“Master Kohga, there’s mail for you!”
A Yiga had come running into the room, carrying various scrolls and letters. They fumbled a bit, trying to find the mail addressed to Kohga, or at least the most official looking one, and finally handed him a scroll carrying the official golden Gerudo seal. The Yiga footsoldier left before Kohga could thank them.
Fuga, who was laying down and trying to complete a puzzle, got up at the sight of the golden seal. They had expected mail from Lady Urbosa, as she usually wrote every month in a steady correspondence whenever they couldn’t see each other in person. However, her mail looked far less official than a sealed scroll, so they wondered what was different this once.
“What does it say?”
Kohga, now aware that Fuga was looking over his shoulder, read the letter aloud. He took an official tone.
“‘Master Kohga, I, Lady Urbosa, Chieftain of the Gerudo and newly appointed Champion of the Divine Beast Vah Naboris and Hyrule, have the deepest regret to inform you that I must… cut off our trade agreements. As… King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule has said, your morals and beliefs are… out of line? With the general Hyrulean population, it would be… irresponsible of me to-’ What an insult!”
Kohga threw away the scroll carelessly and crossed his arms, clearly insulted by the letter. Fuga picked it up and read it themself, hoping the words would be different than the ones their father had just read, but they repeated in their mind.
“Does she really think this’ll make us rethink our entire beliefs? That’s ridiculous!” He waved his hands around. “And anyways, it’s not- uh, Banana?”
Fuga didn’t respond to their father. They tried reading the words on the paper again, tried making sense of them, but the writing got blurrier and their mind got fuzzier. Tears rolled under their mask.
“Is- is that all we get as a goodbye?”
Their voice had grown quieter than usual, shaking with every laboured breath. Kohga turned and hugged Fuga as tight as he could.
“It’s okay, Banana. Okay? We’ll- we’ll see if we can see her again some other time, I’m sure she- we’ll-” he sighed defeatedly. It was one of those rare moments where he knew no amount of optimism, genuine or faked, would help the situation. “I don’t know what we’ll do. I’m sorry you couldn’t get a real goodbye.”
Fuga reciprocated the hug, but kept their eyes on the scroll. They couldn’t stop thinking about how cold it was, how utterly different from Auntie Urbosa the wording felt. Suddenly, they saw. They drew away from the hug and, wordlessly, searched for an open flame. Not finding one as quickly as they had hoped, they tore a lantern from its garland and ripped it open. Kohga, confused at first, finally got the words to question Fuga.
“What- what are you doing?”
Fuga placed the scroll above the open flame, close enough to char it, but far enough as to not burn it completely. They finally answered their dad, who was still looking baffled at the sudden activity. When the first word appeared among the charred scroll, they answered.
“Secret message. Just like she taught me!”
After many minutes spent on the open flame and almost burned fingers, a full message appeared between the lines of the official letter.
“Dearest Fuga (and family), I am deeply saddened to end our relationship, you must know how deeply it pains me. I had no say in the matter, and I hope you will forgive me. We will meet again, at a better time. That I promise you. With love, Urbosa.”