Heart of The Gerudo Pt. 4

Part 4

Heart of The Gerudo: Deliberately Deliberating

Written by SilkenScribe

Original Story inspired by the Gerudo Link works of HeartGear

The words of the Gerudo in his cell bounced around in his head as he was led up the long flight of stairs. How Voe were typically treated a lot more harshly here. How men were treated in the all-women tribe. It was a pretty uneventful walk except for when they stopped in a side room where the guards unbound his hands and then rebound them behind him in a sort of box tie with his wrists atop one another.

Likely so that he wasn't a danger to anyone around him, it made sense considering the events in the prison cell.

Afterwards, they moved out of the room and into a huge beautifully decorated room, which was fairly open-air to the desert stretching out in the background behind the throne. Several guards lined the room while at the front a young woman reclined easily atop the stone-like throne. Like the rest of her tribe, she had vibrant red hair and sun-kissed skin. She was draped in silks of black and gold that denoted her station within the tribe.

Beside her stood a Gerudo woman who looked like she could crush your ribcage with just her fist.

Even more curiously, off to the side sitting on a thick pillow was none other than Aikoro. She offered a tiny smile in Avery's direction but refused to hold his gaze as he was led up to stand before the girl on the throne.

"Sav'aaq Voe." The woman said easily, moving to sit forward a bit on her throne, studying the man standing before her.

Avery wasn't sure how to respond or what to do. He shuffled uneasily as the woman seemed to scrutinize him.

"Uh...Hi." He said a bit awkwardly.

"It means good morning in our ancient tongue. Good morning, man. That being you." The woman said this matter of factly as she leaned back in her throne, folding her hands in her lap. While she was small in stature there was something genuinely imposing about the young woman.

"My guards tell me that they informed you that Voe entering within the walls of this city is strictly forbidden. And yet, here you are. Would you care to explain?" She asked, no sense of amusement in her voice.

Avery lowered his gaze to take a keen interest in his bare feet, "I was desperate. I didn't want to die out in the desert. I merely snuck in to..."

"...To what? Steal food? Steal water? Goods? Choose your words carefully Voe, for all these transgressions are severely punishable even to our own."

Aevery chewed his lip. He hadn't thought that far. It's not like he hadn't stolen things in his life. He wouldn't have taken much, only enough to get him to the nearby settlement. Somehow that seemed to matter little in his current situation.

"...To steal enough to get me out of the desert." He admitted honestly.

The woman on the throne nodded and sat up straight, taking a moment to cast a sidelong glance at the tough-looking woman next to her, "He's an honest idiot at least."

Avery might have scowled at the obvious insult, but he said nothing.

Turning back to him, the woman on the throne stared at him intently, "If you were too weak to make it out of the desert. Then you should not have entered in the first place. These sands do not nurture the weak. I should have you dragged out to the middle of the desert and left to be picked clean by the buzzards. I do not like when a Voe dares to sneak into my city, I do not like when they intend to take what isn't theirs. I especially don't enjoy when a group shows up at my gates looking for a wayward Voe."

Avery seemed to slump more and more with each of their words. However, her last comment had worry bubbling up in his stomach. The group at the gates could only be one particular group. The ones pursuing him. Evidently, they'd caught up.

She continued, "...And yet I am torn on what to do with you. Because while you may have sundered many of our cultural traditions and laws. My daughter's life is indebted to you for your actions in the cells. What would you have me do?"

Avery stared at his toes, trying to digest her words. His glimmer of hope had been his morals springing into action. It was faint, but it was a glimmer.

"You co..."

She spoke over him, "You will raise your eyes when speaking to me, Voe."

He hesitated but then did so, forcing himself to look up into her piercing green gaze.

"You could let me go."

The woman scoffed, "You expect me, Riju of the Gerudo to simply let you go? To throw you to those lions who camp outside of my gates? No. That won't do."

Avery tilted his head a bit, surprised at this mercy, which was the opposite of how he'd been treated at the gate.

Riju reached over, picking up an old-looking mask whose features were painted to look like much of the traditional makeup that her tribe wore. She spun the mask on the tip of her finger, "You are in a bit of a unique position, Voe. For I cannot let you go, nor can I keep you here without breaking my own traditions and laws."

Avery had a feeling he knew where this was going. He was going to rot in a cell for the rest of his life. Or be executed or something. While being offered 'mercy'. What more could he expect?

