***ALL STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY**

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In Sotto Voce

By The Wolfess

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Chapter 10

The first thing that Impa saw the next time her eyes opened was Ruto. The zora princess was sitting by her bedside, deep in concentration. It was a few more minutes before the sheikah realized that there was a cool, moist sensation around where her wound was. Looking down, Impa saw that Princess Ruto appeared to be using her water magic to manipulate some cool water around where the flesh wanted to keep burning. There were maggots that followed behind and inside the cool water, eating away the cooled down but still burning flesh while leaving the healthy flesh alone. One bucket beside the bed was full of dead, charred maggots, the other full of live ones.

There were only a few left on the wound in Impa's side. In fact, the flesh appeared as if it was starting to heal. She looked up at the concentrating zora and examined her features for a moment, not wanting to interrupt. Ruto had bags under her eyes, most likely from lack of sleep, and bruises on her skin where she must have been roughly handled in the dungeons.

"Ruto," Impa said, her voice hoarse from disuse. She placed her hand on the zora's knee.

Ruto smiled before she opened her eyes. "Hey there sleepy," she said, her voice sounding very tired. "Good to see you awake." Absently, the zora was still cooling down the flesh while talking.

"How long have you been doing this?" the sheikah asked.

"Oh, two days I think," Ruto shrugged. "I'm not sure. In the back of their heads, they all still think we're traitors so they leave us alone, except for the doctor and Link. Link visits every day, usually multiple times. The doc says the fire burned into your internal organs before we got to you and you got an infection. It'll be a while before you can move again, but at least the maggots are almost done. Damn things keep dying too quickly, though, and we had to go get more."

"Ruto…" Impa smiled, sadly, and squeezed the zora's knee. "Thank you," she whispered. "I think I'd be dead if it weren't for you."

Ruto laughed, but the sound was weary. "I am the only one in the castle who knows water magic, so yeah. You would be."

Impa closed her eyes, trying to remember what all had happened. Her memories of past few days were fuzzy, and her memory of the confrontation with Zelda before she lost consciousness was too painful to recall. Ruto was quiet while the sheikah thought, focusing her energy on her cooling work. After a while, though, she spoke. "You kept asking for Zelda," she finally whispered. Impa opened her eyes to watch the zora as she continued. "Over and over again, day and night, you called for her and cried. You said things in your fever-dreams…things about love, and about destiny, and servitude. You spoke of different lifetimes, different worlds, all serving her. I have never witnessed love like that before. Gosh, if I was into sheikahs I think I'd be in love with you myself." The zora winked and smiled, but it was half-hearted and it didn't hide her sorrow.

Impa frowned, pain crossing her features. "Did…did she hear?"

Ruto shook her head. "Only the doc, Link, and I have heard. She won't visit. They moved you to this private room so I wouldn't have to be distracted, at least that what they said. Really, though, it was because the princess…I mean the queen…didn't want anyone to hear you."

"Queen…so the king really is dead?"

Ruto nodded. "Yes, I'm sad to say. No sign of him. As far as they can tell, that body that exploded all over you really was his."

Impa sighed. "That has to be tearing Zelda up inside," she said, staring up at the ceiling.

Ruto laughed. "You're amazing, you know that? What she did to you and you still only care about her."

Impa furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Ruto raised her eye brows. "You don't remember?" She sighed. Pulling a little more cold water out of the bucket near her, she applied it to the wound before she continued. "Oh boy. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…well, a lot has changed while you have been out. Most for the better, some not in my opinion."

Impa closed her eyes. "Just tell me. Might as well get it all out."

"Are you sure?" Ruto sounded dubious. "You just woke up after all. I'm not even sure how long you'll stay conscious this time. It's not the first time you have woken up you know."

She did feel weak. Now that she was awake, though, she felt like she couldn't get out of that bed fast enough, and not knowing would bother her. "Yeah, I'm sure."

