Provisions, Ask First

[Valaina]

Her heart was a cornered beast. Valaina could feel it hammering against her ribs, frantic, panicked, unleashing all of its energy in one final attempt to free itself from the cage which held it bound in the face of its enemies. Backed into the very corner of its cell, it sought desperately any possible avenue of escape that might still exist, yet as she glanced furtively down the crowded streets of the capital city of the Gerudo, Valaina knew that any such hope had long been annihilated. Scarcely able to breathe, the banished slave made her path circuitous, kept her head bowed, and skirted the principle thoroughfares, attempting to withhold at least some small measure of the urgency from her harried strides.

This is daft, completely daft! They will find me; they already know where to look! I spent my entire life in this city, so why should I not return? Valaina understood that her course was altogether foolish, yet she also knew that she could not simply adhere to that condemning decree without securing at least some food and a horse for her journey, lest she wish to find herself devoured by the beasts which haunted the Desert. To that end, she endeavored to return to house of her mother, Hamila Mielas, and procure supplies for her northward journey. However, a pervading, pernicious fear consumed her, one which pulled her hazel towards every soldier who traversed her field of vision. At each instance, at each fleeting contact, the girl felt her feverish heart leap, as though it was anticipating its final beat.

"Valaina!"

The exiled slave, her muscles rigid, her eyes slammed shut, froze in the middle of the alleyway. No...please, please!

"Valaina!"

A cavalcade of rushed, sandaled footsteps accompanied her name, and in that instant when she recognized the ramifications that haunted those fervent strides, Valaina made her decision. Whirling, she put a hand to her knife and glared up from under the lip of her cowl at Anoush. "In the name of Din," she hissed at the other girl, "Lower your voice! Do wish to get us both killed before either of us abandons the city?"

The taller, willowy Gerudo apparently realized her mistake and, biting her bottom lip, came to a halt beside Valaina with her scarlet head slightly bowed, her cloud of singular, acrid perfume settling about her like a billowing cloak. "Forgive me" she pleaded, "I just saw you there and I...I don't know where I was supposed to go when Azeari banished me I thought for certain the guards...."

"Anoush," Valaina interrupted, "Quiet!" The other girl immediately mouthed her apologies, an act which nevertheless elicited a barely discernible roll of Valaina's hazel eyes. Of all the places for her to locate me...am I that easily spotted. Surely not? Valaina's suspicions immediately flew to her thick, golden-red hair which hung nearly to her knees, but she knew that these were hardly the circumstances with which to remedy that flaw. So, instead, she forced a breath, looked carefully at the road behind her, and grasped Anoush's wrist. "This way."

"Where are we going?" Anoush whispered promptly, apparently forgoing silence.

Valaina, her focus riveted upon scrutinizing the large crowd, did not look back at the other girl. "The home of my mother."

[Valaina]

Everything appeared exactly as she recalled. Though dust skirted the edges of the modest noble house, the ornaments remained, each maintaining its sentry in the precise space which it had occupied a trio of years earlier. In response, Valaina found herself both heartened and disconcerted by the familiarity. With her heart in her throat, rammed against the knot which constricted her air, the Gerudo gazed about her surroundings and attempted to absorb every detail of that which surrounded her. Everything would change, she understood, and the home in which she had matured would become foreign to her, as forbidden as the Desert itself, and Valaina meant to memorize every minute detail, so that her mind's eye might recall the scene decades hence, should she be fortunate to endure for such a time.

"What if this is an ambush. Wouldn't they expect you to journey here?" Anoush, literally clinging to Valaina's right arm, threw her dark eyes over her right shoulder in earnest, regarding one of Hamila's three servants with genuine panic.

Valaina did not even deign to regard the servant in question, or to make eye contact with Anoush. Though she herself was hardly immune to fear, she knew that, at this perilous hour, she could not allow trepidation to paralyze her. If the former slave wished to retain her head, then she must fly from the Desert before the City's guards enforced the banishment. Trying with all her might to ignore the fearful seizures of her heart, Valaina scurried into the small dining hall of the Mielas residence.

