Zelda: Twilight Princess. Colin & Ralis. Spoilers through the end of the Lakebed Temple. PG. characters belong to Nintendo. written to "The Water" by Feist, which you should totally listen to while reading this.

no matter how long it takes

"I'll stay with him until he's better! No matter how long it takes!"

Night falls on Kakariko Village as Prince Ralis falls into fevered sleep. He's too hot with the blankets but too cold without them, and no amount of water helps him feel any less dehydrated. Luda stands with the children of Ordon, all of them worried for his health.

"Colin," she says, quietly but firmly. "Go to the kitchen and get a cool cloth."

He nods and hurries to do this, sandalled feet clacking against the wood as he runs down the staircase. In a minute or two he's back upstairs, a small, damp rag in his hands. Stepping softly towards the bed, he holds it against Ralis' forehead, letting it rest lightly on his closed eyelids.

Ralis stirs at this, taking a quick, labored breath before sighing and rolling onto his side. He kicks at the blankets in his sleep until his feet are free of the covers. Gently, carefully, Colin moves the cloth back towards his temple so it doesn't soak the pillow.

Once late night starts turning to early morning, the others gradually depart for their own beds at the far side of the room. Luda, poised to put out the overhead candle, turns to Colin first.

"You going to sleep?" she asks.

He shakes his head. "I promised to watch him."

Luda nods, then yawns. The flame goes out, leaving the room illuminated only by a miniscule amount of moonlight filtering in through the boarded-up window. Colin's eyes start to slide shut before they can adjust to the darkness. He scoots the chair closer to the bed and pillows his head on his arms. Before long, he's drifted off.

Ralis dreams of his mother.

Every day, he goes to stand beside the tombstone.

Every day, they grow more concerned for him.

With Lanayru liberated and the Lakebed Temple restored, Link visits Kakariko, visits Ralis.

He stands beside his parents' grave for another final long while, then swims back to the opposite ledge. With a last glance over his shoulder, he crawls back into the graveyard and brushes the dirt off his knees.

Renado is waiting to greet him when he gets back.

It's early evening with a fire crackling nearby when Gor Liggs gathers them around, tells them of a Hyrule long past. He speaks of the goddesses, of the sages, of the hero and his horse. He speaks of a Zora princess, of a Goron who danced to the sounds of the forest.

Ilia asks to hear more about the horse. Colin meets Ralis' gaze for a moment and smiles.

Ralis smiles back, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

Malo's running his Mart, Talo's keeping watch, and Beth is talking to Barnes. Ilia's still not remembering. Luda and her father are busy weaving something or other.

Colin spots Ralis sitting on the far side of the healing spring, surrounded by scrub brush. He takes off his sandals and wades through the water, watching the light catch on the ripples around his ankles.

"Hey."

Ralis looks up, squinting against the sun. "Colin."

"Can I sit with you?"

Ralis shrugs and looks away to the towering rock formations. "If you like."

Colin swings his feet in the water. "I'm sorry about your mom."

There's a tense and uncomfortable silence that goes on longer than either can deal with. Tentatively, Colin places a reassuring hand on Ralis' shoulder. He's never met a Zora before; his skin doesn't feel like a fish at all. It reminds him of the frogs he'd sometimes catch near his house back in Ordon. Before he thinks better of it, he blurts out, "You feel weird."

Ralis laughs, genuinely laughs, and shakes his head. "If you were a Zora, you would not think so." He reaches towards Colin and runs a webbed hand across his hair. "Now that," he says, recoiling a bit at the foreign texture beneath his palm, "is weird. You have no room to talk."

They sit at the water's edge until the sun starts setting and Colin starts shivering. After his sandals are back on, Ralis takes Colin's hand and pulls him up.

"I can handle the cold, but I am not sure you can. At least, from what I know of humans..."

Colin tries to lace his fingers with Ralis' but doesn't get far; the webbing's in the way. "And what do you know of humans?" he asks, grinning a little.

Tilting his head a little to spot Talo far off on the watchtower, Ralis grins a little, too. "They have shown me tremendous kindness and asked for nothing in return. For that, I am grateful."

Caught somewhat offguard by the sincerity, Colin shifts a little. "You're welcome."

The Goron who stands near the hotel offers to help them jump towards the hot spring, but neither particularly wants to risk a broken arm. They politely decline and take the longer but safer way up multiple flights of stairs. By the time they reach the top, they're both fairly worn out; the hot spring is even more appealing than before.

Ralis wastes no time sliding into the water, sinking into its heat and leaning his head back against the dry ground. He soon reconsiders and submerges himself completely, contentedly surrounded by soothing warmth.

Colin shakes his shoulder. "You're cheating. Not all of us can breathe underwater, you know."

This statement goes unacknowledged, so he shuffles around awkwardly for a moment before taking off his sandals once more and starting to step in. One of the Gorons glances over from the other side and chuckles. "No, Little Brother. Don't wear your clothes in the hot spring. We all try to keep it as clean as we can."

The other Goron, the younger one, chimes in excitedly. "Yeah! You don't want to be like that one man who walks in with his boots still on-"

The first Goron shoots him a look and the sentence remains unfinished. Colin's willing to bet he can guess who they were talking about. He takes their advice and takes off his clothes, setting them on a dry part of the spring's edge. Stepping in, he too sinks down into the water until the back of his hair is soaked, and it's weird to have that be the only part of his head that's wet. Colin holds his breath and dunks his head for a moment, quickly lifting himself up again and smoothing his bangs away from his forehead.

Settling against the edge once more, he lets his eyes shut and is about to fall asleep when Ralis finds his hand underwater and holds it tight. It's dark; the Gorons can't see this.

Closing his eyes again, Colin smiles happily and squeezes back.