The zora princess took and deep breath and sighed. "Okay, you asked for it." She took off a blackened, dead maggot and dropped it into the bucket, then put on another live one to take its place. "They beat the enemy army, I think you knew that. Most of the first two lines were decimated, except for you of course, but the rest of our army was untouched. All of their captains were killed, but the ring leaders got away. I think you knew that too." Impa nodded, so Ruto continued. "Well, they had the search for the king going on. Meanwhile, Zelda took up audience in the throne room and spoke to everyone she could about what her father had been telling them, and what happened during the battle. Heroes have been awarded metals, cowards who fled have been reprimanded. Zelda is still trying to root out the lies that Wizzro had been spreading, but the generals and leaders all seem receptive. Oh, and you will be happy to hear that Link has been promoted to captain for his bravery and performance in the battle."

Impa nodded slowly, but her facial expression was suspicious. "This is all good news," she said. "But you said that you thought some of what she has done is bad." Ruto bit her lip, obviously hesitant to say anything. "Tell me." Impa demanded.

"Fine," Ruto sighed. "Honey…Zelda has stripped you of your position and rank. Link is her bodyguard now, and you are not even a soldier in the army."

Impa felt as if she had taken a fist to the gut. She let out the breath she had not realized she had been holding, and tears sprang to her eyes. "W-why?" she gasped, trying to calm herself. She was sure the last thing the doctor would want her to do was freak out.

"That's where the bad news continues, I'm afraid," Ruto said. She gave Impa an apologetic look before she went on. "Not only did the search for the king prove that he is gone, as far as we can tell, it also showed that one other person was gone: Zelda's old body guard and chief counselor to the king, Kishla. Zelda has determined that she was how the spirit reached and infected her father's body. Kishla also spearheaded your promotion and appointment, if you will remember, leading to your further disfavor in the queen's eyes. She is convinced you were a part of it.

"Luckily, she has no proof," Ruto continued, "and enough people saw your amazing deeds on the battlefield that she couldn't do anything worse to you than she already did. The generals are already furious with her. They know the tasks that General Xao trusted to you, although they hadn't supported it at the time, and they saw how well you performed your assignments. You single-handedly captured the key keep in the battle, mortally wounded the dragon and cased him off, and then returned to protect the princess and chase a demon spirit out of the king's body. As far as they are concerned, you are the true hero of the battle, and I agree, but Zelda won't hear of it. They approached her about giving you General Xao's old position and she all but screamed at them. That's when she took your rank and position away."

Impa clamped her eyes shut. The pain in her heart felt like it was burning a hole in her, but this was a burn that neither Ruto's water nor the doctor's maggots could soothe.

When the sheikah didn't say anything, Ruto continued, mostly trying to fill the silence now. "If you ask me, there's something more to this than suspicion. I think she's scared of something, but I don't have any idea what. I was locked up in the dungeon for the whole thing."

Impa opened her eyes and looked at the zora. "I know what it is," she said, her voice sad.

When the sheikah didn't continue, Ruto pressed her. "Come on," she said. "I've been sitting here making sure you don't burn to death for over two days now. The least you can do is give me a little gossip." Her voice was light hearted, like the old Ruto again, but underneath it the sheikah could hear how sad and worried the zora princess was.

"Okay, you're right," Impa said, trying to smile a little. "Ruto…just before the battle…Zelda and I…we kissed."

Ruto was so shocked that she dropped the water she was using. Impa winced, the burning feeling intensifying immediately, and the zora princess quickly apologized and took new water out of the bucket to continue the cooling. "You kissed?!" she hissed, her eyes wide. "What?!"

Someone had let Impa's hair down, most likely Ruto, and the sheikah dragged her fingers through it now. "It was an emotional day. There was some intense stuff at Rauru's with our souls merging into one during a simple introduction to your magical core exercise, which definitely shouldn't have happened, and then you were thrown in jail and an army was coming and the king sent me to the front lines and Zelda was convinced that I was going to die…" she took a deep breath. Realizing that she was rambling and talking too fast, Impa took another breath and purposefully slowed down. "We had a couple hours alone before the army would arrive. I told Zelda she could do whatever she wanted during the time we had together. She…" Impa paused and bit her lip.

