-Ryo's Fui's estate, Kanyou-

Ryo Fui sighed and rubbed his temple. The spy to report to him stood in the shadows, waiting for a response.

"If it had been anyone else, I would have thought I was dreaming or you were lying," Ryo muttered. "Crazy bitch."

"Should I change my post to that of the Queen Mother, then?" The spy wondered. "If the Queen Mother is in league with the royal family..."

Ryo refuted him, knowing his train of thought, "The Queen Mother personally bringing a male to Zelda and getting her to bed him isn't helping her nor enjoying some screwed up threesome as the wildest imagination might allow..." Ryo shuddered. Knowing the frigidity of the former and the cruelty of the latter, there was only one possibility. "Her cruelty has surpassed my expectations. Something will have to be done with her to keep her in control..."

The spy continued to stand by. Ryo remembered himself and ordered him, "Nevermind my ramblings. Go, return to your post."

The torchlight returned and Ryo found himself alone. Yet still, the warmth of the fire offered no comfort to the cold nip in the air nor the thoughts in his mind.

Ryo sighed. He really didn't want to have to deal with Bi Ki on top of everything else, but despite his misgivings and the knowledge of how risky things were, he couldn't stop his heart from yearning. He was a man of desires. He wanted the palace and went for it. He desired women and took them. He tore down dynasties in his fury and lifted them up in his mercy. Kingdoms and kings were his pawns. His skill as a merchant was to know the value of desire and a talent to exploit it for everyone's benefit, including his own. And so he warred with himself. Bi Ki was risky, but he found he desired her as strongly now as he did when he first saw her, and that desire gave him ambition and ability, and motivation.

Twice more in the coming days, he had nightly rendezvous with the Queen Mother.

Twice more he requested reports of his various spies and learned Zelda's faction was motionless and the heir was unusually quiet.

"A few more days," Ryo told himself. "Just a few more days and I will have all I need to take Qin."

But that same day, Ryo was requested by Ri Shi, his chief man of law, for a meeting. An odd requestion, considering Ri Shi despised useless engagements, disliked people, and hated leaving his comfortable abode even more. Here was a man whose most heavenly of days was to sit in silence, alone, while studying countless documents and writing scrolls. He could go days without eating or drinking for simple forgetfulness as he set his mind to the perfection of a single Chu Ci.

To Ryo's surprise, there was a crowd of his ministers with Ri Shi in their midst. Among them was much bickering and back and forth. Seeing him arrive, Ri Shi stepped out of the crowd and approached Ryo. Ryo eyed down his man-of-law.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ryo growled.

"Sir," Ri Shi said. "A rumor has sprung up suddenly among the officials. One that, when I heard it, I believed would only be put to rest by your word."

"This looks more like an ambush, Ri Shi, so pardon me if I find this difficult to swallow."

"I apologize, sir, but that is only because so many wishes to hear from your lips if it is true."

Ryo narrowed his eyes in thought. He had heard of no rumor that would concern him. "Very well, tell me the rumor and I will put it to bed." Ri Shi bowed briefly, addressed the crowd, and all turned quiet.

Ri Shi then asked loudly and clearly, "Are you having an affair with the Queen Mother?"

Ryo's blood ran cold.

How.

The.

Realms?!

How was he found out!?

"No," Ryo denied, smoothly. He smiled even as his heart skipped a beat. "It is true, to anyone with memory or knowledge, that I did know the Queen Mother when we were young and tested her ability to pleasure, but that was in the interest in King Xiang. It is a testament to that for him to choose her as his chief concubine even overall in the harem he already possessed. Yet, I assure you all, our business ended in that transaction decades ago."

"Yet, sir." A minister stepped forward. "You did rescue the Queen Mother from Zhao."

Ryo quickly addressed the one to speak, "I did the same for the Heir unless you are suggesting I have had sex with the Heir too." He stepped down from the steps and walked up to the crowd, "You are free to take this accusation to the royal palace as well and see how she thinks of it. Or need I remind you she was a child even younger than your own!"

The one to speak cowered back and paled in fright. Ryo looked between them all. He saw shame and confusion in their eyes. He had managed to persuade them, yet still it concerned him deeply.

Had Zelda found out? Was this an orchestrated attack on him? If so, then Ryo would need to take measures to silence the girl before she set fire to his plans. Zelda had not used her spies and agents, who were not as hidden as they would like, to start rumors before, but she was a quick learner and would no doubt have figured out how to start a rumor war after so many have done against her.

"Tell me, who did you hear this treasonous accusation from?" Ryo wondered.

"Chu Sung," One answered.

"Tso Li," Another said.

"Chi Ki," Said another.

