A/N: I'd just like to point out now rather than disappointing a load of people after reading the first chapter - yes this is a blatant pun based on The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra titles., no this is not an Avatar crossover - I've used the concept of waterbending from those series and that's it. You do not need to be a fan of Avatar to understand anything in this fic, but hopefully you're a Zelda fan (I'd be surprised if you weren't, considering you're here) so you can appreciate the world I'm setting this story in :3 I hope you enjoy my first story!

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"Legend tells of a beautiful zora being the prime source of all water bending.

"Long ago, when Hyrule was new and the earth was still fresh and soft from birth, the ocean wasn't salty. The mountains had no rivers running down them either, nor did the plains have lakes. All water was confined to the beautiful, vast ocean of freshwater - which was clear and calm and bright.

"The zoras all had to live under the Ocean's protection; from the waist down they each had a long, sleek tail, and were confined to swimming in the water, not able to walk on land.

"The Ocean was in love with one of the zoras - she was named Lira, and was the most beautiful girl in the tribe. She was also one of the cleverest, and one day she decided to ask the Ocean:

"'My friend, why must we stay here? There is a whole new portion of the world over there that I would love to see!' To which the Ocean replied,

"'Dear Lira, why must you call me your friend when you know how I feel for you? I wish to keep you here because I love you, and want you to marry me. I wish to keep the others here because I love all of them too, oh so dearly.'

"But Lira didn't want to marry, and she didn't want to live forever in the Ocean, as beautiful as it was, so she begged and begged until it granted her wish. The Ocean reached out a wave to a cliff face, and cut off a chunk of rock. It used the power of its waves to carve the rock into two strong legs, and it gave them to Lira. It told her to go see the world she longed for so dearly, and to return when she was ready to marry, knowing all too well that zoras could not survive for too long away from water.

"Lira ventured off onto land and fell in love with it; the weather, the meadows, the mountains, and everything in between. She decided that she didn't want to go back to the confines of the Ocean and its possessive nature.

"She did return soon however, and the Ocean roared and bubbled in delight. It asked her if she was ready to be wed, but then Lira shook her head and sighed.

"'I was wrong to leave you, dear Ocean - you are far more beautiful and benevolent than the land's ghastly inhabitants!' She wept into her hands and the Ocean stirred in panic, and asked her what had happened. She told tales of monsters who had shunned and threatened her because of her fish-like appearance, and how frightened she had been, and again the Ocean became choppy and distressed. 'Pray, let me borrow your waves, so I can protect my honour.' Said Lira. 'I will create a monsoon and destroy their livelihood, then they can be sorry for what they have done.'

"The Ocean, being the vain type and one to take offence easily itself, obliged merrily, and granted Lira the power of its waves. She left again, but this time didn't return until a great deal later, when the Ocean spotted her carving her way through the edge of the land with the power of its waves, and it asked her what she was doing.

"In the past few days, Lira had walked as far inland as she possibly could until she was almost weak, and had built an ever-flowing pool atop a mountain using her waves. After resting, she had then proceeded to carve passageways from the pool to flow back to the Ocean, lest the water overflowed and flooded the earth.

"She told the Ocean that she was building rivers, and that she would live there instead, so as to always be in contact with the creatures of the land. This insulted the Ocean greatly and when Lira had again left, it felt itself turn bitter and angry. The other zoras began to choke and cry as salty water entered their gills and eyes, and the Ocean let them suffer, too wrapped up in its own self pity.

"When the Ocean later noticed the other zoras swimming into the river's estuary, it asked them where they were going. They turned and said that Lira had swam to them in the night and asked them to join her. The Ocean's waves lapped violently in anger and asked how they would survive with the restriction of staying in the rivers at all times, to which the zoras replied that Lira was going to carve legs for all of them. Then they left without a backwards glance.

"The Ocean was never calm and flat again, and remained forever salty and bitter, while Lira rose to become the leader of her people in their freshwater realm. She kept the waves under her command, and protected her people with them until she departed this world in peace." Marella finished, snapping the weathered storybook made of woven river weeds shut and placing it on a shelf of rock inside the cave bedroom. Oles was quiet, as he always was when being told a story, but his wide violet eyes gave away his intrigue. He kept staring at Marella as she turned back to him to put him to bed.

"What colour was she?" He asked, clambering into a narrow, deep pool that acted as the entrance to the cave as well as a bed. He waited for his mother to follow him in before he rested in the cover of some pondweed. Marella sighed, and Oles watched tiny bubbles fly out of her gills.

"Oh, I don't know... Turquoise, like you." At that, Oles made a face, and his skin faded into a more blue shade. Marella laughed. "I'm quite sure she couldn't change colour."

"Why not?"

"Because that's a special thing," Marella said, arranging the weeds around her son like she was drawing a curtain closed, a sign that she wanted him to sleep.

"But she was special!" Oles said, pushing his head through the weeds.

"Fine, something only you and me can do." Marella said warmly, poking his forehead with her index finger to coax him backwards.

"Why can't Dad do it?" At that, Marella froze up, and thought for a moment before answering.

