Rebecca's mattress was like a cloud.

She floated on air while resting on it. Her chains were still heavy and reminded her that she was the Gerudos' prisoner, but it was nice for her to be in a bed again.

For the first time since Rebecca came to the desert, there was a part of her life which felt normal. It felt good.

She hoped everything would be well in the end.

For some strange reason, Rebecca thought of Nabooru. She couldn't explain why. Rebecca sensed the thief from a distance away, walking somewhere beyond the fortress' walls.

She sensed snippets of frustration, followed by mild worries which were then overwhelmed by joy. All these sensations, all at once, overwhelmed Rebecca.

Before she even opened her eyes, Rebecca sensed Nabooru outside the door of her cell, speaking in the local language to the two guards posted at it.

A moment later, Nabooru knelt at Rebecca's bedside. The thief gently nudged Rebecca's back with her hand.

"Kid," she said. "Get up. Now, please."

"Let me sleep a little longer," Rebecca groaned. "It's not like I'm going anywhere. I'm still a prisoner."

"Kid..." Nabooru's touch persisted. "You have to get up. It's important that you do."

"I don't want to..."

"The sisters will have a fit."

"They can make me get up..."

"I'm the one they sent to do that. You are far too rebellious. Please, rise. Don't you want to know our decision?"

Rebecca's eyes snapped open. She slowly rose from her mattress, keeping her eyes low as she sat up.

"Oh," Rebecca replied. "How do you...decide on things?"

"We vote," said Nabooru. "Two sides give a case and then the council makes a decision. We made it this morning, right after the dawn."

"What did you choose?" Rebecca asked.

"It was almost unanimous," said Nabooru, who looked away from Rebecca. "Only one person kept everyone from being in agreement. Why, I don't know. I may never find out."

"So...?" Rebecca's eyes stung from her tears. Her lips trembled and she couldn't tell how Nabooru was feeling by just looking at her. The thief's face blurred in the space of Rebecca's worried vision.

"Child..." Nabooru placed a hand on top of Rebecca's. "You have to be bold, alright? In everything you do, there can be no fear, even during these times. Every trial. Every tribulation. If you let fear take you over, it will rule you. I want courage to course through your veins. Can you do that?"

Nabooru's tone changed. Once, she had a harshness laced in her voice, one so strong that it often caused a rise in Rebecca.

This time around, the voice was gentle. Rebecca felt this as well; a calm nature in Nabooru's very core.

She wasn't able to understand where this feeling came from either, but Rebecca knew something was there. She knew that as long as Nabooru spoke to her in this cell, it would be as a friend who was always on Rebecca's side.

"I can do that," Rebecca answered.

Nabooru smiled and patted the back of her hand. "Good...good. It's good that you're understanding this. If you didn't, I wouldn't feel too good about having convinced the council to spare you. They don't want timid girls living amongst them, you know."

Rebecca almost flared up again. "I'm not timid, I'm...I'm..."

Nabooru's words dawned on her. The tears came back and Rebecca jumped off the bed.

She landed in Nabooru's arms, causing the thief to stumble backwards. Rebecca sobbed into Nabooru's shoulder, struggling to blubber out words of thanks.

"OK," Nabooru stammered. "Yes—ow—you're welcome. You're very welcome. Please get off. Now."

Rebecca gladly obeyed. She wiped her tears and sighed out in relief.

A million more thank yous were somewhere in Rebecca's heart, but she decided to save them for later. The feeling of safety was overwhelming and wonderful, all at the same time.

Nabooru straightened her outfit as Rebecca settled down. After doing so, she clapped twice and the cell door opened.

She quietly commanded Rebecca with voiceless nods to follow her out. The two emerged into a hallway made from sandstone bricks.

The entire Gerudo fortress was built this way. Its marigold makeup reminded Rebecca of Egypt. She envisioned colorful portraits of its ancient pyramids in the textbooks she read back in Oak Shire.