Ryo stopped. More and more names were whispered, and with each one, his horror grew. None of the names were men that had turned to him from Zelda's faction nor loyal to her. If anything, they despised her. They were not known agents of the Sheikah nor Royal Family. The culprit of this plot was not Zelda.

He had really been found out by his own faction.

"I see." Ryo nodded. "Do not fret, the rumor is false and is no doubt the work of an overactive imagination. Despite the annoyance, they have stirred I hold nothing against these men, but please remember to excuse discretion and rational thought to what you hear and refute falsehood with the truth lest it spread unabated."

With his words finished, Ryo excused them and the crowd dispersed. Ryo succeeded in buying himself time, and truly the rumor might have disappeared if this was all to occur. It might have ended, but it did not because of a sudden and incredible event.

In the midst of these rumors spreading through Ryo's court, the faction heads of the royal harem, the very same men who had just days prior consented with the heir, showed up at the doors of Ryo's estate with gifts and their patronage. This caught Ryo off guard, but even more so those that served him. For all extents and purposes this was proof that Ryo and the Queen Mother were uniting their factions, and if the gossip was to be believed, something more.

It astonished Ryo until, for the first time in memory, he found himself hesitating and lost as to what was transpiring around him. It seemed to him that fate had suddenly taken a turn for the worst, that everything that could go wrong was conspiring to fulfill his downfall, and yet despite his thoughts and suspicions, Zelda did not move. Impa did not move. The Sheikah had not left the Mitagi fortress yet. Every spy and scout reported the same thing: It could not be Zelda.

"Could it be Riboku?" Shou Hei Kun wondered.

"No," Ryo Fui dismissed the thought. "Riboku's arm is wide and his power is great, but even he cannot reach into the pocket of Qin's founders. There is too much suspicion for him to attempt such a ruse without risking exposure."

Ryo paced his abode furiously, tearing at his mind and thoughts to discern the plot he found himself embroiled in. He snapped his fingers as a thought struck him, "Shi Ketsu?"

"Zelda is not moving against you."

"No, not on behalf of Zelda, but himself. The power base this rumor stems from is Ketsu's former camp. Shi Ketsu must be trying to build up his power! He even left for an extended time recently."

Shou raised an eyebrow and considered it, but ultimately shook his head. "I know you are desperate, but now you are reaching, my lord. Shi Ketsu lacks the qualities to stand at the top and to reach for such power. Even more so, if he was trying to build up his own power base, then he has gone about it foolishly. The gossipers are turning to Zelda, not him."

Ryo clicked his tongue in annoyance and turned an eye to the palace. Shou was right. Zelda was inactive, but that didn't mean she was doing nothing. He had to give her credit, she was playing her hand perfectly. She was just sitting back, watching the chaos unfold, and offering mercy and understanding to the ministers who left his faction. It had only been a week now and already he had lost a dizzying number while Zelda had tripled in size. He no longer had enough of a lead to take the kingdom smoothly, and if it kept going...

"Perhaps we should try to stem the tide, rather than find the source of it-"

"I know what the source of it is." Ryo interrupted. "It's that blasted tempter of a woman. She has no caring for the systems of men and so has smitten me. It was too soon, the ground was unshaky, and though we had plans, she overstepped herself." He sighed. "I need to do something about her before she destroys everything."

"What would you suggest? You know her the best of any of us."

Ryo's eyes turned to the harem in the distance. Yes, he knew the woman very well. More than she knew herself, perhaps. There would be only one thing that could satisfy her.

-Zelda-

Zelda gave it the full morning. She was in a particularly good mood, so when her mother requested, nay demanded, to meet, it only sweetened her mood to bide her time with meaningless dribble. Once, Zelda might have been concerned with wasting her time and setting her mother to ire, but now she found herself using it as a weapon. She aimed for her mother with the intent the woman would know who really was in control, who came at whose bidding, and whose time was truly wasted with the needless exchange between them; for it was not Zelda who would suffer, she made sure of that. She allowed herself, for probably the first time, a moment of peace and relaxation, filled with the knowledge of how vexed that woman was.

It was a wonderful morning.

"Good afternoon, Bi Ki." Zelda greeted. She entered her throne room and sat on her throne. Her mother stood in the middle of the room glaring at her, but also perplexed. The woman's eyes darted about for a moment and her arms looped around themselves defensively, seeking comfort in the empty room. For Zelda wished for all attendants to be gone. No guards. No servants. No ministers. No Fae. It was just her and her mother. It was intimate. It allowed Zelda to sit and show exactly what she thought of the woman. And as the woman's eyes fell on the scar ruining the princess' lips, Zelda found herself smiling despite the pain. The confusion in Bi Ki's eyes were the sweetest balm to her scars.

