Epona pawed at the ground, ripping up some turf. Link patted the mare's powerful neck; they were close to Zora's Domain, their journey would soon be over, and soon they would be off to the Twilight Realm. Link's mind drifted to thoughts about Midna, and their adventures together. Why had she left so abruptly? She didn't really bother to say goodbye. Link shook his head, he would be seeing her soon enough, now wasn't the time to dwell on such things, he should be focusing on the task at hand.

As Epona galloped onward, Link was reminded of his experience with the Twilight as it encompassed Hyrule. The Twilight acted as a barrier that he couldn't pass, at least in his human form. The Twilight altered him making him the noble beast, a wolf. The wolf form had been advantageous during his journeys through Hyrule, but he feared that going to the Twilight Realm would trap him, as well as his companions, in the form of beasts or worse. The Master Sword had protected him in the Twilight Realm, what would protect him now? Even if the Goddesses released the sword to him again, would it only shield him form the effects of the Twilight?

Link's thoughts were soon brushed aside as Epona strode up to the entrance of Zora's Domain; it had been a while since either of them had been here. Link had been too late to save Queen Rutela, but he had promised her he would keep an eye on her son Ralis.

The Prince had yet to be inaugurated as the new King; he would have to wait until he was at least 13 and accomplish a brave feat. All the Prince would do was daydream about completing some brave deed so he could consummate his kingship. He was overjoyed to hear that his friend Link, the Hero of Twilight was coming to his domain. Surely this would be his opportunity to prove himself to his people.

"Link," the Zora prince yelped, as he bound off his thrown towards the gallant youth. Ralis leapt up into Link's outstretched arms. "What brings you here?" He questioned. "Are you going on a perilous quest?" Link let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "No my young friend, I have come to check on how your kingdom is doing." He said setting the boy down, rubbing his head. "The Zoras remain strong," Ralis reported, "But I do not run the kingdom, I am not old enough, or experienced enough. The council of seven continues to look after the King's duties, until I can claim the throne."

Link noticed how much this had pained Ralis, and quickly changed the subject.

"I am looking to pay homage to your Guardian Deity the great Jabu-Jabu." The hero said using the Zora's name for Jabun. Ralis' eyes lit up at the thought, only Zora royalty were allowed to tend to Jabun, if Link were to go visit the deity, then he must accompany him. Link was uneasy after hearing that Ralis would have to accompany him to Jabun's sanctuary. Even though he was going to just visit the deity he understood that it was a long journey, and there was still a chance of danger. Link however was out of options and out of time, if he were to meet Jabun, he would have to go with the Prince and in accordance to the Prince's rules. Link reluctantly agreed to let Ralis join him on his adventure. Ralis was overjoyed; this was his opportunity to prove he could be King.

There was a send off party wishing the Prince good luck on his journey, Link was enjoying the celebration until a Zora pulled him aside and threatened to gut Link, if he didn't bring the Prince back safely.

Link garbed himself in the Zora Armor, an antic set of armor, supposedly fashioned for the Hero of Time, by the Zoras. It was coarse and worn; the copper alloy mail that lined his chest had started to fade to green. The copper alloy was high tempered, but it still left him more vulnerable than his other tunic. But the armor allowed him to breathe underwater as if he were a Zora himself. He would need this if he were to find Jabun's shrine.

Ralis had explained that the entrance to the shrine was hidden inside the Lakebed temple. So Link and Ralis had floated down the river into Lake Hylia. The Lakebed temple looked very different since the last time Link had been there, it was no longer overrun with monsters. It had been returned to its former glory. He noted that the Zoras had resumed their pilgrimages to the temple, it had returned as a place of worship.

Ralis led Link towards a statue of Nayru standing over the lakebed. The Zora believed that she had crafted them, giving them dominion over the seas. Link was shocked to see Ralis trying to topple the statue; however Link noticed that the statue was ingrained to a switch. He aided in moving the marble object. A loud click rang out indicating that the geared mechanism had released a lock. The floor in front of the statue began to sink downward creating a series of descending stairs revealing a hidden doorway beneath the statue. The doorway led to an underwater river that carried them out past the mainland of Hyrule towards the sea that surrounded it.

Jabun's shrine lay in Canderva Sea, which boarders Hyrule along its south east coast. Link and Ralis cautiously approached the Deity's Island stronghold.

"I haven't been her since before the war, I always went with Mom." Ralis said, his voice falling off after mentioning the Queen. Ralis swallowed the lump in his throat and continued on. "We always would come here together, to pay Lord Jabu-Jabu tribute and ask for his advice; we usually went once or twice a month to tell him what was happening around Hyrule." Ralis tried to continue, but sound ceased its flow from this mouth, only his lips moved. Link placed a hand on his shoulder. Obviously the boy had fond memories of spending time here with his mother. This would be hard for him; he had never made the journey alone.