"Because.. You can change colour because of me, and you can water bend because of him."

"But... Dad can't water bend?" Oles had poked his head out again, and was looking at his mother in a confused way. She really did love her son, but she wished he didn't ask so many questions.

"Sometimes these things skip a generation, darling. Go to sleep now."

At that, Oles surrendered and resigned to his quarters, settling into an easy sleep.

Marella couldn't drift off quite so easily, and eventually pulled-back Oles' bed curtains. She regarded him for a long time, a sad smile on her face as her son slept. She tried to commit all of his image to memory - the turquoise pigment of his skin and the cuttlefish tentacle-shaped "hair" (both things that he had inherited from her, she noted with affection), the fins on his arms that were too strong and not decorative enough to belong to a royal zora. The only things that hinted that he were different were the colour of his eyes, which were closed, and... Oh, why did he have to be a waterbender? Why couldn't he at least be given the chance to fit in?

She turned around, sighing and wincing at the sickness-induced sting in her gills.

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10 years later...

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"Hey, Oles!"

Oles stopped his walk out of the Zora's Domain and turned towards the voice. It was Silver who had called him; a head-to-foot sterling coloured Zora whose cheer was usually as bright as his iridescent skin. Today though, he approached Oles with a soft voice and a cautious step. The turquoise zora smiled - the pair were best friends, so Oles understood that the gentle approach was not motivated by pity, but consideration.

"Hey, Silver." Oles said sort of solemnly, but half-forced a smile for the sake of his best friend. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to check on you before you visited Ma- your mom." Silver said, blue eyes shining with concern. "Leyti'd be here too, but she's got training with the guards."

Oles smiled again and tried to look grateful. He really was, it was just hard to feel cheery today. "Thanks. I don't think I'll be too long this time round since I've already visited her recently, I'll probably be back by noon." He said. Silver clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder and nodded, before turning to walk back into Zora's Domain.

He was on his own again now. Oles sighed and kept walking down the mountain path until he reached a calmer section of the river, where he jumped in. He glided gracefully through the water like a dragon, spinning and leaping out into the air to avoid rocks and sharp bends in the river until he reached a bridge. He knew that climbing out at this spot would put him on the path to the graveyard. He walked slowly and thoughtfully, taking his time to place each foot in front of the other and to get closer to the difficult emotional confrontation he forced upon himself at least once a year. Granted, it was easier for him to visit his mother's grave now than it had been years ago, but that didn't mean it would ever stop hurting completely.

As he walked through the narrow passageway between high rocky walls, Oles found himself facing someone else already leaving.

It was an older Zora; pure blue skin and purple eyes gave him away as a royal, as well as the many rings on his fingers, which had clenched with anxiety when their owner spotted Oles standing there. Oles just glared. Of all people to be encountering on today, of all days - the anniversary of his Mother's death - King Basile was not somebody he wanted to talk to.

Unfortunately, the King looked like he had something to say. Oles thought about nodding curtly as he walked past the older Zora into the graveyard, but decided to blank him. He felt the King's eyes burning guiltily onto his back as he walked away from him.

"Oles." He called. Oles stopped, but didn't bother turning his head. "I was wondering if we could talk."

Oles gave him a pregnant pause before responding. "What about, Dad?" He strained the last word so hard that he might as well have been ringing its neck. He could feel the awkward aura radiating off the King behind him, and felt almost satisfied at the levels guilt he must have been feeling. Oles wasn't stupid, he knew that he was a disgrace purely for being born out of wedlock. He knew that he could use his heritage to make the King feel guilty and remorseful, and so he did it whenever he could. He had nothing to lose even if talking back to the King could get him in trouble, because he was a bastard with no family alive to be taken away from anyway. It was the only way he could make Basile pay.

Basile swallowed at the term Oles had mockingly used, before stepping slightly closer to his son. "I... Word is there's been a lot of raids on neighbouring towns by monsters. Ple- ...Do be careful when you make your way back." He said hesitantly. The younger zora looked back at him, not bothering to answer. "...Please don't be reckless, this really is a serious problem. Your mother would want you to be safe."

Oles was prepared to bite back with a response reprimanding him for having no idea what his relationship was like with his mom, but then he thought of all the times she'd watch him when he was little.

"Mom, look!" A six-year-old Oles chirped, speeding towards his mother. Marella crouched down to his level and smiled warmly.

"What is it, O?"

Oles grinned wickedly and whipped out an old waterskin he had been hiding behind his back. "Check this out! Now I can go as far away from water as I want and I'll be ready for anything!" He said excitedly, and raised his left hand. Water shot out of the waterskin's opening and followed the child's silent instruction. The trail floated in a line like a transparent stick, then suddenly curled and attacked the air like a whip. Marella laughed in delight and patted her son's head.

"You're getting really good."

"Do you think they might even let me into the royal guard early?"

Marella visibly tensed at that, but recovered quickly and patted her son's head again.

"Maybe not quite that early. And besides, I don't want you fighting. You need to stay safe and keep me safe here!" She leaned in to grab her son and ruffle his cuttlefish hair, and Oles was soon giggling and running away to escape his mother playfully, easily distracted from the previous conversation.