"Why the hesitation, Mother?" Zelda wondered.

"There is to be no attendants?"

Zelda chuckled, and Bi Ki stiffened at the sound. This was completely the opposite of how Zelda acted the last time they met, or any time prior. It set the woman on edge.

"And why would I need attendants for us? Am I to make a show of force for the public eye with attendants to waste their time witnessing our exchange? Am I to be threatened by you that I need guards? I have no need for a show, but rather I am fine with you showing who you truly are, for what threat are you to me?" Zelda raised her head and, in removing her crown from her head, presented it in front of her, holding it loosely. "You may have birthed me, and in holding me for so many months earns you motherhood. But that power over me is gone with the responsibility and rights I hold to a power far greater than you, a power granted by the gods and passed down to me by the holiness of my blood: Leadership. Compared to the weight of this, what are you?"

Still, Bi Ki hesitated from the harshness of Zelda's words, but after a moment, she spoke. She breathed in, smiled through the hateful mask of her face, and stated her reason for the meeting. "Zelda-"

"High Heir Apparent Princess Zelda." Zelda corrected.

"-The rent of my estate has been raised tenfold, and I want to know what you have done to spite me so! This is dangerous, setting me and my employers to a tax to fulfill your war engine."

'Besides, have me taken in my own room...' Zelda wondered. 'Besides choke me and make the very things about me I should see as beauty to be a curse.'

"Why would I know anything about this?" Zelda lied. "This region may be my primary holding, but the governor of this city does not answer to me."

The woman scoffed, a fraction of her real self appeared in the cracks. "You expect me to believe you have no control of him?"

"You should, as you know who he is yourself. You were here before me, were you not? Why do you lie and pretend ignorance and stupidity?" Zelda wondered. "He was in the service of my grandfather, father, and brother. Though he may claim to be in my service, who do you think it was that allowed my brother access to the palace so easily as to remove me years ago?" Shock briefly passed over Bi Ki, and Zelda smirked. "Didn't think I knew about that one? Truly, I could have had him executed for treason, but I found him useful in managing this city under the guise of being ignorant of his real allegiance. So, considering he has always been my enemy, why would you think I have any power over him as to send your rent so high?"

"Blackmail, of course."

"I understand why you would think it, but if you consult with your spies, of whom I know you have in the servant girls, you would know I have not left my palace nor sent messages out. I have spent the last days in quiet meditation. No, if anything, the governor has raised your rent because your value has increased."

Bi Ki's eyes widened slightly. Zelda continued, "You did, after all, seek to have me impregnated. Well done, with our shared Ki blood, it should be an easy success. In the same day, your financiers pledged themselves to me and set the value of your faction many times higher... and also have you not considered that you might have angered the governor by joining with me? One to whom he dislikes? You are the one making enemies here, not me."

Bi Ki stood a moment, stewing. She had no argument against it. It is true, the governor easily could have done it to spite the queen mother for having joined up with the royal family. "Then, daughter. I need money. The amount you pay me is not-"

Zelda cut her off, "And why by the twelve realms should I pay you a single rupee? You think I am so blind as to not know the very family heads who swore themselves to me have just arrived on Ryo's door with the same allegiance offered? No. If anything, I should be declaring treason for conspiring against me, but I will allow it to be that this is merely business and not politics."

Now Bi Ki's eyes truly widened. The woman started to realize just how much of a hole she was digging for herself. She had moved too quickly and too erratically from Ryo's plans.

True, Zelda was weaker, far weaker than Ryo and Bi Ki combined. She was an insect in comparison. But if she was going to be shoved in a corner by their combined power, she would shove them both in a corner where they would be just as powerless to escape as herself. They would be damned together. With a single word, Zelda would see this world burn to spite them.

"Now you truly have a thing to contemplate, because I have no need to pay you, as your job is done for several seasons unless you suggest I can be pregnanted multiple times in one period."

"Are you with-?!"

"Don't know, don't care, it's too short since to know. But it hasn't seemed to have escaped the notice of others." Zelda looked up and tapped her chin in outward thought, "So if I no longer have a need for you and your harem, and you can't pay... Then I guess you are out of a home... unless you become a beggar for others-"

"I WILL NOT RETURN TO THAT, YOU SCHEMING WHORE!"

Her mother's venomous roar echoed through the room. Deep down, Zelda knew she should be bothered. She should be upset with her mother's choice in tone and what she called her. Yet, for the life of her, she found herself feeling... nothing. She didn't feel numb, just nothing. Like it didn't happen. For a moment Zelda looked inward and found she truly didn't care.

