-Qin Palace, Matsubi-

Matsubi entered the throne room. A servant announced his presence, and Matsubi gulped as he walked through the large doors. His experiences here were varied and confusing. He still could easily recall in his mind's eye the sight of blood staining the floor, the bodies of Majora and Qin alike, and the tension in the air as he followed Zelda here to remove her half-brother from the throne. The second time he had been here, he believed he would be executed for the part he played in the same half-brother's rebellion, only to learn he would be spared, as well as promoted to a lower officer role in the military. The third time he witnessed Chancellor Ryo, a rival to Zelda and a man whose air was so kingly, bargain for a truce between Qin and Zhao and a fortress with the man who had defeated Ouki Mitagi. Having witnessed every event in the campaign that cost Ouki his life, it only increased the tension as he witnessed the war Ryo brought to Zhao in his own way.

"You seem tense, Matsubi." Zelda observed. A light smile lifted her lips in amusement as she sat on her throne and watched him slowly move forward.

Matsubi glanced around and saw the court was light today. Only a few ministers were in attendance and present today. The ministers mostly ignored him and were busy amongst each other. They seemed to work publically. Then to see Zelda as well, was also a shock in its own right. She had grown much in the last few years. Time certainly flew by. He remembered how she stumbled on him and his squad in the forests as a child, and now was passable as a young adult. He couldn't tell if she was an older teen or a young woman anymore. Either way she was losing the cuteness and innocence of the child and bore the maturity of a woman. Even the look in her eye was different and new. She was still cold and distant, but to compare when he first met her to now is like comparing the ice cold grasp of death to a lightly chilly breeze.

"Of course, high princess," Matsubi bowed. "If I may say so, let it never be said that my times in this room have never been light nor without... spectacle."

Zelda laughed quietly. "It certainly has seen its share of drama. The stories this room would tell if it could speak! If you wish, we may move elsewhere. I called for you, but it is not important that it be public nor in a great debate."

"Then, if I may, may it be elsewhere?"

Zelda nodded. She rose from the throne and beckened to him as she exited a side door. A few guards walked with them as they took to a side hall and entered a smaller room. The palace was full of room for many purposes, and while the throne room was meant for spectacle and large debate, there were smaller rooms meant for work to be done in a more private setting. They entered a small room with little more than a desk, a few pillows, and a candle stand. It could be compared to a closet by royal standards.

A servant lit the candle and stood to the side. Zelda sat on a pillow and put down scrolls on the desk. Matsubi also sat down.

"I am sorry if my request was uncalled for." Matsubi bowed, feeling the need to be polite. "I am just uncomfortable in the throne room."

Zelda waved it aside. "I asked. I saw as much and made the offer. No need to apologize, Matsubi. What I wish to discuss has already been looked over by Chancellor Impa, the Fae Elder, the Majora Ambassador, and a few of my ministers. No need for further discussion with them in what is mostly formality."

Matsubi's eyebrows rose high. So many were involved in this mysterious subject? It must be important.

Zelda began, "I will start with the short of it and explain further after, yes?" Matsubi nodded. "I want you and your men to escort the Dragmire convoy to the Majora."

Matsubi felt his breath hitch briefly. This was quite an order! He felt many things at once. Confusion, as he did not know who the Dragmire were beyond a single man. Shame, as he felt unworthy of such a request in relations between Qin and their western ally. Gratitude, in her thinking of him in the same above others. More confusion, as he couldn't understand why she would choose him. And finally further confusion as he didn't understand how the request, or better yet the order, would impact the relations between them and their allies for good or for ill.

"I will do as you command." Matsubi said after a moment. "Yet, please tell me the details. I am very confused. The first thing being: why me?"

Zelda leaned back with her back against the wall and said as if it was the simplest of matters, "Because among the Qin, only a few have ever met the Majora in a positive light. Link, myself, the Fae, and you, as you were in charge of the escort that took me there. Then you fought alongside us to reclaim the palace. Then you fought alongside the Majoran king against Harken Dragmire. Now, since the deal with the Mitagi, the Fae have, to play a trusted role in this matter, searched Qin far and wide for what remains of the Dragmire, and freeing them under my authority. I could have trusted the search with my Chancellors, or my ministers, but it would have taken many times more effort, manpower, would likely have failed to meet the goal even by half, and still wouldn't have been seen as... trustworthy as if the Fae did it."

"Don't the Majora trust us?" Matsubi questioned.

"For the most part. We have succeeded in having good relations. The ambassador speaks well of how his people see us, esspecially since we sided with the Majora against our own Mitagi. Yet even so, the Fae are beloved and are like blood brothers. While the relations between Fae and Dragmire was... testy, so far as the Majora claim. If the Dragmire are to return in any form, I wish it to be with everyone repairing the damage done by my grandfather. I want the Dragmire to see the Qin, Fae, and Majora all putting in their efforts to heal the damage done to them."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"This entire thing sounds like symbolism and a charade."

"To an extent. In a larger world view, it is only that. I am not changing the laws about slavery. I am freeing a select group that was enslaved for a crime they have long since paid. Also I am trying to extend hands of friendship by having particular groups play a role in this, to set an example of how relations can change and borders are not as strong as they seem. Yet I also think, as I am sure you can see, that the Dragmire who are freed will not see it as a charade. It is their lives. Yet I would not want them, neither the Majora nor Dragmire, to think siding with them over the Mitagi has hurt us. I have given the new fortress Ryo bought us over to the Mitagi, and so I have earned back any good will I may have lost from the Mitagi, and more."