Though the Isle of Jabun remained isolated and well hidden, Link couldn't help but fear that this sacred place too had felt the influence of Zant. Cautiously the two approached the Isle. Still feeling a chill down his spine, Link insisted on climbing a high cliff on the far side of the Isle to survey the whole area. Perched atop the cliff Link saw movement below. Taking out his Hawkeye Link focused on the figures below.

"Lizalfos," Link let the word slip out. He could hear Ralis stir at the name.
"Those vile beings, they have no right to be here." Ralis' voice trailed off.

Link disagreed, though it was widely assumed that all Lizalfos were evil, this was not the case. He had come across many decent beings during his adventures that he would have labeled as creatures. It was true that many of the Lizalfos tribes had allied themselves with Zant and Ganondorf, and were instrumental to their upheaval of Hyrule. Though Link himself had never met any friendly Lizalfos he had heard a rumor that they lived on the Crescent Island, off the coast of the small Hylian territory of Labrynna.

Keeping his eyes fixed on the Lizalfos, Link began imparting Ralis with is great wisdom. "Ralis, a good leader never assumes anything, these could be friendly Lizalfos, or they could be servants of Ganon." He said opting for the more demonic sounding name for the holder of the Triforce of Power. "We don't know, but a true hero never attacks someone if they are uncertain of their loyalties. It's too risky to approach them, so we might as well try and avoid them the best we can." Offering the Hawkeye to the Zora Prince so he could assess the situation, Link took note that he was alone on the cliff side. Idiot Link scolding himself realizing that Ralis' voice wasn't trailing off, but in fact it was the boy headed down the cliff. He was going to attack the Lizalfos, and get himself killed in the process; Link could only hope that they were part of the Lizalfos tribes of Crescent Island. Taking up his Hawkeye he peered down the cliff, trying to spot the young Zora. Link couldn't find him, but he could see the Lizalfos pointing and placing their Ceratopian Skull helmets upon their heads and brandishing their weapons. At least that answers whether they are friendly or not he thought. Following the general direction of the point, Link spotted Ralis awkwardly climbing down the cliff side. Mountainous terrain was no place for a Zora.

Link removed a Clawshot from his enchanted satchel, looking for a target to latch onto. It was the only way he could beat the Lizalfos to the child. Looking frantically around, Link could only spot a large lone tree, but it was out of range, the hero had run out of options, the Lizalfos were almost on top of the boy.

Ralis cursed himself on the way down, he just had realized that he carried no weapon, how would he fight these monsters off. He cursed the Lizalfos, why were they in his Mother's favorite place. He would show them, they would never come back here after he was through with them. Steadying himself he lowered himself to the soft sand along side the mountainous rocky cliff side. Looking at the cliff, Ralis found a rather crude but sharp fragment of rock, it was all he could find, it would have to do.

"What do we have here?" Hissed a voice.

"If et eint a little Zora. And aye am in the mood fur fish." The other answered. Raising his sword the Lizalfos let out a series of raptor like hoots and coos.

Link saw that he had only one shot at saving the Prince's life. He took a running jump off the cliff, hoping that he could cover enough distance during his fall to reach the tree, launching the claw towards the tree as he fell. The talons of the claw shot towards the bark, only one claw grazed the branch, but that was enough to trigger the talons to clamp shut barely ensuring the youths life wouldn't be lost. The Clawshot pulled the hero towards his destination with tremendous speed.

Ralis tried to raise up his feeble excuse for a sword, momentarily frozen by the fear that it might not hold up, and he would end up dead. The blade almost connected the ridge of his Sagittal caudal by the time he began to bring up his blade to parry, but he wouldn't make it in time. A blue blur rolled between the two beings raising up a forearm to counter the descending blade. Link blocked the sword with his gauntlet, sweeping the blow to the side of Ralis, causing the strike to miss him completely. Using their surprise at his sudden arrival he quickly moved against them, punching the attacking Lizalfos with his free hand, and backhanding his partner with the Clawshot. Using this momentary break in the battle he drew his Ordonian sword.

Link started to bring his shield around as the first retaliatory attacks began to fly. Side stepping out of the way, he let his shield slip off towards Ralis, hoping the boy would use it to shield himself from the combat. Gripping the sword with both hands Link engaged the Lizalfos. A ballet of blades took place, with Link parrying their blows. The Lizalfos not only had a blade in their hands, but a crude axe like blade attached to their tails, and would often swing at the hero's abdomen then his exposed back. With his swift speed, Link was able to parry the front attacks, bring his blade against his back and avoid the hacking blow from the axe.

