The next morning, Impa woke them just after dawn when a chill hung heavily in the air. She refrained from commenting about their sleeping position, but Link thought he spotted her lips twitching in a knowing smile. He wondered what that meant, and where her thoughts on the matter laid.

After eating a light breakfast, they packed up camp and set off. Link's sore body pained him a bit from the previous ride, but it soon faded as the hours drug by. Riding the horse became almost enjoyable. Hyrule was truly breathtaking, and being out in the open with the wind at his back made everything better. Link often missed nature while at Castle Town, as at one point he had been accustomed to simplicity of the Forest.

As they rode, Zelda schooled him on the political forces within Hyrule and beyond, and as Link listened to all the greed and power struggles, he became increasingly shocked and troubled. One of the benefits of living in the Forest was that he remained free from the outside political strife. The disadvantage was now he possessed no knowledge in that area, putting him at a distinct disadvantage.

"Father has given them land to secure the treaty, but they remain rebellious and—" Zelda was saying when Impa cut her off.

"Silence!" Impa commanded sharply, her voice cracking through the air like a whip. Coming to a halt, her keen eyes surveyed the surrounding land urgently, searching for something.

"I do not hear anything," Zelda whispered softly to Link, nearly inaudible. He heard, nevertheless.

Link, however, caught what Impa did: a quiet scratching nearby. He failed to pinpoint the source though. "There's a monster somewhere close."

Zelda's eyes widened in shock, but she didn't appear frightened in the least. She placed complete trust in Impa to keep her safe—and, Link liked to think, a bit of faith in him as well.

Impa dismounted, smoothly sliding from her mount. "Stay here." With that directive, she stalked away, slipping out twin daggers as she did so, her steps light and meticulously controlled. Link envied that fluidity and grace.

Impa vanished from sight over a ridge, and Zelda grasped his arm in a viselike grip, anxiously worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. "What if she cannot handle the beast on her own?"

Link doubted that, but he dismounted and urged Zelda to do the same nevertheless. "Let's go make sure she's all right then."

With his left hand, he cautiously drew his knife, and with the other, he held her hand. She threw him a grateful look, and together, they rushed after Impa. Link and Zelda found her just as she carefully knelt beside a fallen monster.

She glanced up as they neared, and surprisingly beckoned them closer, showing no signs of being angry that they defiled her orders. "Both of you, come here. Do you know what this is?"

Zelda shook her head, staring at the beast with a frown. Link, however, had fought them in the past, and was very familiar with them. "That's a red tektite."

The noise coming from it resembled a high-pitched squeaking, and Link suspected it was the equivalent of a human whimper of pain. A knife wound stretched across its back, purple blood leaking from the injury to form a dark pool on the ground below it.

"This will be a good lesson, I'm afraid," she stated grimly, as the tektite's legs began to twitch erratically. "Someone battled this tektite and then left it here to die without properly killing it. Though it is a beast and I don't fault anyone for protecting themselves, causing anything—be it human or beast—to suffer is unnecessary and repugnant."

Zelda's lips tightened into a thin line, her body as taut as a bowstring. Link knew her tender heart rebelled at the idea of anything suffering needlessly, and he wondered if she had gotten that from Impa.

Meeting each of their eyes in turn, Impa grasped her knife tightly and drew it firmly against the tektite's throat, putting it out of its misery. As blood sprayed in a crude imitation of a fountain, Zelda gasped and whirled around. Link, who was not bothered in the least, brought her into the safety of his arms, and shielded her from the view.

She clutched onto him with a sense of desperation, and the desire to protect her and shield her from every atrocity in the world reared up so strong it nearly felled him. If he could, Link would've captured the very stars in the night sky and given them to her.

Impa cleaned her knife and stood, glancing at Zelda with sympathetic eyes. "This is a cruel part of life, Zelda, one in which you cannot avoid," she told her not unkindly. With that, she trekked back to the horses.

