Good!” She clutched her already aching head in discontent.

“But I haven’t even gotten to the part about the doilies!” She frowned and stuck out her bottom lip.

“How old are you anyways? Two?”

Rin smiled cheerfully. “I turned fourteen two months ago.”

Kat looked directly at her, very seriously. “That makes me two years older then you. Because I am older then you, that makes me the boss of you. You listen to me. You leave your room as it is to save us all our eyesight, okay?”

Rin thought for a minute solemnly before speaking. “So… do you have any giant pink teddy bears lying around here? I'd like one to be put in my room... It's kind of a comfort thing.”

Kat stepped back and cocked her head to the side. “Is this some sort of joke? Did Nabooru tell you to act like this? ‘Cause it’s not working on me.”

Rin laughed. “Nope! I’m always this way.” She smiled sweetly… too sweetly. “Anyways, where do you guys… girls, keep your hairbrushes and accessories? I see a lot of you wearing really pretty trinkets… I love trinkets!”

“ARG!” Kat stormed out of the room in frustration, slamming the door behind her. “Make sure you get up when I call you tomorrow!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Archery practice is first thing!”

On her way out she passed two guards who had been standing outside the room. They looked at each other, brows raised. They turned back to their work without saying a word, but they were both thinking the same thing.

Doillies?

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“RIN! WAKE UP NOW!” Kat slammed her fist on Rin’s door.

Rin jumped and looked around, still half asleep. “I’m up, I’m up! I’m…up…” She flopped back down onto her pillow. “I’m not up…” she mumbled drifting back to sleep.

“RIIIIN!! GET UP! We’re gonna be late!” Not that time was ever a factor at the fortress, Kat just wanted to show this girl who was boss.

There was no answer, so Kat decided to do the most reasonable thing. She backed up into the hall, and rammed into the door with her shoulder. It flew open, slamming into the wall. Kat dusted herself off before stomping over to Rin’s bed.

“RIN!” she yelled, but it was no use. She went to give her a shove when she noticed a pitcher of water on her bedside table. She smirked and lifted the pitcher up by the handle. “Oops.” She poured the water onto Rin’s face.

Immediately Rin jumped out of her sheets. “COLD! COLD! COLD!”

Kat stood there innocently, still holding the pitcher. “I thought a nice drink might help you wake up rather then slapping you across the face.” She grinned.

Rin crossed her arms furiously and puffed out her cheeks. “Do you know what this is gonna do to my hair?!”

Kat put the pitcher down and leaned in close to Rin’s pouting face. “Do I care what this is gonna do to your hair?” She grabbed Rin by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get going!”

The Hylian went over to her wardrobe and pulled out her uniform. “It took a bit of work, but I think it’s okay now.” She turned, showing it to Kat.

Kat nearly fell over seeing the great Gerudo uniform… ruined. “It’s PINK!”

Rin smiled. “I know, don’t you just love it?”

“Where did you get the fabric anyways? You didn’t steal it from us did you? ‘Cause if you did…”

She shook her head. “I used my old dress’s fabric to make it. Thanks to you it got ruined and I couldn’t wear it anymore, so I thought I’d put it to use!” She looked at Kat ironically. “Besides, I don’t steal.” She rolled her eyes slightly.

“Whatever, we’ll worry about your uniform later. Let’s just GO!”

A few minutes later Rin emerged from her room in her pink uniform. Kat, who was leaning against the wall waiting for her, cursed under her breath. “There is no such thing as a pink ranking.”

Rin smiled. “But pink works so well for me!” She looked around, seeing all of the women who had slept in as well, racing from their rooms to get to practice.

“So… where are all the guys?”

Kat was slightly offended by the comment, but considering it came from a ditsy blonde Hylian, she let it slide. “This an all female tribe. However, our rival tribe to the north, the Neroth tribe, is an all male group. You are very welcome to go join them if you wish. It would make more sense.”

Rin smiled. “Really?!”

Kat shook her head and ignored her. “Follow me, and for god’s sake don’t let anyone see you in that getup.” Kat headed briskly down the hall, and Rin quickly tumbled after her.