Songs of the Mountain 5 - Beauty and the Beasts

Story by Z-JAM-C on SoFurry

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#5 of Scriptures of Oddclaw 9 - Songs of the Mountain

A month before the Akkala region was transported through time and space to Oddclaw's world, Chihlo began her escape with the help of friends in the most unlikely of places. Just as she has become a prisoner of the Yiga clan, so too does she find others enslaved by a darkness that transcends beyond death, from which there is no true escape.

I'm uploading this early because I won't be on my usual times for uploading tomorrow, taking the night off to play some Hitman and just chiiiiill out good. I had lots of fun with his chapter, it's really nice getting a window in to the lives of enemy beasts acting like just normal folks do for once.

The Legend of Zelda and all beasts of its realm are copyrighted to Nintendo


Five weeks ago...

"Hey Chuson," began Mohberra, "never guess whut's been happenin'."

Dawn had broken over the land of Hyrule as the moblin sat himself down beside his chu-chu friend to offer a plate of meat. The slime electrically burbled a sound of greeting to him as he swarmed over to the plate, digesting the meat by enveloping it in his thick bulbous folds with a gurgle of satisfaction.

"We got a new worker in," said the red-haired beast, "a rito, can ya believe it!? She's kinda feisty buuuut she really knows her way round a knife, helps us out a lot! Shame she's our hostage though, could make a real good sous-chef. Yanno that soup you had the other day?"

The quivering Chuson burbled calmly with a gentle "nod" of its eyes whilst the meat began eroding inside it.

"She made that, yanno! She don' tell me much about her but I haven't met a rito in like, years so I'm jus' wondering...are they all like that, or issit just her, whut you think?"

Chuson responded with a shimmering crackle-blorp that popped parts of his flesh.

"Well yeah I know they're CONFIDENT but she's like a whole other level, it's like she's fearless, got no idea how easy it'd be fer us to just kill her yanno?!"

The amorphous ball fizzed with pungent sounds as Mohberra nodded with a hand to his chin.

"Maybe yer right, she could not have a family, or maybe she got banished...must be thuh kinda girl who's got nuthin' to lose, I mean why else wouldya risk breakin' into this place, it's a freakin' maze!"

The blob seemed to roll its eyes about in a liquid wave across its jellied scalp, the food now gone with even the bone of the hock broken down by acidic jolts.

"Well SURE it's easy fer you, that's cuz you got no bones in ya Chuson! Well, 'cept fer thuh ones you eat anyways haha. Anyways I gotta work, catch ya later."

His friend made a waving gesture with its liquid body as the moblin stomped his way back. The first few days in the kitchen had gone well for his new assistant, and because of her lack of rebellion they stopped putting her in the well and allowed her to work away for her good behaviour. He appreciated an extra set of hands, even ones that were cuffed as he walked in on her cleaning dishes.

"Eyyy yer back," said the moblin chef.

"Like I have a choice," she replied with stiff tailfeathers towards him.

"Heh, s'wuz a joke yanno? Normally I put out a form to let new people in."

"Wait, really?"

"Naaah," he waved his hand past his shoulder, "all us in the kitchen are just useless in fights."

"You don't know how?" asked Chihlo turning her head with hands dipped in soapy water.

"Oh I know how to fight, I just like cookin' stuff, Liz an' the girls aren't really good at uh...combat."

"So you chose this job...voluntarily?"

"Yep!"

Mohberra went over to a pot of minced stew that had been left to boil overnight, taste-testing it with a spoon ladle from his belt. Checking the taste he compensated its slight dull thickness with some crushed peppers he dabbed over the filmy layer of bubbling brown, before heading back to the sink to help Chihlo wash and dry the dishes. He tried to sidelook at her with words suddenly becoming parched in his throat.

"So uh..."

"...what?" She turned her head a with foul look.

"Just wonderin' why you got here, yer not from Hyrule Town."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nobody else knows we're here, so you can't be from thuh castle."

"Well that just proves I'm a lot better than some pointy-eared milkboy right?"

"Wellll yeaaaah but, why DID you come here?"

"That's none of yer business."

"It kinda is?" implied Mohberra politely with fingers creaking on a plate. "I mean, you ARE our prisoner."

"Oh I'm sorry," Chihlo dropped her bowl back into the water with her cuffs on the table, "I thought you were the chef, or is your dayjob the interrogator too?!"

"I-i wuz just makin' conversation! Sorry."

"...it's...it's okay, I'm...sorry." She sighed as she picked up the bowl again to scrub. "You're...you know this is weird to me."

"Whutcha mean?" he asked putting plates back in their cabinets.

"I was just expecting all of you to be real jerkwads, and for the record, most of you are, but the first week I end up here and there's you and...lizard guy and those two bokoblins."

"We're all friends," Mohberra shrugged with heaving shoulders, "dunno whut to tell ya."

"I can handle the looks people gave me, I can handle your boss trying to screw with my head but..." she turned round to face him fully with soapy wings, "I don't get why you're being nice to me, you don't have to be plus your boss said if anyone was being nice to me, he'd kill 'em on the spot!"

"Yer one of us now, yer on kitchen duty."

"Is that really it?"

"Yeah!" said Mohberra with thick long hands up in the air confused. "Whut'dya think?!"

"I was expecting you to treat me like a slave like all the assholes do out on the tables."

"We're not them, we're thuh servers not thuh customers."

"Customers?!" she squawked with a stammer bristling her neck. "They're your army of darkness, not freaking lunch hour!"

"You weren't here when it hits around noon hoohoo, girl you ain't seen nuthin' yet."

"...wait...did you just..."

"Hmm?"

"...never mind U-UGGHHH!"

She threw her wings down in a stomp trying to figure out the frustration in her head. Mohberra bent down to look over her with his looming face as his heavy snout drifted below her beak.

"You alright?"

"Oh I'm just DANDY," she snarled with fingers shaking at her thighs, "being a slave for the worst monsters to ever walk this land trying to doom us all again with Ganon's return sure puts the wind under my wings!"

"M'sorry you got caught, jeez, maybe if yer good we'll letcha go eventually."

"Do you honestly believe that?!"

"Well, yeah!"

The voice of Lizanaich came from the doorway as he waddled in with a moist-looking sack tied to a stick over his shoulder.

"Rito don't often get caught, you make a pretty good bargaining tool from what I hear."

"Not helpin' Liz," warned Mohberra.

"Look I don't wanna get involved in clan politics but, if yer our hostage then there's not much you can do!"

"Other than find my way outta this place," said Chihlo staring towards the small kitchen window at the blood-orange sky, "and once I do, your plan's gonna go down the shitter."

"Ugh don't say that please," the lizard cringed as he put down his sack, "we don't do toilet talk in this kitchen alright?"

"A-are you serious?!"

"Yeah I take my job seriously! Look maybe you don't wanna be here, but we're all stuck here, you me the girls an' Mohberra so you either get your head down an' work hard, or you can just sit around whining yer ass off. You think WE wanna be here too?!"

"What?" she cocked her head. "Of course you do, you're all here aren't you?"

"Yeah but...we ain't got no choice, like where else are we gonna live?"

"I hear the islands are nice!"

Joining the kitchen staff were the mother and daughter bokoblins, Bokorie adding her part whilst Bokonette went to check on the boiling stew.

"If it weren't for us being stuck here, me an' Nettie woulda gone off to the sea an' found ourselves a nice island, not enormous! Not too far from the coast but someplace nice, or even just a beachside house."

"I always loved the sea," added Bokonette tasting the stew, "did you put somethin' in this?!"

"Yeah I did," waved Mohberra, "just a couple'a peppers mebbe three of 'em?"

"Oh nice it tastes great thanks!"

"No prob, so yeah like Liz said, yer not the only one who wants to leave."

"Really, all of you?" asked Chihlo rubbing her arm nervously. "You guys...are like prisoners too?"

"I wouldn't call us prisoners," said the mother Bokorie, "it's more like we're...indentured servants, we're obligated to be here for the sake of our master."

"Why, what's Yigahnim got over ya?"

"Noooo not Yigahnim, GANON! He was our creator after all, it's very hard to want to resist his will."

"Well why can't you say no?!"

"Because that's what yer here for wormbreath!" barked Lizanaich tilting his head towards the filling mess hall. "You speak back to me again an' I'll rip yer head off you got it?!"

"Nnnngh...yes, sir."

"Sorry," he muttered quietly at her with awkward shrug.

"It's fine," she replied with half-hearted shrug in turn, "so, whatcha want me to do now?"

"You can start by prepping the fish." He opened his sack to reveal some dozen fish all wiggling with gasping mouths and staring eyes. "I need these all gutted an' deboned before noon."