Link stroked Zelda's back soothingly. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Even though she nodded, she didn't pull away immediately. Several heartbeats passed, and he just held her, content to wait. "I did not think that would affect me as much as it did," she admitted in a whisper. "Saving the world from beasts sounds great, but is not quite as glorious."

"No. It's not." He had learned that fairly quickly after leaving the Forest.

"How do you do it? It was not even my hand that slew the beast, and yet I feel as if it were."

Link sighed. "I don't think about it," he answered honestly. Sometimes it kept him up at night in truth, his hands burning as if blood still coated them and scorched his palms.

Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Or, I think about how I'm doing it to protect you, and that justifies it entirely in my mind."

Zelda pulled away and studied him closely. "I wonder sometimes if the burden placed upon you is too great a task."

His mind had never strayed in that direction, but it needed no consideration. "No," he instantly denied. "I willingly accepted this journey, and for better or worse, I'm in this for the long haul. I don't—and I never will—regret leaving the Forest."

She made a noncommittal sound from the back of her throat. "I suppose so." She still appeared troubled by the thought and by what they had just witnessed. "We should get back," she murmured after a moment.

The rest of the ride that day was overall uneventful. As the previous day, they stopped around dusk, made camp, and, after Impa hunted, ate dinner. Eventually, Impa took Link aside, and the somberness in those red eyes frightened him a bit.

"I want you to mark my next words very seriously," she began, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you listening carefully?"

"Yes." Listening extremely carefully and cautiously in fact.

"Zelda holds you in high esteem. I don't want to see her get disappointed, because she needs a true friend. However, I believe she has feelings for you that are far from platonic, and I suspect you feel much the same," Impa told him.

Link didn't bother denying it. While he couldn't necessarily name the feelings, the way he viewed Zelda differed from any other friend, in a completely different way.

"Never forget she is princess and will one day be queen… I fear she'll one day be put in the position where she must choose between you and her kingdom, and she, without a doubt, will choose you."

Link frowned. "I don't understand. Why would she have to choose between me and the kingdom?"

"You'll understand in time," she said simply, somewhat enigmatically. "What I'm saying is don't make her choose, because that would destroy her. Keep that in mind as the years pass."

It made no sense to Link, but he agreed nevertheless. To make Zelda choose between him and her kingdom was a farfetched idea to him, as he couldn't imagine ever being in a situation like that. Her role as ruler was the foremost importance, and he accepted that.

They returned to camp and the issue was never brought up again. That night, Zelda slipped into his bedroll once more, and Link slept better than he had in a long time.

.

ZLZL

.

As Link gazed out across the lake, he was rendered speechless from the beauty, never before having seen more than a small pond. This vast lake spanned as far as the eye could see, the water crystal blue and perfectly clean. It beckoned him closer, urging him to jump into its inviting depths and see what it felt like.

"I'm going to go see Dr. Cien. I'll return shortly," Impa stated and strode off in the direction of the scientist's laboratory to the east.

"It is beautiful, is it not?" Zelda commented. She dropped to her haunches and unlaced her boots, slipping them off to carry them and her socks. When Link shot her a questioning look, she explained, "I enjoy the feeling of grass on my feet."

Link shrugged and followed suit. The warm grass felt pleasant against his feet and toes as they walked to the edge of the lake.

"How deep is it?" Link asked curiously, peering down into the lake. Several fish in varying sizes and color swam in the water, oblivious of the humans watching them.

"I do not know. Very deep." Zelda submerged her foot into the water. "It is a bit chilly, but it is a good chilly. Would you like to swim?"

Stunned by the suggestion, Link stared at her in order to discover if she japed or not. "Seriously?"

A wide grin split her face, mischievousness twinkling in her eyes. "Why not? I think it sounds like a wonderful idea."

"With all our clothes on?"

"Of course."

Link wondered for a moment how much he had changed Zelda, for he was sure she would've never done such a scandalous thing before. The thought delighted him in a way, to know he influenced her.

A smile very much like hers bloomed on his face, and he grabbed her hand. Realizing his intention, she laughed. Onto and down the submerged platform they went, jumping into the water at full speed. Link gasped as the coolness smacked him, every nerve cell protesting at that first initial shock.

