Queen of the Banished

702 Words

“Rabia?” A knock on the office door made Rabia look up from her papers. Kamilah quietly stepped into the room. “I brought breakfast,” she said as she set down a platter of food on an empty spot of desk. “Also, another letter from Ganondorf arrived. Is there anything I can help you with?” Kamilah asked, noting the stack of papers on the desk.

“That’s alright, Adiλa(1),” Rabia replied. She accepted the letter and pulled of the seal. Kamilah settled into one of the chairs on the other side of the desk and pulled over a stack of Rabia’s papers. She flipped through them as Rabia unfolded Ganondorf’s letter. She looked up when Rabia gasped.

“What is it, dahali(2)?” Kamilah asked. She set down her papers and rounded the desk, peering over her daughter’s shoulder.

“Ganondorf’s coming home!” Rabia said, showing Kamilah the letter. “He’ll be home around lunchtime and intends to stay a couple days!”

“Well, I’ll have to have the girls make something special for lunch, then,” Kamilah smiled. “Eat your breakfast before it gets warm.” She kissed the top of Rabia’s head and swept out of the room.

Rabia hummed to herself as she flipped through her papers and ate her food. She had just finished signing the last document when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she called as she set the papers aside neatly in their appropriate stacks. Her eyebrows furrowed when Kabira stepped into the room.

“Kabira? What can I do for you?” she asked. Kabira bowed to Rabia stiffly.

“Bab'ya-latifa(3).” She crossed the room and stood next to the chair Kamilah had vacated, arms behind her back. “Aveil wished for me to inform you that she has returned from her mission.” Though her voice sounded disinterested, there was no hiding the curiosity alight in Kabira’s yellow-gold eyes. “She will come see you after she eats.”

“... Thank you, Kabira. Would you like to stay for breakfast? There’s plenty of food here,” Rabia offered, gesturing to the tray Kamilah had brought.

“No. I must return to my duties while Nabooru is on break,” Kabira said. She made certain to bow once more and turned to leave.

“Oh, wait, Kabira,” Rabia called. Kabira turned her head in Rabia’s direction, but didn’t look at her. “I thought you might like to know that your father will be home later today and will be staying for a couple days.” Kabira nodded once, a closed the door behind her.



“You want us to… to what?!” Aveil asked incredulously. “You know we have no idea where to even begin with tha-” Rabia held up a hand and cut her off.

“Aveil, I’m just asking that you and your team transport materials to the site for now. Don’t worry - I’m doing my own research. We’ll work through it,” Rabia said.

“We don’t know the first thing about building docks or ships,” Aveil insisted. “No matter how much research you do, are you really convinced we can pull this off?” Rabia smiled at her.

“Of course I am. It’s only about half a day’s ride to the ocean - a reasonable distance for a shipping port. Ganondorf’s library has plenty of books on building different vessels. Boats are just simple physics, no matter their size.” Aveil stared at her.

“You lost me at ‘books’,” she stated, and Rabia laughed. “Of course we’ll do as you ask, but this project may take more time than you anticipate,” Aveil said. Rabia shrugged.

“There’s no rush. You’ll need some time to gather the materials for the docks without drawing too much attention, anyway.”

“How will we get the materials, though? We don’t have trees in the desert - we’d have to go to Hyrule and I’m sure Ganondorf will notice reallocated funds,” Aveil said.

“He doesn’t track my funds, though,” Rabia said. “And that’s what I intend to use.” She walked over to one of the three safes in the room and pulled out some rupees, then handed them to Aveil. Aveil hesitated.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“It’s just sitting here gathering dust. I’m very sure.” Aveil took the money and bowed.

“We’ll get started tonight, Rabia-lati(4).”