"Aw nice more fun with a knife, you got it buddy."

The second week of Chihlo's imprisonment turned out a lot smoother than expected. Her skill at carving meat and deboning fish were exceptional in that she required almost no tutelage from the staff, keeping herself busy whilst always looking round best as she could to find some sort of exit or means of escape. She debated sneaking down into the well where the crack exposed to the sea but she worried how far she would have to swim, plus she knew the walls of the island fortress were so steep as to become impenetrable from forces at sea. The cuffs were not her biggest problem if she wanted to fly off because she already knew that was futile, what with their monstrous aerial defence which she only caught a glimpse of before it shot her down from the sky.

The only reason she wasn't burnt to a crisp was the fact she once had a shield that took most of the firing blast, but still drove her down to earth by the sheer voltage of electrocutional force that drove her unconscious. She touched her feathered hairs wondering if she still carried a static charge before taking the trayful of food out to the tables of middling beasts, snarling and bickering over boasts with hands on hearts and elbows shoved through ribs.

"So we's come up on this hill, an' we see's this horse!"

"Sure that wasnae Mobuna on a night out?!"

"HAH, anyways-"

"Screw you guys I had it shortened cuz o' you!"

"Yeah well you look like an uglier horse!"

"THAT'S IT!"

A fight broke out, one of many as a female moblin lurched over the table to crunch down her fists upon a bokoblin's head, cracking the jaw against a table as a group of them started chanting like schoolkids. Chihlo kept back to not have her food spill as she watched the moblin slam and kick her bully against a wall, thrusting a foot deep into his stomach before punching the back of his skull to send him right to the rito's feet much to her amusement.

"Hahanice shot girl-"

"SHUT UP BITCH!" roared Mobuna. "That mah food?!"

"Uhhh yeah-"

"WELL GIZ IT 'ERE!" The moblin snatched the tray from her with a hard shove as the rito fell backwards. "WHUT ARE YA LOOKIN' AT?!"

"N-nothing jeez!"

"Well get back in the kitchen unless you wan' mah FIST up yer tadger ya skirt-wearing freak!"

"ALRIGHT alRIGHT already! Ugh you snotnosed bitch."

Pulling herself up she walked away to get the next batch of food, but suddenly tripped over a foot that once ice-coated lizalfos had leaned out behind him.

"AAGH!"

"Hhhhahahaha, whassa matter, you forgot how to walk flyin' all the time little birdy?"

"Nnnngh..."

"Hey!" The reptile stood up. "I'm talking to you!"

She said nothing and calmly walked back to the kitchen, but the lizalfos had other ideas grabbing at her arm.

"BITCH!"

"UUNGH!"

He turned her round and struck her fast across the cheek, a blistering cold snap that sent her straight back to the floor with a bruising sore.

"When I SPEAK to you, you LISTEN-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Mohberra stepped from the kitchen door as conversation dropped to a lull. The white lizard sneered at him with a cocky snort.

"What, you gonna baste me fat boy?"

"Let her do her damn job."

"HER?! PFffffthahahahahaa!" He raised his arms like a showman to encourage half the room to laugh with him.

"AAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Youhuhu thought-HHHHAHAAAA, wow I knew you were thick as pig shit but DAMN Mohberra yer more stupid than a korok on Death Mountain!"

"Shut up Vinny." The chef cracked his knuckles with a growing snarl. "Just let her do her job an' I won't make this personal."

"Hohohhhhh, you wanna make it personal?" The lizalfos walked towards him with arms still spread. "When you talk back to ME!"

"DHHHHF!"

The moblin hunched over from the lizard's fist in his gut.

"You always make it personal."

"D-don' hafta be," muttered Mohb, "such a jerk about it."

"All I wanted was to talk to yer little friend an' he disrespects me!"

"She knows whut you are, so BACK OFF or else!"

"Or else WHAT?"

"Or else THIS!"

Chihlo shouted from behind as she grabbed a plate to smash across the lizalfos' back, clattering shards of clay on his horned head that caused him to stagger forwards in shock. He turned and wrapped both his hands around the prisoner's throat, viciously throttling her as she kicked and spasmed in wretched choking noises. Mohberra whalloped the back of the reptile's head with his frying pan, a powerful blow that clunged like a bell throughout the mess hall and forced the lizard to drop Chihlo.

"NNNNRRRRAAAAARRGH! YOU, cockfaced PRICK!"

He turned and lunged at the moblin chef, the mess hall clamouring for a fight even more as he straddled the cook's chest and started punching viciously into his face, left and right with bony claws hammering across both cheeks until the scratches started to bleed.

"YOU, DON'T, TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"GET OFFA HIM!"

"WHU-AGGH-A-AAGH-HRRRRKH!"

Chihlo came up from behind to swing her handcuffs round his neck and furiously strangle him in revenge, pulling the cold lizard off from the chef as they fell together. The reptile snarled and hissed with tongue lashing out wildly from the suffocating tightness of her chains, rolling together until he slammed a sharp elbow against her stomach and winded her enough to pull free from her grip, standing up to grab her head and push her against the wall.

"You...are dead meat."

"GAAAAARGH!"

Mohberra charged with both fists, slamming the lizard against the wall and violently pummeling him with the strength of a heavyweight boxer, purpling the reptile's face into hotter welts before Vinny grabbed a knife from the table. He swiped with horrid stab towards the cook who blocked with his frying pan, dull vibrations trembling through his wrist from the recoil as the moblin clunged Lizarvinius' face with a brutal wham of the skillet. The scaled thug fell back hard upon the table, sending food and plates all over the floor as minions scrabbled up and away grabbing their rations frantically. Jeers started crying out from around the room as Lizarvinius pulled out his wicked blade, a three-pointed boomerang made of bent slicing swords that he hurled towards Mohberra. The chef ducked as it flew into the kitchen, whirling in and out of the archway much to fright of Lizanaich, Bokorie and Bokonette who all ducked out of its way. Chihlo however grabbed the weapon on its return path and sent it slicing towards its master with renewed vigilance, forcing Lizarvinius to duck and grab a few knives to throw with vicious accuracy towards the rito.

"NOOOO!"

The moblin threw his frying pan out in front of her, whacking all three knives back and away from her as he stood defiant in battle pose. The crowd of beasts stepped back against the walls turning the room into a sudden showdown between the moblin and lizalfos. Lizarvinius grabbed his boomerang-blade and whirled it once more, the chef blocking it hard with his wok once more only to see the reptile skitter into a rushing charge to slam him to the ground, scarring his face with monstrous claws and pulling at his snout.

"YOU LITTLE COCKPIECE, YOU WANNA MESS WITH ME?!"

"GRRAAAAUUUGH!"

Tugging the snout with ruthless force to the point of Mohberra's eyes watering in pain, he tried to aim for his eyes in a blinding scratch as the moblin tussled back and forth, trying to swipe at him with vision impaired before Chihlo swung both her fists against the lizalfos' face, cracking his skull with her chained cuffs and jumping on top of him to drive both hammerfists down into his chameleon eyes.

"GAAAAARGH!"

"YOU WAN' SUM, HUH!? CALL ME A BITCH AGAIN, I DARE YOU, I WILL BEAT, YOU, DEAAAAAD!"

Shrieking with shaking frenzy until her voice cracked, the bird roared with a warrior's strength until Lizarvinius' face became pockmarked with blackened bulges upon his crystalline features. But then this tongue lashed hard striking at Chihlo's eye as she cried out in pain, followed by a ghostly sharp breath of searing cold that burned her feathers deep and forced her to cover her face. The lizard grabbed her by the shoulder before slamkicking her stomach, driving a knee into the gut hard enough to send her flying against the wall before Mohberra crunched his pan hard against the reptile's spine.

"LEAVE HER ALOOOOONE!"

"AAAAAAAARGH! NNNNNGRRRAAAAAGHH!"

Grabbing a knife in each hand after stumbling against a table, Lizarvinius turned and went for the chef with brazen murderous fury, thrust-stabbing twice as the moblin blocked and clanged his tool like a targe against his advances. When one knife thrust against his pan another went for his stomach forcing him to dodge, the lizard relentlessly slicing with twin blades across the cook's stomach. Sometimes he scored lucky with a gashing cut, slicing across his sixpack or cutting down the pecs despite Mohberra's best attempts to block one or the other.