He broke the surface with a gasp, and a second later, Zelda followed suit, her hair plastered to her face. She shoved it aside impatiently and beamed at Link.

Impulsively, he splashed her. Sputtering, she blinked in surprise for several long moments.

"You are going to wish you had not done that," she warned him, and promptly started a water fight, placing her hands on his shoulders and using all her weight to force him under the water.

The game ended in a stalemate, with both of them panting and tired but thoroughly happy. Just as Link made to get out with Zelda, he spotted something that caught his eye. Something shiny gleamed from the bottom of the lake, just a few feet under where Link treaded water.

"Are you coming?" Zelda tossed over her shoulder as she swam for the shore.

"In a minute," Link called, curious as to what it was. "There's something here."

Taking a deep breath, he ducked under the water and kicked his way to the bottom. Halfway there, his lungs began protesting the abuse, screaming for oxygen, but he ignored the burn and kicked harder. His hand closed around the cool glass, and he nearly cheered in victory. Flipping himself around, he desperately made for the surface.

The first sputtering gasp filled his lungs with wonderfully delicious air, and it was better than anything he had ever experienced.

Suddenly exhausted, he swam for the bank, thankful for the solid ground once there. He splashed over to Zelda, examining his find along the way.

"What is inside it?" Zelda asked, peering curiously at it.

"A letter of some sort," Link answered absently.

Someone had obviously gone through a lot of trouble to leave the letter there, as it was securely stoppered leaving the letter dry and unharmed. Popping the cork out of the bottom, Link, after drying his hands a bit, pulled out the rolled-up letter.

The message read, "Help me. I'm waiting for you inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly," with the signature of Ruto and the postscript of, "Don't tell my father!"

Nothing but the cry for help struck any chords of recognition within him. He showed the letter to Zelda, and inquired her thoughts on the matter.

She frowned. "This can be from none other than Princess Ruto of the Zoras." Upon Link's blank look, she patiently explained, "The aquatic Zoras hail from the northwest and have long since been allies to the throne, just as the Gorons have."

While that told Link little, he let the questions slide to focus on the most important factors. "Right. And what is Lord Jabu-Jabu?"

"Lord Jabu-Jabu is the protective guardian of Zora's Domain. He has long since stood vigil over the Zoras, and they hold him in very high esteem."

And how does one get inside this protective guardian if it's a statue of some sort? Link mused in amusement, but his resolve wavered none. "Whoever she is, this Ruto needs help and I won't ignore that when I can do something." Even if it did mean being away from Zelda, a thought he abhorred.

Zelda nodded. "I expected nothing less from you. Also, I will tell you the third Spiritual Stone is rumored to be with the Zoras."

Excellent. I can kill two birds with one stone, Link thought with satisfaction. He would save this princess and then perhaps the king would be so thankful, he would bestow the stone to Link. Perfect.

It would cut his time away from Zelda considerably.

In the back of his mind, he worried what would happen when all three stones were in their possession. Would they make a stand against Ganondorf, or would he return to the Forest because he no longer served a purpose?

No, the friendship connecting them grew with every second, tangible and potent. Zelda enjoyed his presence, and he was fully aware and confident in that fact. Link craved her presence like a drug, one of which he could never get enough, always wanting more, more, more.

Link decided to leave at once, even if he wanted to do anything but that. When he relayed that plan to Zelda, disappointment flashed across her face, so quickly he might have imagined it, but then she smiled that wonderful smile of hers.

"Godspeed, and save travels, Link," she wished him.

"Thank you." It seemed painfully lacking after the recent time spent together.

Their gazes connected and locked, and Link found himself unable to look away, spellbound by those brilliant blue eyes. A million and one words passed between them, unspoken by the mouth and yet heard by the heart nevertheless.

"Link," she murmured softly, a beckoning he was powerless to resist.

He opened his arms, and she instantly came to him, allowing him to pull her close with no space separating them. She was warm and soft against him, their heights compatible. With her cheek against his chest and his chin resting on her head, he wanted to stay in that position forever.

