Chapter Text
There was a time when Sidon admired the Hylians.
Despite having been born without claws or thick skin or horns, they made their mark upon the lands of Hyrule. As a child, Sidon was excited when a Hylian came to Zora's Domain, always wanting to know who the Hylian was and what they were selling. He always wanted to touch their hair, their braids, their curls, their fingers. He was too young to understand his study of them was a bit rude, but the humans politely put up with it, especially if it meant they would sell more of their wares.
That was before the war.
Nowadays Sidon kept his fascination of humans to the minimum. For his people, he needed to show he hated them as much as they did, that he was not willing to show the humans mercy when they clearly did not deserve it. As future king of the Zoras, he could not side with any of the independent groups who rallied for humans rights.
Especially not after what the Hylians did to Mipha.
Sidon shook his head, pushing Mipha's memory away. He could not get himself worked up now, not when he was about to buy a new slave. He could scare the human into wetting themselves, and nobody wanted that.
"Find one you like?" The salesman Zora asked patiently. "Every human here is of the highest quality."
That Sidon had no doubt. No way would this Zora sell a cheap slave to Sidon, not when a pretty profit could be made. Every Hylian presented was beautiful, soft and delicate, their sole purpose not to actually serve, but to be aesthetically pleasing, like a bouquet of flowers.
(At least that's what Sidon wanted to believe they were bought for. It was no secret many of them ended up as pleasure slaves.)
Sidon slowly went down the line, biting the inside of his cheek as he considered each human. He had no personal preference, he'd rather just buy one at random and get this over with, but the court elders would never let him hear the end of it if he bought a lazy, ugly, cheap human.
Ugh, this was exhausting. There were at least fifty humans here. Was Sidon really going to go through them all?
He jumped when a loud crash erupted from the back room. He turned to look, and suddenly the back doors burst opened. Four Zoras and one Hylian girl fell through, all yelling and cursing. The girl, dressed in a blue tunic, was twisting and fighting like mad, giving the four Zoras a run for their money. She bit at them, kicked them, punched them, spat at them, all the while snarling like a rabid dog. Though the Zoras were bigger in size and stature, they were having a hell of a time trying to restrain her, unable to properly get the ropes around the girl's arms and legs.
"What are you doing?" Yelled the salesman to the struggling Zoras. "Get her out of here! I've got an important customer!"
He turned to Sidon. "Your highness, please, pay no attention to that Hylian. She's a troublemaker. She'll be dealt with soon."
Good lord, that girl was strong. Sidon watched in fascination as two Zoras managed to get her on the ground, her face pressed harshly to the floor while the other two worked to get her limbs bound. The girl squirmed and twisted, growling out her displeasure. When an arm fin got too close to her face, she jerked and lunged, snapping her teeth down.
The Zora screamed. His hold on her loosened and resulting feud continued.
As entertained as this was, Sidon wasn't going to stand by and watch his citizens get kicked and bit. He strode forward, stepped in between the Zoras, and with one large hand, placed it on the girl's chest and shoved downward. She fell flat on her back, a startled cry ripped out of her. As strong as this girl was, she was no match for Sidon.
Now unable to get leverage, it was easy for the other Zoras to wrangle her arms and legs together to tie them. She continued to struggle.
Sidon studied her. She had pretty blue eyes, soft blonde hair, and when she tried to raise her head to snap at Sidon's fin, he gently pushed her head down. Despite this, she still fought, refusing to give up.
Over his shoulder, Sidon addressed the Zora salesman. "Is she mad?"
Surprised, the salesman stuttered out, "Uh... no, actually. She's just... wild."
"She's feral?"
"I thought at first. According to my sources, they found her living in the fields of Hyrule. Witnesses says she was seen sneaking around the Guardians."
"Guardians? Really?"
"Yes. She's mute, but she can understand standard speech just fine, which means she can follow orders just fine. However, as you can see, she's not an easy slave to keep."
Sidon's gaze trailed down to the girl's exposed skin. Now he got a better look, the girl was riddled with scars. They were everywhere, criss-crossing all over her body. Goddess, how many fights has this girl been in? She had more scars than Sidon did.
By now the Zoras were done tying her. Sidon released his hold and stepped away, allowing them to pull the girl up by her elbows. She didn't fight them. She was too exhausted to try.
"Where is she going?" Sidon asked.
"Don't worry about her, your highness. Please, let us-"
"Where are they taking her?" Sidon asked, this time with more authority in his voice.
The Zora gulped, and said, "Well... she can't be kept as a standard house slave. She is quite beautiful though... so we'll sell her as a pleasure slave. But she needs to be broken in first."
That meant beating her until she submitted.
"I want to speak with her. Bring her back."
"But she can't speak-"
"You told me she can understand standard speech. I'll talk, she'll listen. Bring her back."
They did. The girl looked like a angry cat, her long blonde hair draped over her eyes, her lip curled into a snarl. She stared at Sidon menacingly, and Sidon was sure if she could speak, she would be cursing at him.
"I'm going to give you an choice," Sidon said to the girl. "You can come with me, and be a standard slave in my court-"
The salesman gaped.
"-or you can go with these Zoras and be trained to be a pleasure slave."
Some choice. Either go with the prince, or be raped for the rest of her life.
The girl reeled in disgust, her mouth dropping opened.
Sidon wanted to assure her he was trying to save her, that he didn't care if she ran or not after this. Sidon still had an audience, people who would no doubt question his actions and repeat what they saw to others. He needed to make this look like he was indifferent.
The girl closed her eyes, and gritted her teeth against the injustice of it all.
Slowly, she raised her bound wrists to Sidon.
"Alright. I'll buy her," Sidon said to the salesman.
"I... but, your highness! While I don't want to question your choice... there are plenty of very lovely Hylians here to choose from. Hylians who won't try to slit your throat while you're asleep. Why this girl?"
Because under the bravado, under the anger and the snarling, this girl was scared out of her mind. Sidon could see it, he could taste her fear like cotton in his mouth. Because Mipha would have never wanted this, no matter what those old coots back home believed. Because out of every human here, the one most likely to try to fight for their freedom was her.
"Because," Sidon said, giving a toothy grin. "I want to be the one to break her."