Beyond the Stars

Within Hell

Content warning: chemical attack on civilians.

It was getting late. The sun was turning in for the day and most of the people were settling in for the night. Faria laid on her mattress under the eastern window, weaving her miniature tapestry of goats, trees and mountains together. Her two siblings were still studying their daily reading assignment, as best as they could.

"Try reading this sentence out loud," Dilan said as he pointed to some words in the book. It was a children's book that Ms. Tenei bought a few days ago on an errand to Kakariko.

"Once up-on a time ther-there lived toe... two far-far-farmers," Imi struggled but made progress.

The walls did little to keep out the evening chill. They were made of wood and tin sheets with some canvas tacked on to them. Naturally, they couldn't muffle the concerned voices of the parents.

"... what'll we do when there's no more iron in the mine? Day by day we're getting less," their father spoke in a worried tone. This wasn't the first time their parents had this conversation.

"If that happens - we move into the city. I'll be willing to go whoring if need be. But I don't want Imi and Faria in that business. I want something better for 'em, even if it's bein' a maid."

Faria didn't like to think of the possibility of her thirteen year old sister becoming a hooker. She could see in her head some creeps taking advantage of Imi's vulnerability. And Imi getting stuck in cycles of self harming behavior. She looked over towards her sister, Imi was barely paying attention to their parents conversation. Rather, she was focused on trying to get her homework done as best as she could get it.

Faria picked a piece of rust red yarn and wove it in. It would be a part of the mountain the goats would be standing on. She studied her little black goat at the top of her tapestry. It was standing on the mountain top looking skyward - but it still didn't look right to her. She had tried fixing it before, but it wasn't coming out like she had pictured in her head. She asked her dad and brother if it looked goat-y to them and they said it looked like one to them. So she decided to move on to the other areas. Since then she had made two other goats and a few trees.

Despite her best attempts, she couldn't get her mind off her parents' discussion. She had never lived outside her mountain village. So adapting to a new way of life would be hard. And as much as she yearned to leave her hometown and make a better life for herself, she wanted to do so on her own terms.

She had also heard that the city was a harsh place. So how would it treat her as an impoverished, barely educated, backwater country girl?

And prostitution? That was a risky profession, not to mention illegal in most of Hyrule. Pimps and sex workers were thrown in jail if they got caught. The law made no distinction between choice and force, as far as it was concerned if you engaged in prostitution you deserve to be locked up. And that was that. Not to mention the clients themselves, who could be crazy. It was the last thing Faria would want to be involved with.

But if it meant that the whole family would survive, should she do it?

No, Faria thought to herself, there's gotta be a better way.

Meanwhile, just outside the human settlement were a horde of demonic marauders. Their captain spied on the village from his vantage point, waiting for the ripe opportunity to strike. Lord Vaati gave them dozens of metal canisters filled with some kind of gas. "Decimate the village! The captain instructed his troops. He peered through his telescope, double checking the pathways to and through the village. As well as noting the humans who were outside; there were some humans drinking whiskey on their porches, others were walking to and from buildings, none were in the gardens. No one would see them coming up.