She flipped the mask into the air and caught it deftly, turning her attention to her daughter off to the side, "What do you think Aikoro? You've proposed this unusual notion."

Aikoro looked a bit surprised at being addressed, she looked to Avery almost apologetically before turning back to her mother, "It is owed to him. I will stake my reputation on it. He has the build for such a thing. Demeanor comes with practice..."

Avery looked between the two of them rather confused at their conversation.

Riju looked over at Avery, looking him up and down for a long moment, "Mm. The waistline could use a bit of work."

Aikoro shrugged, "All things in time. My answer then, is yes. I'm willing."

Riju nodded and turned her gaze back to Avery, "You have earned yourself an ally within these walls, Voe. It is the only reason I lay this sentence upon your head. That and Aikoro here seems to see at least a glimmer of...something in you."

"And what sentence is that?" Avery dared to ask.

Riju chuckled, "I sentence you to be immersed in our culture. Learning our ways. Walking in our footsteps."

Avery blinked, "That doesn't sound so bad."

With a smirk, Riju climbed to her feet. Just as one of the guards behind Avery pulled a thick rope of cloth down in front of him, tugging it tightly between his teeth and binding it behind his head. Avery let out a cry of surprise, tugging at his bonds.

Riju stood before him now and leaned down, "Mayhap it won't be so bad. But I still cannot have a Voe within my walls. And I can't send away the group that pursues you simply on my word. And so no Voe shall be permitted to exist within this city. A Vai, however..." She held up the wooden mask next to Avery's head and let a grin play across her lips.

"A Vai who is willing to learn, to change, to submit to our ways in body and mind. That I could allow..." She let her words hang in the air for a long moment. Like a taunting caress, a hint of what was to come.

Avery tried to argue through the thick cloth between his teeth but it came as nothing more than incoherent mumbling, "Ah see, the gag was a good idea. I'm afraid you've no real choice in the matter. It's this or death. Plain and simple." She snapped her fingers as each of the guards grabbed one of his arms while Riju walked back to her throne, slumping into it.

"He is yours to deal with Aikoro. Should so much as a hint of a Voe be in my city in a week's time, I will be most unimpressed."

Aikoro dipped into a polite bow and nodded before turning and walking past the guards holding the now struggling Avery, "Come along then. Let's take the young Vai to her quarters and let her get settled while I make all the appropriate arrangements."

"Mm!" Avery grunted.

~This is ridiculous!~ He yelled in his head. Did they mean to turn him into one of their tribe? A Vai, a girl like them? It was a better notion than death...but still!

Aikoro let out a small chuckle, "The less you struggle, the more you may enjoy the process." She said simply as the guards pulled Avery along, following her up a nearby set of stairs and into a rather lavish sort of 'bedroom' if you could even call it that. It was more like a closet with a singular barred window and a thickly padded bed in the middle of the square room. One of the guards lifted a thick black collar from a nearby hook while the other held Avery tightly and lifted his brown hair.

The collar was fastened neatly around his neck and then he was shoved backwards onto the bed.

Aikoro crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at him, "Don't expect the bonds to go anywhere anytime soon. But given time, if you meet our standards. We may loosen them, eventually. For now, I implore you to rest. You've a few days while I make all the necessary arrangements for this unusual punishment. I will make sure your wounds and needs are taken care of."

Aikoro let a small smile slip onto blue-painted lips, "Welcome to the tribe, Vai." She wiggled her fingers at him and then stepped back, shutting the heavy wooden door which locked with a click moments later, leaving Avery sitting there in the half-dark of the room. The only light source was the slit of a barred window high above his bed.

Settling onto the soft material he'd stare up at the ceiling. So much had just happened in a short time.

He wasn't dead, but the future for him held a lot of strange and confusing prospects. How did they expect him to become one of them? To fit in? It was such a strange thing. But with the tight bindings, the thick gag and the leather collar around his neck, he got the impression he wasn't going to have much of a choice in the matter.

Just what had Avery gotten himself into in his flight from home?

Only time will tell.

For now, he remained in this little room of his. It was certainly more comfortable than the cell he'd been in and as promised, the young woman who'd tended to his wound before showed up, flanked by guards as she went about changing his bandages, although this time she slathered the wounds in a strange smelling poultice with the promise it would help him heal up a little quicker.

And then she was gone.

What did the future hold for the newest Vai to join the Gerudo tribe?