Ruto nodded her head. "She?" she prompted. Impa hesitated, and Ruto rolled her eyes. "Thrown in jail and been awake for two days saving your sheikah ass, remember? Spill."

"She took my armor off," Impa whispered, turning bright red. "And my clothes, at least off the top half, until all I was wearing was my suit hanging around my hips and my chest wraps on top, and that was it. I don't know what she was thinking, Ruto, and I didn't know what to do. I told her she could do whatever she wanted, and she said she wanted to touch me."

Ruto's eyes looked like they would pop out of their sockets. "You…didn't…did you?"

Impa shook her head. "NO! Of course not! I wouldn't allow that. No, we ended up falling asleep actually. We were woken up by the call to line up. We were in her closet and I was helping her get her armor on when she just kissed me."

Ruto's mouth was hanging open. "SHE kissed YOU?" she whistled. "I would never have guessed that she would go first. Never in a million years."

Impa was bright red now. "Yeah, but it was just a peck. She didn't know how to do it, you know? So I…well, I kissed her back. And it was a lot…well, deeper than that."

"Anything else?" Ruto asked, lifting an eyebrow. She seemed to perk up the more she heard of the story.

Impa bit her lip and nodded. "I told her that I'm in love with her."

"SHIT, you didn't!" Ruto said. "You didn't!"

The sheikah groaned. "I did. I know. It was stupid."

Ruto almost stood up to pace around the room, but she remembered her task this time and restrained herself. "Well, that explains a lot. She's scared shitless."

Impa frowned. "Ruto, please, language."

The zora princess rolled her eyes. "Sorry. But seriously. All of this right before the battle, and then her father dies right before her eyes like that. It's no wonder that she snapped and wants you erased off of the face of the planet."

Impa closed her eyes and groaned. "I really messed up, didn't I?" she said.

Ruto nodded. "Yeah you did. Luckily, powerful as she may be, even the great Queen Zelda can't erase you from existence. You can leave here when you're healthy and go wherever you want."

"How many days until I can leave, do you think?" Impa asked.

Ruto took off two dead maggots and put new ones in their places. "These guys should be done by the end of the night. Then the doc says that he has this potion that should heal your skin right up. You'll have a big scar, but you'll be good to go in a couple days, max."

Impa was quiet for a moment, thinking about everything Ruto had said. Time passed in silence. The zora princess was obviously more tired and care-worn than she was trying to let the sheikah see. "Ruto," Impa finally said, reaching over and taking the zora's hand in her own. Ruto met her eyes, and this time she didn't try to put up a shallow front to hide what she was really feeling. "Thank you. Please, tell me how you are holding up. What happened with the king before the battle?"

"I saw his eyes change," the zora said, not hiding the emotion and exhaustion in her voice. She seemed to age and mature right before Impa's eyes, like all of her masks and walls had fallen down. "When I asked him what was wrong, he hissed at me, like I caught the creature inside him off guard or something. I knew then that he wasn't the king, and I attacked him. That was stupid. The guards knocked me out, and the next thing I knew I was in the dungeon shackled to the wall. It…it wasn't a good time for me."

The zora's face had darkened, and her hands absently rubbed at the bruises showing on her arms. Impa wondered what other bruises were being hid under her dress, and how she had gotten them. Ruto wasn't giving that information up, though, and Impa didn't want to press her.

"Now you've been awake for going on three days taking care of me," she said instead. "I owe you a life-debt Ruto."

Ruto shook her head. "No you don't," she whispered.

"Yes, I do," Impa insisted, her voice firm.

Ruto sighed. "There's still one more thing I haven't told you," she said. "When they let me out of the jail…I saw Kishla in the hall. She asked me what was going on, and I told her that I had just been let out and didn't know. There was something weird about her, the same evil feeling I sensed with the king, but I was so tired and hurt…Impa, I let her go. I could feel something evil about her and I let her go. I didn't know what she had done, what she was going to do. I didn't know…."

Dread curled in Impa's stomach. "What did she do, Ruto?" she prompted when the aquatic woman didn't continue.