Matsubi stared at her a moment. He had received a minor education in his youth, as he grew up in a walled city, but the ease in which she described such matters baffled him. Ministers truly must be the highest educated in the country to handle such matters daily, and to foster a young woman into the ease in which she integrated it. She was either a prodigy, had an incredible teacher, had vast life experience, or all three.

He said, "Link would no doubt see what you are doing as nothing more than doing something good for some people, and he would leave it at that. Yet you take a simple gesture and add so many layers of thought upon it until one might question if something good is truly good or if something evil is truly evil. You are balancing on the edge of a knife the good will of so many factions and no matter how good something is, it likely benefits one at the expense of another. This way of thinking must be maddening!"

Zelda sighed tiredly, "It is."

"I will do everything in my power to keep this ordeal from being burdensome, Princess. You say the Fae have already been at work gathering the Dragmire. Where are the Dragmire?"

For this, Zelda pulled out a map of Qin. She laid it out on the table. "As you know, Qin is split into two halves. Eastern Qin and western Qin split by Genyuu mountains and Genyuu Pass. With the Dragmire split across all of Qin, the Fae have chosen two places." She tapped a forest in eastern Qin. "The Fae have taken all of the Dragmire they could find in the east to this forest. Tomorrow they should move the Dragmire from the forest to Genyuu Pass, where you will meet them and escort them west." She tapped Joket to the west. "The Dragmire found in the western half have been moved to Joket."

Matsubi nodded. "Owned by the Majora and on the border between us while being nearly in the middle of our western half... it is positioned well for it."

"Exactly the same thoughts we have had."

"The plan is that I escort the Dragmire from Genyuu Pass to Joket, then?"

"Yes, and then from Joket into the mountains of the Majora, until our allies take them off your hands. Even if you must go so far as to enter their gates and leave the Dragmire at Ganondorf's door."

"Why not leave them at Joket?" Matsubi wondered. "It is owned by the Majora."

"The Majora said the same, but I wish to take the gesture all the way to its completion. The Dragmire have been enslaved to Qin their entire lives. I would let them see they have not been moved from one Qin city to another, as Joket, while being Majoran, is constructed to be Qin. I would have them taken all the way to the Majoran so that they may truly know the freedom given to them is not a farse."

Matsubi nodded. Zelda rose and started to leave. Hurriedly, he added, "I understand, princess. I-Is there anything more?"

"No, that will be all. I pray you fly under the Goddesses wings. Safe travels." Zelda shut the door, leaving him alone.

Matsubi breathed out and looked around in momentary thought. So far as orders went, it was peaceful. It would be a nice reprieve to leave the front lines and fighting to play a part in politics. Yet he still had some trepidations concerning the matter... if the stories of the Dragmire were anything to go by.

"Escorting an abused clan of demon-worshippers across wastelands to a mountain filled with wild men. What can go wrong?"

-Outside Joket, Western Qin, Ghirrahim-

Ghirrahim stooped down and touched the ground. Lush grass met his finger tips and growing crops stroked his hips. A land once cracked and dry was now alive and fresh. The shade of trees covered his burning back and the gentle rustling of leaves was all he heard, punctuated by the breathing of his hounds and the stomping of his traveling companion.

Satakarta's feet squashed the grass he had just been touching, and the man huffed as he looked out at the city he once governed. "My eyes are not pleased to behold this decreped sight again."

"Then you fail to comperehend what you see." Ghirrahim replied patiently. "I have seen this land in many different ages, and if you were to see it as I once did, then you would marvel in the majesty of the world. It has such an ability to heal and endure. Unlike my home."

Satakarta gave the albino a wary glance. The white man-thing was constantly cryptic and was long winded. One of the Twilight stepped forward slowly between them. The mask salesman leaped to the side, but Ghirrahim brought his hand to the hound's head and petted it without bothering to look. The albino's white eyes looked on Joket in the distance from the trees they hid by.

"Your home is also impressive." Ghirrahim said. "This city was not here the last time I recall it. You have built up a great legacy."

"Thank. You?" Satakarta said and asked at once. He wasn't sure how to take the compliment.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the idea of 'Second City'?"

"No."

"Basically it is the idea that a city is sometimes grand and incredible because it is built on the ashes of its former. I think it is time you showed me how you have grown since you departed. It is time you built a second city." Ghirrahim looked at him. "It is time to set our plan in motion."

Satakarta smiled. He stepped back to his carriage and pulled out two blank masks. He took a bit of ink, drew on the masks, added a hint of his blood, and then placed the masks together. The masks were designed to activate on contact with faces. A loophole he found was the masks couldn't distinguish between what kind of 'face'. Whether it be monster, man, or another mask.

While Eastern Qin and the palace prepared for war, the relatively peaceful west would never be the same.

-Genyuu Pass-

-Matsubi-

He stood and stared from the hill overlooking the great wall of Genyuu Pass. His men gathered around him and looked down on the sight in awe as well. It was like a scene out of mythos and dreams.

It was like the land was on fire. There were so many Dragmire gathered together here, with their glowing red hair, that it was as if the land was on fire. Matsubi expected to smell smoke and feel heat if they were to near them. The mystical image was complimented by wooden centaurs walking among them. Matsubi had seen Fae a number of times, but it was still a sight to behold as the otherworldly creatures added a sacred feel.

"I've never seen so many red-heads before..." A man commented, his jaw gaping.

"They certainly look like demon-worshippers." Another said.

Matsubi winced. Inwardly he agreed. Yet it was still something he didn't want to comment on, as it wouldn't help the situation. For others to say it openly... it did not bode well.