Wincing from the glancing stabs, he tried to grab one of the reptile's hands to stop his cutting strike whilst smashing the other hand with his frying pan to disarm him, but the lizard snatched his tongue straight towards Mohberra's face to scratch his eye as he swerved his head. He lashed his tongue once again as the moblin dodged, sending it through the kitchen arch and latching to the wall as Mohberra swung him round to hurl him into the kitchen's back wall between the sink and the largest pot of boiled meat. The workers stood back fearfully, trying to keep working as Mohberra stomped his way forwards twirling his skillful wok.

"You touch, my workers again, an' I'll roast YOU fer lunch!"

"YOU WANNA SCREW WITH ME SHIT-FOR-BRAINS?! COME ON!" Lizarvinius grabbed a nasty-looking cleaver from the back wall. "I'll make YOU into pork stew!"

"YOU DON' EVEN LIKE PORK!"

"SHADDUP, NOW YER DEAD!"

Swinging his meat cleaver hard he cracked against Mohberra's shield, the frying pan clanging harmlessly from the scarring strikes of the heavy blade. The reptile snatched his tongue out to try and distract the chef, but at one point he managed to steal his pan off from him by an expert wrap-and-tug of his tongue to wield it as his own.

"HAH, just like a Like-Like, now what are ya gonna do you prick!?"

"MOHBERRA!" Lizanaich tossed him a large pot lid like a frisbee. "KICK HIS ASS FOR ME WOULDYA?!"

"HEY, WHUT'S YER PROBLEM BRO!?"

"I AIN'T YOUR BRO VINNY NOW SHUT UP AND GET OUT OF OUR KITCHEN!"

With a wooden shield as his only defence, he waited for Lizarvinius to attack as the cleaver chopped into the bark, scratching thrice with huge diagonal swings before thunking deep into the wood by five inches. Mohberra saw his chance when the reptile tried to pull it out, grabbing his arm only for the fiend to whack his fingers with the iron frying pan and pull his cleaver free. They danced around the kitchen with Mohberra on the defensive, navigating himself towards the sink as Lizarvinius rushed him with a shrieking cry to carve through the pot lid and shatter it in half from the force of his cleaving strike. Tossing the ruined shield he grabbed the reptile's head frantically before shoving him hard into the sink, bubbles looming up from beneath the dirty water amidst sloppy dishes and filmy utensils that gargled within the reptile's mouth.

He tried to swing his cleaver or the skillet to hit Mohberra, but the chef wrapped one arm round his waist in pinning his arms down with the other hand forcing Lizarvinius under the surface. Struggling screams became weaker as bubbles faded out one by one.

"YOU, DO NOT, TOUCH HER AGAIN!"

"GHGHRLLRRBBLLLL!"

"_YOU COME INTO MY KITCHEN, YOU RESPECT MY RULES, MY PEOPLE! _"

"GHHRKKLLBBLLL, GHRRRKRkrkrllll...gkhrrrrklll!"

He pulled the reptile out once he heard his voice starting to peter out, suffocating him to the limit of his lungs as the lizalfos heaved with a shaking cough. He dropped his weapons when his energy was sapped from him, stumbling halfway across the kitchen floor whilst Mohberra picked up his frying pan and whammed Lizarvinius with the force of a baseball bat. The white-scaled beast went flying through the archway and landed hard in the midst of a ruined mess hall, scattered plates and food gristle pockmarking the floor as he staggered back up and noticed Chihlo trying to catch her breath. He went for her instantly, wrapping his hands at her throat desperate to get at least one victory out of this tarried scuffle.

"ENOUUUGH!"

All eyes turned towards the barking voice of Yigahnim, the leader striding through the mess hall of quiet fear amongst his troops. Mohberra stood leaning against the arch to the kitchen with bloodied scrapes on both cheeks, saying nothing as the yiga stood before Chihlo and her attacker.

"WHAT is the meaning of this?" asked the clan leader.

"Just teaching our new slave some respect sir," said the lizard smugly.

"Is this what you call respect? Smashed cutlery and a battered cook?" He swept his hand towards the chaos of said smashed cutlery and battered cook. "You are a servant of Ganon, not a pub drunkard."

"THIS little bastard didn't respect me!" he barked pointing at the rito.

"If you want to earn respect Lizarvinius, you must appropriate it best from the mind rather than your fists."

The boss pushed him away to hold Chihlo by the shoulder. He pincered his grip tighter against a certain muscle hard enough to cause her to wince, then gasp sharply in pain forcing her down on one knee.

"N-n-n-nnnnNNNGH!"

"Listen. Carefully. Chihlo, was it?"

"A-aaaagh!"

"I will take responsibility for my minion's attitude. But, I have a proposition for you. Our plan originally, was to notify your family of your capture, then once they arrived we would hold THEM hostage. If they bring the Hylian army, or anyone not of their clan, you will die, and they will die too. Now let me make this clear. For each day you disrespect us from THIS day forth, I will send an assassin to kill one of your family."

"D-don't...care," she stuttered.

"Your grandfather will be first."

She stopped struggling. Her body trembled against her will.

"You care deeply about him, don't you? Wouldn't it be tragic if you had to be the one to serve his roasted carcass to me, peppered in spices?"

"N-n-no, YOU-GHRK!"

She fought with a struggle as he pulled her up to grab her throat, lifting his mask slightly to reveal the charred burnt lips.

"I've tasted your kind before. Much more tough than a cucco, more gamey like venison. I would give anything to taste a plump rich bird again."

"Y-you...I don't give a sh-shit what you do."

"Oh you will Chihlo. If you disrespect us again..." He moved his lips closer to her eyes to taste his meaty breath. "_I will make you watch as I eat your grandfather's husk, plucked of his feathers and a sweet golden brown whilst his head shall make a fine pauldron for my suit. I will make you prepare him for me specially, and if I do not find him satisfactory... then the rest of your family will be. _"

The bird shook despite her greatest efforts not to, a tear flickering from her eye as she turned wrought with disgust and fear for the first time since her capture. Yigahnim grinned cruelly before putting his mask down and releasing her.

"There...see Lizarvinius?" He turned towards the ice lizalfos. "THAT...is how you earn respect. Now please, try not to bruise her again, I would rather she be intact for when our scouts return with news of her family."

"Yes sir."

The clan leader left back to his quarters as the mess hall resumed itself. Mohberra walked over to pull Chihlo up with a cold look towards the lizalfos as they returned to the kitchen.

"You alright?" he asked her once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah..."

She mumbled with shaking arms around herself as he put an arm round her shoulders.

"Yer family'll be fine."

"I-I KNOW THAT!" she stomped her foot pushing away from him. "I'm not...I-i know they'll be fine i-it's just, GAH th-that PRICK, who the shit does he think he is?!"

"He's just tryin' to scare ya."

"WELL IT WORKED THAT'S WHAT PISSED ME OFF, I LET HIM GET TO ME!"

"Hey. It's fine." He offered his hand with apologetic smile. "Just keep yer head down an' wait...that's all you can do."

"It's not...it shouldn't be all I can do, I am BETTER than this!"

"You are, you just gotta wait, maybe you'll find a way."

"A rito is never afraid."

She snarled with gritted beak before clasping her head with tensing fingers, shuddering breaths from her nostrils as the smallest whimpers stuttered from her throat. The staff said nothing around her, giving the rito time to compose herself except for the moblin in front of her who tried to be close and yet give her space.

"I'm sorry," said Mohberra.

"Why?" The bird cleared her eyes but turned her head away from him. "Why do you care? You're all just...part of Ganon's army why do you even care?"

"I don' wanna hurt you, or your family."

"Then why are you HERE?! Why even try to be nice to me, it doesn't MATTER to you!"

"I-i don't know..." The moblin rubbed his arm nervously. "I...I just don' wanna hurt ya Chihlo, yer a nice girl."

"Wh-what?"

"What Mohberra's saying," said Lizanaich from the stew pot, "is that you're one of us, the kitchen slaves, and we always look out for each other."

"I-i guess."

"Look." The yellow lizard walked up to her and leaned towards her downcast face. "I get you don't trust us, we're Ganon's monsters yeah that's, that's fine, we get it. But we're only here cuz we got noplace else to go, you think anyone else wants us but him? We just wanna make people feel good, that's why we're in the kitchen, we're not fighters, we can't kill people."

"He's right." Bokonette walked up with a hand upon Chihlo's thigh. "You don't have to like us, or trust us, but that's not gonna stop us from trying to help you."

"With what?" muttered the rito.

"Anything!" replied Bokorie at her other side. "You've been a good worker to us, and we know you don't want to be here but if there's something we can do to get you home safe, then we will."

"...that...th-that's mutiny."

"Sure is," said Mohberra smiling down in front of her, "would that make ya trust us?"

"N-no, no you don't, I don't wanna get you guys involved-"

"Too late, I got involved when I whammed iceface with my frying pan."

