Homeward Bound [Merik]

[Merik Dragmire]

"Nairore be reasonable here, you wanted me to teach you because I had skills and knowledge you wanted. I understand that you want me to teach you the skills you need now but I don't have the knowledge to do that..." Merik said, fighting back his irritation at how stubborn she could be. "Plus it might send up some signals if I join you for pregnancy training back at the fortress."

When she sped off ahead of him, he took some time to just think on things.

It won't take the guards long to inform Kotone that Nairore is pregnant...we'll need to have a cover prepared for that possibility...maybe we can find a patsy in castle town... he thought as he realized he was coming upon her again.

He shook his head when she started considering skipping her return visit.

"It's important that you go visit Lori, it could be the last time you'll have the option to do so where you won't have to hide your identity."

[Nairore]

x x

She felt like she was being quite reasonable, so Merik telling her to calm down didn't exactly please her, especially after he had just lost all his temper. Nor did his comments strike a particularly pleasant chord. She gasped in shock. "It might send up some signals? I'm only asking you to partake in the safety of your own daughter. The way I was raised I should be demanding your hand in marriage over this, but frankly I'm not like that. This is your daughter too, and I would assume you'd look out for her. However it seems your place as king is more important. Can't let your people know an outsider is bearing a child, now, can you?"

The nerve of him. She could feel her own temper rising quite fast, though she kept a level head as best as she could. He didn't want his people to find out, didn't want Kotone to know. The man who had stolen her virginity, for whom she had excused when he wanted to juggle two women, she didn't even care that he wanted to keep their affair secret from Kotone. But things had changed, things were very different now. She was bearing a child, they were creating life, and it was a big step in the wrong direction if he thought he could keep it secret.

"I'm not denying who the father is," she said smugly. There wasn't much Merik could do about that. "Two of us traveling together for the past two months alone, I think my story might be more believable than yours if you were to deny it," she said dismissively. Clearly this was an issue they needed to get discussed and out of the way before they got into Castle Town. Lori was waiting there and Nairore wanted to see her. "This is your child too, remember. I will not have people shunning my child because they think she's born of two outsiders when we get to the desert."

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[Merik Dragmire]

"Believe me when I say I am thinking about the safety of my daughter and you; I told you that I kept my relationship with Kotone a secret for her protection, it is whispered as rumor by a few in my fortress but there are only six people that know for a fact it is true; why do you think that is?" Merik growled, irritated by how blind Nairore was being to the danger she was in. "When we first met you wanted to kill me because I was Merik Dragmire, King of the Gerudo and demon spawn of Ganondorf; you grew up hearing stories of how terrible Ganondorf was and how terrible I am. You know perfectly well how many other people hate me just because I bear the name Dragmire and who would gladly see me killed in a heartbeat because of that."

He turned quiet as he let the truth of his words sink in. He had his share of the blame in the situation but that didn't mean he couldn't try to make it as right as he possibly could.

"She isn't going to grow up not knowing me, I fully intend to be active in her life. But I don't want her to have to grow up feared and hated by damn near everyone in Hyrule because of the stories of a single man who lived and died nearly 150 years before she was born. And what happens when the Knights come for her; when your father comes for her? Or the Sheikah or any other assassin sent by some damn fool who hates the name Dragmire because of what once was!? She deserves a chance at a happy life and this is a time when being the child of a King won't guarantee that."

[Nairore]

x x

"I can handle the Hylian Knights," Nairore said meekly in rebuttal, though she knew Merik had a point in his rant. She really didn't have anything to say against him. In all of her time with him she had honestly forgotten their first meeting, of when she had tried to kill him. She had forgotten exactly how much she'd been indoctrinated about how bad of a man he was. And now she was bearing his child. Fate had a cruel sense of irony. She merely looked down at her horses's mane and fought the urge to pout. That wasn't her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

Perhaps it was the fact that she was about to return and face the cause of her own upbringing. She wasn't sure if she could call it a poor one, or if it was a good one. That fog of doubt still lingered in her thoughts, threatening to wrap its tendrils around her brain once more. She'd just grown used to it, grown strong enough to handle it. After she had actually rested that night in Titania's Palace she had fought it off and held it back for the time. It wasn't a permanent solution, but that was why she was heading to Castle Town.

And knowing that she needed to confront those demons now for the safety of her daughter was extra drive. Sure, it put her and, thusly, her daughter in danger doing what she was planning, but frankly she saw it being much more dangerous later down the road not having faced these demons. The last thing her daughter needed was a half-sane mother and a genocidal grandfather. Nairore hoped to fix all of these issues in her visit to Castle Town, which meant that she needed to continue planning with Merik.

"We still have some time before the desert, so we can discuss that later. Castle Town is coming fast and we still need to make sure everything's safe. Doubly so, now, as I don't know how my father will react. I definitely don't plan on telling him about this latest twist, but my eyes alone might push him across boundaries I've rarely seen in my life. We only need to get you into my home. The servants there won't question it immediately if I tell them to let you in. They might later, but we should be done there by then."

