Separated from her little girl not two months after she was born, she became depressed and sick, confined to her bed in Razi’s house for weeks at a time. There was no potion, no magic, no act that could cure her, and it seemed as if she would waste away there in the Sheikah village. In fact, that’s what most believe happened.
Razi blamed himself. How could he have been so careless? And it was his daughter, too, his daughter that would never know her true father because she’d been passed off as someone she was not. She would have to pay for that mistake. He would pay. Penelope was paying. He couldn’t believe she still loved him, if she still felt anything, that is. It was hard to tell. Her graying face and lifeless eyes made Razi wonder if he’d done the right thing in taking her away from Taurean; she looked no better now than then. Were emotional bruises just as difficult to heal as physical ones?
The only one who kept any hope in the house was little Kerrith. Still too young to understand exactly what was going on, he brought his "mama" flowers every day without fail.
"Such a sweet child," Penelope commented on a day she had enough strength to speak. "He’s like his father."
Razi looked upset with himself and urged Penelope to rest.
"You were feeling horrible yesterday. Don’t strain yourself or cloud your mind with foolish notions."
"It’s far from foolish. It’s--" Her words were cut off by violent coughs.
"Lie down and rest. I’ll get you some water," Razi offered, and left the room. A minute later, there was a shadow on the curtain.
"Razi?"
"It’s me, Mama," a meek voice answered.
"Kerry, come," Penelope said, and he drew the curtain.
"I brought you some flowers," he said, offering a few daffodils.
"What beautiful daffodils, Kerrith! How did you know those were my favorites?"
"You told me, remember?" he said, grinning.
"What beautiful daffodils, Kerrith! How did you know those were my favorites?"
"You told me, remember?" he said, grinning.
Eighteen years after Kerrith lost his sister, he’d grown into a very handsome and charming young man. Unfortunately, he knew it, and his ego had grown just as much as he had to match, if not, then much more. He helped Penelope get better, with the help of more than flowers. Kerrith needed a mother, and Penelope needed a child. They were there for each other. Of course, once she was over her depression, Penelope noticed her son’s personality begin to change. He became proud, gratefully though, not as proud as the scum she’d left. She still didn’t like it.
As he became older, he attracted the attention of many Sheikah girls, who would all bat their eyes and giggle madly, among other things, when he passed by. Taking advantage of such attention, Kerrith seized his first possible opportunity to become a man when he was fifteen. Since then, he’d just about whored himself to the entire village. Still, the attention came, the girls still batted and giggled and came in droves to compete over him. He loved every minute of it. His parents did not. He defiantly continued in his ways.
"One of those girls is going to find out what you’re doing and hurt you badly," Penelope warned him. "When they find out a man is doing something they don’t like, they have a bad habit of reacting in less than pleasant ways."
"I know, Mama," Kerrith replied, with a venomous undertone.
"I can’t believe you remembered that!"
"Anything for a special lady, and you are, Rhoana," he said.
"I hope so, because I’ve heard you been sniffing around Selia," Rhoana said.
"Whoever said it was lying," Kerrith answered, a little too quickly. Rhoana narrowed her eyes.
"Selia told me herself. My best friend, Kerrith! How could you?"
"Well it’s not like you told her," Kerrith argued, shrugging and looking off to the side. "If one of you had said something sooner, you wouldn’t have been in this mess, don’t you think?"
"Well, no... wait! That’s not the issue right now!" Rhoana cried. "The issue is you, being a pig!"
Kerrith simply chuckled.
"You knew that already. And both of you still came for me. Really, you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves, so don’t try to pin it all on me."
Rhoana was at a loss for words and instead ran off a string of curses at Kerrith, including one to hopefully, for her at least, shrink certain parts of his anatomy to such a size they were rendered useless. She also threw the daffodils back at him and stormed off, leaving him alone where he stood. She would later scold herself for throwing the flowers. Vessels of Sha’krah’s beauty did not need to be treated in such a manner.
Kerrith, meanwhile, simply sucked his teeth and headed for the pub in the Castle Town. He was always welcome there, by the other patrons, by the alcohol, by the women.
He’d had all of them at one time or another, of course. At first, the licentious Hylian women were a welcomed change to what had been his usual Sheikah stock, but now, even they were starting to bore him, and he found himself more interested in his drink than the four women draping themselves over him.
"Master Kerrith," one of them whispered into his ear, "please take me with you tonight. I’ll truly make it worth your while."
"Oh, she can’t be that good with her mouth if she lies so horribly. Choose me instead, Master Kerrith."
And so it went.
When he drained his mug completely and stared at the bottom for a few minutes, he stood up (as one of the women fell from his lap), paid his tab and simply, silently, walked out. The entire establishment was stunned.
The drawbridge into the Castle Town rose for the night behind him as he took a few steps out onto Hyrule Field at dusk. Kerrith’s eyes found the bit of light left in the sky, and followed it. He found himself staring west, at the cliff faces that marked the entrance to Gerudo Valley and beyond it, the Gerudo Fortress.