"Valaina!!"

Her mother's embrace embodied all the reassurance that Valaina sought. In that moment, she wished that she could remain in this place, stay with the mother whom she had not beheld in three years. The moisture behind her hazel eyes revealed this impossible desire, yet she saw, when her mother released her, that Hamila's face also shone with tears.

Holding her daughter at arm's length, Hamila could scarcely contain herself. Unbridled joy consumed her, yet Valaina could nevertheless discern the fear that lay just beneath it. Hamila understood what her daughter's sudden appearance implied. Breathing raggedly, she reached out with one calloused hand and wiped away the rivulets that now bedewed Valaina's face.

"I did not believe that the Goddesses would ever be this generous," she admitted, her voice quavering.

Valaina, stifling a sob, shook her head fleetingly. "I cannot stay."

Hamila managed a reluctant nod of acceptance. "I know," she said, "And I cannot journey with you."

Valaina had expected the response, yet it still pierced her stomach like a dagger of ice. "I need Onyx," she requested timidly.

Her mother's answering affirmation was immediate. "Of course. I would not trust you to any other horse. You will take whatever you need from this house; it is yours as well as mine. We shall have you and your friend off before the hour expires."

Anoush, standing nervously several paces away, gave a squeak of gratitude.

Still grasping Valaina's wrist, Hamila led her daughter out of the dining hall and ascended the narrow stairs to the second story of her dwelling. Valaina, her gaze darting towards every item, every trinket that adorned the walls, as well as the flaws which they contained, followed willingly. When they entered her mother's bedchamber, the former slave sat in front of the vanity, her thoughts aligned with her mother's. Her heart beating rapidly, her eyes wide with disquiet, she nodded.

Hamila reached for the scissors.

[Valaina]

"You do really look queer with your shortened hair."

Valaina, conscious of the dozens of eyes stalking her and Anoush, did not bother to formulate a response. One corner of her mouth twitched slightly, as though to crease into a scowl, but far more pertinent matters held the Gerudo's attention at present. With the hood of her traveling cloak drawn up over her cropped tresses, she felt altogether conspicuous, as if her attempt to obscure her identity had an entirely opposite effect. Only those who wished to hide would so cowl themselves in daylight, she reasoned, so these garments only served to make them more conspicuous. The stares that the hood attracted unnerved her, so Valaina, her heart hammering against her ribs, hooked her thumb under the lip of the cowl and yanked it back.

Feigning more assurance than she had ever possessed, Valaina shook a measure of dust from her golden-red hair, which now settled just above her slender shoulders. The banished Gerudo then swiveled in the saddle of her stallion and narrowed her eyes slightly at Anoush. "Please," she implored, "Restrain your tongue. It will be a miracle if we escape at all, and those odds are long enough without your assistance."

The answering expression of Anoush was exceedingly mature, yet she heeded the order and refrained from further conversation. Unlike the other girl, Anoush had made no effort to alter her appearance, save for changing into the traveling clothes which Hamila had so graciously supplied. Fortunately, she had not been able to procure any more of her sulfurous perfume before being evicted from the Palace of Thieves, something which Valaina considered to be adequate compensation. For her own safety, she preferred not to have the acrid scent trailing after them like a visible condemnation for any soldiers in the vicinity.

Perhaps even a bit of manure would have negated that scent... The thought tempted a smile from Valaina, but it vanished immediately beneath the obliterating gravity of her situation. Alone, save for Anoush, Valaina had been thrust from the only world she had ever known under pain of death, if she even managed to escape. Valaina had obtained enough insight into the pernicious mind of Queen Azeari to understand what banishment implied. At least I have Onyx, though, right? At least I am not abandoning everything...