"Pfffhaha...awww shit."

She realised his facial scars, carefully rubbing them with her soft wings as he started to blush.

"You alright?"

"Y-yeaaaah it's nuthin'," he said with a shrug. "Are YOU alright?"

"I had worse...sorta...thank you."

"No prob, now c'mon we gotta get second shift ready, LOOK ALIVE PEOPLE!"

Clapping his hands to rouse them all together, the kitchen staff started to work on new foods for the beginning night shift horde that would come to the mess hall in four hours time. Stews were prepared with seasoned mushrooms, roasted meats were set and honeyglazed whilst vegetables were chopped finely as Chihlo went round the room doing whatever she was told to, stirring the pot or gutting the fish Lizanaich brought in.

The third week came as everyone moved past the incident with Lizarvinius. His attitude remained however with sniping comments at Chihlo but he never laid a hand on her, wounding instead with bitter words and accusations. Nobody said anything for fear of starting a fight and making things worse for her as the kitchen staff began their prep for lunch rush. Hot steam wafted through the window out to the sky as there came a thunderstorm, booming across their heads with shocking flurries of rain that lashed against the stone window. Wind blasted in much to Mohberra's chagrin as he tried to cut vegetables at the chopping board near the window which slapped at his face constantly.

"Storms are the worst," muttered Chihlo cleaning dishes next to him.

"Seriously," he replied carefully thinning tomatoes, "do rito ever go out during them?"

"We try not to," she replied, "one shot of lightning an' yer down, but some of us wear suits that insulate against it."

"You hear about that new stuff thuh Sheikah made that's said to uh...well, you wear it an' you won't get electricuted."

"Oh yeah what's it called, robber, rebber something like that?"

"RUBBER, thassit!" The moblin cleared his board away and took the bowful of slices towards Bokonette's station to flavour the meat. "Yeah it's like this stretchy stuff you wear an' it protects you from lightning."

"That sounds cool!"

"You guys DO realise I'm wearing rubber gloves right?" said Lizanaich with black gloves groping the air before them.

"OH, right yeah course hah. Izzat ice-prick's dish?"

"Yeah but don't take it out."

"Why?"

"Mmmmmm the girls may have cooked up a li'l somethin', I dunno anything so don't ask."

Chihlo looked suspiciously at the laid-aside specially-noted bowl for Lizarvinius. It was then however that the girls came in waving their greetings.

"Helloooooo!"

"Hey girls," she replied back, "so uh what's with the di-"

"SHHH!" Bokonette planted a finger to her lips. "Nothing to do with you, but yanno what iiiiis?"

"Uhhh, what?"

"Helping us collect more food! We gotta refill our pantry and we'd appreciate someone with some muscle to come along."

"Uhhhh, k-kay? I guess that's gotta be me?"

"Sure is, follow us!"

The black bokoblins ambled out of the hall carrying two buckets with Chihlo being given a third as she marched between them, the mother and daughter trying to all stern and mean, poking her in front of their customers whilst walking through lengthly halls between dormitories and crafting rooms. The bird noted that they were trying to build new weapons, ranging from the expert smiths who bashed away and refined their shields to the guy that just kept putting more nails into his club. They left the underground for the first time Chihlo had seen, as she tasted the fresh salt air in what was still a labyrinth of absurdly high walls like sheer cliffs.

It wasn't a cheery sight, but somehow better than being trapped in the kitchen if only to savour the sight of the sky again despite the crackling boom of lightning flashing their eyes and the rumbling dark fields of clouds. The guard posts did not help either for the oppressive atmosphere, constructed from reinforced wood and sculpted rock to form either outlooks or barricades as they watched all along the cliffs.

"Ahhhh thank goddess," murmured Chihlo, "may be a storm but it's nice to have some air at least."

"Less talk more walk slave!" barked Bokorie.

"Alright alright, just, can't a girl enjoy the salt air a bit?"

"Well enjoy it while it lasts cuz we're going even deeper next!"

"Mmmmmhhhh..."

"Hey!"

Doing their best not to slump with fatigue at the voice from behind them, the girls turned their heads to see the cold grimacing Lizarvinius standing upon a sentry post. Crawling his way out to shimmy along the wall, he skittered to their side within seconds as he brandished a three-pointed boomerang at them.

"Whut's he doin' out here?!"

"Whassit look like?!" nattered Nettie. "We're takin' the slave for a walk to get food underground!"

"What, that's stupid, you want this shit to get fat fer cookin' later snrrkhahah."

The prod of his rang towards Chihlo's stomach made her fists clench. Bokorie grabbed her hand gently with a calm motherly stroke before replying to the lizard.

"If we wanted REAL meat, we would hunt a boar Vinius."

"Yeah if you wanna eat garbage, now bird meat is where it's at."

"Well if you want bird meat so badly Lizanaich's makin' you some special cucco soup!"

"Ehh?! Really?"

"That's whut you asked for right?" said Bokonette. "Made you it himself since you never let any of us make food for ya."

"Well maybe if you two an' Mohberra weren't pig-faced freaks I'd trust ya not to contaminate my food with yer gross-ass trotters."

"Right. Well, he's just started on it now an' Mohberra's off to talk with Chuson so he's the only one in the kitchen makin' it!"

"Good. Say hi to my dad fer me will ya?"

"What am I yer mailman, do it yerself!"

"You talkin' back to me?!"

"Nooow dears." Bokorie stepped between them with a heartful smile before any fight could break out again. "Let's not bother mister Vinius with his EXTREMELY important duties, I think we've delayed his work long enough, am I right sir?"

"Heh...sure have, if I get docked I'm comin' to beat yer asses."

"Then let's leave now, have a nice day sir!" He scuttled off back to his post before she spoke out of earshot. "If I had an ocarina I'd have gutted your parents on a spit and fried you as an egg."

The younger girls struggled to hold themselves until they were beyond his view as Bokonette whimpered with cackling fits.

"HHHHHhohohohohohoh WOW mom!"

"What, I've said much worse things than that dear."

"Yeah but...DAMN, that is cold."

"He'd be used to that though," replied Chihlo smirking.

"HAH, yeaheheh he would be!"

"He'll get what's coming to him," replied Bokorie darkly.

Soon they reached what appeared to be a large bottomless pit with two elevator shafts constructed out of hard wood and stone gears, manned by moblins doing all the pulling work and checking everyone was moving supplies back and forth. The three girls stepped on once they were called for and so began their descent as Chihlo saw many creatures mining away. Some however were not of Ganon's forces, recognising hairless Hylians and a dust-covered Goron striking into the earth with pickaxes.

The sounds of suffering and brash orders echoed throughout the mines amidst pale boulder-sized beasts with hulking arms, gasping sobbing humans lifting their arms with feeble strength before collapsing and being dragged off by their captors into a small prison further down the cave corridors.

"Oh goddess," murmured Chihlo.

"What?" asked Bokonette.

"I...I-i sorta assumed I was the only prisoner."

"Well, you're not, surprise."

"So why am I not down with the rest of 'em?"

"Because you're special dear," said Bokorie with a heavy sigh, "much as I wish you not be, you are a VIP whether you like it or not."

"I'm just a damn rito," she insisted with stomping chains, "all of these people got families too!"

"I'm sorry Chihlo."

"No, this will NOT stand, bad enough your boss wants to revive Ganon but slavery is even worse!"

"SHHH!"

The lift landed upon the bottom floor as they stood to attention, seeing the apparent slavemaster of the place strop his way forwards in a march of dilligence. A lizalfos resembling Lizarvinius down to a T, he carried a whip with nine tassels in his icy-white hand with a much darker aged expression than the wild ruffian they met up top. But his demeanour was just as charming from the way he strode towards a goron that suddenly collapsed on the spot.

"WHAT. Are you doing."

"P-p-please, s-sir, a-ah need-"

"You will rest when I COMMAND you to."

"I-I know, I know I'm sorry, I'M SORRY-AAAAARGH!"

Lashing his whip hard across the goron's face, he drew bloody scratches before pulling his beefy arm up to snarl his cold breath across the slave's cheek.

"Get. Up, and if you fall down again, I will gut you like the zora from last week."

"N-N-NO, YOU DIDN'T GORO!"

"If you don't want to find out, get BACK TO WORK!"

"Y-YES, YES SIR PLEASE P-PLEASE GO-ODDESS NO!"

Shoving the hulking frightened rockbeast back against the wall, the lizard slavedriver saw the newcomers arrive and stepped towards them with the air of a drill sergeant, jackbooted claws prim and elegant as he sneered upon Chihlo.