Ruto couldn't look Impa in the eye. Her own fishy eyes were watering. When she spoke, it was barely loud enough for Impa to hear. "She went back to your village…she…I'm so sorry, Impa. Kishla killed your mother and half of the sheikah council before the warriors realized what was happening and drove her out."

For the second time that morning, Impa felt as if someone had punched her. "My…my mom…" her eyes teared up and her body began to shake. "Elder Kishla…killed my mother? She was all the family I had left…she…" a sob tore from her throat, and the tears spilled over cheeks.

Ruto couldn't really hug her due to her ministrations with the water, but she did her best with her free arm. "I'm sorry, Impa," she whispered. She was crying as well. "I didn't know…I shouldn't have let her go. I'm so sorry!"

Impa took a couple deep, shaky breaths. "It…it's okay Ruto. You couldn't have known. It's not your fault." She patted the zora princess's back.

Ruto pulled away, and some of the tears on her cheeks drifted down and joined the water cooling Impa's burn. "I feel as if it is," she said. "You owe me nothing, Impa."

Impa leaned back against her pillows and closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt very weak and her head felt heavy, woozy. "Let's call it even," she whispered, feeling her vision blur and her head swim. "A life for a life." She heard Ruto agree before she drifted back into an exhausted sleep.

The next time Impa woke up, Ruto was gone. The buckets of maggots were gone as well, and a gentle morning light was streaming in through the window. The sheikah looked down at her side and saw that the skin was mostly growing back together, thanks to the doctor's potion. He was right when he said that there would be a scar though.

Impa sat up and moved her legs off of the edge of the bed. Now that she was really feeling better, she was suddenly aware of how very hungry she felt. It appeared that someone had expected that because there was a covered platter on her bedside table. Lifting the silver lid, Impa found a sandwich and some cold broth waiting for her. Despite it being a little old, she was grateful for every bite.

When she stood up, her legs were weak and shaky and her head swam. She braced herself by placing one hand on the wall until her head stopped swimming, and then she looked down at herself. She was looking a little thin, obviously as a result of not eating for at least three days, and she was wearing nothing but fresh wraps around her chest and a pair of shorts. Looking around, Impa found her clothes and armor washed and folded on a chair nearby. Just beside that, leaning in the corner behind the chair, were both of her weapons and a single chest containing all of her possessions. These things had been in her dresser in Zelda's room. Impa got the message loud and clear.

With a heavy heart, the sheikah dressed. Once she was done, she sat in the chair and looked out the window, thinking about what to do now. Obviously she would have to return to the tribe. With her mother dead, Impa was the next tribal leader and she had to go take on the position and help the tribe heal from its losses. She also had to decide what to do about Kishla and Zelda. Impa hoped that the remaining council members and elders could help her with those decisions, as she didn't feel like she could be objective just now.

Impa heard the door creak open, but she didn't turn around. She wasn't sure that she really cared who it was. "Hey, you're up," came a male voice behind her. "I'm really glad." The sheikah turned to see Link standing in the doorway. He wore a green tunic and a blue scarf, one she recognized as the symbol that Queen Zelda had dubbed him the next legendary hero. She sighed and turned her gaze back out the window.

"Congratulations are in order," she said, her voice stiff. "High honors, a promotion, and a lifetime appointment at the queen's side. You must be proud."

Link stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "Don't be like that," he said, his voice sad. "I didn't want this. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen to me."

Impa scoffed a little. "I'm sure you tried really hard."

"I know you must be tired," the hero said slowly, frustration on the edge of his voice. "I guess I'll leave you alone until you feel better."

Impa waved over her shoulder without turning around. "Goodbye, don't let the door hit you on your way out."

Link shook his head and left her alone with her thoughts. The sheikah woman sighed. He didn't deserve to be treated like that. She knew she was being stupid. She was just so hurt and tired and angry, and there he stood with everything that she wanted and cared about most. She was jealous.

Crossing to the door, she opened it and looked outside. Just as she had suspected, two guards stood on either side. "Excuse me," she said. "Will you help me with my things? I'm too weak to carry them yet and I need to get on the road. The princess…I mean the queen will want me gone as soon as possible."