Dwelling on her surroundings kept Rebecca from noticing the Gerudo guards that walked beside her and Nabooru. There was one guard on each side, brandishing their spears with shining points.

The Gerudo Fortress was a maze. Torches lit the pathways, offering guidance to whoever walked through its quiet, formidable halls.

If she were alone, Rebecca would have easily gotten lost. At the turn of every corner, more Gerudo guards appeared—all dressed in purple with veils over the bottom halves of their faces. All facing forward with spears in their hands.

All very cautious, probably of Rebecca, some reason—a reason Rebecca didn't know.

"Don't worry," said Nabooru, as if she read Rebecca's mind. "Relax. They're just escorting us out."

A final hallway beamed brighter than the other corridors beforehand. Daylight beckoned Rebecca, Nabooru and the guards at the end of it.

When everyone walked through the exit, Rebecca's eyes stung as golden rays struck her face. She winced, recovered quickly, and managed to keep up with Nabooru's swift stride.

Rebecca's feet sunk into soft golden sand. It stretched out, bordering a cultivated pathway of hardened soil.

The dirt road weaved through the Gerudo Fortress' grounds, climbing up a small hill on the building's opposite side. Nabooru led the way on the path, bringing everyone toward a gathering of little red homesteads at the end of the road.

"And so," Nabooru declared "I can proudly welcome you to Gerudo Village."

The Gerudo Village's homesteads had an order to them. They stood side by side with the same amount of space between one another.

Each house had two open windows in the front, a wooden door and little else. Some Gerudo women sat on the flat rooftops. Their legs hung off the side, their feet swaying carelessly above the ground.

The neighborhood of homes surrounded a well in the center of the village. Someone built a structure around the well which harbored a bucket that was clearly used for drawing water from the hole's depths.

At the sight of it, Rebecca's mouth went dry and she realized her throat was parched.

Rebecca felt a light tap on her shoulder. Nabooru nodded her head in the well's direction.

"Go on ahead, little vehvhi. Drink up."

Rebecca tried her best not to rush to the well. She could have tripped over the chains still clamped to her wrists and ankles.

Rebecca used the pulley's ropes to put the bucket deep into the well. When the bucket emerged, it overflowed with water. As Rebecca brought the bucket her way, it tilted and some of the contents splashed out.

A wooden ladle dangled from the pulley's bar by a rope. Rebecca detached the ladle from its place, dipped its bowl into the bucket and slurped the water that came up with it. Her thirst faded with every gulp.

Rebecca was about to let the bucket and ladle be when she turned in her direction. She was face-to-face with a young girl who was around her height.

The girl was more slender than Rebecca, her arms gangly and bony. The elbows jutted out like sticks from the ground. Her curly hair spiraled down to her slumped shoulders.

The hair was uncombed, messy and frayed all over the place. It was just like Rebecca's own hair, in some ways.

Rebecca noticed how the girl seemed to have the saddest pair of blue eyes. She looked like a Gerudo; she dressed like them, garbed in a wrinkled version of the outfit the guards wore.

Other girls in the village, the ones who frolicked and laughed throughout its space, looked noticeably nicer. Two traits made this girl look different—her blue eyes and light skin.

She wasn't unlike Rebecca; they could have been the same person, outside of everything else around them.

Rebecca dipped her ladle into the bucket one more time. She offered it to the Gerudo girl, who's mouth opened as if she were about to say something.

Without a word, the girl accepted the ladle and took a drink. After she was done, she stared at Rebecca with glistening eyes.

"You can have the rest," Rebecca said. "I'm done. I'm Rebecca, by the way."

"Vangranta," said the Gerudo girl, who clutched the ladle as if it were the last thing she would ever hold. Rebecca smiled, nodded an acknowledgement of her new acquaintance's name and walked back to Nabooru, carrying her chains with her.