"Hm. Chihlo, yes?"

"Yes?" she replied warily.

"My son has spoken to me about you and your...ineffortless altercation."

"I can see the family resemblance. You didn't beat him enough as a hatchling did you-AAAAH!"

He whapped his hand across her face with devastating force, a vicious backhand that sent her straight to the floor with a burning cheek of cold sharp fire.

"Lesson one," began the lizard, "NEVER speak back to me, you pathetic little fantasist. Lesson two, Yigahnim may rule the land above, but this cavern belongs to Lizarkolios. I am your master, your GOD here and if you dare blaspheme against me, then I will ensure your sufferment, little bird."

"Y-you...guh..." She pulled herself back up with help from the bokoblins. "You...your boss is gonna give you hell for marking me."

"My only 'boss' is Ganon himself. He has commanded me to instruct all of your kind, amongst the other unchosen infidels that you see before you, to learn obedience."

"That's not gonna help when he cuts you in half, like he did to one of yer buddies the first week I was here."

"He served his purpose. Now you shall serve yours, to kneel beneath us in the dirt foraging like the vermin you are." He planted his cat-o-nine-tails against her chin with his other hand pointing towards the tunnel wall. "That is where the fungus is, do your task and then leave before I decide your placement here."

"I'm a VIP," she snarled back to him, "which means I'm speeeecial, not one of your whippng boys like I'll make your son into-HRRRKH!"

" What. Did I say about lesson one?"

Lizarkolios grabbed her throat, piercing tight claws and a cold embrace from his palm wrapped round her neck to the point she was gasping clouds from her beak. She smiled smugly however with a second wind and smacked his hand away with her cuffed wings.

"I'm not here to learn, I'm here to kill you and when I break out of this place, I'm coming for you FIRST."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Bokonette. "We got shrooms to harvest you stupid bitch now GET MOVING!"

"Have an ice day."

Giving one last smirk to infuriate the slaver, Chihlo walked forwards with Bokonette shoving her towards where the fungus glowed amidst a very damp quarter of the cavern system. Bokorie only spoke once they were far enough away from Lizarkolios as they set to work, pulling out a set of small digging tools from their pockets with spares given to Chihlo. They started to wedge their trowels between the looser samplings of dirt, trudging out the carved sunken wall to discover fine roots and worn sod that became a perfect breeding ground for mushrooms of all types.

"Please don't antagonise him," warned the mother hocking shrooms into her basket.

"Why?" asked the bird shovelling one-handed through the dirt. "He can't do nothing to me."

"But he CAN hurt his prisoners and they are suffering enough."

"So you don't agree with this part I hope."

"Of course not!" replied Bokonette plucking two shrooms out at once. "I thought you trusted us."

"I trust you more than the rest of them but I'm still your slave."

"We don't WANT you to be our slave, you get that right? It's not a choice that either of us have!"

"I know, I'm sorry. This whole thing sucks, it sucks to shit."

"Damn right, but what can you do?"

"Find a way out somehow."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Bokorie sneering at a shrivelled root before tossing it back. "You'd need the key to your chains and the only one who has that is Yigahnim."

"He sure does...for now."

"Hmmm?!"

"I got an idea cooking up...dontcha worry about me, but I do wanna ask, you guys know what your boss has up on the mountain shooting at birds an' such?"

"You mean the uhhh, secret weapon?" asked Bokonette scratching her ear.

"Yeah, you know it?"

"We uh...never actually seen what it is."

"What?! But, how-"

"We're like the bottom of the food chain." She tossed away a ruined shroom to dig further within, "we don't know all the cool shit that goes on up top, we're just told to shut up an' get back in the kitchen."

"Ugh, seriously?!" gasped Chihlo with a gawping beak. "What freaking continent are they from?!"

"I know right?! Uh SCUSE me, three GODDESSES made this world thank you so how 'bout YOU get back in the kitchen hmm?!"

"Oh you know it girl, cuz I'm like Farore an' you two are like Din an' Nayru."

"Oh I'm definitely Nayru," replied Bokorie tossing another two shrooms in the basket.

"What why?!" cried her daughter.

"Because mother knows best of course!"

"Oh yeah like back in Highland Stable?!"

"THAT was not my fault, that horse had a serious medical condition I was not privy to!"

"It overheated in a hot spring and it DIED mom!"

"I was TRYING to clean him off and have his fur come out all shiny Nettie, you didn't think to stop me so you're complicit in my ignorance!"

"HORSES DON'T HAVE FUR, IT'S HAIR!"

"PFFThhhahahahaha!"

Chihlo cackled with small fits trying to control herself as they finished up their harvest, filling up their baskets and heading back towards the surface amidst the cruel gleaming eye of Lizarvinius' father. Returning to the kitchen, they passed by the younger ice-breath lizalfos in his quarters squirming with cries of agony as he clutched his stomach rolling about in bed.

"NNRRRRAAAAARRRRGH!"

"Hmm?!"

"Sh-sh-shhh," Bokorie pulled the girls away.

"Ohhhhhh GODDESS A-AAAAAARRRRRRGH-HRRRRK!"

He bowled out of his room to frantically find the nearest toilet, stumbling instead to the sea well before vomiting hard with a deep echoing moan.

" GHHRRLLLRRRRRKHH! HRRRRRKKHHHH!"

"Wow you alright?" asked a moblin guarding nearby.

"Th-the...hrrrk, g-GO AWAY!"

"Alright jeez try not to fall in or sumthin'."

" GHRRRRHLLL! GHRHRHHK!"

Never in Chihlo's life had she been so glad to hear the violent regurgitations of a lizard-beast. Smiling proudly with the two girls in two, they took their baskets back to the kitchen where they saw Lizanaich wink at them.

"Guess he uhhh, didn't like the pork shavings I put in."

"HMHMHMHAHAHAHANOHO HE DIDN'T!" chortled Bokorie.

"Well I won't tell if you won't...don't want anybody tellin' porkies."

"HaHAHAHAAAA!"

The kitchen rang out with tremendous glee as guffaws were heard all round much to the confusion of diners waiting for their food.

The fourth week of Chihlo's incarceration came with a promise of her plan with news of a wounded friend. Mohberra walked in one morning after meeting with Chuson to find Chihlo stuck at a table surrounded by several beasts. They clamoured and shuddered with mutterings as he saw a terrible knife raised above her head.

"HEY, WHUTTAYA DOIN'-"

"SHHHH!"

Half the group turned at him with a forceful shush as he was taken aback by this, walking closer to find the bird had her wingfingers splayed as wide as possible whilst one bokoblin spun his knife behind her. It was a cruel blade, shoddy and sculpted with a slight curve to it giving a wavy design that brought assassins to mind.

"Lessee how brave you really are little skirt."

Chihlo said nothing, leaving her fingers spread out as the bokoblin twirled his blade back and forth along his digits, leaning over her shoulder before stabbing right through the wood between her ring and index finger. He started his finger filet, thunking his knife over one finger to the next and back again with one moblin holding her arm tightly. She did nothing to resist, feeling their breaths bated against her cheek with the rancid stench of open sores, porous and diseased like miniature rotting carcasses.

Mohberra watched nervously, biting one of his fingernails as the knife rode into second gear, faster than before as the blade switched from finger to finger, brushing past her feathers whilst she remained stone-solid. The monsters became quieter than before as their jeering comments and filthy cackles petered out the more speed the knife gained, the snicker-snack of thacking wood echoing across the room. Still Chihlo did not move, eyes widening from bokoblins, the trembling snouts of moblins and the tensing claws of lizalfos creaked upon the table. The blade turned into a dappled light, running the length of the gauntlet of fingers and hitting every point between until they could not tell where the tip had pierced and whence it came. Then it stopped. Dead beside the base of her thumb.

Still she did not move. The crowd gasped upon seeing the smallest tint of red trickle out upon the bladed edge as Chihlo looked up with a smile.

"Zat it?"

"Wh-wha-you didn't FEEL that?!" cried the knife-wielder.

"Well I mean yeah it kinda nipped but I didn't move did I?!"

"A-augh, seriously?!"

"Bird's right, didn't move," said a lizalfos grouping both eyes towards her wing, "can confirm, not a tremor out the lines.

"Shiiiit dude, woulda thought that last one woulda got ya!"

"Well it didn't, so pay up!"

The bird raised up her other hand until the shackles reached their limit. Begrudgingly amdist the sounds of murmured shock and incredulity, the bokoblin offered a small bar of soap that she put into her clothing's pouch as the great unwashed dispersed, some of them passing by Mohberra.

"That bird's even more a damn freak," muttered one lizard.

