-Jouto, Link-

Link stayed in Kanyou up until he received a paper from Zelda granting him a piece of land from the Jouto region, as well as a house. He was granted freedom from slavery and was compensated with a small sack of silver to help get him started on his new life. He was allowed to keep Midna's blade. The papers were stamped with the palace seal, and with a quick goodbye, he was off.

When Link laid eyes on the village, it did not look the same as before. It had the same people, but they did not feel the same to him. Whether it be something he consciously recognized or not, he had grown. His exposure to battle, death, to things bigger than him and his little problems, all of it had opened his eyes in a way he never would have expected.

The villagers returned to their old village in Jouto, and started the process of rebuilding. Link's friends Bi 'Bucktooth' Hei and Bi Tou cried when they saw Midna's body. Link held to Zelda's secret and claimed she died helping him defend the throne, a lie to which the Mayor held to. So the night of Link's return there was a feast to celebrate the village's life and a funeral for Midna. It was a night of both joy and sadness, and between the exhaustion of emotions from weeping and the drinking, no one woke the next day.

Midna was buried on a grassy hill overlooking the village of Jouto. Her body was bathed in oils and wrapped in linen donated by Zelda.

While Link had grown, let it not be forgotten he was still very much Link. He stopped by the shop while most people were drunk (he detests alcohol after what the soldiers put him through) and ordered milk. A chicken walked by, and when the two saw each other they stopped to glare hatefully at each other. How a chicken can glare at a human being is beyond understanding, but then one could argue that Link is barely human by multiple standards and sources. Link added chicken to his order, and the chicken proceeded to panic and flee to Link's amusement.

The house Link was given was little more than a shack. It was barely an upgrade from his previous hut. The only true discernable difference was the addition of a wooden floor. Tou felt sorry for him but quickly changed their tune when Link yelled.

"It's my house! It's my first house! Look at it! Isn't it awesome!" Link ran in and admired it. "It has a wooden floor and everything! It has a fire pit so I can cook when I want! It's near a river, so I can bathe when I want! Shit when I want!"

"Yeah..." Tou chuckled. "It's just like you to see the bright side of things. Are you going to work on it?"

"Nope." Link smiled. "I don't plan to be home enough for that. Now that I'm free, I'm going back out to the battlefield. This house is going to grow into a castle. Just you wait."

He chuckled in disbelief. "Sure... sure."

-Later-

"Link." The mayor said, "I need your help."

Link jumped up in excitement. "Sure thing! What you need! What general am I being sent to? Did the princess put in word for me? I knew they would be hearing about me, but I didn't it would be this quickly! Where is Qin being invaded!?"

"It's nothing like that..." The mayor muttered. Just where did the young man get all this energy? He had been asking himself that for as long as he knew the boy, and he never could figure it out. "The princess has claimed the throne, and as a loyal vassal, we will be showing our allegiance to her rule by offering tribute. We also have a shipment going to Joket."

"Yeah?" Link asked, just a little bit disappointed.

"I know in the past you worked as the merchant's assistant-"

"Is that another word for human donkey?"

"-but now that you are a warrior, and one of the only ones in Jouto with any fighting experience, our merchants have asked me to hire you as a bodyguard. It's an important job, Link. Many of our crops were burned by Ketsu, and we have to rebuild the village. We need to keep up the trade and prove to our clients we are still dependable."

Link dropped his shoulders and grumbled. "You want me to be a babysitter?"

"More or less." The mayor smiled. He handed out a scroll. "This is the contract."

Link narrowed his eyes at the man and grumbled at his smirking face. "Tch. Fine!" He snatched the scroll from his hands. "I'll trust you on this... You know I can't read."

-Joket (formerly belonging to Chancellor Kyou), Ganondorf Dragmire-

"How did the meeting go?" Ganondorf asked.

His second, Nabooru, closed the door and entered the room. She patted Kagami between the ears and stood by Ganondorf at the window. His red eyes met her frustrated ones briefly before looking back out over the city.

"That bad?" Ganondorf figured.

"There is very little we have in common. Our traditions are vulgar, our laws are barbaric, our wolves..." She smiled apologetically to Kagami. "Are little more than feral house pets in their eyes."