The first thing Rebecca noticed when she returned to Nabooru was a scowl and shake of the head.

"That was unclean," the thief pointed out, nodding toward Vangranta.

Rebecca bowed her head. "Sorry."

Nabooru looked like she was going to scold Rebecca some more, but sealed her eyes shut and exhaled. "It's...fine. It's fine."

Nabooru showed Rebecca around the village a bit more. More Gerudo children were at play. Rebecca kept an eye out for Vangranta.

The Gerudo girl sat in the shade of a homestead's canopy, watching the other children. She didn't seem to understand joy, laughter or smiling.

Silence was all she showed so far. Vangranta just watched the other Gerudo girls kick a ball around, with none of them paying Vangranta any mind. A fire flared inside Rebecca's chest.

"The meeting regarding your fate was long," said Nabooru, shaking Rebecca from her concentration on the game and the lonely Gerudo girl. "There was...the gallows option. It was hard to convince them of matters, but once I brought up a key factor, they backed off. I still had to convince them that exile was just as bad as the death penalty." Nabooru looked down at Rebecca with both her eyebrows raised, as if Rebecca suddenly forgot that she owed this woman her very life.

"I could have left the desert?" Rebecc asked.

"We would have put you back where we found you," said Nabooru.

"Wouldn't I have found my way back?"

Nabooru laughed. "Oh, you're too determined, girl. We have markers in the wasteland to help us, but we've lived here our whole lives. You, on the other hand, have barely been here. It would have been unwise for you to try and go through the desert. You would need proper training to go either way. And if you violated the exile's rules..." Nabooru slid a finger across her throat to make the grim warning clear. "Well. I'm glad we chose otherwise."

Rebecca's stomach flipped. She was honestly glad as well. "Exile would have been real mean," she admitted.

"I thought as much," Nabooru said. "Be lucky. Very lucky. You're...still going to have to be chained, but you're alive. Just control yourself and maybe we can unshackle you sooner than later. Your cell can become a full-fledged room and we'll lift some restrictions. You can come out to the desert and play without the chains for as long as you wish...but you must stay within the Village's borders. That's the rule. Don't do what happened out in the wasteland, either."

"I still don't remember what happened in the wasteland. And I haven't done anything."

"A good thing. It helped with the defense. Made it easy for the sisters to agree with your being alive and among us."

"I disagree with all this."

Nabooru and Rebecca glanced in the direction of the voice that interrupted them. Mira the guard leaned against a homestead's wall.

She took off her veil at some point and seemed off-duty. Her spear stood beside her, leaning against the same wall she lounged on.

The Gerudo woman sneered at Rebecca, making no effort to hide her disdain. Rebecca was tempted to stick her tongue out and definitely would have if Nabooru hadn't been around.

"Give it a rest," said Nabooru. "You made your opinion known with your vote. Isn't that enough, Mira?"

"Wait..." Rebecca nodded toward Mira. "She voted against me?"

"She was the only one," Nabooru said. "Mira was outnumbered, poor girl. She has the freedom to go against her leaders and form her own opinion, but I am disappointed by the dissension. This is my first time saying that to you, sister."

"I'm looking out for the rest of us."

"And you don't think I was?" Nabooru crossed her arms and smiled while scoffing. "I weighed everything involving this child carefully. I don't make my decisions lightly."

"And I don't believe you make wise decisions either."

"Watch what you say to me, Mira."

"You permitted my honesty as well. Free, open dialogue. Yes? Well, I'm being honest with you. You're going off a hunch. This can open the flood gates of disaster."

"Need I remind you that a certain someone is negotiating with outsiders as we speak?"

"...I don't put it past him to not care for us. I thought you knew better, Nabooru. Really, I did. It's upsetting that you're so much like him, even when you refuse to bow to him. Maybe he's more right than you on some ideas."