The guards filed into her room without another word. One of them picked up the chest while the other took her weapons. She followed them out to the stables, where she saw that a wagon was already waiting. It was nothing fancy, just a simple wooden hay wagon with a single horse attached, but Impa knew the moment she saw it that it was for her.

The guards plopped her things unceremoniously in the back and marched away. It was only a couple minutes before a driver walked up. "I suppose you're well enough to travel then," he said, glaring at her. He obviously believed that queen's lies about her. Impa supposed that they all did.

"As well as I can expect to be," she said. "Kakariko Village please."

The driver got up in the front seat. "Fine. You're in the back."

Impa nodded and crawled in. She sat with her legs hanging off the back as the wagon jerked forward and rumbled toward the gate. Looking around at this place that had been her home for the past few years, the sheikah's heart hurt again and her eyes moistened. No tears fell, however. She was too tired and spent to cry anymore.

"Hey! Wait!"

The wagon pulled to a halt at the main gate. Princess Ruto was running toward them with a suitcase in hand, waving her free arm in the air. When she got close, she threw the suitcase up next to Impa's chest and doubled over, breathing hard. "Thought…you could leave…without me?" she huffed.

Impa frowned. "I didn't think you were coming," she said, truthfully. She hadn't even thought to ask the zora.

Ruto climbed up beside the sheikah woman. "Continue," she said to the driver. He snapped his whip and the wagon jerked forward again. The zora princess leaned back on her hands and turned her face up into the sun. "There's nothing for me to stay here for," she said to Impa, her voice soft and sad. "The old king, the real king, brought me here to help Princess Zelda. Queen Zelda doesn't want me around anymore though. I don't want to risk the zora kingdom's alliance with Hyrule by staying and increasing the tension between the queen and I, but neither am I prepared to return my own kingdom and face my father's wrath over what happened. He has always been too quick to anger and I know he will want to start a war. He won't make a move until I'm right there in front of him, though, so staying away will delay him." Ruto opened her eyes and smiled at Impa. "Plus, well, I think maybe you need me now. You're in worse shape than anyone."

"But Ruto," Impa started. "What will you do in the sheikah village? We are a simple, solemn, and reflective people by nature. You will be…bored. Restless."

Ruto laughed and hooked her arm through Impa's. "Bored around you? Never. You, my sheikah friend, are way too exciting."

Impa could think of nothing else to say. Truth be told, she was happy to have the company. Something about Ruto's presence made the sheikah woman feel a little less alone. Laughing, she rolled her eyes and gave in. "Fine," she said. "But don't complain to me if your accommodations aren't quite as luxurious as you're used to."

Ruto grinned. "Thanks, Imp!" she said, her voice laughing and musical again. The merriment was forced, Impa knew that, but she appreciated the effort just the same.

"Don't call me 'Imp'" she replied. "You make me sound like some sort of tiny monster."

Ruto shook her head and grinned. She lay back in the bed of the wagon, planning to soak in the sun for all it was worth. "Nope," she said, her eyes closed. "I think that Imp is perfect for you, so Imp you are."

Impa groaned. "This is going to be a long ride," she said. Still, she smiled and laid back beside the zora princess, folding her hands behind her head and closing her eyes. Perhaps with a person—a friend—as fun as Ruto around, picking up the pieces of her tribe and her heart wouldn't be as painful as she thought.

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Author's Notes: Hello again everyone. It has been three weeks since June 26th (which I am unofficially dubbing "Gay Day"), to I thought it was about time to upload another chapter of this.

In other news, I now have a new tablet and my first smart phone that both run android OS. Don't know why you should be happy about this? No? WELL, let me tell you! You see, I have uploaded all of my writing-related files to Google Drive. I can now open them and edit them on my laptop at home, on my tablet on the go with its Bluetooth keyboard, and on my smartphone for reference and minor tweeks. Which means I should be a lot more productive with my time and I'm super excited about it!

Anyway, that's the news on the writing front. I hope your summers are going well. Thank you for reading!

~The Wolfess

**If you enjoy my writing, please check out my major work, the Doppelganger Trilogy. You can find books 1 and 2 completed on my profile.**