The Reformed Gerudo King (Legend of Zelda)

Chapter Four- A Knight's Apprentice

Nadia crouched in the tall grass and watched the deer walk across the plains in silence, keeping her breathing and movements as slow and quiet as possible. She stalked the deer slowly until it strayed from the rest of the group and she slowly pulled back her bow. She took a deep breath and fired, hitting it directly in the neck and killing it. It let out a small noise and fell to the ground, life leaving it's eyes quickly. She smiled and ran over to it silently and with haste. She pushed her bangs back and check it over. "Perfect." She pulled out the arrow just as her father taught her. She tied up it's legs and whistled for her horse.

It had been two years since she had gone to the Lost Woods, and the Gerudo Chief and Prince hadn't made another visit since then. Nadia kept herself busy with her studies, hunting, and training at the knights grounds, but she still felt a bit of emptiness, as if she was missing a dear friend of hers. She tried her best not to think about it and helped out her kingdom by hunting small game such as rabbits and birds, but today she wanted to prove she could do more. She tied up the deer's hooves to her horse just as her father had done over and over every hunting trip she had gone on with him. She smiled and patted her horses neck before jumping onto her. "Alright, Hyrule Castle!" With a kick to the sides, they took off, carrying the deer with them.

She made her way to the Castle grounds and she pulled her horse up to the knight's training grounds and jumped off. She was still small and young, only eleven years old, but she was a regular visitor of the training field and all of the knights knew her, mostly through her father. She ran up to one of the head knights and tugged on his arm. "Rilen, you have to see what I shot today! I killed my first deer!"

The tall knight looked down at her and laughed a little at her excitement. He was a tall, handsome man with long platinum hair tied in a low ponytail with a few braids weaved through and the trademark hoop piercings on his ears. He had ice blue eyes, fair skin, and a long, jagged scar all the way down his cheek. He was in his full suit of royal guard's armor and had his large broadsword strapped to his waist. "A deer you say? Are you sure it wasn't a small boar?"

Nadia huffed. "I'll prove it! It was a stag! Big antlers and everything!"

"A stag you say?" He rubbed his chin, mimicking a thinking motion to tease her. "Well now this I have to see." He ruffled her hair as she led him to her horse, where the deer was tied. "Well I'll be!" He knelt down and examined the kill. "You have your father's aim! It's a bit young, but you did a fine job hunting down your first deer, your father is going to be very proud of you when he finds out."

Nadia giggled in excitement. "Do you know where he is?"

Rilen shook his head. "Sorry kid, but he's been gone all morning, something about a meeting with the king." He shrugged. "Who knows, maybe he's being promoted to a royal ranger and he won't have to chase game anymore."

Nadia crossed her arms. "He loves hunting, he would never stop what he does and the king knows it. He wouldn't bother to ask."

"I suppose you're right, but with the way you're shooting." Rilen tapped the stag's leg before leaning against her horse. "I'd say that he won't need to do his job anymore."

Nadia smiled and blushed from the knight's compliments. Rilen wasn't family, but he felt like another father or an uncle to her. He was always there for her just like her parents and even started to train her in hand on hand combat, under protest of her parents. "I hope he sees my deer before it has to be taken in."

"If not, then I'll tell your father that you killed the biggest buck I had ever seen in my life!" Rilen said dramatically. "It stood over ten feet tall and it's antlers were like massive branches on the largest trees in all of Hyrule! It was even grander than even the Lord of the Mountain!"