[center][h1][color=#b23434]N[/COLOR] [color=#ce4d4d]A[/COLOR] [color=#d95a5a]D[/color] [color=#df6161]I[/color] [color=#d95a5a]J[/color] [color=#ce4d4d]A[/color] [color=#b23434]H[/color][/h1][/center]
[right][color=#ae9c9c][i][b]Tavern → Telma's Bar[/b]
Green District, Castle Town[/i][/color][/right]

The castle town was nothing like Nadijah had imagined.

Ever since young, she'd pictured the capital of her enemy a thing of wonders, a terrifying sight that could strike fear in the hearts of any that bore it witness. She had imagined it ten times as big as it was, every inch carved of marble as pale as the faces of the Vai birthed there. In her mind, the people that walked the streets were all trained for war as her people were, with curiously straight blades hung from their hips and silver-studded arrows poking out from their quivers.

In truth, the city [i]was[/i] big and bustling, and the castle was indeed big - but it wasn't [i]grand[/i], and though its walls stood sturdy and tall, they weren't unmountable. The rugged stone provided ample footing; a few skilled Gerudo warriors could have made quick work of the sentry on the walls and made their way within, Nadijah knew. If only the war hadn't been fought closer to the Valley than the Castle Town, perhaps today, there would be no king to sit on an ill-deserved tone.

If this is what the capital and its people looked like, there was no reason for the Gerudo not to have won.

Nadijah jabbed her fork into her table with a loud thunk. It sunk so deep she wasn't sure if she could could pull it out any longer, but she was finished with her meal anyhow. Horse. She'd eaten horse. She[i] always [/i]ate horse at home, and though she could have opted for something new here, she did not. The rain was new enough for her, rapping at the windows like an uninvited guest. It made the town look even more bleak and grey. 

And it was [i]cold[/i]; so much so that Nadijah lacked the words to describe it. It felt like the coldest desert night, condensed into the tiniest droplet. She knew the night was young and that she was wasting time staring at an empty plate on an emptier table in a rundown tavern, choking on her own bitter shame. She should have been gathering intel. But [i]no one[/i] could have forced her out into [i]that[/i] downpour. She [i]dared[/i] someone [i]try.[/i]

And try someone did.

[i]"--my name is Zelda."[/i]

Nadijah's hand moved like lightning. She swiped the knife she'd cut her meat with off the plate and slashed behind her, where she expected a familiar weight of flesh to meet her swing. It did not. All she found once her eyes adjusted was the back wall of the tavern, a hair's breadth from where her hand had stopped. There was no one there to whisper words into her ear, and yet--

[i]"I have gone into labor within the castle, and I fear I won't survive---"[/i]

The words kept pouring into Nadijah’s mind as if the speaker resided in her very skull. No amount of looking around could pinpoint a culprit, even if one were to assume magical means. The tavern was as empty as they came, a few half-drunken voe its only patrons. They were all too engrossed in their little game of cards to attempt magic, and all too stupid to succeed.

The words didn't stop, and their implications had the young Gerudo reeling. The queen, seeking help from her enemy? Against… the king? What manner of a trap was this?!

And yet the words didn't leave her. [i]An old well, leading into the castle.[/i] A way into the heart of the enemy's stronghold. The thought made Nadijah’s heart race fast - and her feet faster.

The rain wasn't as cold as she remembered when it hit her skin again.

[center]-----------------------[/center]

... But after minutes of sitting underneath its relentless whip, it started to feel cold again. 

The cloak she’s draped around herself meant little when soaked through and glued to her skin, and the roof she perched atop of offered little in the way of cover. From the[i] rain, [/i]anyway; as far as she was aware, she hadn't been spotted by the people she’d observed until the rundown bar had swallowed them whole.

Unspotted and unknown; if she so wished, she could still turn around. Duty did not dictate she venture forth.

But curiosity, ultimately, did.

She waited for the voe with a strange hooded stick to disappear from sight, then made her move. The Gerudo descended between freshly formed puddles onto the unpaved ground between buildings, inching closer to the open door with every stilled inhale. 

Though she hadn't been able to make out details from her spot on the roof, she had seen glimpses of the strangers that had gathered inside. Some had looked like nothing she'd seen before. The light and warmth that poured from within were half as enticing as whatever awaited inside, and it took all Nadijah had not to fall prey to its lure. 

[i]It's a trap, [/i]she thought once or twice, but the woman who'd guided everyone inside had been a sister. None of it made sense to her.

Nadijah pressed against the wall outside, away from the light that might give her away, and listened.