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik spurred his horse up alongside Nairore's and reached out to soothingly rub her back. It was easy to tell from her quick change in demeanor that his words had hit home and she wasn't just trying to get him to back down.

"We'll work the angle where I'm another of Rwaht's students escorting you home to visit. By all rights that should be enough to, at the very least, get me into your house. From there I suppose we'll just have to wing it and I'll be prepared for trouble to rear it's ugly head." he replied, much calmer for the moment, as he slipped back into considering all the possible angles.

Zenethil was, both fortunately and unfortunately, difficult to get a read on when it came to Gerudo (well not Gerudo in general but supposedly Nairore). He could prove to be a truly loving father and accept the changes that had come about in her with quiet dignity, and grace...though more likely than not he was going to explode like a man whose entire life's work has just been wasted in a span of seconds. The real difficult part lay in determining when exactly he was going to explode and how easily it would be to escape from the house.

"Certainly not the best plan but there are too many variables and I have too little information to concoct a better one..."

[Nairore]

x x

His hand against her back made Nairore feel surprisingly better. It really wasn't like her to have emotional outbursts or to think without reason. But then, there was a lot going on. Too much to even count on her own behavior. That was perhaps what scared her the most about this whole situation. Her whole life had been spent readying herself for whatever might be in store, preparing herself to deal with any situation. Yet now she couldn't even trust herself to act accordingly. Between her own little identity crisis and the hormonal imbalance brought on by recent twists, her behavior was unpredictable even to her.

Knowing Merik was there made her feel better. She really didn't know if she should be trusting him this much. Just because she was bearing his child didn't mean he was entirely reliable; nothing said he even wanted a child. What better way to kill two birds with one stone than by leading her into the lion's den and leaving her there to be eaten. But, then, that same logic she always used to comfort such thoughts applied here too. If he really wanted her dead there were a dozen more easier ways for him to do so. His hand on her back like it was now could easily have a sword in it with a thought and she'd have no defense.

"I trust winging it is one of the many things you're good at," she said with a half-smile and a chuckle. It definitely wasn't the best of plans. Even with information Nairore had no idea how Zenethil was going to react. She hoped Lori had some chance to soften him up for the coming storm, but there was only so much the girl could do. A visit to Lori first would definitely help. She was so tense that she could use one of those massages to calm her down before the big confrontation. Yes, that would be her first order of business.

"I'm going to see Lori first, before anything. I fear if Zenethil reacts too poorly it might come down on her head. If necessary I aim to take her away from Castle Town, away from him. If necessary." She really hoped it didn't come to that. Lori was a sweet and innocent girl, she didn't deserve to have her whole life turned over because Nairore had made a poor decision, or series of decisions as it were. Nairore found solice, instead, in remembering her sister's pleasant smile, a rare and delicate gem, and hoping that it would remain.

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[Merik Dragmire]

Merik smirked in response to her question, glad to see that Nairore was slowly slipping back to her usual self.

"I've dabbled a bit in winging it but overall I find that I prefer a good plan than random happenstance to get me through a particular situation if I can help it." he replied with a laugh as the road continued along before them in the seemingly endless plains of Lanayru.

Seeing how it was helping to calm her, the King kept his horse steady with hers allowing him to continue stroking her back.

"If you want to see Lori first that'll be just fine. We can set up a place where I'll wait for you and when you are ready to take the oh-so-fun plunge off the proverbial cliff we'll go and see Zenethil."

[Nairore]

x x

Her half-smile turned into a full one, a growing occurrence it seemed, as Merik seemed to accept the plan. What they could call a plan, anyway. Nairore was in no way comfortable with the level of improvising they were planning to do, but it was impossible to properly plan this sort of thing. This was not war, nor any sort of mission, it was matters of the heart and the mind, and both of those things were renown for being particularly unpredictable. You couldn't even trust your own to act as you think it will, and that left absolutely nothing to be reliable. For all she knew Lori would reject the new her.

"In a few days we'll know how it all turns out, anyway," she murmured uncertainly as they continued along. She really wasn't looking forward to this encounter, yet at the same time she was eager to get to Castle Town. She wanted to see Lori again, that much was abundantly clear. Enough so that there were even butterflies in her stomach, though that might've been a combination of her nausea still hanging around and the life she was currently growing in that same general area. But then the visit with Lori will never be long enough.

Because right afterward she'd be seeing her father, and he'd be seeing her. Her hair was still more brown than red, but the roots were definitely taking over, and her multi-colored eyes would definitely set him off. She wouldn't even be able to mention the two other things that had changed; the name of her tutor or the fact that she was pregnant. She was pretty sure he'd lose it just on her eye alone. And if not, she wondered if she might lose it when she saw him. That fog loomed dangerously on the edge of her mind and if she let it take over she wasn't sure what it would lead to.

Either way the future was going to be interesting.

[FADE OUT]

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[Nightmare Darklight]

Rewards given. Thread locked and moved.