The Chief of the Gerudo

The Deal

He woke up covered in sweat. It was that evil wench again, mocking him with the Arbiter's Arena, forcing him to battle Amos. She was watching from the stands this time. If only he could just get rid of her.

He shook the memories from his mind and got out of bed, forcing himself to get dressed in the stupid outfits the servant kept providing him. He had to be careful. Slowly, he had begun to run the city the way it had before, and soon he would be powerful enough to take Hyrule. His eyes glanced over the back of her hand again, the Triforce was still missing. If he only had control of the power in her body's veins, overthrowing the King would be easy.

He groaned as his headache returned, it was even more painful than the last.

There was a knock at the door and he only had a couple of seconds to collect himself before the servant came in.

"Lady Saiota, are—"

"Please don't call me that," he said, not thinking. He panicked for a second, as the servant donned a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, I just—" he said, thinking through his words, "I'm just tired,"

"I understand," thank gods, the servant sat down at the foot of his bed, staring out the window thoughtfully, "Are you okay, my chief?"

"Yes, of course," he said instinctively,

"It's just—" she started, thinking heavily, "You've been acting so strange these last few months. Of course, it's not like I know you very well, but my mother always told me stories about you...." upon seeing his confused look, the servant added, "My mother was Unoro,"

Unoro... somehow the name sounded familiar. Something Saiota must've said.

"She always said you were going to be a great Chief and a great woman. She said you would become the strongest Gerudo Chief since the old days, since Lady Urbosa, and yet..." the servant tilted her head slightly, "You're just the same as he was,"

He was speechless. Why the hell did this random person just open up to him? Why couldn't she just do her job like a normal servant? And yet a part of him remembered back when...

Amos popped up in his head again.

"Could you please leave me alone for... I don't know, an hour or two?" he said, trying his best to sound like her, "I need some time to think."

"Of course," the servant smiled and left, closing the door behind her.

It was the headache that brought her back to her senses. Did the servant — Saiota sighed and corrected herself — the vai say it had been a couple of months? She'd been trapped in this hell for months? It didn't feel like it at all. It felt like only a couple of days had past.

And her words... did Unoro really say those things about her? That Saiota would be just as great as Lady Urbosa? It seemed unreal.

And her home? It was being run exactly how it was before? That nothing had changed? It hurt, it felt like some kind of insult. She forgot just how much Ganondorf could do in her body, that everything she killed for when she stormed the gates was for nothing. Her heart throbbed for her people. She couldn't let this continue happening, this ever going cycle of her and Ganon getting back at one another. She knew it would only end when one of them died, and right now, she couldn't afford to do that to her people.

Unoro always did say she was a fiesty one, it was always hard for her to keep a cool mind when she got mad. Maybe it was time to drop all of this fighting and be a proper ruler, to cool her mind.

His headache was only getting worse. A shot of pain rocketed through his skull and he winced. And then she was there. He had no idea how, one second he was facing a blank wall, and then next Saiota was standing there. If he looked closely, he could almost see the wall through her.

"We need to talk," Saiota said, her voice lacking that familiar rage, "I have a new proposition for you,"

Ganondorf arrived in her prison earlier than usual, it was as if he knew she needed to talk.

"What do you want?" he asked,

"Uh, what?"

"You told me you had a proposition,"

Saiota widen her eyes, when? Unless... "You saw me?"

"Yes, of course I did," he said, now both of them were confused.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Saiota spoke up.

"Well, you're not wrong," she said, messing with her hair. The Triforce glowed brightly for a moment and their entire atmosphere changed. She had only figured out how to do this recently, and she couldn't hold it for long, but hopefully this conversation didn't last long.

They were now standing in a homey room, surrounded with soft rugs, a window showing the desert outside, the black sky concealed for now. A simple table sat in the center of the room, two chairs at each end. It actually reminded her of her hut in the mountains.

"Ever since I young I've been a bit hot-headed, Unoro and my mother when she was still with me always tried to drill in the same lesson, to rule without emotion, to not let my anger cloud my judgement. I suppose I failed that lesson," she said, pulling back a chair and sitting down, "Ever since I decided to return to Gerudo Town, I've done it solely through my anger and my emotion. I blame this for that," she gestured towards the Triforce, "Leaving my home, trying to go as far as I could did absolutely nothing but hurt my people. Willingly giving up my life only hurt my people. If it were up to me, I would have no problem with sitting back and letting you destroy Hyrule, if it were only for those moments where I can torment you. But, yet again, my actions have hurt my people,"

Ganondorf studied her, drawing a chair and sitting down.

"It's with the Gerudo people in mind that I offer this solution. I've been thinking— hell, I've been doing nothing but thinking — and if we keep going down this path, it's only going to end in death. That's not going to do any good for either of us. So, I say we work together. You let me have my body back and full control over Gerudo Town, and I'll let you have all the freedom you want regarding Hyrule. Hell, if you want, I can make you a ruler of the Gerudo, I can get you your own body, I can do whatever you want. As long as I can make sure that my people are protected."

He gave no sign that he liked this solution or not.

"Oh, and we're tearing down that castle of yours," she added abruptly, "It's really bad, the design of the place doesn't make any sense and the interior design— oh god, it's horrible,"

He smiled slightly at her distaste for the castle. He was still thinking it over.

"I get the Triforce of Power," he said after several minutes had past.

Of course not. She couldn't give this voe even more power than what she was offering. This was the whole reason why they kept fighting, for the Triforce. This was the only insurance she had over him.

"You'd have to earn it," she told him, "or we can continue down this path. You can continue to be plagued by those god awful migraines, and continue to suffer at my hand during your sleep, up until the day that you die. Think. You can go back to being a guy again, wearing those suits of armor that you love. Get your own life back—"

"What do you mean I'd have to earn it?" he interrupted her, he was probably hating how much she talked.

"Well, if I give you the Triforce, there's nothing stopping you from destroying the world, is there? I can't exactly let that happen," Saiota explained, "But if we ever get to a point where I trust you enough to handle all foreign affairs, I'll give you the Triforce,"

Looking back at the deal, it really is pretty horrible. There's no way that he'd accept, right?

"Deal?" she asked, holding out her right hand, the hand with the Triforce.

After, again, several moments passed, "Deal." he grasped her hand. They were engulfed in a golden light, and then there was nothing.