"Yeah," snorted a moblin, "whut kinda guy doesn' flinch from Bokosiro's finger filet huh?!"

"Gotta give credit where it's due, slave he might be but damn that's a cold hand he got."

"Didn' he strangle one o' the jailers a few weeks back? Don' turn your back on that one tellin' you now."

Chihlo sauntered up towards the chef with a winning smirk on her beak as they walked together into the kitchen, finding themselves the only one there for the time being as the rito went to washing up the sink and Mohberra checked on a roasting beast in the oven.

"You alright?!" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied sniggering, "got a free bar of soap out of it."

"You sure, yer not hurt are you?"

"I'm fine really it's nothing."

"I-if ya wanted soap you coulda just asked, I woulda given you one."

"Aww thanks but I don't wanna leave ya without, you actually smell nice compared to well...everyone outside the kitchen."

"Huhuhu, th-thanks." He rubbed his neck with a tender blush either side of his snout. "I try, gotta be high-jenik in a kitchen yanno."

"Hmhm, right, so uhhh that thing I wanted to-"

"O-oh yeah, that!"

He went into a cupboard and pulled out a lavish shimmering rectangle emboldened with the symbol of the Yiga. He went around the kitchen pulling out meats from the oven and instructing Chihlo to help prepare things for him. One meat and rice bowl, one plate of hot poultry curry, two omelettes and a bowl of veggie cream soup.

"This is his breakfast," said Mohberra handing her the tray, "when you get there, wait at thuh door, say you're here to serve him food, if he asks you about it, tell 'im I made it."

"Right," she replied.

"This is thuh spicy stuff, when he starts eatin' that he's gonna be sweatin' an' puffin', he likes it real hot but he can't see nuthin' when he's all spiced up."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope...you sure about this?"

"I am. Let's just call this diplomacy and nothing else."

"Right. He likes to talk, so answer his questions nice an' politely."

"Well not TOO much, he won't expect me to turn so quick."

"Alright...good luck."

The bird took the master's tray carefully through the halls with cautious steps, shuffling her chained feet as best as possible whilst everyone cleared out of her path. She hadn't noticed this before when Mohberra had done this, but the power of holding this tray gave all of the beasts a wide berth around her for they dared not interfere with their boss' breakfast. She strutted with confidence straightening her back and marching to the iron door where two yiga guards stood.

"Halt! ...what are YOU doing here?"

"I have master Yigahnim's food," said the rito resisting the urge to snark at them, "are you planning to stop him having his breakfast?"

"Of course not!"

"Then let me pass or else I'll tell him myself."

"You don't speak to us like that you winged freak!"

"And you can't do anything to me or else this plate might suddenly just tip his long-waited food all over both of you and guess who gets the blame? Do YOU wanna tell him or should I?"

The guards looked at each other seeing they had no place to argue as one walked in through the iron portcullis. A minute later the minion walked out to let Chihlo in and face her most hatesome fiend.

"Ahhhh...welcome, I see you are acquiescing to our services hmm?"

"Somewhat," she said in honest vague, "I have your breakfast sir."

"Sir? ...hmmm...put it on the table then."

She did so as he reached out to grab her hand but she did not resist. He carefully picked up a fork and dipped it into each food.

"You know...I feel we perhaps got off on the wrong foot, don't you think?"

"I can agree with that, sir."

"Then perhaps you would do me the honour of having breakfast with me?"

"R-really? ...I mean, it's YOUR food-"

"Oh but I insist." He swept his hand across the platter between them. "Please, go ahead, taste a sample from each."

"Oh I couldn't, it's your breakfast not mine."

" That was not a request." His voice dropped into a glower as he took a spoon before offering the soup to her. "Eat up. I'll feed you, after all that's what one should do with a...lady, yes?"

"Hm. I suppose it is, sir."

Chihlo knew what he was doing, hiding her sneer of contempt as she slurped the spoonful of soup calmly with the sweet taste of vegetable creams. He waited to let her savour the taste as she sighed.

"Mmmmm nice!"

"Lovely. Now, have some of this."

Switching to the fork he fed her a piece of each of his foods, checking to see any change in her disposition but much to his intrigue she seemed perfectly fine. Until she had the poultry curry where even a forkbite sent her tongue into a spiralling heat that boiled her cheeks.

"HOO, H-HOO-HAAAH HAAAH AAAAH!

"Hahahaha, yes Mohberra knows I enjoy it that hot."

"H-h-hohhhhh j-JEEZ how do you eat this?!"

"With practice. Did you enjoy it?"

"Y-y-yeah...hoooo...h-hoh jeez, haha...well uh, enjoy...sir."

"I will, thank you."

Stepping towards the corner beside him, she sat herself down to rub her chained ankles with a wince whilst he ate up his food.

"I am glad to see you are-mmmglk-enjoying our company Chihlo."

"Yeah, it's...something, sir."

"May I ask, why is it you coming here and not Mohberra as per usual?"

"I asked him the same thing, and he said 'because shut up and do what I say you dumb bitch', his words not mine."

"Hmhm, I see, well, reason enough and glad to see you are learning your place."

"I just want to see my family again sir. That's not much to ask is it?"

"No, not at all. And the more well-behaved you are, the sooner we can come to an arrangement with them-h-HOO, HOOOH! O-OOOH th-th-that is...quite, h-h-harrowing MMMPH!"

The simmering spices burned at his throat with a wondrous tingle across his lips. The taste of volcanic sands charred his tongue as his eyes seared with igneous heat. Chihlo waited for him to turn his head with blearing pupils as she saw the key dangling at his hip from a chain. With bar of soap in one hand she smooshed its teeth into the softer animal fat, squeezing furiously as hard as she could like milking water out of a stone until she felt the key sink into it. Quickly putting the soap back in her pocket she then cleaned the key of any traces of soap with a small cloth just in case, sitting back once Yigahnim recovered from the spice.

"Hhaaaaaaa...good goddess that was absolutely rhapsodic. You may return back to the kitchen."

"Alrighty sir, thank you." She stood up with clinking chains and took the platter back. "Did uh...did the scouts come back with any news from my family, sir?"

"When they do, you will be the first to know. Thank you for making this easier the past few weeks, I am glad to see your wisdom shine through."

She walked back to the kitchen and only when she was back within its heat-smouldered range did she mutter her reply to his compliment.

"I'm glad my wisdom came through too shitface."

"Who?" asked Mohberra.

"Ohhh nothing, just it all went well with the fatass chief."

"Wait, r-really?"

"Mmhmm." She patted her pocket as the simplest indication whilst turning to him. "It's all working out good."

"What's workin' out good?"

Lizanaich poked his head into the kitchen with leery eyes of blue slits on yellow swivels.

"Just rito things," said the bird straightening her clothes with smiling beak, "g'morning!"

"Yeah I wish it was."

The lizard walked through the arch to show he had his arm in a sling, wincing slightly with each movement of dragging a large empty fishing bag behind him as Mohberra rushed over to his aid.

"Whu-JEEZ whut happened Liz?!"

"I broke my damn arm whussit look like?!"

"Shit what'd you do?!" asked Chihlo.

"Was walkin' to my usual fishin' spot when the ground opened up below me, Lizarkolios is gonna get my horn in his FACE fer this, WHO LETS PEOPLE DIG THAT CLOSE TO THE SURFACE?!"

"Damn...that sucks, you even able to work today?"

"Don't got a choice, one hand's all I need anyways fer soup duty, but now I can't fish so we're gonna be short on meat."

"But we're makin' salmon meunieure tonight!" cried the moblin with hands to his cheeks. "We can't have that without salmon, th-that's like, just, meunieure!"

"I KNOW-A-AAAGH!" Lizanaich almost threw his hands up in anger but checked himself with a stabbing pain down his shoulder. "G-gah, Ganon's breath this sucks!"

"Can't anyone else get fish for us?" asked the rito.

"Only kitchen staff are you me an' the girls, and they're too small to carry it back."

"Well I'll do it, I know how to fish!"

"Wait, you do?"

"Yeah my grandpappy taught me, I can get some fish for ya."

"Hmmm...whuddaya think Mohb?"

The moblin looked over between them as he pondered with a thick finger to his jaw debating the ideas in his head.

"Mmmmm...we'd hafta go out to thuh north beach past thuh bridge, an' yer not goin' out alone that's fer sure."

"Well you'll have to come with me then wontcha?"

"Uh...u-uhhhh yeah, I-i guess I would."

"So hey it's fine, we'll both go out, grab some fish and be back here before the lunch rush, nobody wants seafood for breakfast right?"