He knew, of course, that the West was the one place in Hyrule he, as a Sheikah, would never be welcome. His father had long ago told him about the great wars between the Sheikah and the Gerudo that resulted in a power shift and mutual resent between the two peoples.
But surely, he supposed, it couldn’t hurt to go over there and just see some things, like what that part of the country looked like? Just once? He’d seen Gerudo women before, as they were found in the Castle Town as often as he was, looking for the same thing he was looking for. Hate-filled glares were shot across the streets, but under King Harkinian’s orders, if there were ever a fight between Sheikah and Gerudo in the Town’s walls, the instigators would be hanged and both races exiled. It worked. King Harkinian was a very well respected man, and his toddling daughter would one day earn the same reputation.
It helped that the Gerudo lost last year's civil war. In an effort to gain more land for themselves, the Gerudo King pushed his people across Hyrule Field and into the Town. Unfortunately for them, the Knights of Hyrule were more than ready to stop them, one brave Hylian soldier in particular, taking most of the work upon himself. Though the Gerudo managed to kill him, he'd already taken too many of the invaders down, and they retreated back to the desert. They'd only started to come back to the Town, hanging their heads, in terribly small numbers, and quite infrequently.
That's not to say, however, that those living in the Town weren't terrorized. Parts of the Town were burned beyond recognition and many women and children, maybe more than the soldiers, perished in the chaos. Few escaped, fewer without injury. The ones left decided to form a very close and tight-knit community. The Sheikah, of course, were looking for any excuse to fight the Gerudo, which helped the rest of Hyrule in its victory. Like the Hylians of the Castle Town, many Sheikah lives were lost, however, and whole families like Kerrith's were now very rare indeed. More Hylians seemed to be moving into Kakariko with each day that passed, as well. Given all of this, it wasn't surprising that there weren't many Gerudo running around the Castle Town, and that they could only be found back home.
A light wind from the east blew at Kerrith’s back. He took it as a sign, and nodded. With a new sense of resolve, he snapped a Deku Nut in the direction of the desert.
If they care about this place so much, they should really keep a better eye out for intruders. It was too easy to get in here; any Sheikah could do it, Kerrith thought, as he looked around the room he was in. There didn’t even seem to be any guards, just a holding cell and a couple of crates in the corner. He leapt from his perch in the rafters and began to explore the room. A few tapestries on the walls. He chuckled. What, did they think they were civilized or something? Stone walls and floor, as he had expected, it was cooler that way. What he didn’t expect was to quickly find a blade at his throat.
Shit.
"I’ll give you to the count of five to tell me what the hell you think you’re doing here," a Gerudo guard threatened in very well spoken Hylian. After dealing with Hylian men for so long, she had to be able to speak it properly. And after all, her son’s father was a Hylian man.
"One... two... three..." she counted, pressing the blade a bit more into his neck with each passing second.
"Would you believe me if I said I were lost?" Kerrith asked, trying his hardest to grin without cutting himself. Surprisingly, the Gerudo let go.
"Turn around and face me, Sheikah, so you can die like a man. I don’t have time for games," she declared.
Kerrith did as he was told and was surprised with what he saw. Before him stood a very beautiful Gerudo woman, exactly what he’d pictured when he decided to visit this part of Hyrule. She was more beautiful than the other Gerudo he’d seen lurking around the alleyways in the Castle Town, even if she was considerably older than he was, and he could feel himself reacting.
She must have noticed it because she raised an eyebrow instead of slashing him to ribbons.
"How much ya got on you?"
Kerrith continued to stare.
"Money. Rupees. Shifna," she said, using the Sheikah word for cash.
"About fifty?" Kerrith replied, confused. She didn’t think she could rob him first and then kill him, did she?
"And is that all you think I’m worth?" she asked, taking a few steps towards him and lowering her voice to a sultry whisper. The confusion drained from Kerrith’s features, and he understood that she was talking about his favorite kind of business before she could bat an eye.
"I think I may have a hundred. More if you care to look," he answered, catching her game.
And she said she didn’t have time to play.
I’ve gotten more before, but that’s enough. I know he’s got more than a hundred stupid Rupees on him, and that ring is looking kind of nice, too....
"That’s just fine," she continued in her tease.
Idiot.
"Money first," she said, and Kerrith obediently fished a hundred Rupees out for her, which she quickly snatched and threw into a small pouch hidden in the folds of her pants.
"Come, this way, by the crates," she said, taking him roughly by the wrist. Kerrith smiled to himself, less-than-pure thoughts stampeding through his mind.
"You know, it’s funny," she commented afterwards while dressing herself. "You’re younger than he is."
"He?"
"My son," she stated simply, gathering her weapons.
"Son? But you--"
Those were the last words he would say, and the dusk that night was the last he’d see.
Slice.
The poor fool didn’t even have time to reflect before the blood from the gash across his throat stained the floor crimson.
Aya, you never cease to amaze me, the Gerudo thought to herself, as she picked him clean and admired her new ring.