Oles smiled at the memory. She'd always wanted him to fit in; never to stand out and potentially become an outcast or be put in harm's way. He figured he couldn't help half of that, but he could at least try to stay safe. For her. He looked back at the King and gave him a small nod. Basile then looked like he was about to put a hand on his shoulder, before thinking better of it and stepping back. "Thank you, Oles." He said softly so he was barely audible, dipping his head in a quick gesture of thanks before rushing off back to Zora's Domain.

He didn't watch his father go, just continued into the graveyard until he met a certain headstone towards the back of the yard. It was plain and simple: Marella's name, birthdate and death date chiselled into the speckled-with-green slate, the edges weathered slightly with time. Oles realised with a stab of guilt that he didn't have any water lilies with him, which had been her favourite flowers, but that some had already been placed on the grave that day, by the looks of it. They stood out against the grass as a beautiful flush of pink. Oles guessed that Basile had probably put them there, which made him feel even guiltier as he considered taking them off. He'd never really understood how his mother had felt about his father when she died, as he had been too young, and in the end decided to just leave the flowers be.

He sat down cross-legged in front of the stone and ran a webbed hand down it's flat, grey surface. The day had become sort of gloomy and he thought his turquoise skin looked more like a murky blue against the stone; desaturated of energy and dulled. Just how he felt being here. "Hey, mom."

He didn't talk for long, not really having anything new to say, and sort of surprised himself with how quickly he was ready to leave. He looked back over his shoulder at the gravestone as he was leaving, before wandering back down to the river path that would lead him back home, except when he rounded the last corner to the water, he was met with squeals and animalistic shouts - he'd come face-to-face with a horde of bulbins.

Oles knew the nature of these creatures well enough. They were dumb, hostile, and traveled in packs. They all turned simultaneously towards the young zora and exhibited their weapons upon seeing him, and Oles knew he'd be in trouble if he didn't do something. He could run and they'd probably give up on chasing him pretty quickly, but he had always been the type to pick fights for the hell of it, even if he managed to suppress that part of himself most of the time.

"Oh no," Oles said indifferently, backing away from the throng and towards the riverbank a bit. He put his hands up in front of his chest in a "don't hurt me" gesture, and as expected, the bulbins didn't care.

"How about fish for dinner tonight, boss?" One of the monsters said to their supposed leader: a slightly taller and darker-skinned bulbin, who bared his rotten teeth in a beastly grin at Oles and brandished his club.

"If we can stop him from swimming away."

"Please," Oles said halfheartedly, "can't we just pass each other by?" He waved his arm closest to the water and turned his palm up imploringly. The bulbins started to advance on him quickly at their leader's words, "ah, I guess you guys are the unfriendly types." Oles said sadly as he waved his arm dismissively, the movement causing some water from the river to leap out in the direction he'd flapped his hand and hit the closest bulbin in the face. The monster reeled back in shock and seethed from the pain of the hard impact on his eyes.

The other bulbins froze for a split second, and Oles grinned. He didn't give any of them time to process what had happened, and was suddenly spinning and kicking and hurling seemingly invisible objects, each movement forcing strong blasts of water to smash into the group of bulbins. He bit his tongue to hold back his laughter as a particularly strong jet of water made impact with a bulbin's head, sending them flying backwards and knocking over three of their comrades in the process. Oles stopped his acrobatic dance then, planting his feet firmly on the ground and raising his hands high above his head. This silent command brought a massive wave looming over his shoulders, and the bulbins barely had time to scream as the wave leaped over Oles and crashed into the horde, knocking all of them over like bowling pins.

Oles dusted off his hands with a satisfied air, and turned tail to head back home when something whacked the back of his legs, hard, making him fall backwards and hit his head on the ground. He hissed in pain and his vision wobbled for a second, and suddenly the darker bulbin was towering over him.

"You're bold for a kid with no skills in combat except for flicking water." He said, resting a great foot on Oles' chest that knocked the air out of his lungs. He reached up reflexively and grabbed the boot, which made the bulbin smirk darkly and press more weight on him. Oles coughed and scrambled underneath him, but he was stuck.

The bulbin laughed as his dark, piggy eyes roamed almost hungrily over the zora's helpless form, but he suddenly looked up and put a hand out to presumably stop another bulbin that must have been approaching. "We're not going to kill him. You saw the magic he possesses - this is Zora royalty."

"A prince?" A gratey voice sounded nearby. Oles cursed himself for all of their apparent quick recoveries and noted that, if he somehow didn't die from this encounter, he was definitely going to work on his waterbending strength later on. "What do we do? Hold him for ransom?"

"That may be our best bet. Water mages like this runt here don't sprout that often on the royal family tree, do they boy?" The leader bulbin pressed his foot down again on Oles' chest so he could only wheeze and scrabble underneath him in a desperate attempt to take in air. The bulbin laughed and finally took his foot away and stepped back, looking to another bulbin out of the zora's line of vision, muttering something that sounded like "subdue him".

Oles felt a quick sharp pain to the side of his head, and then everything went black.