"Got us there," said Liz with a knowing nod, "it'd be a big help for the rest o' the week, my arm's not gonna heal fer sometime."

"Alright," muttered Mohberra nervously rubbing his neck, "guess we uh, we're goin' on a fishin' trip."

"Nice!" replied Chihlo clapping her hands together. "So uh where's your rod Liz?"

"Don't have a rod," he replied, "I swim after them cuz it's less tedious than with a rod."

"You know anyone that does?"

"I got one," said Mohberra, "I mean, not very good at it but-"

"No problem, I'll teach ya!"

"Yer not plannin' on running away are ya?" asked Lizanaich rubbing his shoulder.

"In these things, naaah...not today."

"Hah, alright then. I'll get on the soups."

The bird and the moblin headed off after Mohberra grabbed his fishing rod from his room. Travelling along the maze he walked out in front with one hand behind him clasped round Chihlo's cuffs. Thankfully Lizarvinius was not on duty today as a bokoblin waved them on, the early morning sun creeping its fingers down across the walls of the red-stone labyrinth. Thirty-five minutes it took for them to reach the exit after navigating through walled passages, some of which were skilfully hidden from view in the rock's shifting ridges. A long stone bridge with wood reinforcements stretched out before them towards Hyrule and the outer Akkala regions, guarded by two black moblins.

"Oi," said one crossing his spear before them, "where you goin'?"

"Fishin'," replied Mohberra showing his rod, "Lizanaich broke his arm so I gots to go get the fish."

"Why's the bird with ya?"

"Can't leave 'em in the kitchen with Liz wounded, not with all them knives."

"Hah, good point, alrigh', watch yerself." The guard brandished the pointed tip towards Chihlo's throat. "You try an' run, we'll find you. You'll make a nice flag outta yer skin."

"Better than a loincloth," she snapped back, "you'll need a new one from all the time you pissed away in it."

"Watch yer beak, or I'll break it off an' shove it up ya!"

"Pffft."

The two walked on towards the gateway to Hyrule as they gazed upon the northeast region of Akkala. The wind howled across the bridge to ruffle Chihlo's feathers and bend Mohberra's hat against his horn inside the toque, a shrieking cold that scarred across the moblin's skin causing him to hug himself.

"HRRRRR! J-jeez that stings!"

"Makes me glad I got feathers," she said behind him.

"Nnnnnngh...sh-shoulda worn a coat."

"You want me to hug ya?"

"Wh-whut?!"

"Just sayin' I'd rather you not freeze to death or else they'll accuse me of sumthin'."

"Uhhhh, o-okay."

"Siddown a bit, can't wrap my arms round you in cuffs."

He sat himself down in a bysection of the bridge, clattering his frying pan from his kilted hip against where the stone parapets widened as shelter from the wind. Lifting her arms over his head, the rito clutched her hands round his waist and rubbed his sixpack vigorously to heat him up. The moblin whimpered at the touch of her feathered fingers, smooth little brushes that had him biting his lip at the end of his tepid snout.

"W-wow uhhhh-"

"That help at all?" she asked.

"Y-y-yeah, uh...y-you're...r-real warm."

"Not warm enough if yer stutterin' like that."

"S-sorry...hhhhh..."

"Must suck not having hair...well, not more hair."

She glided her fingers across the small range of thick black hairs on his chest. For a moment Mohberra's thoughts began to fade as his breathing slowed down, his heartbeat stuttering with hulking shoulders drooped. Deep tender moans came from the cook as he drifted off slightly, the wind fading from his ears which flickered briefly. Mohberra hadn't felt this warmth in years. It frightened him. But it also soothed him beyond all relief, like fairy dust sprinkling upon his heart and healing all the wounds he had never seen.

"This weird for you?" she asked.

"Hmmh?" His eyes flicked half-open.

"Just wanna make sure it's not uh, too close, I mean personal space."

"No...no it's good, I...feels nice."

"Heh..."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Huh?"

The moblin turned his head best as he could towards her beak.

"You don' hafta do this...I mean, you ARE my prisoner."

"Yeah but...I guess I just, wanted to not have you freeze since you beat up that asshole lizard."

"Ehhhh he's a jerkwad anyway, wuz nice havin' a reason to smash his face."

"HAH! Alright you all warmed up?"

"Yeah, thanks."

They headed off across the rest of the bridge to soon touch bare soil in the waking dawn. A forest spread before them with mountains to the south on their left and the great ocean to their right towards the north. The most prominent landmark in their view was Death Mountain to the southwest, a looming volcano where heat simmered to create a burning halo around its caldera. Chihlo also saw what looked like an old lighthouse to the southeast as she sighed.

"Man I really wish the Akkala lab didn't get shut down."

"Whysat?" asked Mohberra.

"Be easier to run to fer help, or at least get them to put up a shield against your special weapon."

"Heh, yeah, but this place is pretty far away from anybody, so I guess they moved."

The moblin took his charge through the forest, fingers wrapped round her chain as they heard the stirring of woodland creatures. The bird was thankful to feel some life in the world as they witnessed deer, skittish majestic beasts of long legs and grand antlers; squirrels with fluffy tails hopping from branch to branch; and foxes lithely dashing through the forest floor with various beetles buzzing through the glades. They walked slower to enjoy the peace as well as to disturb them less, the animals curiously watching for a few moments before resuming their lives and foraging.

Beyond the forest lied the coast of Akkala, a wide beach with sandy steppes causing rippled formations towards the sea like marzipan layers on a cake. The salt-sweet air was invigorating for both of them as the early morning sun turned the sands ablaze with orange fire, whilst the trees swayed against the line where grass and beach met. Chihlo pointed towards a large jutting rock that looked out towards the ocean as a good spot to fish, hiking up to sit themselves down as Chihlo prepped the rod.

"You know how to set this up?" she asked.

"Yeah I got that part," replied Mohberra, "jus' dunno how to GET thuh fish."

"Right, well, this spot is good so we can stay out of their sight and hoist them up. Right below is a good place, cuz it's where shallow water meets the deep, fish tend to feed in shallow water and just live out in the deep."

"Got it. This good fer bait?"

He offered up a small pouch of mixed baits including small worms, cheese granules and bread crumbs. Chihlo picked a worm to start with and impaled it onto the hook.

"Swing the line over there," she pointed towards a quiet cluster of rocks away from the breaching waves, "that part seems quiet enough, without a weight we're not gonna get anywhere out on the main ocean."

The moblin cast out his reel, listening to Chihlo's instructions for whether to move the line or reel it back in and try a different bait. The sun was still rising as fish gently nipped around the lure, sometimes getting a bite and sometimes waiting a full 20 minutes without. Time went on with few words between them as they stared towards the sea.

"Whut do you think is out there?" asked Mohberra.

"I'm not sure," replied Chihlo.

"Nobody ever fly out that way?"

"I mean, it's always dangerous going out on your own towards the sea, cuz if you got no land you're kinda screwed and we're too heavy to float like seabirds do."

"Ahhh...still nuthin', man we only got like three li'l guys, how does Liz get all them fish?"

"Reel it back in we'll try breadcrumbs again." She changed the lure after he did so before casting it out again. "You know back when Ganon was causing trouble, there wasn't as much ocean along this coast."

"Really?" asked the chef.

"My grandpappy told me that, during Ganon's chaos over the land, parts of Hyrule's north and west regions got separated by a huge chasm when the guardians woke up."

"So...whut, did thuh sea just keep pouring down into thuh chasm?"

"Nah, there was like a big cliff blocking that right arouuuuund...there." She pointed northwest to a curving tip off the coast. "Just round where the leviathan skeleton is."

"Yanno whut that skeleton is?" he said with primed ears.

"I mean, it's a giant skeleton of some enormous fish right, probably from when this was all ocean."

"Says in legend that wuz a windfish, a biiiiig flyin' fish that flew through thuh sky an' helped thuh first hero of Hyrule on his quest in Skyloft."

"Hah, really, THAT was it?"

"S'whut I heard."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Chuson, back when we were out on thuh Gerudo Highlands. S'when we first met."

The moblin scratched his chin in rememberance, looking towards the sky.

"I wuz such a dumb kid back then, didn' know nuthin', not even how to cook."

"When did you learn how to cook anyway?"

"After Ganon got KRRH!" he sliced a finger along his throat. "After that everybody just sorta wandered off, no real purpose."

"Wait...a-after Ganon died, are you saying..." she turned more fully towards him. "Were you there during Link's time?"

"Yeah. Heh, even fought 'im a couple times."

"Seriously?! H-hoh shit, how old ARE you?!"

"I dunno," he shrugged gently pulling the rod back, "musta been abou' sixty years back or sumthin'."

