Sailing Sunsets - The Princess and the Gerudo (Aya)

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[attr="class","manalishiltop2"]CAN'T KEEP ME DOWN

[attr="class","manalishiltop3"]IN THE HEAT AND SAND

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Aya had no idea what she was doing.

Mostly in general, but also today at this place called the Sailing Sunsets which was kind of like an inn but people bought a lot of liquor. It was pretty dark and cramped and full of people. Everywhere was full of people in the city, and she still didn’t know how to feel about it. She didn’t like when she was crammed in on all sides like a penned cucco, but there was always something to look at at least. People everywhere of all shapes and sizes and genders and colors. She found that she was pretty tall here too. She hardly had to crane her neck at anyone which was a first when everyone back home always called her small. So there was that.

Mostly other people did the looking. At her. She stood out a little.

For a while, Aya simply stood in the doorway of the place, her hands held nervously together as she looked over all the tables and the people inside. More than once, someone tried to edge inside and she had to stammer her apologies, sidling out of the way. She’d heard this was called a ’blind date.’ She knew about dates. Her mothers were always trying to set her up on one. ’Find a nice girl to settle down with,’ they always said, but she hated the idea because settling was like a dirty word.

But ‘nice girls’ was not, and if she had a say in it, there wouldn’t be any settling in the picture. She’d meet a nice girl. A pretty girl too. And they’d have fun and then maybe she’d find another nice girl because, as some love-pained gerudo had a way of saying, there were plenty of girls in the sands.

Yeah. That was it.

So she took a seat. Was she doing it right? She tapped her fingers on the table as she waited, wondering just a little if she was supposed to act any way special. People dressed up for dates, right? Well she only had the one outfit ready, and it wasn’t anything special. Just a standard double-wrapped top embroidered with gold and inset with a gem she was particularly fond of. She also wore golden bangles and her matching circlet and translucent pants that hung pulled in around her ankles. She’d always liked jewelry and make-up and pretty things more than the average Gerudo. She was a pretty thing, her mothers said, which was why she needed to find someone to settle down with. It would be a shame if she put her good looks to waste.

A Hylian man came by and asked if she wanted water. She nodded, muttering something, and he came back with a cool glass of the stuff. She sipped it, marvelling at the ice clinking around inside. Now that was something they didn’t have in the desert.

After a little while, someone came up close, and Aya didn’t really look at her until she sat down in the opposite chair, and then Aya sat up, startled, as she stared at the strange creature in front of her.

The girl looked like a fish.

Not that Aya had seen too many fish, but she knew they had gill flaps and fins and this girl definitely had those. Her head was shaped like a triangle with two fin-shaped flaps framing either side like bangs. She wore a bunch of jewelry (which Aya liked) but that was all she was wearing. Was she naked? Did that count when you were a fish person?

”So. Um…” The fish girl stammered nervously and then stopped like she didn’t know how to finish. Aya rubbed at her neck, giving an equally awkward laugh.

”Hi.” Great. She was doing great. ”Er, I mean. Are you my...date?” It took her moment to find the right word. In Hylian anyway. ”I’m Aya,” she decided on, sitting up and trying to imagine the girl was Hylian or Gerudo so she didn’t feel weird at Aya’s staring. ”It’s, uh. Nice to meet you?”

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