Kagami curled his lips back and growled.

Ganondorf frowned. He expected as much, but she sounded particularly aggravated.

"Did mother sabotage it?"

"No, in fact, they were oddly silent."

"A troubling thing in its own right... but we both knew this would be difficult. Why does it sound like this is worse than expected?"

"Simply put, there was nothing positive from the meeting. They are afraid of us. They see us as monkeys, barely worthy of walking on the same dirt as them."

Ganon chuckled. "Did they say as much?"

"Unfortunately, no. Blood would have been drawn if they did." She sighed.

"Ah-hah! So that's what got you down! You wanted a fight!"

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"Is it too much to ask they have the balls to say what they're thinking and have it out!"

Ganon laughed at her aggravation. He patted her on the shoulder. "All things in time. Perhaps mother can drug them so they say what they think. Until then, we have to figure out how to make this work. The governor is working for us now, so instead of having meetings with the city elders, have a meeting just with him. Remember what we want from this."

Nabooru repeated the objectives they had, "To allow immigration and security for the Majora, and collect taxes and tribute so we can conquer the other mountain tribes."

"That's right."

Ganondorf excused her and put a hand on Kagami to calm the beast down. "I know you are angry, I feel it too, but something like this is hardly worth getting worked up about. It is all going to plan. Now, let's go for a run."

Kagami's ears perked up at the word 'run' and burst out the door the moment Ganon opened it. He chuckled at the beast's sudden chirpiness. The need to move and run was a joy he suddenly found himself sharing. The two sprinted out of the manor and into the streets. The citizens were all former Qin and fled at the sight of the dark-skinned, red-haired man running with a massive scarred wolf, and he made them no mind. His eyes were on the gates.

Ganon and Kagami ran out the gates of Joket, and Ganon paused to marvel. The walls and mountains no longer caged him. He could see to the horizon and beyond, and though the land he possessed did not extend far, surely Qin would not have a problem with one lone man entering the allied border?

Ganon and Kagami raced through the hills and plains. Every hill was a discovery, every tree was new and unique. For the first time in many years, Ganon felt he could extend his wings as far as he wanted without being caged. He could run for hours and race Kagami without tiring, and without anything to make him turn to the left or right. He didn't feel pain, he didn't feel burdened, he could run to his heart's content.

So he chased the sun until Din left his sight. When finally he stopped, Kagami and he was panting equally hard. Ganon stopped to sit on a rock, and Kagami collapsed by him, but both man and wolf were filled with smiles. Just like you can't keep a strong wolf caged in a house forever, nor could you contain Ganondorf to walls and mountains forever.

Ganon sighed and turned back towards Joket. He lit his hand on fire to light the way.

"Let's head back," he said. Kagami followed along at the slower pace they took.

Now that his pent up energy was gone, Ganon took the time returning to think.

Nabooru was his second in command. In every way, she should be chief by normal standards. She was smarter, sly, quick. She didn't have Ganon's awe-inspiring demonic presence nor his ambition, but she was better at reading people and understanding situations. She was also better at leading and managing people as a whole. Ganon was simplistic compared to her. As the years went by, Ganon found himself letting her have more and more say over how things are done with the Majora.

It wasn't a talk he had presented, but he had a mind to split their duties officially. The more Ganon thought about it, the more convinced he was suited to a role as 'champion' rather than 'king'. He would have by now, but Nabooru lacked ambition, and to Ganon a king needed to have ambition.

Like the High Princess Zelda. Just thinking about the young girl made his blood pump with excitement. That was a monarch with ambition! Her ambition made his desire to be paltry in comparison!

His ambition was to conquer the mountains surrounding Qin so when the day came for them to go to war, he wouldn't just be left on the sidelines watching... he would be one of the major players. There were still many tribes hidden beyond the borders of the plains people. He had seen her maps, and it amazed him how little of the mountains Qin realized existed. There was an entire country around their borders, and they had no idea.

But then, how to go about this?