She no longer had the energy to care what her mother thought of her. "Whore, bitch, slut, tramp, shrew, devil, hellion, psychopath, call me what you will. I am not the one to have increased your rent ten-fold, nor do I have any need of you to save you from it. And correct me if I am wrong but your employers will not be pleased to know they must pay the bill, and Ryo is currently having his own problems that bring your value into question."

Bi Ki stared at her, amazed and aghast, speechless and almost gaping like a fish. Zelda took the moment to step down from the throne and approach her mother until they were just out of arms' reach of each other.

Zelda whispered, "You might want to go attend to that."

At first they stood immobile, staring each other down, daring the other to blink. Zelda felt the room chill around her with the cold disregard they had for one another. Their past, so filled with darkness and pain that fell into hate for each other, stood between them as an insurmountable wall. Zelda had the smallest interest in crossing that wall once to see if anything could be repaired, to see if anything had changed between them, if not in the interest of a renewed bond, then at the very least in the establishment of a truce. Yet, it has been proven to Zelda that not only has nothing changed, but her once-innocent-mind failed to grasp how truly vile it was, and now was making her own stance in direct opposition to the vile force to seek her downfall.

In other words, her mother could go screw herself.

With the power in Zelda's corner, Bi Ki was the first to blink and look away. Immediately she stepped back, made an excuse that she had matters to attend to, and left.

Victorious, Zelda allowed herself a hearty laugh and returned to the throne to sit and enjoy the moment. She measured the weight of the crown in her hand, and remembered a time when it felt heavy. Even the words of King Shorlin, passed down by Ouki Mitagi, taught her that the crown had a certain weight to it. Since the day she took the throne back from her brother, she had felt that weight. But now...

A few minutes later a servant checked in and wondered if Zelda wished for a drink.

"I don't need it, I am not thirsty," Zelda replied. "You may go. I will attend to myself."

The servant bowed and departed.

A girlish chuckle echoed through the dark and empty throne room. Zelda glanced about but saw no one.

"You fear poison because you wield it yourself. Isn't that right, High Heir?"

Zelda followed the voice and stared. Before her stood the embodiment of her nightmares. The 'other' that was herself, her curse, with worm-infested eyes and a gaping maw that poured blood. Skin so thin that bones protruded and a spiderlike walk. The 'other' stood tall in the darkness, lanky and ghastly.

The 'other' continued, "You know the danger using your brother poses to the kingdom, yet you exploit him for personal gain."

"Very mischievous of you to appear in broad daylight, isn't it?" Zelda wondered.

"If you can see me in the daytime, then our curse is deepening."

Perhaps the 'other' was right. Zelda had chosen to embrace her dark ambitions in order to win this war in kanyou. There was a cost to sacrificing some of her morals.

Zelda leaned back in the seat and sighed. The chair creaked with its age. "The land needs to be united to create security. Allowing Ryo to grow stronger against me will only create disaster. Exploiting Kyou is necessary to strengthen the royal family. I am not done with Kyou, by any means. There are still several moves to be made before his revealing."

"Even if it means becoming no better than Ryo or your mother, of whom you hate? Giving him Reida was no blessing, but a curse. You now know the pain of losing one you love, so you intend to hold that threat over him. Just as you can give him his love, you can remove it. Exactly as Ryo has said."

I made your parents. I made you. I can just as easily unmake you.

"Personal matters aside, the land will flourish with them gone. Then I can set my eyes on uniting Hyrule."

"The land will flow with blood beyond anything it has ever seen."

"If it comes to that."

"With but a single word you would destroy the world."

"Destroy is another word for remaking. The old borders must be destroyed to return us to what we once were in our glory."

"So long as your goal is noble, your means are above reproach?"

Zelda scoffed, "And who shall judge me? The people? No, I am the high heir. History? No, the victor writes history. My family gave up their right to judge me long ago. The Goddesses alone may judge me. Certainly not Ryo nor my mother."

The 'other' chuckled darkly, "You've certainly learned how to think like a king."

Zelda momentarily found herself speechless, even flattered. She found weak chuckles escaping her.

"Why do you laugh?"

"I once you hated you. I've even pointed arrows at you and wished for your death, and look at me now." Zelda looked out across the throne and saw she was alone. She was the heir, she was at the top of the world, and yet she was alone. Her friends were gone on their adventures and the only ones she loved she had sent away as weakness. "You are the only one to whom I can speak my mind freely. Let us be friends. After all, we bear the same curse."

Almost immediately, Zelda blinked and the 'other' was gone. She returned her attention to the crown between her fingers, put it on her head, and measured it.

"So, this is it? Nothing to it."