Nabooru walked toward Mira. She dropped her arms and looked the guard dead in the eye. They were inches away from each other. Rebecca wondered if they would stop talking and throw fists. She almost lost her breath as unsettling sight continued.

"Mira," said Nabooru. "You can stage a coup if you want. Get all the other sisters-in-arms to join you. I mean, they all voted alongside me but maybe they were pressured to not look cold and heartless. I'm sure they'll enjoy going against me, since my reasoning obviously didn't dawn on them, yes?"

Mira's sneer grew. It was as if her mouth fought to keep in the words she wanted to throw out into the air.

After another moment of glares between the two Gerudo women, Mira threw her arms up and stormed back to the homestead. She snatched the spear from its resting place and stormed off.

"I'm late for my post at the valley bridge," Mira snapped. "Just make sure you're right, Nabooru. If you're wrong, we'll hold it against you. You can have no doubt about that."

Rebecca watched Mira until she disappeared around a corner heading south. It took her a decent amount of time before she realized her grip tightened on the chains she held up.

The links pressed against her skin and left red marks on the palms. As she let the chains drop, Nabooru turned to her and ran her fingers through her crimson ponytail.

"With that," she declared in a mocking regal tone. "The tour is done."

Rebecca smiled her anger away. "I like it a lot. There aren't any boys here. Not that they're bad, but it's nice seeing more girls than anything. You don't get that in Oak Shire."

Nabooru laughed. "Men are weak. Every single one of them."

"Isn't there one you all follow? You just talked about him."

"Just to make a point." Nabooru's face suddenly grew dark and Rebecca felt uneasy. "We haven't seen him for days. He'll come back, hopefully with good news, but...I don't respect him. He's not a good ruler."

"Who is he?"

"...No one worth another breath of mine."

Nabooru stretched her arm out to the rest of Gerudo Village. "Have you ever seen the archery range? All our warriors train on the grounds there. You can see the best archers in all of Hyrule there."

"That sounds good." Rebecca's heart leapt with curiosity and joy.

"You'll be served something other than gruel tonight," Nabooru announced. "Lamb soup with fresh baked bread. No more stale cakes."

"Thank God."

"Goddess. Din, specifically. You're one of us, kid, one of us."

"Oh. Yeah. Din." Before she headed toward the range, Rebecca had a thought.

Nabooru's smile went away for a moment. She looked Rebecca in the eyes, just as she did with Mira.

However, unlike the other times they exchanged hard looks, there was a gentleness to the stare. It was the same look Nabooru held in Rebecca's cell, when Rebecca didn't know what would happen to her once she left it.

There were so many secrets behind Nabooru's eyes and Rebecca knew it. She didn't know what it all meant. At least not yet.

"When...the incident in the wasteland happened," Nabooru explained. "We saw an energy come out of you. That's why it scared everyone so damn much. That's why they thought you must have been one of demonkind."

Rebecca tried to imagine what the energy must have looked like. It was powerful enough to change a landscape and put fear into the hearts of others.

"Why don't they think that anymore?" asked Rebecca.

"I saw something in that energy." Nabooru looked away from Rebecca and ushered her along in the direction of the archery range. "A familiar shape. A body. A face. Someone's very soul. It had a stance I'd seen one too many times before to not recognize. You're...familiar to people. The others with me admit that they saw the same image I did, unbelievable as it was to them. They kept you alive for the sake of that possible truth...like I said. You're a lucky girl indeed, Rebecca. Come along, now. I've said enough for today."

Rebecca wanted to know what Nabooru meant. However, she knew she wouldn't get an answer.

It was hard for Rebecca to explain, but she sensed feelings again. Nabooru had a serene nature about her, but somewhere inside her, it was dark.

It was as if the night hid away in a space set aside in Nabooru's soul, showing itself when the sun went down so the thief could hide in it, do her craft without disturbance and then just sit somewhere she would be undisturbed. Nabooru was hurt and Rebecca hurt with her.

If only she knew what it was all about.