Despite Nabooru's lack of ambition, it wasn't really necessary if used right. The ambition was not necessary with Joket. Ambition would be detrimental to his efforts there. Ganon hoped some Majora would immigrate to Joket, and pushing things would only be damaging. Ganon wanted the old hatred his mother's forced on him to be proven wrong so that he could shove it in their faces, and so they would stop pestering him that peace with Qin was a bad idea. Yes, Ganon was angry, but most of the people who had wronged his people were dead. What business did he have blaming people for the actions of their parents?

Ganon would encourage immigration and have Nabooru in charge of Joket over the governor to ensure there was no insurgency. His mothers would be in charge of Majora in the mountains. They were too volatile to leave in charge of Joket around former Qin.

Which left Ganon to lead the army and conquer their rival tribes.

"Well... can't do it immediately. We need money and weapons..." Ganon mused. "It will take time before I can become King of the Mountains, but all things in due time... Nabooru will probably call me lazy in the meantime. I'll have to find something to do... I may have made the selfish decision to aid Qin, and we gained a big city for it so the people are praising me, but that doesn't mean I'm any good at governing."

Kagami turned his head to his master. Ganon scrunched his face, "Don't give me that look! I'm not just alpha, I'm alpha's alpha. I tell other alphas what to do, and they lead the packs for me... you wouldn't understand." The wolf huffed and shook his fur.

They entered the city. Ganon had wanted to run to the sun and back, but he had made sure not to go too far. They had stayed in the eyesight of the city at the very least. It was night and the guards were at attention patrolling the deserted streets. It was generally in a state of unrest ever since Majora had gained the city. One set of guards stopped Ganon to demand to know what he was doing there, and they were quickly shut down.

"Kagami, your presence spooks the guards. Head back to the manor on your own." Ganon instructed the giant wolf. The wolf merely shook his fur and disappeared into the shadows.

Ganon was too large and obvious to hide. His hair almost glowed in the night.

A flash of red drew his attention, and Ganon turned to see a person with red hair running down the street. The red hair almost seemed to glow like his own. He had never seen anyone in Qin or Majora with such hair beside himself, so who was this? It drew the attention of guards just as much as he did, and the person was stopped.

Ganon drew closer and realized several things. First, the glowing hair belonged to a young girl. Second, she was white-skinned. Third, he did not recognize her, and he recognized the face of every person in Majora. All of this left him openly curious.

Who was she and why did she have hair like his?

The guards had stopped the girl and were on her, but he recognized from their tone that they were being gentle. She was a young girl, but she also seemed to have a reputation. They knew her to some extent. Very... odd for a Majoran to have a reputation from Qin soldiers.

"I'm sorry!" The girl squirmed, rubbing her hands together. "I know it was late and I shouldn't be out after dark and be home, but I was lost in myself in the fields and-"

"It's fine. Just hurry home." The guards told her.

"Hold." Ganon put his hand out and grabbed their attention. The girl's eyes lit up at the sight of him. "Who is this girl?"

The guards gulped when they saw Ganon. They looked toward each other. "Well?" Ganon pressed, annoyed by their hesitation.

"Malon, sir-chief-king Majora, sir."

"Just one title is all that is necessary..." Ganon growled. The men bowed quickly and apologized.

"Your hair is like mine!" Malon pointed up at him excitedly.

"That's right."

"Why is that!?"

"I do not know, I was hoping you could tell me." Ganon lowered himself onto one knee to get down on her level and get a good look at her. Even up close he did not recognize her. "Which family of Majora are you from? I do not recognize you, and I know the face of everyone in my tribe."

"Majora?" The girl tilted her head to the side. "You mean those monkeys that took the city?"

The guards drew in a breath, fearful of how Ganon would respond to being called a monkey. On Ganon's part, he was merely annoyed, but he didn't show it. She had heard things.

Malon continued, "I'm not a Majora monkey! I'm Qin!"

"That explains that, then. But how can you be Qin when you do not have their hair?"

"Oh, I have mom's hair!"

Oh, now that was interesting. "Your mother has hair like you and me?"

She nodded. "Yeah! It glows red in the dark too. Her eyes get all red like yours. Especially when I get her angry... Or when she drinks... Or all the time..."

His curiosity peaked, Ganon asked, "May I meet your mother?"

The girl looked at him long and hard. Was she judging his motives? Was she determining if it was safe or-

"Okay." She said simply.

Or just being a weird child.