"You do not look like you're sixty," said Chihlo with gasping beak, "that's...th-that's incredible how are you-what's your secret?!"

"Blood moon."

He reached a finger up to the sky seeing the last star fade out from the sky.

"When Ganon wuz up, thuh blood moon came over thuh land an' all of us who served him could come back again an' again, so long as he lived. No matter how often we died, no matter whut sword killed us, whether it wuz Link or not, blood moon always brought us back."

"S-so...wait, are you like...a stalfos?"

"Naaaah. I'm still alive, but...well, this is thuh longest I've lived, it's kinda nice not gettin' stabbed every four nights."

"Th-that's...that's real messed up." She rubbed her head almost reeling from this. "G-goddess of Hylia that is REALLY weird!"

"Huhuh, yeaaaaah."

"Doesn't that frighten you? Like, how long DO moblins live for?"

"Not sure. But I like bein' alive more than dyin' an' coming back."

"Why, that sounds awesome, I mean you can't DIE forever."

"No but...i-it's......I wuz scared."

"Huh?"

"Not dying. I'm not scared of that...I wuz scared of comin' back."

"Why?"

"C-c-cuz...cuz I-..."

Mohberra's hands shook causing the reel to shiver back and forth. She grabbed his wrist to steady his hold as a breath shuddered from his snout, a heaving chest with a painful sound rattling from his ribs to the point he started to weep.

"I-i would see his face...everytime."

"Who?"

"Ganon. Every time thuh blood moon came, his face we saw just before our time to sleep." He turned towards the rito. "You know whut it's like to die, Chihlo? It's...it feels like yer about to sleep, that after all thuh pain an' blood leaking outta yer body which really hurts but...once you get past that it...it's nice. You just fall onto thuh grass or rocks an'...an' then nuthin' matters anymore. You fought yer best an' that's alright, you just...you fall asleep. I never had a good sleep as thuh one I had when I died but...but then he comes."

The moblin brushed his eyes with a deep breath to calm himself, wiping the tears that bled down his cheeks as his fingers curled against his face.

"H-h-he...he...he drags me back...he pulls me out from my sleep, every time I think I'm gonna let go, when I'm finally...gonna have peace, his FACE is there again an' I scream 'n-no, no I don' wanna fight anymore, I don't wanna fight' but I can't s-stop it. I don't wanna come back, I-i didn't wanna come back."

He broke down fully with hands cupping his face, long porcine fingers with a hanging snout between as he dropped his rod before Chihlo grabbed it in her wings.

"I'm tired Chihlo. I jus' wanna sleep...but now he's gone an'...now I'm stuck here cuz I got no place else to go."

"You can't just leave?" she asked. "I mean, if Ganon comes back, you'll be trapped in that cycle again."

"I know...but who do I talk to? No one at thuh castle wants to hear me, the only friend I had when thuh blood moon came wuz Chuson."

"Chuson?"

"He's my longest friend. He always guards thuh cliffs up high, keepin' watch. I get him food every mornin' before I get started in thuh kitchen, back when Ganon wuz around we sat out in thuh Gerudo Highlands, just watchin' thuh sun creep up over thuh desert. We talked about lotsa stuff, like history, architecture, he's really smart HEY!"

His eyes lit up as he clicked his fingers at her.

"You oughta meet 'im sometime, at least once before you leave!"

"Yeah yanno I should. He sounds a smart guy."

"I bet he can even help ya with yer plan, he's good people, he don't bother nobody...we even died together fightin' Link a few times."

"Really?" She handed him the rod back as he steadied himself. "What was Link like?"

"Like whut you expect," he said staring out to sea gripping the line, "brave, didn't talk, slashin' with his sword. Had a lotta outfits on 'im, think I saw 'im once dressed like a Gerudo an' I had to do a double-take cuz h-he wuz REAL pretty!"

"HAH, really, that rumour's true!?"

"Oh yeah, an' he uh...h-heeee u-u-uh wuz...w-well, if he wuz a girl I-i woulda-"

"Spent a night cuddlin' up with her?" said the rito teasing an elbow at his rib.

"WHU-U-U-UHHHH...tha-, th-that's not a bad thing to say right?!"

"No of course not, I think it's cute! You're a sweet guy, I'm sure there's a girl out there for you."

"You think so?"

"I'm sure there is." She put a hand on his arm looking up at him. "One day you can leave this awful place and find a nice girl and settle down, what girl wouldn't want a guy who can cook?!"

"A-awwww..." the moblin rubbed his cheek with a bashful finger twisting his toes up, "thanks......do you like me?"

"I mean, yeah course I do. You were the first person here to actually see me for who I am and I really appreciate that." She clasped a hand to her chest as she stood up in front of him. "You made the past month here so much easier to deal with, but you didn't have to. You're a good person Mohberra. Thank you."

"...j-just...yanno, s'whut I do."

"I hope you find peace one day. Maybe when I get out, I can find you a place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I fly all over Hyrule I'm sure I can find you a place where you'll be left alone."

"Would you come visit me? J-just, yanno, sometimes?"

"Sure! Long as you promise you're not with Ganon anymore."

"I stopped bein' with Ganon after I died the seventh...wait..."

He stopped for a moment to count up on his fingers, muttering numbers under his breath. With each new number he counted Chihlo's heart sank deeper for him.

"Th-thiiiiirtyyyy-seventeen times, yeah...yeaaaah thassi-wait hey, HEY, I think I got sumthin'!"

"Huh?!"

"S-sumthin's bitin'!"

The line tugged with a vicious jerk nearly pulling Mohberra off his feet as he stood up to haul it back. Chihlo pulled with him as they heaved, winding the reel back carefully as they kept their eyes on the tautness. Something was pulling back, something stronger as if trying to pull the rod back in three directions.

"W-WATCH IT!"

"I'M TRYING!"

"N-NO NOT TOO HARD IT'LL SNAP!"

"NNNRRRAAAAAGH!"

"THASSIT MOHB YOU GOT IT, CUMMON PULL IT, GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!"

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Yanking with ultimate force, they fell back once the hook went flying above their heads as three little beasts clonked around them. The rito found herself laying on top of the moblin, much to his embarrassment as she smirked at him. His eyes froze as his body burned with shameful heat until Chihlo looked up towards their catch.

"Is that...driftwood?!"

"Whuh?" He looked behind himself. "Looks awful smooth fer driftwood."

"Yaaaaaahhh..."

The small pieces of wood suddenly stood up with teeny wobbly feet. Three small koroks with sword and net and bow stared up at them.

"AH, u-u-UHHH hi!"

"W-wuzzat yer fishing rod?!" squeaked the tall one with the bow.

"Yeaaaah it was," she replied cocking her head. "Did you...were you guys in the ocean?!"

"We were trapped!" squealed the short fat one with the net. "We couldn't get out, we wanted to explore this cave a-a-and the water washed us out an' trapped us in the rocks!"

"You saved our lives!" cried the one with the sword. "Thank you!"

"Uhhh, n-no problem," muttered Mohberra confused.

"We woulda been sunk without yer help, sending that fishing line down to pull us out, i-is there any way we can repay ya!?"

"Well...actually, d-do you guys uh...know where to find any good fish?"

"Fish?! That's all you want?!"

"Yeah, really."

"We'll help you!" said the archer korok. "We saw a place where there's LOTSA fish in a small cave down beneath the rock!"

"Seriously?!" said Chihlo. "Well that'd be great it'd sure save us some time thanks!"

"Alright then, KOROOOOKS MARCH, let's get some fish for our heroes!"

"YAHAHAAA!"

With marching form of children's wake, they led the two adults towards a small nook within the rock that sure enough a whole clustering spawn of fish were snugly hiding out from fiendish eyes. They grabbed at least half the colony of fresh saltwater fish before making their way back towards the maze island with farewells from the korok youths. Morning had broken with the bluest sky as the sun rose up fully above the world.

"That was weird huh?" she said carrying the rod.

"Sure wuz," replied the moblin and his sack of fish, "thanks fer showin' me how to fish."

"I can't believe you never learned proper being out on the road all those years."

"Well...I prefer deer meat really."

"I'm more of a pork lover myself, can't get enough of that."

"Huhuhuh, yeah...maybe that's why Lizarvinius hates you so much."

"Well if he starts something with me again, he's gonna have a lot more to deal with than some pork allergy...also."

She stopped and turned with a hand to his waist.

"I really meant what I said back there. If I can help you find someplace after all this where you can just live out the rest of your life, I will okay Mohberra?"

"S-sure...thanks Chihlo. Hope you find yer way out soon."

"Trust me...I will."