The Ordonian sword was too heavy for extensive vigorous combat, it was meant to be used in tandem with a shield. Link soon grew wary and his grip started to falter on his sword. A Lizalfos came down hard on Link's blade causing it to fly free from his hand, skidding off into the sand. Both villains seeing his unarmed state swung wildly at Link. The one, who had disarmed Link, lunged at his belly. Link easily sidestepped his attack, and grabbed the creatures over extended arm, planning his torso against the Lizalfos shoulder. Pulling the Lizalfos off balance Link was able to swing the creature around into the path of the sweeping blade of his partner. The other Lizalfos' sword now was lodged into the neck his accomplice. Using the dead lizard's sword, Link drove it up through the fleshy under-jaw up through the Ceratopian helmet, both lizards slumped over dead.

Link was covered in the deep purple colored blood of the Lizalfos and exhausted, he was just about to drop the downed Lizalfos' blade when an armored Dynalfos lumbered over dragging his flail. Link starred at him wide eyed. The immense lizard began twirling his weapon. Link grabbed at his back in search for his bow, but it wasn't there it must have been tucked against his shield. The spiked ball jumped at Link, missing him by inches ejecting sand into the air. Link brought the sword down across the Dynalfos' forearm; it bounced off his heavily armed form causing him only a slight nuisance. He swung his attacked arm at the Hylian, sending him across the beach. He lumbered slowly over towards the downed youth. Bringing the flail higher, swinging it in a high arch he swung it over his shoulder to come down upon the would-be-hero's head. As the spiked ball passed the apex of his helmet, Link could hear an explosion, and see the back of the Dynalfos head ignite with fire, launching his head and helmet towards the sky. The ball landed next to Link's head, as the Dynalfos collapsed, his head bouncing off his own armored body. Link sat up to see Ralis, with the Hero's Bow aiming at where the lizard once stood. He must have drawn an explosive arrow out of his quiver. Link slumped over, glad, he had lived through this skirmish.

They journeyed around the rest of the island without incident. Link took the time to explain to Ralis the rashness of his decision, how it had endangered their lives and how they could have avoided it all together.

"I always thought that the hero jumped into any battle." Ralis admitted, explaining why he tried attacking the Lizalfos. Link had to admit, sometime he too acted too rashly, but if he were to live to see more seasons pass, he had to start using his head, and not just his body.

They didn't walk long before they reached the out cropping of Jabun's water cavern. It seemed to be surrounded by a yellow energy field, Link reached out to test it. As his hand approached the golden triangle grew more luminous, temporarily blinding them. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't see the shield anymore; Ralis quickly scampered in towards the shallow end of Jabun's wading pool, diving down in the water to see the submerged lower half of Jabun.

"Jabu-Jabu!" the boy cried, tears streaking down his face, as he embraced the large deity's massive jaw. The boy quickly told Jabun all that had happen since he had visited many months ago, and of his mother's death. The boy held Jabun's head and cried. Link couldn't see any tears fall from the great fish. Jabun shot a spray of water from the holes that sat above his head, sending a mist about the room, Link guessed that is how he cried. The great fish had a long triangular head which resembled an isosceles triangle, he had a wrinkled chin, and enormous wing-like fins, and a mouth full of quill like teeth.

Link let the Zora and Jabun talk for a while, the great fish comforted boy, placing his huge pectoral fins around him. Jabun then turned to address Link.

"Thank you for lowering the barrier Zant had placed on me." He explained, "I didn't realize he had such power in him, such a power I have only seen in once other being. I couldn't aid my fair queen or her people while contained in that seal."

"He drew his power from the Dark Lord himself," Link explained. "But he is no more; the Master Sword has once again vanquished him."

Ralis nodded explaining that Link, had been the one who defeated Ganondorf.

"I have come to seek your aid, Jabun God of the Seas. The Twilight Realm is engulfed in chaos, and we fear that their plight may again spill into our world. The Light Spirits have sent me here to collect an item they need to reforge the Mirror of Twilight."

Jabun nodded his great head. Digging in the wet sand he pulled out a long string of beads. "This is the string of Gahoia's mythical lunar pearls." He said laying them at the feet of Link. "They will help you on your quest." Link looked at the pearls they were small pea sized pearls, surely the deity was mistaken, this couldn't have been what he was sent to obtain. Link reluctantly pocketed them, looking to see if Ralis was ready for their trip home.

"Ralis, come back soon," The great fish requested. "And you Hero of Twilight, watch over him for me." Slowly the great fish backed out of his wading pool and headed out to the sea.

It wasn't long before Link was mounted upon Epona, heading towards Castle Town. It had taken him quite some time to convince Ralis, not to join him in his adventure to the Twilight Realm. "Your people need you know more than ever." Link explained, "You are now their King and you need to lead them." Ralis had seemed to believe what Link was saying, though he didn't know if Ralis was King yet or not. Link couldn't afford to take the boy to the Twilight, though he had saved him, Link couldn't be watching out for children during a battle. Link urged Ralis to use his experience on Jabun's Isle to encourage him to develop his mind, and not just his body.

The Zoras will watch over him Link thought, as he approached the gates of Castle Town, he'll be safe here in Hyrule. This was more than he could say for himself.