"You will be careful, will you not?" she murmured into his tunic, the words vibrating through him.

"Of course. I'll be back before you know it."

.

ZLZL

.

Zora's Domain turned out to be impressive. As he stood behind a massive waterfall concealing an entrance, the Triforce beneath his feet clued him into the key in gaining admittance. As soon as the last note to Zelda's Lullaby faded, there came a rumble and then the water slowly parted, providing him with a hole through which to enter.

Link jumped the short distance and entered into Zora's Domain. Despite all the strange oddities he had seen since leaving the Forest, nothing prepared him for the sight that greeted him.

The Zoras weren't exactly human in the sense of the word. Aquatic humanoid creatures, they had glimmering scales and gills much like fish, complete with varying fins. However, they possessed the form of a human and walked upright. Not a stitch of clothing covered them.

It was the strangest sight he had ever laid eyes on, and he was perhaps a bit rude in his blatant gawking. The Zoras took no note of him overall.

He came out onto an upper level, with the lower bit being a rather deep pool of water. The Zoras swam with effortless grace, twisting and turning as beautifully as any trained dancer on land.

While they were built for water, the ability to walk on land made them versatile.

"Excuse me," Link said to a passing Zora, one of whom stood no less than six and a half feet. "Where can I find the king?"

The Zora's deep green eyes roamed over him from head to toe, curiosity and wonder in the gaze. Link figured not many humans traveled through their territory. "You are not from here," he stated the obvious. His voice was deep with a scratchy quality, an oddly intriguing combination.

"No, I'm not. I'm from Kokiri Forest. I'm here to talk to the king because I may have information about Princess Ruto."

Those words worked like magic.

"Continue straight, taking the upward path, and you will reach your destination," he instructed, pointing the directions out as he spoke.

"Thank you!"

Link found King Zora in the throne room. Instead of the traditional chair throne, the gigantic Zora sat on a ledge with his feet dangling. A fine red cloak of velvet draped across his wide shoulders, and a jeweled crown rested on his head.

Hesitantly, Link approached, climbing the steps to the platform in front of the throne, putting an average sized person on eye level with the king. As it were, Link's short stature fell, well, short.

The king muttered to himself, obviously not spotting Link right off. "Oh, my dear, sweet Princess Ruto. Where has she gone? I'm so worried."

"Hello, King Zora," Link began. On the inside, he marveled at the opportunity to have met two kings, three if one counted Darunia. Not many boasted of such an occurrence. "My name is Link, and I believe I have something that might interest you."

King Zora finally noticed him, squinting down at him in a way that annoyed Link. "Do you now?" he asked in a wispy tone.

Link presented the bottle, tossing it up to the king, which he snatched out of the air with surprising dexterity. As he read the letter, his eyes grew gradually wider, elation and shock written all over his face.

"Ho, this letter! It's from Princess Ruto!" King Zora exclaimed. "She's inside Lord Jabu-Jabu? That's not possible! Our guardian god, Lord Jabu-Jabu, would never eat my dear Princess Ruto!" he scoffed, sounding a bit defensive and offended.

Most people became vehemently irrational when dealing with religious beliefs. Considering that, Link reminded himself to proceed with the utmost caution, just in case the king was a zealot of some sort. Offending him would not help Link's objective in gaining the spiritual stone.

"However…"

Link eagerly seized upon the doubt contained within that utterance. "However?" he prompted, hoping the king would continue that train of thought, and was rewarded for his efforts. "Since that stranger, Ganondorf, came here, Lord Jabu-Jabu has been a little green around the gills," King Zora admitted pensively.

Even though Link suspected as much, a shudder ran the length of his spine at the mention of the Gerudo king, as if the name itself contained evil.

"Ganondorf wants the spiritual stones to gain control of the Sacred Realm," Link told him grimly.