Her hands clenching around the reins, Valaina swallowed against the knot that constricted her throat. She knew, in that moment, that she would never behold her mother again, knew that Onyx embodied the only aspect of her home, her childhood, that she would ever physically retain. Thirteen years of age, the pitch-colored Gerudo stallion represented the pride of Hamila Mielas and her family, Gerudo who, similarly to many others, had garnered a profit from the breeding of the sure-footed and astute horses of the Desert. Onyx personified the pinnacle of that breeding, and Valaina had adored him most of her life, and in some part of her mind she rejoiced to have his company. Anoush's mount was a hand smaller than Onyx, whose back equaled the height of Valaina's head, but the bay gelding was nearly as fleet of foot as the stallion.

Hopefully, the need will not arise to test his endurance. Her glances furtive, her eyes never resting, Valaina kept her vigilance constant, so that they might not be taken by some clandestine ambush from the shadowed alleyways. Goddess Din, please allow us to escape the City. The northern gate of Gerudo City loomed on the horizon, yet it appeared miles distant. An ocean of sand, stone, and citizens separated them from their liberty, and all of Valaina's discipline was required not to rush headlong for it. She could sense Anoush's unease escalating beside her, and she glanced over to stymie any rash notions that the other Gerudo might hold.

"We are almost there," she whispered.

Anoush nodded, her brown eyes engulfing her face as they passed under the arch of the gate.

They had not journeyed a fathom when the City of Thieves stirred behind them. "Traitors!! In the name of Queen Azeari Durai, halt and face the justice!!"

Valaina spurred Onyx into gallop.

[Valaina]

Lowering the folds of her mask from her slender nose, Valaina pushed back the lip of her cowl slightly and squinted against the sun, peering through the vales of swirling sand which spiraled upwards to the cloudless sky like waterspouts. The previous day, the banished Gerudo had elected to traverse the wind-whipped vortexes, a gamble which had concurrently deterred their pursuers and caused Anoush to soil the clothes which Hamila had leant her. Admittedly, the gamble had held absolute enormity in its risk, but Valaina's mind had been riveted on preserving her own life. Death preceded their pursuers, and Valaina, her mind lingering on Fen and Duzzy, and determined to struggle against that fate with every ounce of strength that she still possessed.

"Please, please tell me that we have eluded them." Anoush, her eyes wide with fright, had also pulled the cloth from her face and looked imperatively to Valaina.

The other Gerudo did not wish to instill fallacious hope in her companion, yet the fear that radiated from her was undeniable. "It appears that way," she answered after a moment. Over the course of the last two days, the two banished slaves had not dismounted nor rested for more than several moments; so complete was Valaina's determination to outdistance the soldiers from the Desert capital.

"Now what? Where are to we to go?"

Valaina did not have an answer, so she did not bother to reply. The same doubt reverberated in her own mind, and she knew little benefit would arise from voicing it now. In her more dubious moments, when Onyx's rhythmic strides had nearly lulled her to sleep, she had found herself thinking of Fen, wishing that she could liberate him, yet she knew that she could not. No possible means to enter the Prison existed that would not result in her discovery, no matter how she wished the situation were altered.

"V-Valaina...."

It was the trepidation in the tone of Anoush and the urgency it held which turned Valaina's head to the north. The Gerudo felt her breath catch in her chest: breaking over the horizon of dunes, their outlines blurred by the sun's reflection against the sand, were at least twenty horsemen.

"How could they have possibly...no! We have to flee!"

Sensing Anoush's escalating hysteria, Onyx danced beneath Valaina, flinging his dark head and testing her hold on the reins. "Anoush," Valaina hissed, "Stay where you are." The other Gerudo ogled at her as though she had abandoned her sanity in the Prison, yet she nevertheless held her ground. "Those are not the soldiers," she assured Anoush.

"Who is it then?"

Even if Valaina had bothered to hazard a guess, it would have been overwhelmed by the cadence of the horses' pounding hooves. The group encircled them, causing Valaina's heart to leap into her throat, and then parted to allow one man to ride towards them. Her eyes automatically seeking the sand, Valaina breathed frenetically, conscious of the close proximity of the men. The one before her, presumably the leader, reeked of sweat and alcohol, and she immediately saw her fate flash before her eyes.

"Where ye be runnin' ta?"

His accent confused her, yet Valaina could easily grasp his intentions. "North," she stammered.

His ensuing laugh sent chills racing down her spine. "Ye goin' the wrong way, love," he returned, "Cause we's goin' ta the Prison."

"Valaina worked at the Prison!"

Her eyes filling with venom, Valaina could have strangled Anoush at that moment, if not for those who surrounded them.

[Valaina]

Valaina could not breathe. Her lungs had become concrete, adhered together by fear for what she knew was forthcoming. She could smell the fetid reek of the brigand, feel the heat of his acrid breath against her face, even as she stared through the layers of sand upon the ground and wished to simply vanish. Even if she were to become engulfed by the shifting landscape, she would gladly embrace such a fate, for it she preferred it exponentially to what awaited her. At her side, Onyx flattened his ears in warning and tossed his dark head, but Valaina did not even register the protest.

"So wha' kinda wor' didja do there, love."

Her heart seizing, her throat constricted, the Gerudo shrank from the proximity of the vagabond. "I wasn't...." she stammered, "It was not by choice." All at once, when she was certain the man would seek to take advantage of such a position, Valaina felt him retreat.

"A slave, then."

Her hazel eyes leapt upwards just as one of the other brigands, a Rito, accurately surmised the nature of her employment. Valaina reflexively cringed, thinking that this revelation would only reignite his lust, yet the man did not come forward again. Daring to glance at him, Valaina found his weathered face pensive and his stance bereft of its earlier aggression, though the revelations offered not the least bit of comfort. Unlike the rest of the group, he had dismounted his charger to study the Gerudo, and Valaina understood that trepidation in any form was alien to this man.

"Valaina the slave," he stated, and then whirled on his band when a chorus of mutters rippled through their ranks. "Shut it!" Once the noise had subsided, he regarded her once more. "Do ye know who I be, girl?"

Valaina shook her head, but Anoush, who had even less control of her tongue when commanded by anxiety, piped up instantly. "Raiders!"

Her excitement drew a smirk on the face of the auburn-haired outlaw. "Aye," he responded, "And tha' makes me Dendro the Raider."

Anoush's squeal betrayed her excitement. "Valaina!" she exclaimed, "Did you hear that! We will be rid of this place!! We won't have to fight off any monsters!" The other Gerudo pounded her arm, nearly dancing in place, but Valaina's expression had not changed. Dendro the Raider had perceived the flash of recognition in her eyes, and she knew it.

Shifting his weight solely onto his right leg, Dendro rested his right elbow against a scimitar. "Does ye know me?"

"N-no..." she responded timidly, "I don't, but Duzzy mentioned-"

"Duzzy?" Genuine concern contorted the brigand's face. For a moment, Valaina thought that he might inquire after the Sheikah's wellbeing, yet he immediately rearranged his expression into one of utter confidence. "Well, tha' makes things a migh' easier. Seems ye be 'zacly wha' we's needin'." Returning to his bay horse, whose dark eyes were riveted upon Onyx, Dendro the Raider swung into the saddle and trotted to her. "Ge' on yer 'orse, Valaina."

The tone of the command lacked the force of a threat, but the Gerudo did not question it. Anoush had already leapt onto her horse, which Valaina thought strange for someone whose complaints and paranoia had not ceased since she had left the Palace. Apprehensive she climbed onto Onyx, her heart leaping into her heart when Dendro the Raider positioned his horse in front of the black Gerudo stallion.

"You's gonna ge' us inna the Prison."

It was not a request, not a plea, and Valaina felt herself nod.