"Indeed? Hmm, yes, I did not get good vibes from the man with the dead eyes." King Zora paused, and then nodded once, as if to confirm something to himself. "The evidence seems clear. Of course, you'll go find Ruto. You can pass through here to the altar of Lord Jabu-Jabu."

Though Link intended on saving the princess regardless, he imagined it would be nice to be asked once instead of one simply assuming he would throw himself into mortal peril and risk his life. Since he somehow possessed the ability to help, he felt duty-bound and did so gladly.

"I'll bring her back safe and sound," Link promised.

The king shifted on the ledge, moving over to reveal an exit Link had previously failed to notice. "You can pass through here to the altar of Lord Jabu-Jabu."

Without further ado, Link climbed the stairs situated to the far right of the room, slid by the king, and travelled down the light-filled tunnel. It came out to a lake.

"You've got to be kidding me," Link muttered forlornly, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

In the lake swam a fish bigger than most houses, and Link suspected this was the infamous Lord Jabu-Jabu. It all clicked into place as he stared at the Zora's guardian with a touch of horror. If Ruto was inside Lord Jabu-Jabu, that meant Link would also have to go inside, which appealed to him very little.

Being eaten by anything, especially a gigantic fish, placed very low on his list of things he wanted to experience in life.

Eyeing it warily, he approached, sloshing through the calf-deep water, and ascended the few steps that led to the fish, motionlessly stationed for access. It lazily blinked its bulbous eyes in an insolent manner.

"Er, how do I get inside?" Link murmured, completely at a lost. Causing it physical harm by hacking his way inside was out of the question. King Zora wouldn't appreciate his guardian being defiled in such a manner, and Link didn't want to kill needlessly.

"Ask it nicely?" Navi suggested in his ear.

Link sardonically snorted at the suggestion. "Worth a try," he commented, shrugging. Clearing his throat, he raised his voice so it carried to Lord Jabu-Jabu. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Princess Ruto. I was wondering if I could, er, enter."

Lord Jabu-Jabu ignored him, giving no indication he heard even though Link knew better. No matter how much Link pleaded, the fish remained utterly apathetic, refusing to acknowledgeable Link in any way. After ten minutes of shouting at the fish, Link changed tactics.

Drawing his slingshot, he fired a nut at its mouth to no avail. It didn't so much as flinch. Deku nuts similarly proved ineffective, as did deku sticks and the ocarina when he played a tune.

"Damn stupid fish!" Link swore, resisting the urge to kick something out of frustration.

Link heard a rumbling noise from the fish, and it sounded suspiciously like sadistic laughter…

After that, he forced himself to step back lest his emotions get the best of him. Logic was the key to finding a solution, and a new approach would provide new eyes. So, Link had tried requesting and forcing, he had yet to tempt the fish. Perhaps that would suffice.

How did one tempt a fish to open its mouth?

The first thing that popped into Link's head was food. Everything required sustenance in order to survive, and that included this big fella. However, one problem became apparently immediately: what did Lord Jabu-Jabu eat?

Link surveyed the surrounding area with no luck. The only thing he noticed was little fish swimming in the shallow part of the lake.

"Little fish," he murmured, a metaphorical light clicking on in his head.

It took several attempts to catch one of the slippery little fish, but his efforts eventually proved successful. Clutching the bottle with the fish inside, he approached Lord Jabu-Jabu once more.

"All right, you big lug," he muttered disdainfully, glaring at the nuance in front of him. "You want this? Hmm? Fishy want a treat?"

Unstopping the bottle, he poured the contents out on the stone ground and stepped back, offering the fish. Interest sparked in Lord Jabu-Jabu's eyes, as he watched the smaller fish flop around wildly. His mouth twitched, opening a bit, and Link almost cheered aloud in triumph.

What happened next, he didn't anticipate.

Lord Jabu-Jabu opened his mouth all the way and sucked the air in front of him. The fish instantly flew into the dark abyss of Lord Jabu-Jabu's mouth. Link felt himself being pulled forward; in sudden panic, he fought against the force with all his might.

His efforts were all for naught.

Ready or not, he finally gained entry into Lord Jabu-Jabu.